Explaining Pandemics

The Flu Wiki Forum Questions for Local Authorities

The Flu Wiki Forum is working on questions the community would like to ask their local authorities. This is a work in progress, described here.

Imagine if you had the opportunity to ask these questions of your local authorities in a school board meeting, or a cable access interview. What are the top 5, 10 or 15 things you’d like to know? What should we be asking?

The Flu Wiki ftp

PowerPoint slide shows on an ftp available for download can be found here:

log on to: ftp://ftp.singtomeohmuse.com/ or ftp://www.singtomeohmuse.com/
User Name: wikimember
Password: wiki123
or try this one-click entry.

If you have one of your own to share, or if you’ve made revisions, send it to reviewers@singtomeohmuse.com or demfromct@earthlink.net using mailbigfile.com or a similar service.

Comments about the files you have downloaded and reviewed can be made here.

The ftp contents:

• flutalk6

• origins

Two other talks are wonderful slide shows sent to us but produced in CO:

• Communicating about panflu with the public

• Pandemics happen

New additions:

• UofMPandemOverview.1.22.07, which is a talk by the Chief Health Officer to the faculty of U Michigan, used with permission.
• BirdFluIntro.ppt, created by a Flu Wiki reader and poster, Cold Climate prepper, a useful and lively overview for lay audiences.

You can drag and drop the files, or right click and save to your computer (control-click on a Mac).

There’s also a read-only Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer for those who need something to read the files (you won’t be able to create or alter them). The Mac version can be downloaded here.

In addition, there are pictures, charts and graphs as well as Excel spreadsheets, made by volunteers tracking suspected cases of H5N1 in indonesia and Egypt.

The Full Table of Contents

Presentation tips

“Better Beginnings: how to start a presentation, book, article…”

Tips for PowerPoint: Go Easy on the Text – Please, Spare Us

People learn by writing, reading and listening, but most prefer one above the other two. That means if you don’t allow notes (dark auditorium) to be taken, some will not get anything out of the presentation (the writers). The readers will want handouts (you can print out the slides 6 to a page with PowerPoint, or 3 to a page with room for notes for the writers). The listeners want you to be interesting and don’t care about notes or slides much. Try to do something for everyone in each presentation.

And practice before you preach. You’ll get a feel as to how long you go and how many slides you’ll need (and if you’re running over which ones you can skip at the last minute)…

Advice from a communications professor (original comments here, paraphrased):

• Consider reformulating these slides to contain short phrases, the most important ideas expressed in key words. The complete quotes can be written on supplementary handout material and given to the audience.
• Every ppt presentation should begin with an overview slide, which states the points that will be covered in the course of the presentation so the listener knows what to expect. This overview slide can simply be a list of bulleted points entitled “Overview of presentation”. The listener wants orientation, wants to know what he/she is about to hear. When formulating an overview slide,the presenter is forced to focus on the main points and to express them concisely. The listener in turn is pointed to the main message(s) at the outset, which makes it easier for the listener to re-identify these messages when they come in the course of the talk and for the presenter to drive these messages home.
• The presentation should have what is known as a clear “take home” message, something that could be formulated in one-two sentences.

Here’s some more presentation tips:

• Analyze your audience when you plan your presentation. Identify the common characteristics your listeners are likely to have: education level, amount of previous knowledge about pandemic flu, role in society, etc. Will your audience consist of decision makers, scientists, average citizens, friends? Are they skeptical about the danger and need to be convinced, or are they already concerned and want to know what they can do to prepare? The results of this analysis will determine the kinds of information you include and the approach or style you employ. Some examples:
  • Listeners with a scientific background will respond best to facts, tables, and authoritative sources; they want up-to-date information and will probably react badly to hard-sell techniques, panicky statements, or perceived attempts at manipulation.
  • Decision makers will appreciate the previously named elements, as well, but they are also interested in practical matters, options, cause and effect analyses (“If we don’t do x, y may occur”), and may need to be persuaded to take concrete action, so emotionally-colored appeals may be called for, as would specific references to past events (1918, SARS).
  • Average citizens can be reached best through analogy (“Prepping for a pandemic is like buying insurance”), memorable anecdotes and images (1918), and practical ideas they can implement without difficulty. Avoid too much scientific jargon, too many hard to remember facts.
  • Skeptics of all backgrounds need to see their objections addressed directly and refuted convincingly.
• Remember that your aim is to connect with your listeners and to leave a lasting impression. To achieve this, avoid information overload at all costs.
• Divide the talk into three clearly delineated sections: the beginning, the body of the talk, and the conclusion
• The first few minutes of the presentation are crucial: grab the attention of your listeners by using one of these tried and true techniques:
  • Ask a provocative question (“What do you think would happen if 40% of the work force did not appear for work tomorrow?”)
  • Present an amazing fact (e.g. the number of countries to which the virus has spread in recent months)
  • Show a thought-provoking image (e.g. children playing with chickens; photo of sick people in a makeshift hospital in 1918, etc)
  • Note that the choice of attention-getting technique should be suitable to the content and approach of your presentation.
• Include a slide which gives your listeners a brief overview of your presentation as a whole (bulleted points of topics you will address)
• In the body of the presentation, use signal words and expressions to create transitions between the sections of the talk and to orient the listener so he/she knows what to expect next (“So much for the scientific side of things. Let’s have a look at what this means practically.” “I’ll now turn to the next section of my talk, the issue of family preparedness.”) This enhances clarity and coherence.
• The end of the presentation should provide a brief summary of the most important points covered in the talk. However, the last sentence of the presentation proper should be a clear and resounding call to action.
• Do NOT try to speak as you would write – use shorter sentences, and informal, everyday speech for every audience
• Redundancy is good; repeat or rephrase important ideas