{"id":33,"date":"2010-10-06T08:30:02","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T12:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/?p=33"},"modified":"2010-10-05T13:11:35","modified_gmt":"2010-10-05T17:11:35","slug":"are-you-being-a-bit-of-a-bore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/?p=33","title":{"rendered":"Are You Being a Bit of a Bore?"},"content":{"rendered":"

by John J. Walters<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone does it from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 It usually happens when you are talking about some topic that you care about more passionately than the conversation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s other participants, like that time you did that thing in that place with those people.\u00c2\u00a0 It gets even harder to be interesting in a business setting, when all the dirty jokes and crazy stories are off limits.<\/p>\n

The tricky part is, sometimes we have to impart some information that is not interesting in the least.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a sad fact of life in the business world, and one that is not likely to change no matter how slick our technology may get.\u00c2\u00a0 Even when we have those holographic briefing centers from science fiction films, it will still be hard to keep people interested in a presentation on TPS reports.<\/p>\n

So what to do?\u00c2\u00a0 First of all, you need to know when you are being a bit of a bore<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lots of ways to tell this, from body language and averted glances to a lack of participation.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes just the awareness that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re boring the other parties is enough to make you change your tune.\u00c2\u00a0 Ask some more questions, try to wrap things up faster, or toss a joke in there from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get frustrated but learn from your experience being the (boring) center of a meeting.\u00c2\u00a0 Work to improve.<\/p>\n

The other piece of the puzzle is to consider carefully what the best mode of presentation might be for the particular information that you need to convey.\u00c2\u00a0 PowerPoint might be the preferred option, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really suited to every type of lecture.\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, not everything needs to be a lecture.\u00c2\u00a0 If you need to teach people something, then make an effort to include some interaction.\u00c2\u00a0 If you need them to listen carefully to a lot of details that you know they won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember, give them a brief overview verbally and then distribute a handout that they can consult only when they need it.\u00c2\u00a0 Be creative.<\/p>\n

Think about one of your favorite professors from back in your college days (or teachers from your high-school days).\u00c2\u00a0 What made their classes more interesting?\u00c2\u00a0 It might have been the subject material, but more than likely they were also an interesting orator who varied their style regularly and encouraged participation.\u00c2\u00a0 These aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just good ideas for teachers — we can use them quite effectively during business meetings if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re willing to practice and pay attention to our audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by John J. Walters It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone does it from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 It usually happens when you are talking about some topic that you care about more passionately than the conversation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s other participants, like that time you did that thing in that place with those people.\u00c2\u00a0 It gets even harder to be interesting in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.meetingcaptain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}