398
June 2016
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
SECTOR
INSIGHT:
.
com
to catch your breath. For example, “Here is the RMSE
value before applying our technique, and here it is
after.”…pause… “Isn’t the difference striking?”
• Attempting to speak in a non-stop manner is the single
greatest cause of “um’s and ah’s” and a good way to loose
your audience’s attention, not keep it. Slow down and
help your audience contemplate, savor, and enjoy the
story of your research experience as it unfolds through
your presentation (see “pregnant pause” above).
• Stretch goal: see how many people you can get to put
down their cell phones because your presentation is so
captivating!
• See more at
/
Video-Library/speakingmistakes-to-avoid
The stark difference in face-to-face communication versus all
other forms of auditory discourse is clear. For instance, Brian
Murphy, while working at GISinc, gave two truncated 20
minute Toastmasters breakout meetings at their company’s
annual Unplugged event. Here, they fly all of their employees
to do an off-site meeting, and Brian was able to help introduce
GISinc employees to the Toastmasters culture and approach.
“The sessions went exceptionally well,” Brian reports. “They
had all levels of participants in attendance, from entry
level GIS Analysts, eager to prove themselves, to company
partners and board members. We are now embedding
elements of Toastmasters into our conference calls, to help
spice up our day to day meetings with a bit of fun, while also
helping us improve as a company in terms of both our day to
day extemporaneous conversations as well as our prepared
speeches.”
But particularly in our field where people have simply ALWAYS
lived and worked in disperse places, this form of virtual
communication is not only growing it is supplanting older and
some would argue more constructive face-to-face interaction.
Local chapters of professional organizations are not forming
and are fading away. Regional and national meetings are
being held less often or not at all and are no longer funded
by employers because there is no need to gather in the flesh
when we can “gain efficiencies” by gathering virtually.
Melissa Rura, Book Review Editor at
PE&RS
joined a
local Toastmasters club at the request of a colleague at the
American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
(ASPRS) and also a Toastmaster, Brian Murphy, who
put forth the idea to begin a virtual speaking club for the
members of our shared professional society ASPRS. The
goals of this ASPRS Speakers Club would mirror those goals
set forth in the Toastmaster society to “provide a mutually
supportive and positive learning environment in which every
member has the opportunity to develop communication and
leadership skills which in turn foster self-confidence and
personal growth.”
The road block we hit was Toastmasters does not
do
virtual
clubs. We have begun some planning for face-to-face club-
like venues by encouraging the inclusion of speaking clubs
at the regional and local levels. Like many professional
organizations, however, ASPRS is struggling as participation
dwindles and employers devalue the importance of local
and regional professional meetings. Coordinating any kind
of ASPRS national speaking club virtual or face-to-face has
yet to solidify. We had hoped to begin at our ASPRS national
gathering in Ft. Worth, Texas, in April. Since that did not
materialize, we will need to wait another year to “pitch in
person” to the national audience.
After participating locally, it has already become clear there
would be many “missing pieces” of the Toastmaster experience
that the virtual meeting does not provide including visual
feedback, individual coaching, and networking available
in the face-to-face venues. Even in video chat settings, this
virtual realization greatly changes any visual feedback and
in the live-webinar format we are considering the visual chat
would not be an option presently because of the number of
participants.
These are skills we can all work on. We are hoping to
find a group of at least 30 Individuals, (
/
forms/5SYLtJuVXx) who are willing to help start and charter
this initiative that we are, for now, calling “The ASPRS
Speakers Club.” Under the new By-Laws there is going to
be Council of Regions that provides a representative at the
Board level. The ASPRS Speakers Club might be an item for
their consideration as a tool to foster participation and local
chapter development. It is here that we hope to foster deep
networking relationships, while also helping to improve self-
confidence. Join us!
Authors
Brian Murphy, PSM, CP, GISP,
GISinc
Paul Pope, Ph.D., CMS,
Los Alamos National Lab
Melissa Rura, Ph.D.,
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote
Sensing
Ed Freeborn, CTO,
Unmanned Experts, Inc.
