In 1993 Rawlins wrote “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember” in reference to the importance of visual aid in public presentations. Can this statement be still in force? PowerPoints make presence in every speech nowadays. Top of that, in the so called information society, we all are bombarded with visual information all over the day. Hence, great part of communication take place via visual data. In this context, it is worth mentioning the communication coach Robin Kermode (2016) and his recent article in The Gurdian. He basically come to contradict Rawlins words by saying that it is precisely hear what make improve one´s communicaiton: “make people feel human”, he wrote. And to do so, he thinks, we must, first of all, get rid of “our PowerPoint voice” (which sound like a bad teacher controlling us with volume); and use our own and natural one. He finishes sayng  “In a world where electronic communication has almost taken over lives, the important thing to remember whenever we speak is that humans still respond best to each other”.

References

Rawlins, K. (1993). Presentation and communication skills: A handbook for practitioners. Macmillan Magazines.

Kermode, R. (2016). Three ways to improve communication skills at work. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/careers/2016/jun/06/three-ways-improve-communication-skills-work