Presenters and trainers often feel compelled to use technology's latest bells and whistles to ensure that their presentations are taken seriously. Sure, some fancy features can jazz up a presentation. But are they always necessary? Absolutely not! I'm here to tell you that you can deliver a great presentation without state-of-the-art technology. For example, a well-known environmental consulting company conducts a very effective two-day training course on hazardous waste using only photocopies and a whiteboard.

This series will take a look at the array of visual aid options available to presenters and weigh the pros and cons of each. This will, I hope, help you decide which training aid to use for your own presentations.

General Advice: Assess Your Presentation Before Picking a Tool

The characteristics of the presentation should drive the choice of technology, not the other way around. So before you can select a training aid, ask certain questions about your presentation:

• What type of presentation is it - formal or informal?
• What is the makeup of the audience - workers, management, community personnel or a mixed group?
• How big is your audience - are you addressing a work team of five or a town meeting of 200?
• What size is the room - will there be 20 people in a classroom or 20 people in an auditorium?

[Editor's note: For more on how to prepare for safety training presentations, read Barry's series of articles dated September 1, 8 and 15 in the Archives.]

Blackboards & Whiteboards

If you're going to address a small group in a small room, I suggest using the low-cost training tools. These include boards (black and white) and flipcharts. We've been making marks on surfaces since prehistoric days; it's still an efficient way to record messages. It also requires minimal preparation. All you need to do is buy the board, set it up and make sure you have an ample supply of chalk or markers.

Advantages

• Inexpensive, easy to find, available in many sizes.
• Can be used to build a graphic so the audience can follow the sequence of a process.
• Colored chalk or colored markers can be used to enhance learning.
• Mistakes can be corrected easily.

Disadvantages

• Chalkboards tend to be dusty
• Markers may have chemicals that emit an unpleasant odor.
• Poor penmanship or spelling errors can be distracting.
• Instructors tend to talk to the board and not to the audience.
• Time is taken from the class as you develop your information on the board.

How to Use Boards Correctly

Here are three tips:

1. Consider how you will use the board when preparing your presentation:

• Identify points and sequences best expressed with this tool.
• Know ahead of time what you will write on the board.
• Keep it simple.
• Use bullet points.

2.  Make sure the audience can read what you write:

• Print.
• Use upper and lower case letters.
• Print large enough so everyone in the room can read it.
• Keep your printed words level as you write.
• Use only the top half of the board. (People in the back usually can't see the lower half.)
• Use color markers to highlight special points, but limit yourself to only two or three colors.

3. Remember to speak to your audience, not the board:

Don't let your training aid come between you and your audience. To maintain contact with your audience, write on the board, then turn to face the group before talking. Don't talk to the board. The same is true when you erase the board. Erase it, then turn and talk to your audience.

Conclusion

For the best results, try to put the information on the board before your presentation and cover it with flipchart paper. When you are ready to discuss the contents, remove the paper. Next week, we'll look at another low-cost training tool: the flip chart.

THE SCIENCE OF SAFETY

Study Finds Evidence of a Safety Gene

The amygdala: The part of the brain that houses a possible safety gene.

Ever wonder why some people develop safety habits and others don't? It could be something in their brains - literally. A new study from the National Academy of Sciences has unearthed evidence suggesting that there's a gene in our brains that causes us to act safely. If a person isn't picking up safe habits, it may be because of deficiencies in the gene.

Neuro D2

Within the human brain there resides an almond-shaped region called the amygdala. According to scientists, this is the part of the brain in which our emotional memory and response to fear or risk are formed. Scientists now believe that a specific neurodevelopment gene, dubbed neuroD2, runs the amygdala. Diminished emotional learning ability may be attributable to deficiencies in the neuroD2.

Using mice with varying levels of the gene, researchers studied the development of fear and emotional learning. In one test, mice would experience a mild foot shock after a tone sounded. Mice with normal levels of neuroD2 would usually crouch and stop moving the next time they heard a tone, suggesting they expected a shock based on the experience they remembered. NeuroD2-deficient mice, however, did not alter their behavior as often.

Researchers then compared the fear response. A maze was elevated 40 centimeters above a tabletop. Mice could choose between a narrow, unprotected walkway and a protected walkway. Normal mice almost always chose the protected walkway. However, 50% of the time neuroD2-deficient mice chose the unprotected route.

Neuro D2 & Safety

Although further study is required before these findings can be confirmed and applied to human beings, these experiments suggest that there is a link between Neuro D2 and safe behavior. That could have enormous implications for safety programs and training.

You can access the research findings at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the US website, www.pnas.org.

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