Jun 12 2009
How can you be enthusiastic about this?
Have you ever heard a boring lecture?
During a session on “Presenting Your Research” we were discussing the number one secret that the majority of Academics ignore during their conference presentations, lectures, seminars etc…
This one ingredient always comes high on the list of “Must Have” qualities when I ask groups “What makes for a memorable presentation?”…
The secret is – Enthusiasm.
If the speaker is enthusiastic about their work, their content, their material, it’s contagious, we can’t help but catch some of their excitement.
And yet so many presentations in the academic arena are, well, just plain boring.
In their defence I’m sure the academics would protest that their job is to inform rather than to entertain – and yes, I have great sympathy with that. But if your audience is bored by your delivery style, they won’t remember the content long enough to stay informed once they leave the lecture theatre!
If you are a professional researcher – you have chosen this career, this research – if you can’t get enthusiastic about your own work perhaps you should seriously consider looking for another job… The question you should be asking is how can I convey my enthusiasm to my audience?
There are some circumstances when you are called to talk about something you are less enthusiastic about… maybe teaching an undergraduate lecture on a subject that you have little or no professional interest in… how can you be enthusiastic about that?
I’ve met this challenge many times in my life as undergraduate lecturing was never my number one career choice so, apart from the fake-it challenge, how do you get interested enough for your enthusiasm to become infectious?
For me, I’ve always looked for some other aspect to become excited about.
When the subject is too boring because it’s all tiny, insignificant but essential detail, then I make my challenge to see the big picture. How can I get clear about the big picture and clearly convey that to my audience?
When the subject is just boring because I have no interest in that I look for the “hook”. If someone somewhere is interested in this, what do they see in it that I am missing? Is there an implication, a consequence a beauty or symmetry to this subject that I haven’t yet discovered and I try to put myself in their shoes, see the subject through their eyes…
If all else fails I use the exercise as one in the structure and science of communication. If I have to lecture on this subject, how can I craft it so that it becomes the perfect model of how to deliver a lecture? What is the attention-grabbing introduction? How does the structure signpost the essential learning points? How do I reinforce the key learning themes throughout the session??? And I set myself the task of writing it as an exercise, a practice run in communication skills.
Funnily enough, the lecture that I dreaded most now gets the best feedback from my audience. I’m still not personally excited by the content, but I’m proud of how I communicate it to the students!
So how does this work for you? If you’re lecturing about something, how can you get enthusiastic about that? Oh and yes, it does take some time, some effort, some thinking about… like most things that are worth doing well!
