Communicate better! (Using logic)

COMMUNICATE BETTER!
(USING LOGIC)

© Copyright, Arnaud Chevallier. All rights reserved.

July 2010 (Revised)

See more and download this presentation
at powerful-problem-solving.com Download this presentation at http://powerful-problem-solving.com : 39

So, you have something to say

Cartoons are from Cartoonbank.com

Download this presentation at http://powerful-problem-solving.com 2 : 39

... but you don’t know how to say it

Cartoons are from Cartoonbank.com


Using logic can help you
improve your thinking and
communication


This presentation shows how to use logic to
improve your thinking and communication

Use logic to improve
your thinking and
communication

Introduce Use
optimally pyramids

Include the Choose the Use the Relate each Optimize w/
right Tell a story order of right idea w/ additional
information components sequence others tips


your thinking and
communication

Introduce Use
optimally pyramids



Effective communications are pyramidal



Introduction



Introduction

Primary idea



Introduction

Primary idea

Primary
supporting
ideas



Introduction

Primary idea

Primary
supporting
ideas

Supporting
data


The introduction is a story that takes your audience
from what they know to what you want them to know

WHAT YOUR WHAT YOU WANT
AUDIENCE INTRODUCTION YOUR AUDIENCE
KNOWS TO KNOW

Must be a story!
Cartoon is from Cartoonbank.com


Every introduction has a situation, a {complication/
problem} and a {key question/answer}

Situation

Complication

Key question
And/or

Answer


The situation is a declaration that you know that
your audience agrees with

Situation



 Establishes time and place

Situation




Situation  Generates the reaction: “I agree, but so
what?” / “Why are you telling me this?”

 Contains only the elements critical for
understanding this problem






 Is self-sufficient: it can be understood without
additional information






 Is self-sufficient: it can be understood without
additional information

 Is no controversial: your audience has to
agree with it


The complication builds on the situation to lead
to one question: the one that your
communication will solve

Complication



Complication  Complements the situation with the explicit
statement of a problem



Complication  Complements the situation with the explicit
statement of a problem

 By the end of the complication, you must
have introduced all the relevant elements for
your audience to understand your problem


The key question and/or answer is the central
idea of your communication: the top of your
pyramid
Introduction
Situation

Complication

Key question

Answer


Sometimes it is convenient to combine the key
question and the answer in a single element

Situation

Complication

Key question

Key question /
Answer

Answer


You can modify the order of elements to
produce specific effects

Standard (S-C-KQ)
Situation

Complication Direct (KQ-S-C)

Key question /
Answer Preoccupied (C-KQ-S)


your thinking and
communication

Introduce Use
optimally pyramids



The most important factor to ensure that your
message is clear is to present your ideas in the
the right sequence


Let’s look at an example. Consider receiving the
following card

Dear Chivis,

Do you remember, last Saturday afternoon,
when I was playing with my boyfriend and
you came? Well, he said that, when I turned
around, you gave him a kiss.
And Sunday, when you came to my house
and my mom prepared a tuna fish salad, and
you said: “Yuk, that’s the worst salad I’ve
ever had!”?
And yesterday, when my cat got tangled in
your legs and you kicked her and threatened
to attack her with your dog “Brutus”?
Well, for these reasons I hate you and I don’t
want to be your friend.
Lucy

Example from Zelazny, Say it with Presentations


Wouldn’t it be clearer if Lucy had put the central
idea first?

Dear Chivis,

¿Recuerdas que el sábado pasado por la
tarde cuando estaba jugando en el parque
con mi novio y tú llegaste, él me dijo que
cuando les di la espalda, lo besaste?
¿Y que el domingo, cuando viniste a mi casa
y hate you. Here is why:
I mi mamá te preparó ensalada de atún para
almorzar y dijiste: “¡Fuchi! ¡Es la peor
ensalada que he comido!”?
1. You stole my boyfriend
¿Y que ayer, cuando mi gata se restregó en
tu pierna, la pateaste y amenazaste atacarla
2. You insulted my mom
con tu perro “Titán”?
3. You scared my cat
Bien, por todas estas razones, te odio, y ya
no quiero ser tu amiga.
Lucy
Lucy



Wouldn’t it be clearer if Lucy had put the central
idea first?

Dear Chivis,

¿Recuerdas que el sábado pasado por la
tarde cuando estaba jugando en el parque
con mi novio y tú llegaste, él me dijo que
cuando les di la espalda, lo besaste?
¿Y que el domingo, cuando viniste a mi casa
y hate you. Here is why:
I mi mamá te preparó ensalada de atún para
almorzar y dijiste: “¡Fuchi! ¡Es la peor Main idea
ensalada que he comido!”?
1. You stole my boyfriend
¿Y que ayer, cuando mi gata se restregó en
tu pierna, la pateaste y amenazaste atacarla Supporting
2. You insulted my mom
con tu perro “Titán”? arguments
3. You scared my cat
Bien, por todas estas razones, te odio, y ya
no quiero ser tu amiga.
Lucy
Lucy



The second card is clearer because it
establishes a dialogue with the reader...

Why did Lucy
write me this
card?

Lucy hates me

Why?

I stole her I insulted her I scared her
boyfriend mom cat

Why?

Etc.


... and she doesn’t have to guess Lucy’s point: she knows from
the start and can relate each new element to the original idea

Why did Lucy
write me this
card?

Lucy hates me

Ok, but does it
makes sense?

I stole her I insulted her I scared her
boyfriend mom cat
Ok, so what do
I reply?

Chivis may or may not agree with Lucy’s message, but she understands
what it is


So it is useful to first present your summary
idea and then build a supporting pyramid below



1. The central idea of your message




2. central idea that support your
The main ideas




2. central idea that support your
The main ideas

3. The information that supports each idea


In a presentation, the title and the index are the parts
of the pyramid that your audience notices first…



The title of the presentation is
the general idea



The title of the presentation is
the general idea

The index shows the
supporting ideas


The tag line of each slide summarizes its content. It
is understandable without the rest of the slide and
it coordinates with the tag lines of the other slides

Our sales are growing

Sales (M$)



The tagline is the main Our sales are growing
idea of the slide

Sales (M$)



idea of the slide

Sales (M$)

The slide’s content
supports its tagline



idea of the slide

Sales (M$)

The slide’s content
supports its tagline

The tagline is an idea, no just a title

The tag lines of your various slides combine to
form the general summary of your communication



You stole my boyfriend



You stole my boyfriend You insulted my mom



You stole my boyfriend You insulted my mom You stole my cat



I HATE you

You stole my boyfriend You insulted my mom You stole my cat


Pyramids are also useful in table of contents
and titles of sections

VS.


Similarly, pyramids are useful to structure paragraphs

PISA seeks to assess PISA seeks to measure how well young adults, at age of 15
how well 15-year-olds and therefore approaching the end of compulsory schooling
are prepared for life´s are prepared to meet the challenges of today’s knowledge
challenges. societies. The assessment is forward-looking, focusing on
young people’s ability to use their knowledge and skills to
meet real-life challenges, rather than merely on the extent
to which they have mastered a specific school curriculum.
This orientation reflects a change in the goals and
objectives of curricula themselves, which are increasingly
concerned with what students can do with what they learn
at school, and nor merely whether they can reproduce what
they have learned.

PISA is a collaborative Key features driving the development of PISA have been:
effort by governments to
monitor student progress – Its policy orientation, with design and reporting
in a global framework… methods determined by the need of governments to
draw policy lessons;
– The innovative “literacy” concept that is concerned
with the capacity of students to apply knowledge and
skills in key subject areas to analyze, reason and
communicate effectively as they pose, solve and
interpret problems in a variety of situations;


While building your pyramid, ensure that your ideas are
connected to one another

1. Ideas connect with the ones
around them

2. Ideas within a group are of the
same type

3.Ideas within a group flow
logically


Ideas within the pyramid connect with the ones
above, below and at the same level

Each idea...



Each idea...

... supports the point above



Each idea...


... summarizes the ideas below



Each idea...


... summarizes the ideas below

... connect logically with
those at the same level


So developing the pyramid is an iterative
process of grouping and summarizing

1. Grouping ideas: What do the
ideas have in common?

2. Summarizing: So what?


The structures and rules within the pyramid help you
to not only communicate your ideas clearly, but also
to discover them
The focus of the pyramid is on ...

• The narrative flow of the introduction

• The vertical relationship between points and sub-points

• The horizontal relationship within a set of sub-points


to discover them




Introducción


to discover them




Introducción

Vertical Relationships


to discover them




Introducción

Vertical Relationships

Horizontal Relationship


Pyramids are even more powerful if you watch for
key concepts

Communicate the general idea (that summarizes all the others)

Separate the analysis from the communication

Name groups of ideas

Differentiate induction and deduction

Avoid blank assertions


Communicate juste one idea: the one that summarizes all
the others

?


You solve problem from the bottom up, but you
communicate from the top down. Don’t reproduce your
analysis process in your communication!



Analysis



Analysis Effective
communication



Analysis Effective
communication
“ I know there are things you don ´
want to hear, but I m enjoying
´
the hell out of saying them.
t “


Los elementos de cada grupo deben ser similares;
si puedes identificarlos con un nombre, puedes
comprobar la consistencia de tu pirámide



Buena
camisa



Buena
camisa

Buen diseño Buen prestigio



Buena
camisa

Buen diseño Buen prestigio

Punto de
Material Color Corte Patrón Marca venta


The lateral order depends on whether the
grouping is deductive or inductive

We think that employee
satisfaction will drop in
Deduction

a few months

During recessions We think there will be a Therefore we think the
employee satisfaction recession in a few satisfaction will drop
drops months

The second argument comments on the first to yield a third

Mexico is becoming more
violent
Induction

Violence is increasing in Violence is increasing at Violence is increasing in
cities the border on roads between cities

The arguments are similar

You can make the same argument with induction or
deduction. In your communication, it’s better to use induction

I’ll hire Emma
Analysis

I’m looking for an assistant
that can speak Spanish and Emma qualifies on all Therefore I
organize a project and is accounts should hire her
willing to travel abroad

I’ll hire Emma
Communication

because she meets
all my requirements

She can speak She can organize She is willing to
Spanish projects travel


When you summarize ideas avoid “blank
assertions”; instead identify their essence and
use that as a summary

✘ I need to find: first food,
I have two problems
then money

I’m hungry I’m hungry

I have no money for the rent I have no money for the rent

The summary is effective:
The summary is blank: it
integrating the ideas and
summarizes the ideas below but
analyzing them, it brings a new
doesn’t bring any value
element (time)


Closing, you can drastically improve your
thinking and communication using logic
So, you have ... but you don’t Use logic to improve
something to say know how to say it your thinking and
communication

Introduce
Use pyramids
optimally

Include the
Tell a Choose the Use the Relate Optimize w/
right order of
story right each idea additional tips
information components

Idea central Visibles en Visibles Identifica Inducción No hacer Ideas En mismo
Una Lógicamente
S-P-PCR Ideas principales presenta- en otros grupos con mejor que afirmaciones relacionadas grupo =
idea ordenadas
Apoyo ciones documentos nombres deducción en blanco entre sí mismo tipo

Apoya las Se conecta
Resume
del nivel lógicamente con
las de abajo
de arriba las de al lado


References

• B. Minto, The Minto Pyramid Principle, Minto
International, 1996

• G. Zelazny, Say It with Presentations, McGraw-Hill,
1999

• http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/staff/gatter/work/
051104_The_Minto_Pyramid_Principle.pdf


See more and download this presentation at
powerful-problem-solving.com

Download this presentation at http://powerful-problem-solving.com : 39

Communicate better! (Using logic)

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Communicate better! (Using logic)

Similar to Communicate better! (Using logic) (10)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Communicate better! (Using logic)

Editor's Notes