3b. Guest Speaker: Dale Carnegie Training (9/21)

What We Did: In the first CPBE225 evening session of the semester, we had a highly-acclaimed guest speaker join us. This was the second guest speaker of the day and I was excited to hear what this new person, Dan Parsons, had to say. Mr. Parsons was there to speak to us about professional communication and presentation skills that we should develop for the future. He explained that confidence is key in all business situations, and the sooner we developed this confidence, the better. Dan Parsons was a trained professional in the Dale Carnegie self improvement organization. His presentation was centered on Dale Carnegie's bestselling book How to Win Friends and Influence People. At the beginning of class, all of us received this well-known book as well as a packet that Mr. Parsons' presentation was based on for us to follow along.

One of the many things I learned from this presentation was about the triangle of success for presentations: skill, knowledge, and attitude. The least of these 3 that mattered, surprisingly, was attitude. Parsons also showed us a TED talk where the speaker literally had no substance in his speech, yet it was witty and engaging. He entertained the audience by making a satire out of what goes into a presentation, and used different volumes, tones, and speeds of his voice as well as movements and hand gestures to make it an amazing talk to see.

The most helpful part of the speech, I thought, was when Parsons discussed the basic structure of a good presentation. The main goal of t
he opening is to favorably attract interest from the audience in an attention-grabbing way. Some good ways to open are with an analogy, a surprising fact, a question, or a personal story that relates to the topic. Next, the main part of your presentation begins to focus attention on your message. Lastly, the closing of a presentation is critical because it it what audience members remember most and what makes the most lasting impression. The best way to make a good closing is to finish it in only a few words, dramatize, speak on a personal level, use a quotation, and to tie the closing back to your beginning points. If your purpose is to persuade, then it is also a good idea to give a final recommendation and appeal to a high morale in getting your advice across.

Key Takeaways and Future Applications: In my opinion, the Dan Parsons evening session was incredibly rewarding and gave us valuable information that we would be using for the remainder of our course and even in other classes. Our speaker was engaging and very fun, which allowed the long night class to actually seem to go by quickly and easily. We had a few break periods which were nice so that we weren't expected to be engaged for 4 hours straight, and I also thought this was a good technique for Parsons because it made sure that we were engaged again and had a second wind whenever he began speaking again.

Parsons was a prime example of good public speaking right in front of us. His passion and understanding of the Dale Carnegie techniques was inspiring not only because he knew so much, but also because his delivery was so effective. He used engaging body language, different tones of his voice, and audience participation to ensure that we grasped his message. Additionally, it was refreshing that he tailored his speech to his audience, which was college students. Everything he told us was valuable for our demographic, and was something all of us could relate to. It's always nice to know that a public speaker has done research about his audience so that you know he is not just giving a one-size-fits-all message everywhere he speaks.

One of the best points I thought Parsons made was that knowing information isn't even a third of your presentation, the most important thing to perfect is ATTITUDE. You could be giving the most accurate and well-thought-out presentation in the world, but if you don't deliver it in a way that the audience can become interested, no one will leave with the message that you wanted them to. I completely agree with this and felt that Mr. Parsons exemplified this idea perfectly. He made the audience, who has so much else on their mind, actually care about what he had to say (for 4 hours!) and believe that it actually mattered to us.

The best part of the session was when each team chose the best story, and then we had about 10 students present their stories in front of the class and finished off with the overall message of what they learned from their experience. This was a great opportunity for me to get to know my peers on a more personal level and also wrap up the long class session on a positive and uplifting note. Overall this evening session was much more rewarding than I thought it would be, and it inspired me to read the Dale Carnegie book all the way through, which I did.