communicate better! - powerful problem...
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COMMUNICATE BETTER!(USING LOGIC)
July 2010 (Revised)© Copyright, Arnaud Chevallier. All rights reserved.
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So, you have something to say
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... but you don’t know how to say it
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Using logic can help you improve your thinking and communication
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This presentation shows how to use logic to improve your thinking and communication
Introduce optimally
Include the right
informationTell a story
Choose the order of
components
Use pyramids
Use the right
sequence
Relate each idea w/ others
Optimize w/ additional
tips
Use logic to improve your thinking and communication
5
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Introduce optimally
Include the right
informationTell a story
Choose the order of
components
Use pyramids
Use the right
sequence
Relate each idea w/ others
Optimize w/ additional
tips
Use logic to improve your thinking and communication
6Friday, December 10, 2010
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Primary idea
Primary supporting ideas
Introduction
Supporting data
Effective communications are pyramidal
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Must be a story!
The introduction is a story that takes your audience from what they know to what you want them to know
WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE
KNOWSINTRODUCTION
WHAT YOU WANT YOUR AUDIENCE
TO KNOW
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Every introduction has a situation, a {complication/problem} and a {key question/answer}
And/or
Situation
Complication
Key question
Answer
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The situation is a declaration that you know that your audience agrees with
Establishes time and place
Generates the reaction: “I agree, but so what?” / “Why are you telling me this?”
Contains only the elements critical for understanding this problem
Is self-sufficient: it can be understood without additional information
Is no controversial: your audience has to agree with it
Situation
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The complication builds on the situation to lead to one question: the one that your
communication will solve
Complication Complements the situation with the explicit statement of a problem
By the end of the complication, you must have introduced all the relevant elements for your audience to understand your problem
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The key question and/or answer is the central idea of your communication: the top of your
pyramid
Answer
Situation
Complication
Key question
Introduction
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Sometimes it is convenient to combine the key question and the answer in a single element
Answer
Situation
Complication
Key question
Key question / Answer
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You can modify the order of elements to produce specific effects
Standard (S-C-KQ)
Direct (KQ-S-C)
Preoccupied (C-KQ-S)
Situation
Complication
Key question / Answer
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Introduce optimally
Include the right
informationTell a story
Choose the order of
components
Use pyramids
Use the right
sequence
Relate each idea w/ others
Optimize w/ additional
tips
Use logic to improve your thinking and communication
15Friday, December 10, 2010
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The most important factor to ensure that your message is clear is to present your ideas in the
the right sequence
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Let’s look at an example. Consider receiving the
following card
Dear Chivis,
Do you remember, last Saturday afternoon, when I was playing with my boyfriend and you came? Well, he said that, when I turned around, you gave him a kiss.And Sunday, when you came to my house and my mom prepared a tuna fish salad, and you said: “Yuk, that’s the worst salad I’ve ever had!”?
And yesterday, when my cat got tangled in your legs and you kicked her and threatened to attack her with your dog “Brutus”?Well, for these reasons I hate you and I don’t want to be your friend.
Lucy
Example from Zelazny, Say it with Presentations
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Wouldn’t it be clearer if Lucy had put the central idea first?
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Dear Chivis,
¿Recuerdas que el sábado pasado por la tarde cuando estaba jugando en el parque con mi novio y tú llegaste, él me dijo que cuando les di la espalda, lo besaste?¿Y que el domingo, cuando viniste a mi casa y mi mamá te preparó ensalada de atún para almorzar y dijiste: “¡Fuchi! ¡Es la peor ensalada que he comido!”?¿Y que ayer, cuando mi gata se restregó en tu pierna, la pateaste y amenazaste atacarla con tu perro “Titán”?Bien, por todas estas razones, te odio, y ya no quiero ser tu amiga.
Lucy
Dear Chivis,
I hate you. Here is why:
1. You stole my boyfriend2. You insulted my mom3. You scared my cat
Lucy
Main idea
Supporting arguments
Example from Zelazny, Say it with Presentations
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Lucy hates me
I stole her boyfriend
I insulted her mom
I scared her cat
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The second card is clearer because it establishes a dialogue with the reader...
Why?
Etc.
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Why did Lucy write me this
card?
Why?
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... and she doesn’t have to guess Lucy’s point: she knows from the start and can relate each new element to the original idea
Lucy hates me
I stole her boyfriend
I insulted her mom
I scared her cat
Ok, but does it makes sense?
Ok, so what do I reply?
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Why did Lucy write me this
card?
Chivis may or may not agree with Lucy’s message, but she understands what it is
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The main ideas that support your central idea
The central idea of your message
So it is useful to first present your summary idea and then build a supporting pyramid below
1.
The information that supports each idea
2.
3.
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In a presentation, the title and the index are the parts of the pyramid that your audience notices first…
The title of the presentation is the general idea
The index shows the supporting ideas
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The tagline is the main idea of the slide
The slide’s content supports its tagline
The tagline is an idea, no just a title
The tag line of each slide summarizes its content. It is understandable without the rest of the slide and it coordinates with the tag lines of the other slides
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Our sales are growing
Sales (M$)
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The tag lines of your various slides combine to form the general summary of your communication
You stole my cat
I HATE you
You insulted my momYou stole my boyfriend
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Pyramids are also useful in table of contents and titles of sections
VS.
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Similarly, pyramids are useful to structure paragraphs
PISA is a collaborative effort by governments to monitor student progress in a global framework…
PISA seeks to measure how well young adults, at age of 15 and therefore approaching the end of compulsory schooling are prepared to meet the challenges of today’s knowledge societies. The assessment is forward-looking, focusing on young people’s ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges, rather than merely on the extent to which they have mastered a specific school curriculum. This orientation reflects a change in the goals and objectives of curricula themselves, which are increasingly concerned with what students can do with what they learn at school, and nor merely whether they can reproduce what they have learned.
Key features driving the development of PISA have been:
– Its policy orientation, with design and reporting methods determined by the need of governments to draw policy lessons;
– The innovative “literacy” concept that is concerned with the capacity of students to apply knowledge and skills in key subject areas to analyze, reason and communicate effectively as they pose, solve and interpret problems in a variety of situations;
PISA seeks to assess how well 15-year-olds are prepared for life´s
challenges.
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While building your pyramid, ensure that your ideas are connected to one another
Ideas connect with the ones around them
Ideas within a group are of the same type
Ideas within a group flow logically
1.
2.
3.
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Ideas within the pyramid connect with the ones above, below and at the same level
Each idea...
... supports the point above
... summarizes the ideas below
... connect logically with those at the same level
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So developing the pyramid is an iterative process of grouping and summarizing
1. Grouping ideas: What do the ideas have in common?
2. Summarizing: So what?
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The structures and rules within the pyramid help you to not only communicate your ideas clearly, but also
to discover themThe focus of the pyramid is on ...
• The narrative flow of the introduction
• The vertical relationship between points and sub-points
• The horizontal relationship within a set of sub-points
Vertical Relationships
Horizontal Relationship
Introducción
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Communicate the general idea (that summarizes all the others)
Separate the analysis from the communication
Name groups of ideas
Differentiate induction and deduction
Avoid blank assertions
Pyramids are even more powerful if you watch for key concepts
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Communicate juste one idea: the one that summarizes all the others
?
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You solve problem from the bottom up, but you communicate from the top down. Don’t reproduce your
analysis process in your communication!
Analysis Effective communication
“I know there are things you don t want to hear, but I m enjoying the hell out of saying them.
“´´
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Los elementos de cada grupo deben ser similares; si puedes identificarlos con un nombre, puedes
comprobar la consistencia de tu pirámide
Material Color Corte Patrón MarcaPunto de
venta
Buen diseño Buen prestigio
Buena camisa
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The lateral order depends on whether the grouping is deductive or inductive
Ded
ucti
on
We think there will be a recession in a few
months
During recessions employee satisfaction
drops
Violence is increasing in cities
Indu
ctio
n
Violence is increasing at the border
Violence is increasing in on roads between cities
Mexico is becoming more violent
Therefore we think the satisfaction will drop
We think that employee satisfaction will drop in
a few months
The second argument comments on the first to yield a third
The arguments are similar35
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You can make the same argument with induction or deduction. In your communication, it’s better to use induction
Ana
lysi
sC
omm
unic
atio
n
I’ll hire Emma
Emma qualifies on all accounts
I’m looking for an assistant that can speak Spanish and
organize a project and is willing to travel abroad
Therefore I should hire her
I’ll hire Emma because she meets all my requirements
She is willing to travel
She can speak Spanish
She can organize projects
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When you summarize ideas avoid “blank assertions”; instead identify their essence and
use that as a summary
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I’m hungry
I have no money for the rent
I have two problems
I’m hungry
I have no money for the rent
I need to find: first food, then money
✘ ✔
The summary is blank: it summarizes the ideas below but doesn’t bring any value
The summary is effective: integrating the ideas and analyzing them, it brings a new element (time)
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Closing, you can drastically improve your thinking and communication using logic
So, you have something to say
... but you don’t know how to say it
Introduce optimally Use pyramids
Use logic to improve your thinking and communication
Include the right
information
Tell a story
Choose the order of
components
S-P-PCR
Use the right
Idea central Ideas principales
Apoyo
Visiblesen otros
documentos
Optimize w/ additional tips
Ideasrelacionadas
entre sí
En mismogrupo =
mismo tipoLógicamenteordenadas
Resumelas de abajo
Apoya las del nivelde arriba
Se conectalógicamente con
las de al lado
Visibles enpresenta-
ciones
Relate each idea
Una idea
Identifica grupos con
nombres
Inducciónmejor que deducción
No hacerafirmaciones
en blanco
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References
• B. Minto, The Minto Pyramid Principle, Minto International, 1996
• G. Zelazny, Say It with Presentations, McGraw-Hill, 1999
• http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/staff/gatter/work/051104_The_Minto_Pyramid_Principle.pdf
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See more and download this presentation atpowerful-problem-solving.com
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