Locate—find content for learning
The locate step involves gathering the content you need for learning
your topic.
Sometimes locating content may be easy. The course may prescribe texts
and materials for you. At other times you may be learning something that few
others have, so you have to forge your own way. You may be somewhere in the
middle, with some texts prescribed for you and some further research to do.
What to look for while locating content - examples
Later in the process, I introduce you to two ways to classify content by
the way you use it. Once you understand these two ways, you start to realize
that many books and courses out there contain little practical content. This
is especially true of many self-help and business books. They contain
supporting facts, ideas and principles, rather than practical content. Of
the ones that do, even fewer contain specific steps or ideas on how to learn
that content.
I want to give you a feel for what information you may find while
gathering content for training purposes. I’m going to give you some examples
of the content you may find in a book on presentation skills, specifically
on making eye contact during a presentation. In some of these books, you may
find this information:
Example A: The why it’s important book
Good eye contact with the audience is important. It helps the
presenter connect with the audience. It also helps the presenter gauge
the audience’s reaction to the material. The presenter appears more
confident and “in control.”
That’s interesting information. What does good eye contact mean though?
It doesn’t tell you! I’ve read some books that go on for pages about why
some particular skill is important, citing many examples and research. A
better presentation book gives you specific details about what good eye
contact means:
Example B: The here’s how to do it book
To develop good eye contact, you first have to stop reading your
presentations word for word. It’s difficult to keep good eye contact
while you are reading directly from notes. See [some other part of the
book] to learn how to do this.
Once you have your notes under control, you then need to get your
eyes up and looking at the audience. It’s not just a matter of looking
at the back of the room. You need to search out individuals and make eye
contact with them.
Hold their attention for two to three seconds, and then move to
someone else or back to your notes for the next point. Spread your
attention to various parts of the audience. Be sure not to focus in one
part of the room, or on one individual, for too long either. This
alienates others or makes the individual feel uncomfortable.
If you are presenting to a much larger audience, sometimes it’s
difficult to make eye contact with a single individual. The audience may
seem more of a blur, especially up the back and in low light conditions.
Don’t avoid these areas, as there are still people there. Hold your
focus in a particular area for a few seconds, before moving to another.
Can you see the difference between these two examples? Example A doesn’t
tell you much about what the skill is, whereas example B does. I’d have even
more respect for a presentation book that then went further with information
like this:
Example C: The here’s how to learn it book.
Here are some suggestions on how you can learn to make eye contact in
your own presentations:
Practice reading a point from your notes and then physically looking
up. Put together some meaningless points, and then stand up in your
kitchen or other room and practice. Put a mark at the end of each line,
for example an up arrow like á, to remind you to look up. When you do
look up, look at different parts of the room. If you are in the kitchen,
visualize the microwave, stove, sink and refrigerator as members of your
audience. Make your point directly to one of these audience members, and
then move on to the next point.
Better yet, if you have access to computer image projection
equipment, get a picture of an audience from the speaker’s perspective
and project it on the wall. Stand facing the screen and practice making
eye contact with your captive audience.
Before your next presentation, ask a friend or colleague who will be
in the audience to help you out. Have them stand behind the audience and
give you gestures to remind you to look around. They may also give you
signals to slow down your speaking, stop fidgeting, or to relax your
posture. Also, ask them to give you some comments and suggestions after
the presentation.
Consider whether the content you find is more like example A, B or C
above. Are you getting the “why it’s important,” “here’s how to do it,” or
“here’s how to learn it”? This doesn’t just apply to books either. Some
training courses and presentations also focus on “why it is important,”
rather than covering practical and useful information you can use to build
your skills. Memorizing ten points about why good eye contact is important
doesn’t necessarily help you improve your own eye contact.
Keep these three examples in mind while you locate content for learning.
If the content you find is like example A, you need to find more information
to understand what “making eye contact” involves. If it’s example B, that’s
fine. You can then use Memletics to learn the material. If it’s example C,
they are giving you a shortcut!
The Memletics Accelerated Learning Manual describes:
- Typical content sources and comments on each, including books, texts,
instructors, lecturers, the Internet, computer based training, students,
others in the field, biographies, video, and others
- Specific content collection techniques – note taking, highlighting,
and organizing your notes.
- Note taking covers what to write down, use of white space (eg Cornell
technique), getting used to writing in your own books, and use of
alternative formats
- Intelligent highlighting covers why highlighting is an important
skill, and how its misuse can be dangerous to good learning. Includes what
to highlight, when to highlight, use of colors, use of notes with
highlighting, and transfer of notes to other formats.
- Note organization tips include using summary or index, rating what you
find, and checking against your training plan to ensure adequate coverage.
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