they Snooze, you Lose: Chapter 4

Synopsis- Chapter 4: Ringing Chimes2

In chapter 4 Dr. Burmark starts off by stating that it’s hard to cover all the standards and curriculum, and that educators only focus on the important standards. I have to agree with Dr. Burmark because I’ve witnessed it first hand, as educators we drill and kill towards the examination (TAKS), that we lose focus on what really is important. As an educator I believe we are doing the students an injustice, because we want the students to have a good foundation, but we pressure them for the big examination.

Dr. Burmark states, “we need efficiency to meet with effectiveness” (Burmark, 2011).  This just means how fast you can teach your content and depending on how will the students learn it. According to Dr. Burmark, in order to be effective you need to accomplish the following:  get the students attention and make the content stick. So if you want to be an effective educator you need to make sure to grab the audiences attention and keep them engage to make sure the information present is retained. Dr. Burmark recounts on how she got the attention of her attendees by the she was dressing, you want to attract your audience not distract them from the content you’re presenting.  As an educator we need to be like Velcro, we need our information to stick with each person.

Dr. Burmark presents the components of a great presenter with the acronym C.H.I.M.E.S.2, stands for Connections, Humor, Images, Music, Emotion, Story, and Senses.  By adapting these components to ones presentation the connection with the audience is enhanced.

After reading this chapter, I realize that if I ever want to be a great presenter I need to adapt the components into my presentation and personality.  This chapter helps me realize that first impression is everything, without that attention grabber for the audience; it’s hard for the presenter to continue if the audience isn’t focus. After reading this chapter I learned that the quality of your presentation is the key to our success if we want the audience members to retain the information. The audience will have a better connection to the information presented if it’s presented in a meaningful manner.

Resource:

Burmark, Lynell. (2011). they snooze you lose. the educator’s guide to successful presentation.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass