Using a Message Box for planning a presentation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My previous post on January 2, 2024 titled Ten simple rules for engaging in clear communication mentioned a template for planning an effective message called a Message Box, an example of which is shown above. This tool comes from a 2010 book by Nancy Baron, Escape from the Ivory Tower: A Guide to Making Science Matter. The Message Box is discussed in an article from Compass Science Communication.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It also is described in another three-page .pdf article titled Explaining Your Research: Using the Message Box to Communicate Complex Ideas. I also have shown it via a color PowerPoint image. The message box consists of a central issue [rectangle] connected to four quadrants [trapezoids], each containing a question:

 

Issue [center rectangle]: In broad terms, what is the overarching issue or topic?

Problem: What is the specific problem or piece of the issue I am addressing?

So What?: Why does this matter to my audience?

Solutions: What are the potential solutions to the problem?

Benefits: What are the potential benefits of resolving this problem?

 

There also is a very detailed The Message Box Workbook from Compass, which can be downloaded as a 28-page pdf. file. A recent example of a message box appears in yet another article by Alex Griffith at the Federation of American Scientists on April 24, 2023 titled Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire: Using effective communication to bridge the gap between wildfire science and policy.

 

Ten simple rules for engaging in clear communication

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a very useful article by Brittney G. Borowiec at PLoS Computational Biology in July 2023 titled Ten simple rules for scientists engaging in science communication. But those more generally useful rules for planning are:

 

 1]  Define your goals

 2]  Figure out who and where your audience is

 3]  Pick an arena that suits your goals and plays to your strengths

 4]  Come up with a clear headline message 

 5]  Beware of jargon

 6]  Show your audience why they should care

 7]  Tell your audience how to react 

 8]  Get some feedback, evaluate, and improve

 9]  Consider equity, diversity, and inclusion

10] Remember that these rules are interdependent

 

She notes that:

 

"There are several excellent templates for crafting an effective science communication message (The COMPASS Message Box, Olson’s And/But/Therefore, the Union of Concerned Scientists’ basic science/newfinding/implications approach, etc.)"

 

The glossy ten was adapted from this image at Openclipart.

 

In 2024 only you can prevent bad presentations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On New Year’s Day we reflect and may make resolutions. My post title borrows from Smokey Bear public service announcements (Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires), as I mentioned in my first post in this series back in 2015. It was followed by 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. I skipped 2023, since I’d run out of good images. Then I found this Puck cartoon from October 18, 1893 at the Library of Congress.

 

An article by Nick Morgan at Public Words on January 4, 2020 titled My public speaking New Year’s resolutions for 2020 gave his five:

 

I’ll focus on the positive.

I’ll increase my volunteer and pro bono work.

I’ll double down on the facts.

I’ll ration my social media.

I’m going to stay open to the world in spite of all the apocalyptic stuff going down.

 

And at PR Newswire on December 19, 2023 there is a press release titled Toastmasters 8 Tips for Keeping Your 2024 New Year’s Resolutions. They are:

 

Be realistic.

Be specific.

Plan ahead.

Make a list of resolutions and check on them.

Start small.

Hold yourself accountable.

Stay positive.

Celebrate your successes.

 

There also is an article at einPresswire on December 27, 2023 titled Unsolicited advice from author and guest speaker Matthew Cossolotto: Turn New Year’s Resolutions into promises.

 

Are you despicable or brilliant, lowbrow or highbrow? New York Magazine sorts out culture with a 2x2 ‘Approval Matrix’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On December 22, 2023 I blogged about the serious topic of How to evaluate evidence better by using a 2x2 grid. But a grid also can have a humorous purpose – cultural commentary. Since November 2004 the back page of New York Magazine has contained an Approval Matrix like the simplified one shown above (made with PowerPoint). One on December 15, 2023 by Dominique Pariso and Chris Stanton is an article titled Tommy Cutlets and the Disgruntled Oompa-Loompas.

 

Another article by Myles Tanzer at BuzzfeedNews on August 13, 2014 described How New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix went from the back page to TV. A second article by Sarah Zhang at Mother Jones on June 4, 2013 said it really is a chart - REVEALED: New York Mag’s Beloved “Approval Matrix” Is a Fraud. And a third article by Laura Hazard Own at Nieman Lab on January 27, 2022 titled “Lowbrow despicable”: New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix gets a … competitor told how it was copied by the Prospect Grid.

 

Of course, despicable is part of Daffy Duck’s catchphrase, which usually is slurred as:

“Youuu're deththpicable!"

 

 

A definately different humorous approach to vocabulary and spelling from xkcd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The December 22, 2023 xkcd web comic claims that rather than just definitely there is a spectrum of a dozen words expressing various degrees of definiteness, as is shown above. The orthodox view in an article from Proofed on March 6, 2022 titled Spelling Tips: Definitely or Definately? instead is:

“It’s easy to misspell ‘definitely’ as ‘definately’ because the word isn’t pronounced exactly as it’s spelled. The second ‘I’ sounds like ‘uh’ when it’s spoken, so people often wrongly assume that the vowel after the ‘n’ should be an ‘a.’ After all, that’s how we spell a lot of other words with the same sound, such as immediately, accurately, and approximately.

However, if you remove the suffix ‘ly’ from those words, you’re left with the correctly spelled immediate, accurate, and approximate. But you won’t find definate in the dictionary!”

 

MAY THEY ROT IN HELL doesn’t belong in a Christmas message!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But Donald J. Trump put it near the end in one of his three social media messages. The full text is:

 

“Merry Christmas to all, including Crooked Joe Biden’s ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith, the out of control Lunatic who just hired outside attorneys, fresh from the SWAMP (unprecedented!), to help him with his poorly executed WITCH HUNT against ‘TRUMP’ and ‘MAGA.’ Included also are World Leaders, both good and bad, but none of which are as evil and ‘sick’ as the THUGS we have inside our Country who, with their Open Borders, INFLATION, Afghanistan Surrender, Green New Scam, High Taxes, No Energy Independence, Woke Military, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Iran, All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA. MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

 

An article by Jason Shamsian at Business Insider on December 25, 2023 is titled Trump wishes electric car supporters ‘rot in hell’ in Truth Social Christmas message. The  Donald also had a second one and a third one. We had expected frankincense, not Frankenstein.    

 

Finding new niches to blog or speak about

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am over seventy years old, and have been writing this blog for more than fifteen years. But I still haven’t run out of topics to write or speak about.

 

I can always take a wider view - look beyond where I have been previously. For example, on December 15, 2023 I blogged about Warming up by speaking through a straw: semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTE). That post was inspired by a Reader’s Digest article I blogged about the previous day, in another post titled To nail your next speech, follow these eight tips. And that article showed up on my Google alert for the phrase ‘public speaking’.

 

Back on October 18, 2022 I blogged about Tips for taking care of your voice. That got me thinking about hoarseness, which I blogged about on September 20, 2023 in a post titled Recent and definitive advice on preventing hoarseness (dysphonia). That post became my theme when I served as Toastmaster for the October 25, 2023 meeting of the Pioneer Club in Boise.  

 

The PowerPoint cartoon was derived from a Pearson Scott Foresman (PSF) drawing of a niche at Wikimedia Commons.