Saturday, January 23, 2010

Dealing with the Unknown Factor


A riddle for you, , , Figure A, , , what is it?” . . . “Give?” “It’s a kola bear, climbing up the other side of a tree.”

“At least, that’s what it looks like up climbing in the tree.” “Oh, I suppose it could be something else, , , say, , , if we could see a tail.” (A monkey, maybe?)

And you continue, , , in front of your audience, , , “This is why we are here today, to find out, , , What’s in that tree?

“We hope to discover exactly what’s up there in the tree of our industry. For any of us to make the most of our involvement doing what we do we’ve got to know (and not guess) what’s climbing around the branches of our industry.

“Sometimes it even looks like a different tree, , , with all the different kinds of animals its attracting these days.”

And so you go on with the rest of your message.

It’s a common situation for all presenters and consultants—identifying, explaining and “harnessing” the new animals up our trees. Sometimes you have very few clues with which to work.

This tiny little visual riddle can help you introduce and explain what is that is new and different in your field of expertise. So our new task is to explain (etc.) the unknown in a time of great perplexity.

A more popular way to illustrate this all to common reality is the use of the classic “tree model” shown here. Figure B..

I think every speaker, trainer, teacher, consultant, and information marketer should learn how to draw this visual on demand, just to illustrate their “unknown factor.”

I did this drawing with a mouse, , , that’s a lot harder than with a pencil or marker.

So the time has come, , , for you to practice up! I mean it. Over the coming weeks, draw a couple hundred “trees.”

It’s practice that will pay you huge dividends as you work before your people. These two figures (or illustrations) will become highly effective tools in your visual communication arsenal.

Wayne

P.S. And you can use the other element of the tree (trunk, bark, limbs, leaves and even fruit, etc.) to represent the things you do know about your industry or field. Of course, the tap root and the entire root system are below ground and will represent or the unknown factor.

P.S.S. So, there you have two more visual aid tricks you can use in your very next presentation. For Free!

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