Bill
Reedy of Seville, Ohio makes long presentations on insurance content
for online learners and in-person conferences. “I’m speaking for eight
hours,” says Bill, “and I’m feeding them with a firehose of
information.”
50
minutes of each hour is mandated and pre-scripted by the state’s
departments of insurance. There is a test at the end and an
accreditation on the line.
For
years, Bill began his presentations in the way most of us do: with an
outline. Now, thanks to Catherine Mattiske and her “Unlock Inner Genius”
book and e-suite, Bill begins his presentations in an entirely
different way: by hooking his audience based on their learning
preferences. “One
of the things I’ve built into my introductory comments is some language
that would appeal to the different learning styles that Catherine has
identified,” says Bill.
Catherine
Mattiske is a globally-recognized training expert and the founder of
TPC — The Performance Company. Long ago, Catherine fell in love with how
people learn, and sought to create a system by which presenters could
unlock their audience’s attention. Today, Catherine’s “Unlock Inner
Genius” book and e-suite are the culmination of 30 years of training
experience, and together they serve as a powerful tool for trainers,
presenters, coaches, and team leaders to tap into their audience’s
learning preferences.
In
“Unlock Inner Genius,” Catherine introduces 12 Archetypes that neatly
map out 12 types of learning profiles. Catherine then provides tips on
how to identify and tap into each Archetype in order to maximize that
person’s learning, listening, and attention. For example, “The Narrator”
Archetype prefers to learn auditorily and seeks to connect to the big
picture in order to process and synthesize the information they receive.
Therefore one might auditorily engage this profile with the reasons
they are learning, instead of featuring visual media (flow charts,
diagrams, etc.) primarily focusing on facts, figures, and data, which
“The Narrator” might not be particularly interested in.
One
of the biggest messages of “Unlock Inner Genius” is that most of us
unconsciously teach based on how we want to be taught and that our
presentations reflect that bias. This energizes the portion of the
audience who share our same learning preference, but will likely cause
the rest to tune out. Catherine, therefore, suggests consciously
balancing our communication to cover all Archetypes. One way of doing
this is by engaging each Archetype’s “Processing Power” profile.
One
of the key ingredients that make up each Archetype is one of four
“Processing Power” profiles, which is how that Archetype processes the
information they take in: Do they want to Connect to the big picture? Do they want data and Detail? Do they want hands-on practice in order to Construct solutions? Or do they want to experiment, brainstorm, and Invent
possibilities? The more you steer content towards all four Processing
Power profiles, the more balanced your communication is, and the more
audience members you’ll hook.
This is exactly what Bill Reedy has done with the introductions of his presentations. “I
have to deliver the content that is scripted, but I can also hook
people and make them interested by telling them up front, ‘Hey, there’s
something for everybody in this class. Here’s the detail. Here’s what
you can do with it. Here’s the context. Here’s the big picture.’ You
know, the whole gamut.“
"In
my role as an insurance instructor, a lot of times I’m either
delivering insurance content over the internet via webinar, or I’m up
live in front of either small groups or a lot of people… where I can’t
send profiles out and diagnose what people’s learning style is. So part
of Catherine’s program is balanced communication — when you don’t know
what your audience’s learning preference is — which is brilliant because
you don’t know who they are, you don’t know where they’re coming from,
you don’t know their preference. So why not have a balanced introduction
to your program, which will in effect, hook people and get them
interested in what you have to say?”
