What is it about overhead projectors that causes us to become lousy communicators? Why do our speeches or presentations lose much of their steam when we use overheads?
Well Sean Taylor Hat , for starters, we often give more attention to the overheads than the audience. It can't be helped. After all, we have to pick up the right overhead, separate it from the next one, get it on the projector properly, check it out on the screen Preston Smith Hat , and so on.
While doing those things, we're taking our eyes off the audience. At the same time, the audience spends a lot of time looking at the screen, rather than at us. And, nothing detracts from good communication like loss of eye contact with the audience.
We're also taking our mind off the audience. Instead, we're focusing our thoughts on the technical issues involved in showing the overhead Brandon Scherff Hat , including our explanations of the visuals.
Then there's the amount of material. Almost every time I see a speech with overheads, I see way too much content. One of the best lessons I've learned in several years at Toastmasters is that less is more. Don't try to explain everything to your audience, just pick one small sliver of an issue and explain it well - a speech is not a book or a written article!
And, then there's the simple fact that the projector gets between you and the audience. There's noise and the size of the projector, which mean a projector can be a more powerful presence at the front of the room than you.
Perhaps there should be a 12-step program for getting over overhead projectors. While they're unlikely be an addiction, they can be a crutch Montae Nicholson Hat , one that allows us to make presentations without adequate thought or preparation.
Personally, I like the idea of giving up overheads and projectors altogether. A colleague recently asked if we should use overheads when we do some upcoming presentations together. I expressed my opinion firmly. Need I say what that was?
If you're not ready to give them up, use your overheads in a supporting role. Don't ask them to carry a substantial part of the message; you should deliver the message, and the overheads should reinforce what you say.
For example, if your presentation involves numerical information, a simple bar or line graph might help the audience get the point. Or Jonathan Allen Hat , if you're talking about a sequence of events and their order is critical, a numbered list might help.
But the best bet may be to go without. Before the presentation, think hard about the message or messages you want to convey. Boil them down into no more than three points, and then look for stories, analogies, metaphors Derrius Guice Hat , and anything else that will illustrate and reinforce each point. Try to create mental images with words, like good radio ads.
In summary, overhead projectors put serious communication barriers between speakers and audiences. Get rid of them. You'll be glad you did - and your audience will, too.
Boston Common, bounded by Beacon, Charles Da'Ron Payne Hat , Boylston, Tremont and Park streets, is the oldest public park in the country, created in 1634 as a ?cow pasture and training field? for common use. Cattle grazed here for 200 years, and could look up every now and then to see the occasional public hanging that took place in the Common.
The park is about 50 acres in size and is the anchor for the Emerald Necklace, a system of connected parks that visit many of Boston's neighborhoods. Dogs are welcome on Boston Common and can even run off-leash from 5-7 a.m. and 5-7 p.m.
Nearby Ryan Kerrigan Hat , 15 minutes to the south of Boston, is the dog-friendly Blue Hills Reservation. The first settlers came to this area 10,000 years ago and called themselves ?Massachusett,? meaning ?people of the hills.? When European explorers set sight on the forested slopes while sailing along the coastline they named the region the Blue Hills.
They logged the hillsides to build hoses and barns and cleared the lowlands for crops and livestock. In 1893, the Metropolitan Parks Commission made the Blue Hills one of their first purchases for land set aside for recreation. Today, Blue Hills Reservation maintains 7 Jordan Reed Hat ,000 acres of land where you can hike with your dog in the shadow of Boston.
Some 125 miles of trails visit a variety of terrain from hills and meadows to forests and wetlands, including a unique Atlantic white cedar bog. Some of the canine hiking can be quite challenging and many of the trails are strewn with rocks. Great Blue Hill, rising 635 feet above the Neponsett Valley, is the highest of the 22 hills in the Blue Hills chain.
Keep your head up for sweeping views of the metropolitan area. Also keep an eye out for the diverse wildlife in the Blue Hills Reservation that is not often associated with Boston - timber rattlesnakes, coyote and otters. Most of the trails are marked but a trail map is a wise purchase for day hikes - one is on sale at park headquarters (695 Hillside Street) or the Blue Hills Trailside Museum (1904 Canton Avenue).
The National Register of Historic Places lists 16 structures from Blue Hills Reservation. The most celebrated sits at the summit of Great Blue Hill - the Blue Hill Weather Observatory. Still used as a weather station, the observatory is in Eliot Tower Josh Norman Hat , a stone observation post built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s.
The Blue Hills Reservation is headquartered in Milton, 8 miles south of Boston. Take Route 93 to Exit 3, Houghton's Pond. Turn right at the stop sign onto Hillside Street. Houghton's Pond is located approximately 14 miles on the right; continue 14 miles to the reservation headquarters on the left.