Breaking the Ice

I recently talked about Oral Communication with Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Wayne State University.

The Department Chair, Dr. George Corcoran, did a wonderful job making me feel welcome.  We did a kind of impromptu warm-up act for the students as they made their way into the classroom.  I was trying to learn the students' names but was having difficulty since they were unfamiliar names to me.  I shared with them how difficult it is to retain information that is completely foreign and that it took me quite a few times of being exposed to my own son's name (Nadim) until I could remember it easily.

We joked around with the students about whether Dr. Corcoran should introduce me or not, since it is common for introductions to be bungled.  So instead, he asked if he could share a tie story with the students.  I took a seat and gladly agreed.  It's always a treat to see how other speakers handle a room.

He launched right into a short description of the tie he was wearing - it was a Jerry Garcia tie and he explained who Jerry Garcia is and then even talked about whether or not the tie even coordinated with his outfit.  It seems that Dr. Corcoran has an impressive tie collection and that he makes a point of beginning his classes by talking about the uniqueness or origin of the tie he is wearing that day.

It's a great idea to have a fall-back plan on how to begin a class or presentation.  One of my colleagues in Communication at Wayne State University opens his classes by asking the students what they have been following in the news that week.  I frequently ask an attendance question, a simple question that can be answered easily by the students as I call their names and take attendance.

When you are ready to get down to the business of talking about your topic, a speaker should launch right in and begin with a compelling attention getting device.  But before that, it's a great idea to break the ice a bit with the audience, set the tone, or give them a chance to participate in some small way.  You may not have an exhaustive collection of ties, but a few go-to questions or anecdotes come in handy when you are establishing rapport with an audience.

Can an introduction impact someone's career advacement?

So what if I told you that the way you introduce someone could impact that person's career trajectory?

Are female physicians afforded less respect than their male counterparts when introduced in academic settings?

A Mighty Girl recently posted about this and so I tracked down the published research that an article in The Washington Post discussed.

You can read the research findings and their possible implications,but what it boils down to is that men and women physicians are introduced differently.  Put simply, female physicians are introduced with Dr. in front of their names at a lower rate.  And while this may or may not impact credibility and career trajectories, it is worth nothing.

Play close attention to how you introduce your colleagues and be sure you are being consistent in affording honorific and professional titles.

The Thrill of a Live Presentation

I had the opportunity to hear Ta-Nehisi Coates at the University of Detroit Mercy this year.  The buzz around the event had been circulating on social media for months.  Many of us bought our tickets in advance, not wanting to miss out on this evening.

As the hall filled, many of us looked around in amazement.  We couldn't believe he was packing the place.  Young and old.  Students and professors.  Suburbanites and Detroiters.  I looked around and saw representation from several different Metro Detroit universities.

You can read more about the evening here but the backstory on how he came to speak is even more interesting because it illustrates what can happen when people actually talk to each other.  Coates phoned UDM History Professor Roy Finkenbine and you can read all about it here.  Yes, it seems that people still do use telephones to talk to each other.  Try it sometime.  Forget the email and try dialing the phone number.  The human connection just may lead to something like this: a sporting arena filled with folks waiting to hear from an author in person.  He did not disappoint.