rc charumati

Books, Ideas and Presentations

By Rajeeb Lal Satyal

Few years back, I conducted a session on social marketing approach to create good governance for an INGO. This session was quite off-track for me as I was supposed to have specialized in social marketing of health services and products. But it turned out to be quite engaging and eye opening, as the participants said to me. Next day, hearing about this session, one of my relatives, who was in training business came to my house. He wanted to know what book I read and used in designing this session to be so successful. When I told him that I did not read any book that directly related to good governance, he was disappointed. Perhaps he thought I was lying. He asked me irritatingly well, how can you conduct a session without mastering the subject? I said, I can and I always do. In fact, I love deliberating on an entirely new area and providing a completely different perspective.

I would like to think myself more of a designer than an expert on content; my role as a coach coaxing others' professional ideas rather than mine. I read and use books that do not obviously appear to relate to the area I am going to deliberate on. And my preparations include watching movies, going out for espresso, spending time in the bathroom, sneaking into Flickr for interesting photographs, surfing the Internet, and, if possible, taking a rest. I try to visualize myself making a presentation sometimes even in unconventional places (my wife asked me one morning on a day of presentation, who were you talking to in the bathroom? I told her not to be scared; I was simply practicing my presentation under the shower). Perhaps sometimes, I would love to see the venue of my presentation in advance, and to see few faces before the presentation. But I would not be intimidated by their personalities (as some people look more intelligent and wiser than me).

When I said I see myself more a designer rather than a trainer; what I mean is I don’t see myself trying to tell other professionals how to do the job they already know better. I merely see myself as someone who can help them discover the best in themselves to do better for themselves. I use the same tactics in the business when I am dealing with my colleagues. It will be a failure on my part if my colleagues start looking at me as some kind of expert, to tell them what they should do.

We were talking about relevance of reading book-reading in designing and conducting various professional sessions and, for that matter, designing our own communications with family, friends, and colleagues to our best interest. I can tell you, the success of such communication does not often come with reading obviously titled books. The process is a little more complex; things can not go directly from books to participants or the person whom you are communicating. So never photocopy any part of books for presentation - that will be a fatal mistake. Reading books should be the part of the presenters' on-going life time hobby, not something to do a day two before the presentation. Better concentrate on something you have already eternalized rather than trying to learn something in a rush. And deciding the type of books to read is again not that obvious. For example, as a professional, you don’t buy a book called "how to improve communication" to deliberate on that subject. The titles of books can not always convey their value, and are often misleading. This means, you have to work harder finding the correct books which might not be so obviously entitled, or politically correct.

I have successfully used books like The Art of Seduction, Don't Say YES when you want to say NO, and movies like Anger Management, Take the Lead and Ocean's 11 in designing and deliberating management and marketing sessions. If the participants have to listen to Philip Kotler 's theory of marketing, or social marketing, they would do that at the luxury of their home. After paying so much, they expect some real good stuff, which comes no where from conventional way of preparation that includes copying from books, providing bulk of handouts (which only pose as hoarding problem for presenter as well as the participants), and reading out presentation (which they can read better from the projection than hearing from you).

It needs sincerity to help participants see new perspective, which demands more of your passion, love and creativity than simply reading out books, copying from your reports, or office documents. People don’t pay for imitating what we did in the past, and people don’t pay us for reading out a page from a book we decide to be relevant for their work. They want something new, and innovative that’s worth their time value of money.

By RAJEEB L SATYAL

WWW.RAJEEBSATYAL.COM