This month ALALearning bloggers are focusing on how learning is done in our organizations.  Having started at the MPOW just a few short months ago I am still learning how learning happens– formally and informally — in the organization.

So rather than address the question narrowly, I’d like to look more broadly at the topic and suggest that the foundation for learning in any organization is having a culture of curiosity.  Whether you are promoting learning in your organization through self-paced online tutorials, face-to-face workshops and discussions, or sharing of annotated bookmarks, learning will not happen in any real or consistent way unless there is a strong shared value of curiosity.

Why do I assert this?  Because an attitude of curiosity is the only known antidote to the single biggest block to learning: the idea that we already have the answer (and it’s 1^st cousin, “I don’t care about the answer”.)  Being in a state of curiosity means looking out at the world, collecting data, observing human behaviors and interactions, and asking “why?” and “what if?”  These questions are humbling.  They bring down our blocks and mitigate our filters and invite new data to enter our minds, and creatively find new ways to integrate and organize organizing data with a goal of understanding.
THE VALUE OF A CULTURE OF CURIOSITY

One of the most powerful effects of cultivating a consciousness and culture of curiosity is that it greatly enhances communication and the quality of relationships.  Communication (and thus learning) is shut down when we assume we understand the motivations of others, and all too often we ascribe negative motivations to others without pausing to contemplate their perspective.

Curiosity creates space for that pause.  When we are in a place of deep and authentic curiosity about others, it is impossible to simultaneously be in a place of judgment, which is a closing of ourselves to other ways of seeing.  When we curiously ask why, we  open to the idea that others have a unique and valuable perspective that can expand our own data set and worldview.  Asking why leads to conversation and exploration, which in turn leads us to a deeper understanding of how others experience the world, their motivations, and their choices.  And this deeper understanding, in turn, helps to reinforce our own consciousness of curiosity, and thus our own personal culture of learning.

I am curious about what has worked for you.  How is learning promoted in your organization?   What tools, methods, tips, tricks have worked for you?   Drop your thoughts in the comment section!

Peter Bromberg

Learning in Action (cc 2.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/wisemandarine/2411122894/)

The New York Times reported this week that researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have found that rats don’t learn from experience until they take a break from the experience.  The break gives them time to process and create persistent memories.  Furthermore, the researchers believe that their findings almost certainly apply to the way humans learn. Uh oh…

Why uh oh?  Because many humans are increasingly connected to our ipads, blackberrys, smartphones, and laptops, keeping our brains engaged continually throughout the day.  And while all of that ubiquitous connectivity offers us the possibility of reaching heretofore unreachable levels of efficiency and productivity it seems that it might come at a price:  The Times reports that “when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas. ”

Having recently started a new job, I can attest to the fact that there’s nothing like a silent drive or a brief nap to process and organize a great deal of new information.  My 45 minute commute home might be the most productive part of my day, as that’s where all of the sense-making is happening.  Strange as it may seem, sleeping has also been incredibly productive as I awake many mornings with a number of ideas synthesized from the previous day’s conversations, observations, and readings.

So as we come to the end of another summer and start getting geared up for the busier days of Fall let’s take a moment to remember:  There might be no better way to learn than by stopping, unplugging, and doing absolutely nothing.

Peter Bromberg

The Learning Round Table co-sponsored (along with ALA) a Battledecks competition at ALA, and (perhaps I’m understating this) a good time was had by all.  Below is the video to prove it!

Battledecks is a fun improv exercise that challenges contestants to deliver a presentation on the fly using an unknown slidedeck containing random (and often hilarious) slides.  The contestants are judged on their ability to create a coherent presentation that incorporates the slide content smoothly.  Laughs and getting through all of the slides on time are a plus.

If you think Battledecks looks like fun, consider a competition at your next Staff Development Day.  Between contestants, judges, and slidedeck makers, there’s lots of opportunity for involvement—and as you can see from the video below, the audience is pretty involved too!

Direct link to playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=26F1EA6AD67D14D2

A big thanks to Janie Hermann for coordinating the Battledecks event, and to all of our judges and slidemakers!  A special thanks to our good friend John LeMasney of 365sketches.org for designing and sharing (through Creative Commons license) a wonderful Battledecks logo!

Peter Bromberg

I recently had the pleasure of co-presenting a full day preconference with my wife Suzanne. (The workshop, entitled, “What’s Your Style? 9 Paths to Personal and Professional Development” was based on the Enneagram personality System)  I’ve co-presented with others many times over the past 15 years and strongly believe that, for a number of reasons, co-presenting can be very beneficial and raise the overall quality of the workshop and the experience of the participants.

For starters, if you are co-developing a workshop as well as co-presenting it (which is common), the quality and organization of the material greatly benefits from a joint perspective. With two brains reviewing the content, errors are reduced and points are clarified.  Likewise, the logical sequencing of the content will also be improved.  We all know (probably from some amount of bitter experience) that what is crystal clear and logical to us as presenters, is not always so clear to those we present to.  The benefits of co-developing a workshop are magnified when presenters have different styles, and if you have a choice I encourage you to find someone most unlike yourself to present with.  Be warned that presenting with someone very different can create friction.  But you can choose to reframe that friction by reminding yourself often that the differences which cause friction are the same differences which will improve the quality of your presentation.

Based on my very recent experience in co-preparing and co-presenting with someone who had a VERY different style than me, here are nine reflections on co-preparing and co-presenting a full day workshop.

On Preparing

1. Play to your strengths: Inevitably, you and your co-presenter will have different strengths. If you don’t know each other well and/or haven’t presented together before, spend some time discussing what each of you does best, and then make an initial plan to divide the duties and tasks based on your strengths.
   
   
2. Set benchmarks.  Assess progress. Reset benchmarks. Working with someone else will generally take more time than working alone.  Also, it’s not uncommon for two people to have very different senses about when certain things need to be done.  For example, I can be cool as a cucumber even when I haven’t finished writing a talk a day before it’s going to be given.  My wife is stressed when she doesn’t have a talk written and practiced two weeks prior.  Setting benchmarks for progress and frequently checking in on progress is a useful way to keep everyone’s stress level down, while moving forward on deliverables at an even pace.
   
   
3. Work separately and together. Schedule Business Meetings. I found great value in coming together with my co-presenter to set goals and deliverables, moving apart to work separately, and then coming back together to review, refine, and integrate each other’s work.  Setting regular business meetings, on a calendar, with an agenda of what you would like to accomplish, goes a long way towards creating a high quality, well-sequenced presentation in a way that is manageable, and not overwhelming.
   
   
4. Have a Full Dress Rehearsal. No matter how good your lesson plan is, you WILL find problems and areas for improvement during a full dress rehearsal.  Better to find them during rehearsal then during the actual presentation.  ‘Nuff said.
   
   
5. Mind your version control and coordinate backups. My wife and I used a shared dropbox folder to share all materials.  She could see and revise what I was working on and vice-versa.  On the off-chance that dropbox disappeared overnight, I also had our home computer backing up to an external hard-drive.   When all documents and powerpoints were finalized, I put one complete set of everything on three laptops (two were mine, one was my wife’s) and also put a complete set on two flash drives, one for me and one for her.  When we made the inevitable last minute changes, I made sure to update in dropbox and refresh all backup copies accordingly.  Being the least detail-oriented person in the world, I’m also the one to overcompensate the most when necessary!
   
   

On Presenting

1. Set Ground rules with each other. It is possible that you and your co-presenter have different ideas about what is appropriate behavior when one is presenting and the other isn’t.  One of the biggest areas of possible conflict involves whether or not it is ok to interject, correct, or otherwise interrupt your partner while they are presenting.  One of the great values of co-presenting is that your partner is well-positioned to read the facial expressions and body language of participants and is likely to be more cued in to times when participants are confused, and in need of clarification.  For that reason, I encourage everyone that co-presents to open themselves to the interjections of their presenting partners, and allow for a free back-and-forth regardless of who has the floor.  Additionally it is good for each presenter to….
   
   
2. Have complete copies and understanding of each other’s script and materials. Having complete copies of each other’s scripts (and/or outlines, and/or key points) can greatly increase the quality of the presentation for two reasons:  1) It ensures that no highly relevant points are forgotten or glossed over (if they are, your co-presenter can either alert you or interject.) and 2) It frees each presenter up from having to memorize or read excessively directly from notes.  It frees us up to make more eye contact, speak more naturally and conversationally, and connect more deeply with the audience, because we know we have a safety net of sorts; our co-presenter won’t let anything important get missed.
   
   
3. Leave specific timing off of the participant agenda and modify timing/content on the fly. I suppose this could go under “Preparing” too…  I highly recommend having a few versions of how the actual presentation can play out–a few different agendas that you share with your co-presenter but not with participants.  Additionally, it is good to have additional modules (activities) and content that you don’t necessarily plan to use, but could slot in depending on timing (if you’re running short) or the interest of the participants.  When my wife and I recently co-presented, we noted on our private agenda where certain portions could be expanded or moved, and where other modules that we had “in the can” could be inserted.  Throughout the day we adjusted our presentation.  The participant agenda was worded broadly, and only noted beginning, ending, and lunch times, which allowed us to keep to their agenda while making significant adjustments to ours along the way.
   
   
4. Restrain yourselves from talking too much.  My growth as a presenter over the past few years has been to present less, and facilitate more.  When I present, especially when I present on a topic that I’m passionate and knowledgeable about, I want to cram 20 hours of material into 8 hours of workshop.   A few years ago Dr. Marie Radford shared some invaluable feedback with me after I guest lectured for her.  In a nutshell, she said, “Less is more.”  She advised me to cut, cut, cut the material, and spend more time talking with the students and less time talking at them.  She suggested I give them the concepts and then invite them to reflect and discuss, and in that way the learning would be grounded in their own experience.   So I pass along Marie’s helpful advice, as it becomes doubly tempting with two presenters to, well, present!  Be extra mindful to structure your presentation in such a way as to present the key concepts, and then allow the participants to speak, question, reflect, challenge, and discuss — even if that means you don’t cover everything.  (That’s what handouts are for!  And websites.)
   
   

I firmly believe that a co-presented workshop — especially a full-day workshop — has the potential to be better organized, more complete and nuanced, and more engaging than a workshop presented solo.  Yes, it’s likely going to be more work for you (if you’re counting the hours and minutes of prep time), but it is also an opportunity for you to learn from someone with a different style, a different knowledge base, and a different viewpoint.  Ultimately, preparing and presenting a workshop with another person can be an engaging and rewarding experience for all involved, and I encourage everyone to give it a try!

Peter Bromberg

Good webinars don’t just happen.  Beyond having a relevant topic and a great presenter, there are a number factors that affect the end result.  Whether you are scheduling and producing webinars, or creating and presenting them, these tips will help you deliver a great webinar experience for everyone.

1. Write for the medium: Regardless of the webinar platform you use, tailor the lesson plan to the webinar environment.  Most webinars consist of an audio feed, a chat space, and a space that allows the presenter to share a slideshow, and possibly share their desktop or a whiteboard.  The webinar environment doesn’t allow for the useful visual cues that body language and eye contact provide in a f2f environment, and may not even provide audio feedback for the presenter.  For these reasons, well-designed lessons that work like a charm in a f2f environment might fail to engage the audience and hold their attention in a webinar environment.
   

   
   You can mitigate these issues and engage the audience by building in more questions, and taking advantage of whatever interactive features are offered in your platform.  Does your platform offer polling?  Use it!  Shared whiteboard?  Use it!  Hand-raising or yes/no capability for participants?  Use them!!
   

   MORE INTERACTION
   I like to start webinars by posting a map of the state (or country) and asking participants to use the arrow tool in Wimba to point to where they are on the map.  This communicates to the participants early on that the webinar will not be a passive experience for them–they are going to be involved.  I also work with trainers/presenters to build in slides/questions that can be drawn on (literally) during the webinar, and encourage presenters to include these types of interactive activities throughout the presentation.  At minimum, plan on using more questions, and using them early, to mentally engage participants and create the expectation that they will not be passive observers.
   

2. Know your platform:  There are many good webinar platforms out there including Acrobat Connect Pro, iLInc, Elluminate, Wimba, WebEx, DimDim, and GoToWebinar.  Each platform has its own benefits and its own limitations.  You wouldn’t go into a f2f training without knowing the room layout and the availability of training tools such as chartpads, markers, laptop, AV, projectors, screen, etc., so don’t go into your webinar environment without knowing the layout, the tools available, and how to use them.   Most webinar platforms offer some great screen-shot heavy help files and/or recorded screencasts you can use to learn the layout and the tools.  Find them.  Use them.  Once you know your platform…
3. Test, Test Test: The most common reason a webinar tanks is technology failure.  Wait, let me rephrase that.  The failure is not the technology, but the failure of the webinar producer, presenter, and participants to account for the platform’s limitations, and prepare and test their computers.  Each platform has it’s own requirements regarding browsers, operating systems, necessary bandwidth, and downloads/plugins recommended or required.  Each platform generally offers a simple link that can be clicked to setup/test the user’s computer.  Every person involved in the webinar must click the setup link prior to the webinar and make certain their computer is set up, tested, and ready to go.  Send this information out early and often to the participants. And make sure the presenter has tested/setup the computer they will be presenting from, and make sure it is a wired, not wireless, connection. 
   Let everyone know the preferred method of audio participation.  Nothing beats a good noise-canceling headset. (I love my Logitech Premium Notebook Headset.)  If you’re offering dial-in access, send/post the number/PIN.  If participants are going to use laptop or desktop speakers, make sure they know to mute their microphones!  Nothing ruins a webinar faster than feedback (which is why you also need to know how to mute participants individually or en masse–it’s a lifesaver.)
4. Practice, Practice, Practice Whether you are the webinar producer, presenter, or both (not recommended), it is imperative that you log some practice time in the webinar environment.   I highly recommend that there is at least one “producer” in the webinar (i.e. someone other than the presenter who knows the webinar platform cold.)  The more experienced the producer, the less time the presenter has to practice–but the presenter ALWAYS has to practice.  At minimum, the presenter should know how to advance slides (if using them), and how to log out and log back in again, in case of a network interruption.  Desktop/application sharing, a vital part of some webinars, adds a higher level of complication, and usually requires the presenter to master the application sharing mechanism–something that is not always simple or intuitive.  The producer needs to know everything else: How to advance slides, how to mute participants, how to expand/limit control of various room features (whiteboards, control of microphone, etc.), how to toggle between various features (polls, whiteboards, slides.)
5. THE ACTUAL EVENT:  So, the presenter has written a great lesson, you’ve learned your platform inside and out, everything has been setup and tested.  Now there’s just the little matter of actually having the webinar!  Here are a few tips that I’ve found will greatly reduce problems and add to the overall quality on the day of the event:

• Arrive early: Both the presenter and producer should arrive at least 15 minutes early to get logged in and do a final test to make sure the technology is working, and do one final review of the tools/features to be used.
• Webinar Environment Review: Before the presenter begins the lesson/presentation, spend five minutes doing a brief review of the webinar environment with participants.  Walk them through playing with the features that they will be using during the webinar (writing tools, pointing tools, etc.)
• Have a wingman (or woman): In webinar parlance, the wingman is the the producer’s assistant.  The wingman ideally knows the webinar platform inside and out, and is available to help participants with any tech/audio issues, and keep an eye on chat for questions or problems.
• Recording: Yeah, it’s a newbie mistake, but it happens to everyone.  Don’t forget to hit “record”!  (I put this right into my script in 24 point bold type.  But then again, I need notes to myself to remember to leave the house with my pants on in the morning.  Whatever works for you.)
• Take notes during the webinar: During the course of the webinar many useful resources and/or URL’s may be mentioned by the presenter or by the participants in chat.  It’s a great value-added service if you can capture these resources and post them with the recording and other handouts (i.e. the presenter’s slideshow, supporting documents) after the webinar.
• Save the chat: Before logging out, copy and paste everything in the chat into a word document and save that document… Besides being a good backup for the recording, having a text copy of the chat to share with the webinar participants after the webinar can help them quickly  find useful pieces of information that may have been shared in chat.  I treat the chat transcript as semi-confidential and I don’t post it–but depending on the webinar I will send copies directly to those who participated.
• Extend the Learning. Post the recording, notes, handouts:  Finally, spend some time in post-production (the specifics vary with each webinar platform) and get the recording posted to a website along with related documents and the presenter’s presentation, if available.

I hope you find these five tips useful in creating or presenting your webinars.  Let us know what works for you!

Peter Bromberg

A small meme developed on Twitter yesterday prompted by the following tweet by David Wedamen,  “Just had a GREAT idea from @brandeislibn. Conferences should be built around TEACHING not PRESENTING. Wouldn’t that be something?” (Thanks to Michael Stephens for retweeting and bringing to my attention.)

Alice Yucht built on the idea with her tweet, “how about Conferences should be about LEARNING, not Show-n-Tell ?”,  which got me thinking about how we approach conferences, and conference presentations, in the library profession.  If the goal of the conference is that attendees will learn, what do conference presentations have to look like to achieve that goal?

I believe the goal of presenting should be to a create a change in the listener;  a change of behavior, thinking and/or feeling.  Any good teacher or trainer will tell you that to be effective in creating that change, you must begin with the learning objective(s) in mind, and work backwards from there to design the lesson or the talk.

CONFERENCE PRESENTING: THE CART BEFORE HORSE?

Wedamen’s tweet points out an interesting feature of many library conferences—they seem to be designed around topics that presenters wish to present on, more than they are designed around, or focused on, the learning that participants need.  In too many conference presentations speakers design their talks as core dumps of data, or long, dry recountings of “how we did it good”, without giving enough attention to the key question, “As a result of hearing me speak, people will do/think/feel_________ “(fill in the blank).

The answer to that question is the main organizing principle, the guiding star, of any well-constructed talk.  Leaving out all of the other variables that go into an effective presentation (emotion, humor, pacing, eye contact, vocal variety, body language, visuals, questions, room environment, acoustics, etc.) it is very difficult to have a successful presentation if what constitutes success is a mere afterthought (or worse, if success is constituted by the fact that the speaker got a chance to speak at a conference…)

PUT THAT HORSE BACK!  TEN THINGS YOU CAN DO TO EFFECTIVELY PROMOTE LEARNING WITH YOUR TALK

1. Ask, “What do I want them to do, think, and/or feel as a result of hearing this program?” Ask and answer this question before you write one word or create one slide.  The answer to this question is your OBJECTIVE.  Let the objective guide you continually as you construct your presentation, throwing aside anything that does not help achieve the goal of the talk.

   

2. Share your objectives with the audience at some point during your presentation–preferably during the first few minutes.  If the audience knows what you intend to achieve with the talk it will give them context that will help them make meaning and ground the learning.  It will also help them evaluate whether you have effectively achieved your goal.  Or not.
   
   
3. Have a strong opening. The first two minutes of your talk gives you a great opportunity to grab and hold the audience’s attention, but it’s likely that you already have their attention during the first two minutes.  It’s the next 58 that present the challenge!  So what do I mean by a strong opening?  I mean an opening that engages the audience, creates some positive expectation for the rest of the talk, and/or provides a framework for the learning that is about to take place.  Olivia Mitchell, who blogs over at Speaking and Presenting, suggests three possible openings –  Organized Opening, Story Opening, Dramatic Opening — and discusses when/why to use each.
   
   
4. Use examples to illustrate your points.  For example…  Don’t just say, “Merchandising your collection is good.”  Say, “When we created a ‘recently returned’ display at the front door and displayed them all covers out, 98% of them recirculated within the same day and our circulation stats increased 20%.”  Examples support the learning by attesting to the truth of your message, and also help ground the learning by clarifying and fleshing out your meaning.
   
   
5. Use simple, clear, engaging visuals to reinforce your points (or don’t use them at all.)   Good visuals can help you focus the audience’s attention, help them make meaning, and promote future recall, by connecting intellectual ideas with visual representations. As for bullet points… I’m not one of those people that believes bullet points should never be used, but if you use them, do it sparingly, with a  large readable font, and a supporting image (if room permits.)
   
   
6. Tell stories.  Our brains are actually wired to enjoy stories.  And because stories have the power to simultaneously engage the listener both cognitively AND emotionally, they are highly effective in getting your point across (assuming you know your point–see #1).  And speaking of engaging the listener…
   
   
7. Appeal to emotions as well as reason.  Unless you are presenting on the planet Vulcan, your audience probably consists of human beings, and research shows that it is our emotions that lead us to act.  If your goal is get listeners to DO SOMETHING, you need to rouse some feeling within them by appealing to their empathy, their self-interest, or some combination of both.  As the Heath Brothers suggest in Made to Stick, you want to appeal, “not only to the people they are right now but also to the people they would like to be.”
   
   
8. Practice, Practice, Practice: There is no substitute for practicing your talk, preferably in front of others, to work out the kinks, identify and clarify muddied points, and become comfortable with the material.  When you know your talk cold you will relax, let you personality show, and more easily connect with the audience. You may have noticed that it’s difficult to connect with a presenter who reads his talk in a monotone and seldom glances up from his notes.  Conversely, it is very easy to tune out and start twittering during such a talk.
   
   
9. Have a strong closing, and telegraph when it’s coming.  You don’t have to bring tears to the audience’s eyes, or bring them to their feet.  But you do need to let them know that you’re wrapping it up, and use the closing as an opportunity to reinforce your goal.  You can do this by simply restating your main points and asserting why/how the listener will benefit by doing what you want them to do. Or you can end with a provocative question (engaging them cognitively), or with a story (engaging them emotionally).  However you choose to close your presentation, use vocal variety and word choice to telegraph that your are concluding so the audience realizes that it is now appropriate to clap wildly.
   
   
10. WHAT ARE YOUR IDEAS? I’m leaving #10 blank for suggestions.  What do you do to effectively promote learning in your talks?  What have speakers done that have helped you as a learner/listener?
    
    

Peter Bromberg sometimes talks, sometimes listens, sometimes learns, sometimes tweets, and sometimes blogs over at Library Garden.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gruenenrw | CC BY-SA 2.0

Peter Bromberg

Lori Reed, our intrepid blog manager, has asked each of the ALAlearning bloggers to begin the New Year by telling a little bit about ourselves.  I had no idea what I was going to write.  Enter Maurice Coleman, he of T-is-for-Training fame (and fellow ALALearning blogger), who sent around a fun training meme.  Voila!  Instant getting-to-know-ya template.

So here, in a slightly modified form (Maurice suggested one sentence answers, but — notice my attention to detail here– I didn’t notice that until after I finished writing my post) is a little bit about me.

1. Your One Sentence Bio: I’m just a simple librarian trying to make it in this crazy world.
   
   
2. Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name? I blog with a bunch of wonderful people over at Library Garden.   We’re all from New Jersey which is the Garden State (no laughing, we’re 2nd in blueberry production, 3rd in cranberry production, 3rd in spinach, 4th in bell peppers, 4th in peach production, not to mention our tomatoes, corn, etc.) so we called ourselves Library Garden.  I almost immediately regretted it though because the blog was conceived for a national audience and there was a tendency early on by some bloggers to post only about parochial NJ items.  We got past that issue though and it’s been a great ride ever since.
   
   
3. What is your professional background? My first job out of college was working for Nordstrom, which I really view as the foundation of my professional experience.  It was wonderful to work for a company whose culture was steeped in customer service and employee empowerment.  I’ve been unable to work (for long) in any other type of environment ever since.   I received my MLS from Rutgers SCILS in 1992.  My internship was in the AT&T Law Library (I thought I wanted to be a law librarian.)  My first job was for the Spokane County Library District where I worked as both a reference and YA librarian. I then worked at the EPA in Manhattan, learning a lot in a relatively short time from a certain Free Range Librarian.  From there I moved on to Head of Reference Services at the Camden County Library for four years, and then to the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative in 2001 as Program Coordinator, and more recently as Assistant Director.  Among other duties, I currently provide continuing education to over 600 libraries in the southern seven counties of New Jersey.  If you’re looking for the best job in librarianship, please accept my apology–it’s taken.
   
   
4. What training do you do? staff? patrons? types of classes? These days I do more scheduling of training then actual training, but I somehow still managed to do some speaking or training 14 times last year.  (I wouldn’t have guessed it was that much.)  Most of my training/speaking is for library staff.   I talk about change, the future, technology, effectiveness, training, virtual reference, cool tools, communication, teamwork, goal-setting, etc.  As a creative generalist I’ve never quite found a niche.  I’m the nicheless librarian (hmmm… maybe I should buy that domain right now…)
   
   
5. What training do you think is most important to libraries right now? The most important thing for us to focus on is Information literacy in the broadest sense.  And I don’t mean we need to teach others about information literacy (although that is a role for us), I mean we need to be information literate, and think of information literacy in a new way.  Librarians and library staff need to understand how the world of information behavior is changing.  How do people produce, search for, track, consume and process information?  How are technologies and economies of scale (think: mobile phones, social networking) affecting the role that information plays in our lives?  How are human relationships being affected, and how does this all relate to the role of libraries in society and in peoples’ lives?  These are the questions that would keep me up at night if I wasn’t such a sound sleeper.
   
   
6. Where do you get your training? I don’t get trained that much these days, but do sit in on many workshops that I schedule, so I pick up bits and pieces all year long.  I also take advantage of webinars as much as possible (thanks Webjunction!)   Most of my learning occurs through… oh wait, that’s the next question…
   
   
7. How do you keep up?
   1. Blog Reading (155 feeds and counting) through Google Reader (which I only recently started using–and I’m really loving.)   There are also a handful of blogs that I subscribe to through email (thank you feedmyinbox) because I want instant notification and/or don’t want to miss a single post.
   2. Twitter: I’ve cultivated a great network of tweeps who are always tweeting something incredibly interesting, thought-provoking, or just plain entertaining.  Follow me, I’ll follow you: http://twitter.com/pbromberg.
   3. Listservs: Digref, Publib, many NJ library listservs, and ALA/NJLA listservs, among others.
   4. Old School: I read Library Journal, Public Libraries, American Libraries, and a variety of Association newsletters.  (Maybe listservs belong under the “Old School” category too?)
      
      
8. What do you think are the biggest challenges libraries are facing right now?
   1. Figuring out our place in the rapidly changing world. While I think every business and organization is facing a similar challenge, the challenge to libraries is exponential because so many of the changes directly affect how people find and use information which goes to the core of our mission.
   2. Marketing/Telling our Story:  For years and years libraries have had a pass; we haven’t had to work very hard to demonstrate our value, and some librarians (still) seem to actively resent the idea that we should have to demonstrate our value.  Those days are over and getting overer. (Hey, I like that quote–maybe bartelby’s will pick it up.)  Which is one reason I was so pleased to see The M Word on LISNews’ list of blogs to read in 2010.  If you’re not already reading The M Word, I cordially invite you to begin.
   3. Focusing on Customer Experience.  To simplify as much as possible, but not simpler:  If our customers have a good experience when they interact with the library or any portion thereof, we’re golden.  If they don’t, we’re toast.   (Note:  I recently posted a piece on customer experience, with a basic overview and suggested links. )
      
      
9. What exciting things are you doing training wise? Any training I do these days is exciting.  Right now I’m working (with my wife) on putting together a full day preconference on the Enneagram.   This is very exciting!
   
   
10. What do you wish were you doing? As an Enneagram nine, I’m not sure I know what I wish I were doing.   But playing tennis or laughing with my wife is always better than a poke in the eye.
    
    
11. What’s your favorite food? Pizza.  Purchased somewhere in NY, NJ or the Philly area.  If you’re not buying pizza in one of these geographic areas it’s not really pizza.  Sorry, it’s not.  (OK, an exception for Chicago deep-dish.  As long as you qualify it.)
    
    
12. If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you want to have with you? A book on how to survive on a desert island for less than five dollars a day.  And a sturdy guitar–maybe I’d finally learn how to play it!
    
    
13. Talk about one training moment you’d like to forget? Once, while teaching a class on communication, I used the old example of a loaded question, “So, are you still beating your wife.”  As a man presenting to a group of mostly women, I quickly realized that perhaps a better example was called for.  Such are the dangers of ad-libbing.  I felt terrible.  Awful.  Embarrassed.  But at the end of the day, it was still better than digging ditches.
    
    
14. How did you get into this line of work? I was going to be a teacher but then had a dream (yes, an “I was asleep at the time” dream dream dream type dream) that suggested librarianship might be a good career.  So I went to library school instead of for a Masters of Ed.  I think this story is true.  I’m almost certain it is.  And if it isn’t, it should be.
    
    
15. What is the best part of your job? It’s hard to pick a best part of a great job.  I suppose I enjoy a certain amount of freedom and creative control, and I enjoy that my job brings me into contact with so many people.
    
    
16. Why should someone else follow in your shoes? This question reminds me of  a story from Martin Buber’s Tales of the Hasidism, which I will now paraphrase to the best of my recollection.  The gist of it:   Samuel, a very devout man who is struggling to be good in the eyes of the Lord, approaches the Rabbi and asks, “Rabbi, should I try to be more like Moses or more like Abraham?”  The Rabbi replies, “Rather than trying to be more like Moses, or more like Abraham, the Lord would be pleased if you tried to be more like Samuel.”  And that’s all I have to say about that.  (note added 1/11/10–As a geeky librarian, it’s been bothering me that I probably got this story a little wrong–it’s been 20+ years since I read it, and I think I conflated two stories.  In any case, here is a more accurate version of one of the stories, the gist being more or less the same)
    
    
17. Sushi or hamburger? Both, thank you.
    
    
18. LSW or ALA? A false dichotomy if there ever was one.
    
    
19. What one person in the world do you want to have lunch with and why? I would love to have lunch with my paternal grandfather.  He passed away when I was two so I never really got to know him, and by all accounts he was a decent, and gentle man.  And I have a feeling he’d pick up the tab even if I insisted otherwise.
    
    
20. What cell phone do you have and why? I just bought an iphone five days ago because Verizon gave me such terrible service, compounded by billing errors–ugh, I’m exhausted just thinking about it… The iphone has been fun but all of a sudden I’m getting “no service”, so I hope this doesn’t turn into a problem as some quick googling suggests it might.  Fingers crossed!

Peter Bromberg

Steven Bell (who writes often and well on the topic of usability and customer experience over at the Designing Better Libraries blog) recently turned me on to an thought-provoking video of Jesse James Garrett discussing his ideas on User Experience at the Adaptive Path UX Week 2009 Conference.  (Jump to the bottom of this post to see the video)

Garrett’s ideas are simple to understand and elegantly presented.  Since watching the video,  I find myself increasingly seeing the world through UX (user experience) eyes.  It’s occurred to me that Garrett’s ideas on user experience also lay out a simple roadmap for engaging learners. In fact, many teachers and trainers probably already use UX principles effectively, whether they do so consciously or not.

FOUR WAYS TO ENGAGE LEARNERS

Garrett suggests that there are four primary ways that we can engage users:

1. Perception (Senses):  Engaging through sight, sound, smell, etc.
2. Action (body/kinesthetic): Engaging through movement and physical action.
3. Cognition (mind): Engaging through thought, reflection, logic, imagination.
4. Emotion (heart): Engaging through emotion, feelings.

Four Ways to Engage Learners

You’ll notice that two types of engagement (perception/action) involve direct engagement with the external world, while the other two types (cognition/emotion) are internal engagements.

Reflecting on my own experiences  I realized that the most successful, effective trainings I’ve been involved with, as both a learner and a trainer, offered a balanced engagement in all four areas.

I think there is an opportunity for trainers and teachers to bring their lessons to the next level by consciously designing learning experiences (LX) that engage learners in all four areas.  In other words, I believe that Good UX=Good LX.

USER EXPERIENCE: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

One example of what it looks like when it all comes together (i.e. when people are engaged, internally through emotion and cognition, as externally through their actions, and perceptions) is illustrated beautifully in this video, The Fun Theory in which researchers replace regular stairs with “piano key” stairs.  What do you think happens?  Click play to find out…

So how were the people in this video being engaged? I observed:

1. Perception (sound, music, visual stimulation of piano key stairs)
2. Action (jumping, stepping, climbing)
3. Cognition (curiosity, decision-making; choosing between stairs/escalator; processing the cause/effect of walking on the stairs)
4. Emotion (fun, fun, fun!  Joy of the unexpected.  Joy of seeing others having fun.  Sense of community, and sharing in a novel experience.)

Did you observe any other types of engagement?

Thinking about your own experiences,  can you recall ways in which you’ve successfully engaged your learners or been engaged as a learner? Share your suggestions and experiences in the comments section. And if you find these concepts useful in designing future learning experiences please drop a line and let us know!

(see the complete Garrett video on user experience–well worth a watch–below)

Jesse James Garrett on The State of User Experience, UX Week 2009

• Eye:  cc Attribution 2.0 Generic
• Mouse Click: cc Attribution 2.0 Generic
• Thinker:  cc Attribution 2.0 Generic
• Hand Smile:  cc Attribution Share-alike 2.0 Generic

Looking for creative commons images?  Try Sprixi!

Peter Bromberg

Image by Hamed. CC 2.0

Finding Your Voice(s)

If you’ve ever taken a class (or read a book or article) on how to speak effectively in public you’ve probably heard the refrain, “find your voice.” Usually this is meant as an exhortation to let your unique, authentic, personal style shine through no matter what the talk or situation. While there is great value in knowing your style, I suggest that speakers who aspire to move beyond the novice level should seek to find not only their voice, but their voices.

Expanding your Palette

We all have a natural speaking style or “voice”. Our voice is more than just our timbre, accent, or pacing, although these characteristics are certainly part of our overall style. Our voice may also be colored by our tendency to be either casual or formal; highly structured or stream-of-consciousness; sedate or inspirational. Whatever your natural speaking style I assure you, there are situations to which it is well-suited and appropriate, and situation to which it is NOT well suited. There will be situations where you own natural voice, or style, will detract from your goal, and the adoption of other styles, will enhance your ability to get your message across.

Since the ultimate goal of any speaking engagement is to effectively communicate with the audience, and (hopefully) create some change in their thinking or behavior, it is therefore important to be able to tailor your style to a specific audience, in a specific time, at a specific place. That is why it is helpful to have a palette of voices to choose to from depending on what we are trying to accomplish in any given talk or training.

Step One: Know Thyself

The first step to effectively using many voices is to be aware of your natural style. You must know what it is you do, if you want to consciously choose to do something else. While painful for many, there is no better way to learn your own natural voice than to video yourself speaking. (yes, I’m afraid you then need to watch the video. Repeatedly.) Once you know and are comfortable with your natural voice, the next step is to begin expanding your palette of styles. Ideally, you should be able to choose from a variety of different styles, changing or modifying your natural voice as the needed. Some situations will call for a casual folksiness, while others will call for a confident professionalism. There are situations that require upbeat enthusiasm or inspiration, while in other situations your effectiveness will be increased by a sober, dispassionate style. Being able to slip into appropriate styles at the appropriate times will greatly enhance your effectiveness as a presenter.

Step Two: Know Others

There is really only one way to consciously incorporate other styles into your speaking toolkit: Watch other speakers with an eye for differing styles, and then practice speaking like they do. A great resource for seeing top tier speakers with markedly different styles is the archive of “TED Talks” available at: http://www.ted.com/ . TED Talks are eighteen minute talks billed as “riveting talks by remarkable people”, and boy do the speeches live up to the hype! After watching a few TED Talks, you’ll quickly see that there are a myriad of effective styles. Watch Sir Ken Robinson (http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html)

and then watch Tony Robbins (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html).

They have vastly different styles. Watch their body language and use of gesture, their pace, their level of formality and choice of words. Each talk is brilliant and engaging, but in very different ways. Try watching one TED Talk every week and keep a notebook with notes on the elements of each speaker’s style, and how those elements make them more or less effective. Also think about when and how those elements might increase your effectiveness if you were able to use them at will.

Step Three: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? (Practice)

Once you know your own style, and have identified elements of other speakers’ styles that you might like to use, the next step is to get out there and start speaking. In addition (or instead of) speaking to community groups, colleagues, or library customers, consider joining (or starting) a local Toastmasters chapter. Why Toastmasters? Because the very structure of Toastmasters requires you to give many speeches in a variety of styles. Some speeches require you to focus on body language, others focus on being inspirational, persuasive, funny, well-researched, or simply to-the-point. Another great benefit of Toastmasters is that you will receive detailed constructive feedback on all of your speeches—which is at least as valuable, if not more so, than watching yourself on video. Finally, Toastmasters gives you an opportunity to see others giving speeches, so you can continually observe a variety of styles noting what works, what doesn’t, and why. Toastmasters offers speakers that rarest of gifts; a place to try new things and practice in a safe environment.

Speaking in Voices: Putting it All Together

Whether you choose to join Toastmasters or not, I encourage you to try on new voices and find some safe forum for giving talks that are outside of your comfort zone. Learning to speak in a variety of voices is like learning to act outside of your natural personality style: All of us can do it – and to be effective there are times when all of us have to do it– but it takes conscious effort and energy.

One example of how this looks when it all comes together is a short talk (albeit with a long name: What do a leaky roof, a greasy spoon, a bear sighting, and a man with a tortoise in his pants all have in common? Watch this lightening talk and find out… ) I recently did on Effective Presentations at the Pres4lib Presentation Camp. The talk was highly stylized and was very much outside of my own natural presentation style. A number of people who saw this talk but had not seen me speak previously assumed that they were seeing my natural style. In fact, what they saw was the result of specific choices, made to support a specific goal.

Making Conscious Choices

I knew that the presentation was going to be after a lunch and part of a long, full day, so I made certain style choices with a goal of getting and holding the audience’s attention, and re-energizing them to get through the rest of the afternoon. The choices I made to achieve that goal were:

• speaking with greater vocal variety (varying speed and pitch)

• using many engaging visuals

• using humor

• increasing movement and gesture

• using no notes (the first time I’ve done a truly noteless talk—but I wanted to be more free to move/gesture)

All of these conscious choices were outside of my natural style, which meant that this seven minute talk took more time, energy and preparation then many longer talks I’ve done. Many of the elements (the visuals, the humor, the gesturing, the vocal variety) I had practiced as separate skills in many Toastmasters meetings over the past few years, so when it came time to put them together I was able to choose from a fairly rich palette of voices.

My ultimate goal is to be able to easily choose from many styles (Inspiring, Passionate, Funny, Serious, Whimsical, Practical, Irreverent, Self-deprecating, Authoritative, Provocative, Authentic, Motivational, Challenging, Helpful, Informative, Scholarly, Folksy, etc.) and body/voice techniques (Pitch, Inflection, Speed, Volume, Diction, Pauses/silences, Gestures, Body Language, Eye Contact, etc.) and effectively create the right mix, at the right time, for the right audience.

What’s Your Story?

I’d love to hear from you about how you’ve developed your style. What are you tips, tricks and triumphs? Who inspires you to reach a little further, and stretch just a little bit more out of your comfort zone? If you have any good links to videos that you’ve found helpful let me know (or better yet, add them to this shared bookmark group: http://groups.diigo.com/groups/clenert)

Peter Bromberg

CLENE HAPPY HOUR AT ALA
Friday, July 10th, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Potter’s Lounge in the Palmer House Hilton Hotel
17 East Monroe Street, Chicago 60603

Calling all CLENE members, and all those interested in staff development and training.

You’re invited to the CLENE Happy hour at ALA for a few hours of networking, conversation, and a whole lot of fun!  Our Happy Hour coincides with LITA Happy hour, so you can hang and network with two great groups at once!  Hope to see you there. (Cash Bar)

Peter Bromberg