Buzzwords in communication

By Dr Clive Dalton

Today's urgent need
In today’s world, getting a message across in a clear and concise way has never been so important, yet there seem to be a lot of people and organisations, who despite their good intentions, have developed a culture of making communication difficult.

Where did problems come from?
How this has grown, and where it came from is debatable, but the United States of America has got to be high on the guilty list. I well remember the moon mission when the man on the moon was told to put some rocks in a box. The box had about half a dozen descriptors!

The cult seems to based on the aim of ‘never using one word when more will do’, and the more ‘high fallutin’ you can make your words, the better you will sound – and that’s the read danger. It’s all about YOU the deliverer, and not about the receiver of the message.

This verbal creeping cancer seems to have started in the corporate and political world, and is where it keeps growing. It’s very infectious, spreading to many other areas including the media.

The sound byte
This is the age of the 'sound byte'. You cannot have a silence and space has to be filled with some sort of sound or picture filler. Failure to respond quickly because you are thinking will get you into immediate trouble, as either the listener will panic thinking something has gone wrong with the technology, or someone else will leap in to fill the space.

You have to learn to speak without thinking, and this is where buzzwords are useful.

The common use of ‘you know’ or ‘er’ are classical fillers to allow time for thinking, but they soon become irritants, unlike buzzwords which listeners take as valued information without knowing they are crap!

Here's what you do

Choose an opening
You need a beginning so start off a sentence like this:
‘Mr Chairman, My Lords. Ladies and Gentlemen, Honorable Members, Mr Minister, Members of the Board, Fellow Trustees, etc, etc - thank you most sincerely for the invitation to speak to you. I would like to say right at the start, or before I go any further-----‘.

Start buzzwording
Then you let go, taking a buzzword at random from each of the columns set out below, and keep doing this in rotation across the three columns.

Also go up and down the columns at random to select a word before diving into the second and third column. Build up a frenzy, and every now and then reach a crescendo ending up with a specially favourite word in column three!

With experience you'll be able to see ahead which word you'll need and keep special ones for the highlights of your speech.

Use linkages:
For links, when you need to add continuity, use such things as:

• Clearly - (when things are certainly not clear).
• There is no doubt - (when there is considerable doubt).
• At this point in time - (when "now" sounds too simple).
• The fact is - (when there is no such thing as a "fact" anywhere in sight).
• Any reasonable person would agree that -(when they would not).
• You know, as well as I do (when you know he/she does not).
• Notwithstanding - (when you know you have lost).
• Hitherto – (a useless filler for any occasion).
• Notwithstanding.
• Without doubt - when there is considerable doubt.
  

Basic buzzword list

Integrated	Management	Options
Total	Organizational	Flexibility
Systemized	Monitored	Capacity
Parallel	Reciprocal	Mobility
Functional	Digital	Programming
Responsible	Logical	Concept
Optical	Transitional	Time phase
Synchronised	Incremental	Projection
Compatable	Third-generation	Hardware
Balanced	Policy	Contingency
Ongoing	Modular	Interface
Synergy	Consumer-driven	Scenario
Utilised	Down-sized	Signal
Bottom –line	Dysfunctional	Deception
Pivotal	Dissemination	Niche
Market oriented	Differentiated	Down-side
Post	Structural	Time
Neo	Feminine	Perspective
New	Holistic	Body

Advanced buzzword list
If you find the above list restrictive in any way, here is another list which you may find more useful, especially for "planning" and "management" discussions.

Centrally	Motivated	Grass-roots	Involvement
Rationally	Positive	Sectoral	Incentive
Systematically	Structured	Institutional	Participation
Formally	Controlled	Urban	Attack
Totally	Integrated	Organisational	Process
Strategically	Balanced	Rural	Package
Dynamically	Functional	Growth-orientated	Dialogue
Democratically	Programmed	Development	Initiative
Situationally	Mobilised	Co-operative	Scheme
Moderately	Limited	On-going	Approach
Intensively	Phased	Technical	Project
Comprehensively	Deligated	Leaderhip	Action
Radically	Maximised	Agrarian	Collaboration
Optimally	Consistent	Planning	Objective

Grab new words
After a while you'll find that you can start to make up new buzz words, and that's a vital sign that you have all the qualities for very senior management.

Grab new jargon
Here are some fashionable jargon words in current use, but be careful as they age rapidly, and it's not good for your image to be using worn-out versions.

Great power comes from inventing new ones, and using them with the attitude that everyone should know what they mean. You never need to explain them as your listeners will be too scared to ask and so exposing their ignorance. So try these:

• As you all know - when you know they don't.
• Get up to speed with.
• Hook into.
• Identify a niche.
• Look for a window of opportunity.
• Examine the scenario.
• Take on board.
• Indicate where you're coming from.
• Signal intentions.
• Revisit issues.
• Run a few things past you.
• Touch base.
• Put a few things in place.
• Walk you through the main points.
• Flag a few things on the way through.
• Scene set.
• Share with you.
• Look at the trend line.
• Check the bottom line.
• Bring into sharper focus.
• Check where we are on the learning curve.
• Bracket some of the issues.
• To see if they can live with.
• See if you are comfortable with.
• Check the transparency.
• When things come on-stream.
• Examine the down-stream effects.
• Get a handle on.
• Study the whole raft of options.
• What I hear you saying - when your ears are closed.
• I hear what you are saying - when you violently disagree.
• Do some down-sizing and up-skilling.
• Going forward.
  

Fresh crop
Collected by Des Williams 
Community Relations/Media 
NZ Department of Conservation from a 2011 talk by Canadian Brian Freeman, an expert on "shared services.

• New learnings. 

• New architectures of government.
  
• 
Map the process. 

• Multi-channel access.
  
• 
Silo that piece of business. 

• Spin the terminal aspect.
• 
Fishboning. 

• Rapid return of benefit.
  
• 
You can't make the donuts and change the donuts at the same time.
  
• 
Use that square-footage for other things.
• 
Channel change is happening.
• 
Nail one of the tyres to the table.
• 
On the other side of the pond.
  

Body Language
Never forget how powerful and important this is to go with your buzzwords. It’s all about the way you stand, the way you lean, the way you take your spectacles on and off, the finger gestures, the ‘knowing’ look, the wry grin, and the very serious face when you are saying something outrageously funny, then the smirk when you deliver devastating news to show that you have things under control.

Turn your head to look to both sides of the hall as if you had a slightly stiff neck. If wearing a suit is appropriate, insert you hand in the side pockets with your thumbs outside pointing forwards. Don’t overdo this – a little now and then.

The lectern
Always try to have a lectern and use all the tricks of the trade here. Grasp it with both hands at regular intervals; thump it on occasions with the finger not the fist as you’ll blow the microphone. Lean back from it, then lean forward as you reach a mini crescendo!

If there is no lectern, use this opportunity to move around for impact (if you have a mobile microphone). Move slowly into the audience as you speak, walk with bearing. They’ll be terrified, especially if you build a few questions into your speech. They’ll think that they are your next target! (Watch Billy Connolly!)

Eyeball everybody in the room, don’t just stick to one poor sucker. Do this as you prowl, they’ll not dare look away from your constant search for the inattentive.

The microphone
Remember the microphone is a powerful weapon to sell your message. Use volume for impact but you can speak very quietly too for impact. Use it to drown out the heckler when you know your comments will cause unrest.

As a speaker, remember YOU have the power. Never waste a moment of it. Drive home the initiative, go for the jugular, administer the final “coup de grace”, do it with panache!

The clock
The biggest sin of all time is to over-run you allotted time. Few people can do this, and it gets worse with age. So get someone to give you a signal when to wind up – and wind up even if you have not finished. The audience wont’ know that, and they’ll be thrilled that it’s over!

A good chairman will warn you of the time, but many are too nice and let you run on. They should never be asked to chair a meeting again, as it causes all sorts of problems later in the day – especially for the cooks!

HM Royal Navy
But above all, never forget the basic philosophy of Her Majesty's Royal Navy during 1939-45. It was the secret weapon that Hitler never cracked. It was that:

"Bullshit Baffles Brains Me Lads!"

Agriculture communication. Part 1. Making moving images - Video and DVD

Making moving images - Video and DVD

By D.C Dalton and G. R. Moss


The power of moving images
Moving pictures are much more powerful than still pictures and the written word in getting a message across. Everyone knows that, and it’s especially true in farming where so many things we do are concerned with ‘action’.

In the old days this meant films. They were not easy to make, were expensive, editing was tedious, and in the public sector you needed a ‘ticket’ to operate a movie projector correctly.  Digital equipment to produce videos and DVDs has thankfully made things a lot simpler.  It’s easy these days to record moving pictures with equipment getting smaller, cheaper, easier to use, and of ever-improving quality.

However, there’s still a need to appreciate some basic principles about using moving images for successful agricultural communication.

Audience benefits of moving images

• In a well-made video they receive factual information in a clear, direct and logical manner.
• They see things not readily accessible.
• They can hear and see experts on the topic.
• They can see condensed (time lapse) sequences of events over a period of time.
• They can see and hear varying points of view.
  

Presenter benefits
The presenter also benefits from the above audience points, plus these extra two:

• Videos and DVDs tell the same story each time shown. The message is consistent over many venues and times by the same or different presenters.
•  The length of the presentation time is accurately known.
  

So you can see how the cry of ‘let’s make a video or DVD’, is always heard when communication ideas are discussed.

Right at the start - key points to consider

1. Is there a budget?  This question is so often left to the end. Deal with it at the start, and if there is no budget, forget the idea.  So often people have half a budget, or a vague figure of some money which they think will appear from a somewhere!  Or they expect you will have ideas where they can get the money.  The budget should be clear with some written guarantee that it will appear before the bills come in.
2.  Packaging. The biggest risk these days is that your masterpiece will go straight into the ‘junk mail’ bin and never be opened. So packaging is critical so at least it will end up on the kitchen table and be opened.  Someone else in the family (e.g. the children) may grab it to see what it’s about and if there are any freebees inside.  They may be the ones to encourage Dad or Mum to at least open it and even put into the player for them.
3. Distribution.  Decide how to distribute the finished product. This must be built into the budget.  There are all sorts of ways of getting your message out, but they all cost money. Some professional marketing advice is a good idea, in the very first stages of planning the project.
4. Time involved.  Never believe the video maker. If they say it will take ‘a couple of hours’ then write off half a day, and if they say ‘half a day’, write of at least two days!  Inevitably, they never start on time and certainly don’t think there is such a thing as a finishing time. The finish is when their job is done. Also be prepared for the message the next day that something has gone wrong somewhere with the film, or there’s a bit that’s not right and they need to shoot some parts again.  They’ll assure you it won’t take long! Never believe them.
5. Who are the clients? This is an obvious question but so often it’s only half researched, because the producers don’t ask the right people or the right questions. They ask those who give will them the answer they want – and of course they are delighted to get it.
6. Will your client watch the video/DVD?  When will they find the time?  Farmers are outdoors people and sitting in the house watching a TV screen sounds and looks like laziness!  This question should be the first question asked, but rarely is. Check the number of unwatched promotional videos and DVDs on shelves that have never been watched.  Research years ago in the hight of video recording of TV programmes showed that only 9% of them were actually watched.  Your product is going to have to be different.
7. What’s your message? Is it clear and simple, and is it something that your clients will want to hear – or something you think they want to hear. What’s in it for them – more money or just something nice to have? It had better make more money or your money will be wasted.
8.  Is a video/DVD the best format?  Have you got material to suit an action message?  There’s no point in providing moving pictures of talking heads.  You need to show some action in saying how good your product is and how easy it is to use.
9. How long should it run?  It’s hard to get through to people how much information you can cover in 60 seconds. In the old days people insisted on at least a half hour video, because Country Calendar had gone for decades for an hour each time. Today, people want videos under 10-15 minutes maximum.
10. A shooting script or storyboard?  This is an early essential before you start thinking about recording any action. Write the message out showing the pictures. Alongside write the words that will be spoken to go with it.  The spoken words will be very different to the written words as the commentary must be in conversational English.  Keep the talking heads to a minimum – they soon get boring.
11. Front person.  This is critical to your message.  You’ll need someone to front the programme, add continuity at various points, and give the final message.  Listeners/viewers remember the first and last things they hear, so the start and end must be very strong.  Choosing a person can be tricky.  Things like age, credibility, personality and public persona are all important, and easy to get wrong.  Hiring a professional will cost you big money – but this could be worthwhile.
12. Narrator. As well as a front person as presenter, you may also need a narrator to do a ‘voice over’ commentary.  This is a ‘professional voice’ which again will cost money.  Don’t underestimate the importance of this in generating the credibility of your message.  The ‘voice’ must fit the tone of your message. The narrator's  'accent' is very important in this.
    
13. Location.  Where are you going to shoot the action?  Make sure the person who is going to do the filming has a good look at the location well before the event. They will be able to see what gear they need, as they may have to hire it.  And make sure you have a plan B if the weather breaks up.  Down time can cost you money.
14. Accommodation and meals.  Those involved in the project will need to be looked after, so this needs to be sorted out early and go into the budget.
15. Clearances. You may need clearances from a number of people and organisations. Having these in written form is a good idea, and it would be best to get something from a lawyer about what’s needed.  Professional photographers have a ‘model release form’ for pictures they take of people.  You may need permission to enter properties, use animals without compromising their welfare, and avoiding doing things that will cause accidents or damage to people or property.  You may also need insurance.
16. Borrowed material.  There are very strict rules on copyright on other people’s material (words and pictures) which must be respected.  Check with the sources you use and get their written permission to be doubly sure you won’t end up in court or have to scrap your end product.
17. Music. Remember that any music you use as background could have copyright on it too with royalties to pay.  There is some general music around with no copyright needed so check this out.  The important point is that the music must suit the message.
18. Acknowledgements. It’s better to go overboard on acknowledgements than end up with complaints and threats, resulting in having to dump all your hard work and risk court action.
19. Final check.  How often you hear of situations where, despite all the checking, some faux pas has slipped through.  The problem with pictures is that the human brain often filters out things that the camera records. The biggest risks are in the areas of food safety, occupational health and safety and animal welfare where pictures have slipped through that are well below approved standards. So have all areas checked by appropriate experts, and even get them checked after the experts have viewed them.
    

Agriculture communication. Part 2. Using moving images. Video and DVD

Using moving images. Video or DVD

D.C Dalton and G.R. Moss


How long can we concentrate for?
Research some years ago showed that students’ concentration times averaged around 7 minutes.  This is out of date, and we suggest from personal experience that 2.5 to 3 minutes is now more like it.

This has been driven by the massive increase in TV advertising, and primary school teaching where group activity and talking all the time are actively encouraged.  So expecting mature people to learn,(whose learning patterns are no different to children) and enjoy the experience while sitting and listening for long periods of an hour or more has long gone, and today’s farmers are no exception.

Things to check before using video or DVD

• What are you going to play it on? 
• Is the power source reliable?
• Have a Plan B in case things go wrong.
• Make sure everything works well before the meeting. Get there at least an hour before and give things a run through.
• Make sure you know what’s on the video!  You could have picked up the wrong one!
• Set the sound levels to what you think is correct, and check again with the audience when things are running.  A full room requires a higher volume of sound.
• If you are not sure how the equipment works, make sure someone who does is at the venue.  This is especially the case with hired gear.  Never trust the batteries in hired gear – always ask for extras.
• Check that everyone in the audience can see the screen.  Remember that apart from the front row (that nobody likes to sit in), participants will have someone sitting in front of them, so get the screen up high.
• Stack up the back row seats (or put reserved on them) till people fill the front rows.
  

Limitations of videos and DVDs
Consider the limitations of videos and DVDs in getting your message across so you’ll provide a positive learning experience for the audience.

• Videos and DVDs are costly to make. They are only cheap to reproduce.
• There’s a rapidly increasing number of them available, but inevitably they are not precisely on the topic you want.  So it’s tempting to use them, with a high risk of confusing your own message.
• In New Zealand, it’s tempting to use overseas material that is not relevant, or is only partly so, so you can waste time putting the message into local perspective.
• Videos and DVDs are ‘one-way’ communication which is a major problem.  There’s something about a movie with soothing music that puts an audience into a relaxed state, so when ‘questions or discussion’ time arrives – there is a deathly silence. They can kill face-to-face communication – nobody can talk back to a video.
• To avoid this trap, run a video through once with sound, then run it with no sound, hitting the pause button at frequent intervals to discuss important points.
  

How to increase benefits

• Don’t show a video or DVD when the audience is tired or hungry – or too well fed and sleepy!
•  Use selective listening exercises. For example: Ask Group 1 to look for things they strongly agree with. Ask Group 2 to look for things they strongly disagree with. Then ask Group 3 to suggest things that could and should have been included in the message.
• Get a spokesperson from each group to briefly summarise their findings.
• Have a team quiz (with prizes) between the three groups on the subject content.  Make this fun and memorable.
  

Further reading.
Moss, Geoffrey. (2006). 'Training secrets'.
www.mossassociates.co.nz
ISBN 0-9583538-8-3

Communicating with farmers: Using effective displays & exhibits

By Clive Dalton & Geoffrey Moss

Getting a farmer's attention - what stops crowds nowadays? Models, challenges, puzzles, pictures and posters, demonstrations and displays. A 'must-read' guide to persuasion and effective communication when facing the rural business-person.

How is YOUR exhibit or display going to be noticed in this lot?

Displays and exhibits have always been a popular way to get information across to farmers. Rural folk like to ‘see’ things in preference to reading about them. Modern technology should make displays and exhibits more effective, but they will still fail unless some basic principles (discussed below) are followed. Failure can mean a massive waste of time and money, and frustrated providers and receivers of the information.

What’s the target?

How many of these people will come to your exhibit?
How many will just walk on by?

Get this clear before you start:

• Who is the audience?
• What is the message?
• Is a display or exhibit appropriate?
• How much space have you got?
• Where will your exhibit be?
• Who is going to design it?
• How much time have you got?
• Who will staff and service it?
  
• What is the budget?
  

The question about the budget should always come first, but it’s amazing the number of people who start planning and making displays with no idea of what it’s going to cost, and where the money is coming from. See "Further reading" for how to set out a detailed budget.

The type of audience needs a lot of thought. The most important issues are age and sex. If you want to change things on a farm, you need to think about who is going to cause that change and make decisions about your message back home on the farm. Who do you think will even dare raise the question for discussion.

Where your exhibit will be is often related to how much you paid for the site. Make sure you inspect the site before you start designing anything

Examples
One good example was messages on ‘producing clean milk’ which we in MAF aimed at male dairy farmers for 30 years, when we should have aimed it at the women on the farm who knew all about hygiene and who were zealots for cleanliness. We missed misjudged the target.

Another good example is the generation gap, where son thinks the new idea is great and will make millions, and Dad declares it won’t work and they cannot afford it in any case. Who do you have to convince?

Seating
At field days when farmers are expected to walk around a series of displays, and stand to listen to the messages at each point, somewhere they need to sit down, especially if the older generation will be in your audience. Seating need not be expensive and farmers are quite happy to sit on hay or straw bales.

What seems to happen is that when have paid a few hundred dollars per square metre for a stand, they see it as a waste to fill some of their exhibition with seats. It’s not a waste.

When legs and body get tired, the brain switches off, so remember this about your audience.

Space is an important issue as you may have to pay for it. At major events space is usually sold in 3m x3m units, and this can cost a few thousand dollars. So it must be used effectively. If people don’t stop at your stand, at these prices you really have wasted money.

 This display has included nice seats. Why are there no farmers?

Has their  investment been worthwhile?  How would they measure that?

Why a display or exhibit ?
Answer this question in your priority order. Don’t have any more than three answers.

• Meet clients
  
• Teach
• Show and tell
• Demonstrate a product
  
• Motivate
• Bring about change
• Create awareness
• Offer a service
• Improve your image
• Make a sale
  

Promoting an ‘Image’

An expensive corporate stand with glossy brochures.
Who is it really for? What's the farmers' take-home message? Why are there no farmers there? Why are the allstaff talking to each other and not  soliciting passers by?

This is a legitimate reason for and exhibit so some organisations can meet their clients. There are plenty of examples in farming like pest control and environmental organisations.

But how often do you see a massive display, covering mega square metres and lit up like an ocean liner where corporate organisations have spent tens of thousands of dollars. I can only conclude it was to make them feel good, as there was no ‘take home message’ for farmers, other than a fancy brochure that got binned around the corner. The enclosed corporate pen may survive.

The message - to be effective
When thinking about your message, think about human behaviour. A bit of animal behaviour can be useful thinking of humans as animals and not vice versa. Effective messages must be:

• Simple
• Interesting
• Informative
  
• Stimulating
• Have a memorable ‘take home’ message
• Topical
• New
  

The outcome of all these are to:

• Cause action
• Make a sale
  

Time limits
Remember the 30-second rule. It’s supposed to takes about 30 seconds to create an impression, and about 90 seconds to capture an audience – so time is not on your side. TV advertising is cutting down concentration time to even shorter times, and there are complete cooking programmes now which only take 60 seconds.

How to STOP your audience

A good crowd stopper - 'show and tell'.

The exhibitor is enthusiastic about his product and it shows.

At events where people are free to move around, unlike a seated audience, the first job is to stop them walking past. So it’s possible for exhibitors to spend a fortune on their exhibit and few folk stop to see it. People like sheep are a flocking species. They will stop to see why others have stopped.

So think long and hard about what makes people stop, so they will come into your area. Use these singly or in combination:

• Something new
• Something with a 'wow' factor

My tractor is the bigger than yours!

• Action – things that people can see, hear or smell.
• Noise. This attracts people but in very noisy environments like large field days, your noise may have to be louder than your opposition to attract attention and may put people off.
• A crowd creates action with someone talking on a loudspeaker as others may think they could be missing out on something. But a packed stall where no more can get in will put others off as they can’t see anything.
• ‘Giveaways’ create action – but do this carefully as some folk don’t like being ‘accosted’ to take something even if it’s free. The pretty girl trick is used to get males to take material and this can get sleazy and not for farming events.

 Balloons and toys are always popular.  Sadly this wee girl hasn't read the notice - the toys are for sale!

• A quiz with prizes – heard over a loud speaker. Seeing others winning certainly attracts others, no matter how small the prizes are.
• Humour – cartoons, with added action if the cartoonist is drawing new ones.
• Smells and tastes – free food or drink samples are always a winner, as people think it will save them money buying food.
• Flashing lights – these used to attract rural folk but it’s probably been overdone. Rural folk have had enough of this.
• Personalities - Comedian/singer/sport’s personality. A well-known performer will draw a crowd but there will be a large fee involved. Make sure you know what they are going to say and do, as some famous sports personalities in the past have been a disaster, assuming that rural folk like filthy jokes. They don’t.
• Animals. These always attract people.
  

Ideas for displays or exhibits
Here are a few principles to remember to stop people and get them into your area.

KIS principle – keep it simple

A sheep breeder's small area shared with others to reduce costs.

One big picture, few words, one chart, some sheep - a good simple message.

There’s nothing worse than when every available space is filled with clutter, so that if there ever was a message, - nobody is able to crack the code. Such exhibitors must be worried about what they have paid, and don’t want to waste a square inch of it.
Remember that ‘less is more’ and the brain likes space around things. Have one big clear message if possible and certainly never ever more than three.

A poor and un-manned display.

Why would anyone stop to read and leave their details?

Have new information
If you have nothing new, then most folk will walk past in their search for something they have not seen before. People don’t have time to waste on old news.

Types of display or exhibit

1. Contrast and compare
This is a good idea if the comparisons are real and meaningful and not a mass of small figures on spreadsheets in complicated coded jargon. Figures must be easy to see. In comparisons, make sure you don’t upset any commercial sensitivities which will end you in court.

2. Models

Scale model of woolshed used by salesman to show what the finished job would look like.
Much easier to visualise than a builder's plan.

These were popular in years gone by and worked well e.g. model woolsheds and farm dairies. Electronics can now be incorporated with models for greater impact. Models are expensive to make and have to be carefully handled. If they need to travel they need damage-proof boxes and clear instructions inside the lid for assembly, and return.

3. Challenges - puzzles and quizzes

A test of dexterity or skill will attract both young and old

These must be relevant to your message, and the risk of ridicule by giving the wrong answer is not high. Make the questions relevant to your topic that are not ambiguous and create discussion or debate. Have some easy and some hard questions. Have some pathetically easy and see how suspicious folk are, e.g. How many wires are there on a seven-wire fence?

You will need a quizmaster who should be a bit of a comedian to get people enjoying themselves. The problem always is that so many hands go up together that you have to pick somebody as you can rarely see who was first. Make sure you pick people from around the crowd, and some children who will answer for their parents.

4. Pictures
Pictures are supposed to be worth a thousand words, and if they are really good they’d be worth more. Today with digital technology there’s no excuse for poor pictures. Here are some points to consider.

• Only the highest quality pictures will do.
• Don’t use old pictures – take new ones.
• Photos should be relevant to the display.
• Use large shots (eg panoramas) for backdrops.
• Avoid a mass of small prints covered in plastic.
• Use a few large prints for impact.
• Keep captions large and short.
• Leave plenty of space around pictures.
• If you use a ‘slide show’ make sure there is room for all to see and they don’t block the crowd flow. Make sure the technology works and you have backup.
  

5. Live exhibits
Live animals always create an interest but remember these points:

• Display animals should be good specimens.
• They should be quiet and be happy to be tightly confined or tethered.
• They should be clean and well prepared.
• Animals need feed, water, shade and shelter.
• They need enough space to be comfortable.
• At the end of the day in a small pen, they may need to be taken to a large rest area where they can exercise.
• It’s a good idea to have two teams of stock so each only spends one day at the exhibit.
• Make sure the animals cannot be teased by small children or can cause injury to the public.
• Make sure you know how to contact a veterinarian at the exhibit.
  

6. The ‘peep show’.
This always arouses interest through curiosity, but inevitably it can cause congestion with people waiting to have a look, and probably losing patience and walking away if they have to wait long. So it’s important to have more than one viewing place.

This concept can be extended to the Aladdin’s cave or ‘chamber of horrors’ where people have to go into a dark entrance way with low lighting in the area to see the exhibit. Give this careful thought as it may scare children (or attract them) and it may be a great venue for pickpockets!

Humans are like sheep and are generally loathe to enter a stand if they cannot see a way out, so have a clear flow in your exhibit and go sparingly on the dull lighting.

7. Working demonstrations

These are always winners provided there is:

• A good commentator.
• A good sound system that does not fail.
  
• An interesting message.
• Plenty of action, e.g. more than one activity at the same time.
  

8. Poster displays
These are used at conferences or meetings where there is too much information to be given as spoken presentations, so some authors are offered wall space to present their findings or show their product. They are not easy to get right, and you see some very forgettable examples. Consider these points:

• The venue. So often it’s the foyer which people race through going to other ‘important’ places, and it’s the place where morning and afternoon tea are served. After being locked up in the formal sessions and being desperate for a drink, there’s often little chance of anyone even talking to you.
• I have seen many scientists jut print the paper they would have read, and stick it on the wall! Keep the words to a minimum and use the ‘newspaper principle’ of the inverted triangle – get you message in the first paragraph.
• Use big attractive photos with well-written captions. Copy the ‘photo essay’ principle.
• Have extra information as an attractive handout.
• Make sure you are there when your clients are there.

9. The un-manned stand
This is to be avoided like the plague, as the chances of stopping people is very low. However, if circumstances dictate that this is your only option, your only hope is to use large pictures with massive impact, and very few words. You have got 30 seconds or less to make passers-by hesitate and maybe read one headline. The place to leave their contact for more information needs to be very clear.

10. Graffiti boards
When farming was in the doldrums in the 1980s at the MAF display at the National Fieldays we put up some massive blackboards for people to express their feelings. It was an amazing success, and there was a crowd there all the time reading and writing.


General points to remember

• Have a good simple and clear message.
• Don’t try to say too much.
• Make it topical.
• Use simple language.
• Limit the number of words.
• Proofread your words and double check your data.
• Use upper and lower case – only use capitals for HEADINGS.
• Don’t use fancy fonts.
• Rectangular shapes are better than squares.
• Round off figures to whole numbers or at most one decimal place– and use charts with colour.
• Have neutral backgrounds and use bright colours for your message.
• Put more extensive information in a brief handout.
• Use people who are good communicators on the stand.
• Get them to be proactive and make first contact with the people – but don’t be too pushy and aggressive. Farmers hate that.
• Any questions they cannot answer – get contact details and make sure these are followed up immediately after the event.
• Staff should be dressed appropriately for the event. Farmers are now very suspicious of people in suits, wearing black slip-on shoes and a mobile phone permanently stuck in their hand!
• Staff on a stand should be talking to customers and not to each other.
  

What kills an exhibit?

• No message
• Grotty presentation
• Clutter
• A person sitting on a chair on their mobile phone.
• Staff on the stand in huddles talking to eachother.

The farmer in red is waiting till the staff have finished their conversation to get some help!

Note staff in the background doing the same.

Mobile phones

Sadly these are now part of our lives and it isn’t going to change. There is nothing which sends out a more negative message than when you pass an exhibit, and there’s a person (usually a man) sitting on a chair or standing on his mobile- talking loudly or texting. No wonder his has no customers as the body language is saying ‘please don’t disturb me as I’m too busy to talk to you’.

If you need a phone on your exhibit, then make sure users goes behind a screen to use it out of sight of the public. They don’t need shout so the whole place can hear.

The human body
Tiredness is such an important issue to be aware of at large events with few places to rest. It can affect your message as the state of peoples’ concentration level (mental energy and blood sugar) when they get to your exhibit can make a big difference about what they take home.

Farmers are early risers so you will get their full concentration from 7am until morning tea when energy drops a bit. After that they go well till lunch (noon till 1pm) then will last them until mid afternoon. After this they get itchy feet and want to get home. In any case, accompanying family will have had a enough and will be tired, often to the point of exhaustion.

This is a high-risk time for your handouts as they can so easily be deemed as junk mail and go into the bin on the way out. Keep whatever you write brief.

'At the end of the day'
Have an honest review to ask:

• Did you achieve your objectives?
• Was your money well spent?
• How do you know?
• You had better find out
• Will you repeat the exercise?
  

Further reading
Read Chapter 6 "Persuasive Displays' in 'Persuasive Ways' by G Moss, available on website www.mossassociates.co.nz

Communicating with farmers – Getting your message across

By Dr Clive Dalton

Clive addresses a crowd of farmers and MAF staff at a Lands & Survey Angus field-day in 1976.

Farmers constantly need new information
To keep farmers and their staff up to date with new developments, good communication is essential by the many technical people, (consultants, farm advisers, sales and advertising people) who have information to impart.

Measuring efficiency
It’s very difficult to measure the efficiency of communication, without testing the recipients to see how much has been learned and acted upon. What many in the information business know, (but rarely admit or measure), is that communication is generally a very inefficient business.

No formal training
Few technical people who have to address farmers, have had any formal training in the craft of communication, and you would be hard pushed to find out where to go to get any. It’s a case of learning on the job – which may include not much ‘learning’. The result is hours of wasted time and money
Rarely do we ask anyone in our audience after a lecture or talk for an honest assessment – and if we do, they give us what we want to hear!

The good and the bad
Most folk looking back on their school, college or University days would be hard pushed to find more than 5% of those who stood in front of their class, as brilliant communicators. This is a frighteningly waste of peoples’ learning time when you think of it.

How few people do you hear say they were ‘switched on’ to a subject by a brilliant teacher, but how many more quote how they were ‘switched off’ a subject by some awful teacher? Maths would have to be top of the pops for this.

Key points if you have to give a talk
There’s a mountain of books on communication – a few readable and helpful, but most full of jargon and theory, and impossible to finish. The books have a major communication problem!

What follows are a few points, gleaned from many sources and from my personal suffering at the hands of others, as well as guilt over what I may have inflicted on others. They are some issues to think about if you have to give a talk, and if you want your audience to learn something.

What’s your aim?
Get this very clear right at the start. When you walk out the door after the talk, think what have you left behind in the minds of your audience? What did you set out to do?

• To inform
• To entertain
• Provide a bit of both - “Infotainment”
• Be memorable – will they remember both you and your message?
• Provide value for money if they have paid!
  

The chance of success
This is a bit scary, but face the truth! It’s old news but is frequently forgotten. So you can see how your effort has to be allocated.

• 7% is WHAT you say
• 33% is HOW you say it
• 60% is the ENERGY you used in saying it
  

Clearly, dull people and a dull talk cannot get a message across, no matter how good it is!

Message retention
This is also very scary. It’s amazing how many people sit through a talk, and think all the information will be in their heads after the talk for ever. It probably is, but it cannot be recalled and with age things get worse.

• You remember only 25% of what you HEAR by the next day.
• By the next week it would be about 5% if you were lucky.
• Adding visual messages increases the retention rate.
• Adding smells will increase it further!
• Success depends on ‘listening skills’ – which we are not taught.
  

So the lesson is that you have to do a really good job with visual aids.

How to get it wrong?
These sins are far too common –but the last person to be aware of them is so often the speaker, and nobody tells them afterwards so nothing changes!

• Too much information – tell them the least your audience needs to know.
• Too little – no meat in the message.
• Wrong place – it was impossible to learn in the environment. The speaker was not aware of how bad the conditions were for the audience.
• Wrong time – nobody could learn at the chosen time of the talk for many reasons.
• Above their heads – no chance of anyone understanding the message.
• Boring – dull enough to make everyone beg for it to end.
• Speaker not aware of the time spent so the meeting over-runs.
• Poor chairman not doing his/her job – eg keeping speaker and programme to time.
• Insulting audience’s intelligence.
• Telling the audience what they already know– so wasting everyone’s time and somebody’s money.
  

How to get it right?

• Wear your client’s shoes (gumboots)!
• Check the venue. Will everyone in your audience be able to see and hear?
• Check the seating – how comfortable are the seats.
• Check visual aid equipment – have spares.
• Check sound equipment – have spares.
• Get a friend to sneak around the venue once you have started speaking to see everything is going OK.
• Watch your audience’s behaviour – bad signs are people sleeping, sitting with head in hands, looking at the ground or the ceiling, fidgeting trying to get comfortable, clock watching, exhaling loudly, gasping for fresh air, talking to person in next seat, and walking out! Many speakers never notice these – believe it or not.
• If the chairman doesn’t get people (who have sat for more than an hour) to stand and stretch, YOU take action and make them stand up. Don’t let them out of the room though!
  

How do we learn as children?
This is a vitally important issue, as so many people seem to think that when we grow up, we can put up with appallingly bad communication that you would never inflict on an innocent child! As mature beings, we learn the same way as kids do! We all crave for a talk that is:

• Interesting
• Relevant
• Clear & simple
• Rewarding
• Entertaining
  

Who is your audience?
This is closely linked to the question of what is your aim. You are lucky if your audience is made up of people with identical interests, but even then, they will vary because of the points shown below. You can’t do much about this, other than be aware and try to modify your message.

• Age
• Sex
• Leading busy lives – so time is precious.
• Interest in the subject
• Educational background
• Social status
• Religious & cultural status
• Tiredness
• Hungry –low blood sugar
• In need of a smoke –agitated
• Comfortable – how long have they sat on hard seats.
  

Profile of a 16-year-old
As a tutor approaching retirement, I was very aware of being horribly out of date when I had to teach young farm trainees straight from school who were from generation X and Y.

Now we are on to generation Z which are very different again. They need more guidance but they certainly know their rights. But I was amazed how few folk I talked to in the farming industry (especially employers who didn’t have teenagers), had thought about these issues. They judged 16-year-olds by what they remember of their youth.

• Two thirds are from split homes. (Ten years ago this was one third).
• They come from class sizes at school of at least 30.
• Their concentration span is very short - max of 3-5 minutes – the time between TV ads. It used to be 5-7 minutes.
• Low discipline levels in schools. Class disruption is normal.
• Students want to talk continuously – they have been taught in groups and encouraged to talk so they don’t see a problem.
• At school, they have been encouraged to work in groups which is good. However, sitting listening for periods of more than a few minutes is very hard for them, so they miss vital information only told to them once.
• They can learn among noise, which in today’s world is also very good.
• The love loud throbbing music – especially inside a vehicle or restricted space.
• Teachers have had little time to help anyone with individual learning problems. Disruptive students get attention (that’s why they are disruptive), but quiet non-achievers in class can easily pass through the system having learned very little.
• Many have a negative attitude to formal learning which is not their fault.
• Little or no encouragement received from home for academic learning –in fact there could have been positive discouragement.
• A large proportion will have no NCEA subjects due to lack of motivation and boredom.
• Boredom is the main disease of high schools. The school system had betrayed them!
• Many will have one or two NCEA subjects - generally not in academic subjects. Some may have done sixth form but not got any qualifications.
• They are active people who like practical subjects.
• At least twenty percent of them will smoke –and few will want to stop.
• About 3% will have serious learning problems (ADD), and won’t be able to concentrate. They stop their class mates learning.
• They all know about drugs and have seen them in primary school.
• A very high percentage will have used them by secondary school and will be very knowledgeable.
• So drugs in the workplace are now a normal part of the daily environment.
• Poor literacy - many have reading age of 8-10 years or worse.
• Maths ability is good with money, but they cannot do any sum without a calculator, even divide 1000 by 10. Mental arithmetic is beyond them – they are just not taught it.
• They have fantastic finger dexterity, keyboard, computer and mobile phone skills. They can text without looking at their keyboard and while their phone is hidden in their pocket.
• They walk around with a phone permanently in their hand, texting and checking for incoming texts with one hand. The other is for work!
• Ninety percent are males with strong male stereotypes and attitudes to hygiene and pain.
• Ten to twenty percent will have already had a driving conviction.
• Twenty percent will be driving cars with no WOF or insurance.
• Five percent will have hearing impairment from loud music.
• They are growing rapidly and are always hungry.
• They are high on testosterone and oestrogens.
• Most will be sexually active - or they’ll tell you that they are!
• Few are capable of a hard day’s physical work that a grown up can handle.
  

What makes communication difficult?
The theory talks about a ‘message’ which is ‘coded’ by a ‘sender’. This then goes to a ‘receiver’ who ‘decodes’ it. The three things that ruin this process are:

1. Competition for your message from other messages.
2. Bad coding by the sender and bad decoding by the receiver.
3. Information overload at both ends.
   

Competition for the message is a major hazard. We ask why folk who came to our talk have done nothing about the message they took away so enthusiastically? The answer is simple - when they got home, there was at least 5 new issues that had blown up which needed urgent fixing. After that, they’ll have difficulty remembering when they attended your talk, what your message was and even your name. Ask some university students to give the full names all that lecture to them. The answer in communication terms is scary.

So you can see the value of a ‘take-home’ message that doesn’t look like junk mail and that they’ll keep (or their partner will keep) and not file in the bin.

Prioritise your message
This is very important as it stops your wasting your time, and more importantly, their time. Sort out what are your audience’s wants and needs (they may be very different).
Get this order of priority right. If time is short, cut number 3.

1. Must know?
2. Should know?
3. Nice to know?
4. Questions and discussion
   

Never, ever, cut out number 4! That should be THE highlight of your talk. If you are running out of time, cut out number 3 and go straight to 4.

The brain plays tricks
Speakers who make you ‘suffer’ their presentation regularly forget these basic points.

• Our concentration spans are short – and getting shorter thanks to TV advertising.
• The brain can cope with many issues at the same time, so our thoughts wander all over the place if what we are hearing is boring or deemed by our brains to be unimportant.
• The brain works mega times faster than speaker can speak, or read words to us from a slide - which so many insist on doing.
• The brain filters out things that it may consider unimportant.
• The brain is lazy and smart (both at the same time) so it looks for the easy path.
• It’s always interesting and a bit alarming when you ask someone who has been to a talk or presentation what they learned. Most will be struggling to give you a detailed account – but they’ll all add it was a good meeting.
  

Our brains differ – 7 intelligences
This too is well known and is a major reason for so many folk failing. We have different kinds of brains, and sadly for some, their’s cannot be accommodated in a teaching regime. The only hope is for individuals to do more themselves to cope, as teachers have enough problems!

Be aware of this as a learning strategy for yourself, and recognise it when you need to teach. From the list, find out which one(s) you are, and try to recognise what some other folk may be, especially those you have to communicate with.

• Mathematical
• Musical
• Physical
• Visual
• Linguistic
• Intra personal
• Extra personal
  

A very sad tale
I had a 16-year-old farming student who could not pass one written test of the simplest questions – even on the third repeat. In fact, the more repeats he got, the worse he got. Yet on a bus trip of well over an hour, he sang the complete works of the Australian bush balladeer ‘Kevin Bloody Wilson’. His mates assured me he was word perfect! The lad had a musical brain, which I could not handle, as I couldn’t put my lectures to music with three expletives in every line. Sad to say, he was killed in a railway crossing accident when the train hit his tractor.

Six stages of learning
The books tell you this is the way to learn things. It’s also useful to know when you are teaching so that you can make the learning by your listeners easier if they need to remember things. You do things in the following order:

1. Get set
2. Get information
3. Explore
4. Memorise
5. Show-U- Know
6. Reflect
   

The major problem I found when teaching farming students (16-17-year olds) who had hated school, was that they had never been taught to learn. So they sat during class with arms folded, listening, enjoying the discussion, but assuming that they’d remember all they heard. They didn’t realise that for most of us, learning needs some kind of effort.

I had to make them write some things down and draw diagrams – to do something physical, as they had not learned (or not been taught these skills). The would ask me 'have we got to write this down'?

 As a result, they had nothing to use for 'revision' which they had never ever been shown how to do, and hence failed in any written tests. These students had fantastic practical skills, so their school record showing low achievement was so wrong! The education system had failed them.

Mind maps
I gave up on talking and expecting them to 'make notes'.  At University with many lecturers that's all you did - try to write down everything they said hoping that it would make sense when you re-read them. It rarely did!

Mind maps like the example above were my salvation and the students' too. You can see from the above example that we discussed everything that had to be done to prepare for calving.  We both learned so much from sharing information and experience – without the chore of them having to write many words down. It kept all our brains active, and by turning words into a picture, it was had high recall, which I proved by asking them to draw a mind map to answer questions in exams.

I used to hand out large A3 sheets so that they could keep the finished map to bring out in future years to work on with their staff before calving.  Different jobs could be allocated to different people and nothing slipped through the cracks.

These same students would struggle to write 50–100 words as an answer, but could  fill a whole A4 sheet with detailed information as they had very good recall. Communication had worked. 

For more information on mind maps - Google <‘mind maps Tony Buzan’>

Written words and spoken words
These are so different in terms of communication efficiency. Apparently with texting and emailing, more words are being written today than at any other time in history. But they are very different words to those used by anyone who sets out to write a handout, or god-save us, a manual!

You have to stop yourself writing ‘hard to read’ English in anything you give to a modern audience. Your only chance of getting anything ‘browsed’ is to write it in ‘spoken’ English or journalistic style.

• You need to become a good browser and the trick is to only read the first sentence of each paragraph. Here are some interesting points that have been around for a while.Humans communicate best with sound.
• Most visual image fades in 1 second – unless they are spectacular or shocking.
• Sound memories fade in 4-5 seconds – again unless they are spectacular of shocking.
• Voice tone gives “emotional impact” that no picture can do.
• In journalism we strive for “colour” in our written words to try and imitate the spoken word.
• Monotone is a killer – if the voice is dull, then our brains assume the speaker and the subject is dull too.
• Ums, Ahs, Eh’s, You-knows, etc can kill listener concentration – listen to yourself on a tape, or view yourself (in private) on video. The shock can be overwhelming!
  

The handout
Handouts used to be considered important for the take-home message, but we know that most of them end up as junk mail, as there’s so much other material around of very high quality. So class handouts as a ‘nice’ idea but don’t rely on them being effective after your talk.

A good idea is to hand them out during the session, so keen folk who are trying to take notes can just highlight key parts as you go through.

The take-home CD, video or DVD
This is the latest idea, but again how many folk have time to sit and watch them – even if they know how to work the player! There used to be a figure when video recorders came out that at most, only 9% of recorded videos were ever watched. Thing won’t have changed.

The ‘slide’
Once upon a time we had projectors and 35mm slides. These were made from the colour pictures we took, but we also made stencilled words into 35 mm slides.

Then came the Overhead Projector (OHP) with a pack of multi-coloured pens, all of which we used, even if some like the brown and yellow could not be seen!

Then came the laptop computer and the digital projector with 'Microsoft Power Point'.  This is my view is death to communication!

The technology is not to blame for poor communication – it’s the way it’s been used which is the problem. What has happened, and is still going on because it’s easier with computer software, is that speakers are still producing ‘slides’ and abusing them rather than using them in their talks. Here’s what happens:

• The slide has too much information. The rule is to have a maximum of five lines and five words per line.
• The speaker reads the words on the slide out aloud to the audience – who can also read – and a hundred times faster than the speaker can read.
• The speaker is simply using the slide as a memory jogger. This is now a worse problem as Power Point makes the production of slide so easy. People are typing out their talk in Power Point which we then have to endure.
• Power Point also allows you to use fancy gimmicks, which fortunately many folk have not learned to use yet! Others go crazy with them which distracts from the message.
• These slides go on forever and the meeting over runs, so there’s no time for discussion or questions. How often has the last speaker been asked to cut down their time because the chairman has failed in his/her duty!
• Speakers should NEVER be allowed to over-run by chairmen.
  

Back to the board – why not?
Consider going back to basics. There was nothing wrong with the old blackboard (apart from chalk dust and finger nail scratchings), and the whiteboard (apart from pens that don’t work and permanent markers) provided that, it was in the hands of a skilled operator.

The big advantages are:

• When you use a whiteboard really well, you cannot help being active. It’s hard for people to fall asleep or their minds wander off, when the speaker is leaping around and you are watching for the words or pictures to emerge.
• You are actively combining words (from your mouth) with pictures (from your pen).
• Rubbing out words provides action in anticipation for new ones, and gives a sense of progress through your talk.
• It’s a good idea to write a sort of ‘menu’ for the talk down the side of the board before you start, and wipe bits off when finished. It makes the audience feel they are progressing towards the end – always an attractive destination in a talk.
  

Points for success

• Double check the pens – always keep plenty of new ones and don’t lend them to anyone.
• Check the caps have been tight, and get into the habit of always putting the cap back on while speaking.
• Avoid green, and only use red for emphasis.
• Check no ‘smartass’ has slipped a permanent marker into the set of pens. If you need to remove it, go over it with a proper whiteboard pen and rub the lines off straight away.
• Make sure there is a cleaning cloth or duster.
• Don’t stand in the one position all the time, as some in the audience may not be able to see. Check this out before and during your talk and make people move (nicely) if you find it easier to operate from one spot to avoid blocking their view.
• Use mind map (see above).
• The brain likes colour too – but don’t overdo it. Use colour to underline and highlight key words in your mind map.
  

Final thoughts
All you have is this – in any order:

• Be simple
• Be clear
• Be brief
• Be entertaining & be memorable
  

Fast track to improvement
If you want to improve your presentations real fast - just arrange to have your talk videoed. But view it in private first, as you can be devastated with the result. You will see things that you cannot believe you did!

At the end - for goodness sake END!
Some folk find ending very hard - they seems to get a pain when they have to sum up- so keep on to avoid it. Don't be fooled (if you are chairman) by  words like ‘finally’, or ‘to summarise’ or ‘to sum up’ which lifts the listeners’ heart, and then the speaker’s brain seems to find another thread.

The trick I find that works every time is the chairman - to dive in when they are drawing breath between sentences and say in a really loud voice over the microphone - 'And FINALLY'! They are so shocked, and the audiences laughter so spontaneous,  that they say - 'Well I'll stop there Mr Chairman"!

Yorkshire advice
Yorkshire folk are noted for their thrift with money, time and words. They have this advice for public speakers which is well worth remembering:
1. Stand up
2. Speak up
3. Then SHUT UP!