This article from the May 16, 2008 issue of The Economist is provocative in its challenge to us as business people, educators, and, to a lesser extent, students.
The content aligns well with what has been the major themes of the recent annual symposiums (at least the last two; maybe the last three).
Are we doing anything different? I don’t mean little things, but big things — things that embody a significant change in communications quality. Quite frankly, I don’t think I am, and I find this a somewhat humbling, troubling conclusion. Am I too set in my ways? Do I lack the capability and capacity? Am I too worried about trends that are, in the long run, insignificant?
I was among the group of Fellows who attended the 8th Annual Symposium on Communication and Communication Intensive Instruction, held on May 9th, 2008. Despite the weather, the turnout was great and we saw a lot of lively exchanges of ideas. Esther Dyson’s and Richard Lederer’s Keynotes were interesting and entertaining, and we enjoyed each other’s company at the table discussion and over dinnner afterwards.
This year’s theme was ‘Miscommunication’. In the table discussion, Olga and I were with facilitators Gardner Cambell (Professor of English at the University of Mary Washington) and Ruth-Ellen H. Simmonds (Executive Director, One Stop Senior Services), our own Dennis Slavin and three other professionals (Irwin Dayan, David Sutcliffe and Karen Stevenson). Because we had a good proportion of academics and professionals, we were able to share our experience in the classroom and the workplace, what kind of miscommunication takes place, and why it takes place. Our dicussion somehow centered around the fact that many of us feel like we ‘miscommunicate’ with colleagues because we have little understanding of people that belong to different generational/gender/cultural groups from our own. Just as we did in the symposium, by ‘listening’ to each other’s perspectives and experiences, we learn a little more about effective communication every day. I feel that ‘listening’ is an essential part of communication no less than ‘talking’. Now I should tell my Japanese friends to keep their heads high for their ‘air-reading’ ability.:-)
So this was another interesting experience for me. I would also like to invite comments from other Symposium participants. Please share your experience!
What would it look like if Honest Abe had PowerPoint at his disposal on that fateful day in 1863?
Quite possibly, this.
Its creator, Peter Norvig, also describes his rationale here, and considers the value of PowerPoint in “PowerPoint: Shot with its own bullets,” which was published in The Lancet.
We don’t need to throw the baby out with the bullet-pointed bathwater, but the Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation might prove useful for those discussing with students (or colleagues) what makes for good (and bad) PowerPoint.
Recent Comments
RSS