WEBVTT 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:08.160 Any time you begin a communication, whether face-to-face, in writing, or over the phone, 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:12.230 it's important to think about why you've opened that line of communication, what the goal 00:00:12.230 --> 00:00:16.170 of your interaction is, and how you're going to deliver your message. 00:00:16.170 --> 00:00:20.990 In this video, we'll watch 3 segments of a presentation created by MIT students. You 00:00:20.990 --> 00:00:25.060 will analyze the strategy used to develop the message, and hear how and why the presenters 00:00:25.060 --> 00:00:26.919 chose this strategy. 00:00:26.919 --> 00:00:31.470 This video is part of the Communication video series. Successful professional communication 00:00:31.470 --> 00:00:36.809 begins with the ability to analyze situational variables and make strategic decisions. 00:00:36.809 --> 00:00:41.890 Hi, my name is Joanne Yates, and I'm a Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management and 00:00:41.890 --> 00:00:45.520 Deputy Dean in the Sloan School of Management at MIT. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:50.640 After watching this video, you should be able to use a strategic approach in order to communicate 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:53.680 effectively. This means that you will be able to 00:00:53.680 --> 00:00:58.670 Analyze your audience, context and purpose Examine and build your own credibility with 00:00:58.670 --> 00:01:03.100 the audience Decide on content, structure, channel, and 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:05.610 style, and Evaluate your own and other's messages for 00:01:05.610 --> 00:01:12.610 sound arguments and effective strategy. 00:01:12.610 --> 00:01:16.500 As we watch the student presentation, think about the following elements: 00:01:16.500 --> 00:01:22.250 Purpose: what is the objective of the presentation? Credibility: Do the speakers have credibility 00:01:22.250 --> 00:01:27.940 with the audience when they start the presentation? If not, how do they establish it? For example, 00:01:27.940 --> 00:01:34.670 do they build an argument that shows expertise? Content: Does the material support the objective? 00:01:34.670 --> 00:01:38.770 Is the argument sound? Does the content answer the audience's questions? 00:01:38.770 --> 00:01:45.950 Structure: Does the organization of the presentation support what the speakers are trying to achieve? 00:01:45.950 --> 00:01:52.390 Channel: What methods (demos, schematics, animations, text, narration) were used to 00:01:52.390 --> 00:01:58.560 convey the points, and were they effective? Style: Did the style fit the context? For 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:05.560 example, were the speakers projecting a formal or informal style? Were they poised and confident? 00:02:08.919 --> 00:02:15.680 This presentation was the last requirement in our class for engineering processes. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:20.800 The presentation was made in a large auditorium, to around a hundred or two hundred 00:02:20.880 --> 00:02:27.900 audience members. Ranging from Industry members to students, to mentors, to late men who didn't know 00:02:27.900 --> 00:02:31.440 much about engineering processes. 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:40.900 For anyone that uses a walker many everyday occurrences loom as obsticles. 00:02:40.920 --> 00:02:45.180 Walkers can't be used on steps in the home or in the community. 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:50.660 They don't fit in the narrow aisles of trains, planes, buses, performance venues, or sports stadiums. 00:02:50.740 --> 00:02:55.540 There's no room for them in the tight corners of restaurants, or most Boston Area apartments. 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:03.680 On behalf of Green Team we'd like to introduce to you a solution. 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:08.520 Our product, Walker Prime. A walker that can be transformed into a cane. 00:03:09.540 --> 00:03:12.460 Through conversations with over 20 users and their representatives. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:16.920 We've established at the market for this product is community ambulators. 00:03:17.040 --> 00:03:21.560 These are older adults who independently drive, but need the added stability of a walker. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.360 For instance one user we spoke to recalled recently going to a fancy restaurant 00:03:29.480 --> 00:03:35.200 and chose to bring his cane rather than his walker fearing that their wouldn't be space in the restaurant. 00:03:35.600 --> 00:03:41.220 Unfortunately the restaurant had a very large parking garage and in traveling from his car to the restaurant 00:03:41.320 --> 00:03:44.579 he became fatigued and really wished he had his walker. 00:03:44.940 --> 00:03:47.660 To take a look at how Walker Prime could have improved his situation 00:03:47.720 --> 00:03:49.940 were going to do a demonstration with Ran Dedia 00:03:52.380 --> 00:03:56.960 If she was going to meet a friend for lunch in a restaurant downtown and parked a block away 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:01.700 They could use Walker Prime in walker mode to get to the base of the stairs leading up to the restaurant 00:04:01.860 --> 00:04:06.660 She could then by pressing on the lower locks convert Walker Prime into a cane mode 00:04:06.820 --> 00:04:11.760 And using the cane in one hand and the railing in the other she could ascend the stairs. 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:17.680 The wheels are lifted above the skids, so there's no chance of them touching the ground. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:22.300 She can then after she's finished with lunch descend the stairs in the same manner. 00:04:22.940 --> 00:04:28.780 And to get back to her car she can change it back to walker mode to walk the extra block. 00:04:30.420 --> 00:04:35.920 Unfortunately sometimes there's a narrow foot path leading to a parking area too narrow for a walker 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:39.340 Again with Walker Prime this is no longer an obstacle. 00:04:40.420 --> 00:04:42.580 To see how this played out with an actual user 00:04:42.960 --> 00:04:48.820 We visited a rehabilitation center yesterday and worked with a gentleman who is recovering from hip replacement surgery. 00:04:50.140 --> 00:04:50.920 He too. 00:04:54.140 --> 00:04:57.340 He too was able to walk using Walker Prime in Walker mode. 00:04:57.520 --> 00:05:02.940 And as he approached the bottom of the stairs he was able to compress it transforming into a cane. 00:05:03.760 --> 00:05:08.860 And then ascend the stairs using the cane in one hand and for stability the railing in the other. 00:05:09.820 --> 00:05:12.360 Later he was able to descend the steps in the same fashion. 00:05:13.020 --> 00:05:18.100 This is what Walker Prime does. If stairs are a thing of your past Walker Prime is not going to change that. 00:05:18.440 --> 00:05:23.180 But if what's keeping you from the stairs is your walker, that's a job for Walker Prime. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:28.780 What was the purpose of the presentation? 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:38.860 The purpose of our presentation was to explain why our product was important 00:05:39.320 --> 00:05:42.240 Why would anyone need this kind of transformable walker? 00:05:42.760 --> 00:05:48.980 To do that we showed different use cases. For example we tried to appeal the audience by 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:52.700 talking about narrow spaces in Boston which people could relate to. 00:05:53.060 --> 00:05:59.740 We also showed another use case of a user having to walk for a long while in a parking lot. 00:06:00.780 --> 00:06:06.340 This helped us show the audience that our product is important. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:11.580 Would the audience have found the presenters credible? 00:06:11.900 --> 00:06:16.140 What did they do to convince the audience that their arguments were sound? 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:24.160 Their team's next presentation. 00:06:24.620 --> 00:06:31.560 And we actually had a bad one for our fifth presentation because the aesthetics of our product. 00:06:31.620 --> 00:06:35.440 And because we were pretty late in putting it all together. 00:06:35.659 --> 00:06:40.780 So, and our mentors and the staff of 009 have seen this. 00:06:40.840 --> 00:06:45.920 So we had to re-establish credibility with our final design with our mentors and staff 00:06:45.940 --> 00:06:48.840 and we tried to convey that in our presentation. 00:06:48.960 --> 00:06:53.340 We tested walker prime with two users in a rehabilitation facility and 00:06:53.420 --> 00:06:58.320 we had a video with one of the users showing how he was able to use our product pretty easily 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:03.880 climbing up the stairs, climbing down the stairs and transitioning it from a walker to a cane. 00:07:05.220 --> 00:07:11.380 This was important because one, it showed that in reality this is a viable product 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:20.260 it reaffirmed how functional the product was and it gave us enough credibility with the audience to show 00:07:20.440 --> 00:07:26.780 that this would actually be a good product and actually I think a lot of our reviews that came in 00:07:26.960 --> 00:07:32.020 after the presentation did say that we could possibly make this a real product. 00:07:33.253 --> 00:07:35.253 Let's continue watching the video. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:40.560 For Walker Prime we wanted to focus on three things. 00:07:40.659 --> 00:07:43.460 Stability, simplicity, and ergonomic. 00:07:44.420 --> 00:07:49.920 This is an interesting design challenge because for each of the modes there were different requirements 00:07:50.340 --> 00:07:55.740 For Walker mode we used similar dimensions to those of other walkers on the market. 00:07:56.200 --> 00:08:01.820 We had to be able to make sure that you could adjust the height and still have a stable walker. 00:08:02.520 --> 00:08:07.360 The legs extend from hip height and are angled outward to create lateral stability. 00:08:08.780 --> 00:08:14.800 In Cane mode we wanted to make sure that you maintain the same handle height in both modes 00:08:15.100 --> 00:08:18.160 which also motivated many of our other design decisions. 00:08:19.320 --> 00:08:25.500 We also looked at other canes on the market and consulted physical therapist 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:31.240 to determine what an appropriate cane footprint would be so that it would also fit on a stair. 00:08:32.059 --> 00:08:37.640 Let's take a look at the Walker at the intuitive transition from walker to cane mode. 00:08:38.659 --> 00:08:44.300 We accomplished this by linking the motion in both directions so that it was simple to use 00:08:44.400 --> 00:08:49.360 so that all the user has to do is grab the two locks on either side, disengage them 00:08:49.400 --> 00:08:51.580 and bring your hands together into cane mode. 00:08:52.580 --> 00:08:57.460 Let's take a look at the handles. There are 2 handles in walker mode that become 1 in cane mode. 00:08:58.660 --> 00:09:05.140 The wave allows the handles to come together nicely and also provides an ergonomic contour for your fingers. 00:09:06.860 --> 00:09:09.420 Just below the handles are the safety locks. 00:09:10.340 --> 00:09:15.180 There are two different locks but they are both passive for simplicity. 00:09:16.940 --> 00:09:24.200 In order to use active these locks first the user must disengage the upper lock and pull the handles apart. 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:30.640 Then the locks on either side engage and lock it into Walker mode. 00:09:31.760 --> 00:09:38.080 Then if the user wanted to make it into a cane again they would just simply 00:09:38.500 --> 00:09:44.760 hit either of the two locks on either side, push the walker together, and form a cane again. 00:09:46.100 --> 00:09:48.100 Moving down to the bottom we have the wheels. 00:09:50.980 --> 00:09:55.960 We wanted to make sure that the user would be able to use this both indoors and outdoors 00:09:56.860 --> 00:10:03.680 so we did some research and found that 5 inch wheels were necessary for outdoor use. 00:10:05.280 --> 00:10:11.340 We also need the wheels to clear the ground in cane mode, so we had to make the geometry such that 00:10:11.540 --> 00:10:17.680 as you collapse the walker into cane mode the wheels would lift off the ground and above the skids. 00:10:19.260 --> 00:10:21.040 This brings up to our dual purpose skids 00:10:21.980 --> 00:10:23.980 These skids were designed to be stable in both modes 00:10:26.380 --> 00:10:30.900 There's a low friction surface for sliding in walker mode and a high friction rubber surface 00:10:31.220 --> 00:10:32.980 for functionality in cane mode. 00:10:34.400 --> 00:10:37.760 How did you decide what material to include in your presentation? 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:43.680 To some extent the material was stated by the requirements of the class they said that you need to 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:47.660 do a financial analysis, you need to tell us how you made this product, you need to tell us why anyone 00:10:47.680 --> 00:10:50.520 would ever buy this product or why anyone would make this product. 00:10:50.620 --> 00:10:57.080 So that was the main reason we included what we did. How we arranged it was a little bit more up to us. 00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:00.980 So we felt especially given that we had a significant non technical portion of our audience 00:11:01.020 --> 00:11:09.420 It was important to motivate the "how" and "why" and show who can benefit from our products...