1 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:08,160 Any time you begin a communication, whether face-to-face, in writing, or over the phone, 2 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 3 00:00:12,230 --> 00:00:16,170 of your interaction is, and how you're going to deliver your message. 4 00:00:16,170 --> 00:00:20,990 In this video, we'll watch 3 segments of a presentation created by MIT students. You 5 00:00:20,990 --> 00:00:25,060 will analyze the strategy used to develop the message, and hear how and why the presenters 6 00:00:25,060 --> 00:00:26,919 chose this strategy. 7 00:00:26,919 --> 00:00:31,470 This video is part of the Communication video series. Successful professional communication 8 00:00:31,470 --> 00:00:36,809 begins with the ability to analyze situational variables and make strategic decisions. 9 00:00:36,809 --> 00:00:41,890 Hi, my name is Joanne Yates, and I'm a Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management and 10 00:00:41,890 --> 00:00:45,520 Deputy Dean in the Sloan School of Management at MIT. 11 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 12 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,680 effectively. This means that you will be able to 13 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:58,670 Analyze your audience, context and purpose Examine and build your own credibility with 14 00:00:58,670 --> 00:01:03,100 the audience Decide on content, structure, channel, and 15 00:01:03,100 --> 00:01:05,610 style, and Evaluate your own and other's messages for 16 00:01:05,610 --> 00:01:12,610 sound arguments and effective strategy. 17 00:01:12,610 --> 00:01:16,500 As we watch the student presentation, think about the following elements: 18 00:01:16,500 --> 00:01:22,250 Purpose: what is the objective of the presentation? Credibility: Do the speakers have credibility 19 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, 20 00:01:27,940 --> 00:01:34,670 do they build an argument that shows expertise? Content: Does the material support the objective? 21 00:01:34,670 --> 00:01:38,770 Is the argument sound? Does the content answer the audience's questions? 22 00:01:38,770 --> 00:01:45,950 Structure: Does the organization of the presentation support what the speakers are trying to achieve? 23 00:01:45,950 --> 00:01:52,390 Channel: What methods (demos, schematics, animations, text, narration) were used to 24 00:01:52,390 --> 00:01:58,560 convey the points, and were they effective? Style: Did the style fit the context? For 25 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:05,560 example, were the speakers projecting a formal or informal style? Were they poised and confident? 26 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:15,680 This presentation was the last requirement in our class for engineering processes. 27 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:20,800 The presentation was made in a large auditorium, to around a hundred or two hundred 28 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 29 00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:31,440 much about engineering processes. 30 00:02:36,460 --> 00:02:40,900 For anyone that uses a walker many everyday occurrences loom as obsticles. 31 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:45,180 Walkers can't be used on steps in the home or in the community. 32 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. 33 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. 34 00:03:01,020 --> 00:03:03,680 On behalf of Green Team we'd like to introduce to you a solution. 35 00:03:03,740 --> 00:03:08,520 Our product, Walker Prime. A walker that can be transformed into a cane. 36 00:03:09,540 --> 00:03:12,460 Through conversations with over 20 users and their representatives. 37 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,920 We've established at the market for this product is community ambulators. 38 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:21,560 These are older adults who independently drive, but need the added stability of a walker. 39 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,360 For instance one user we spoke to recalled recently going to a fancy restaurant 40 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. 41 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 42 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,579 he became fatigued and really wished he had his walker. 43 00:03:44,940 --> 00:03:47,660 To take a look at how Walker Prime could have improved his situation 44 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:49,940 were going to do a demonstration with Ran Dedia 45 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 46 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 47 00:04:01,860 --> 00:04:06,660 She could then by pressing on the lower locks convert Walker Prime into a cane mode 48 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. 49 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. 50 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:22,300 She can then after she's finished with lunch descend the stairs in the same manner. 51 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. 52 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 53 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,340 Again with Walker Prime this is no longer an obstacle. 54 00:04:40,420 --> 00:04:42,580 To see how this played out with an actual user 55 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. 56 00:04:50,140 --> 00:04:50,920 He too. 57 00:04:54,140 --> 00:04:57,340 He too was able to walk using Walker Prime in Walker mode. 58 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. 59 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. 60 00:05:09,820 --> 00:05:12,360 Later he was able to descend the steps in the same fashion. 61 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. 62 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. 63 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:28,780 What was the purpose of the presentation? 64 00:05:35,500 --> 00:05:38,860 The purpose of our presentation was to explain why our product was important 65 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,240 Why would anyone need this kind of transformable walker? 66 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 67 00:05:49,100 --> 00:05:52,700 talking about narrow spaces in Boston which people could relate to. 68 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. 69 00:06:00,780 --> 00:06:06,340 This helped us show the audience that our product is important. 70 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:11,580 Would the audience have found the presenters credible? 71 00:06:11,900 --> 00:06:16,140 What did they do to convince the audience that their arguments were sound? 72 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:24,160 Their team's next presentation. 73 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. 74 00:06:31,620 --> 00:06:35,440 And because we were pretty late in putting it all together. 75 00:06:35,659 --> 00:06:40,780 So, and our mentors and the staff of 009 have seen this. 76 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:45,920 So we had to re-establish credibility with our final design with our mentors and staff 77 00:06:45,940 --> 00:06:48,840 and we tried to convey that in our presentation. 78 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:53,340 We tested walker prime with two users in a rehabilitation facility and 79 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 80 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. 81 00:07:05,220 --> 00:07:11,380 This was important because one, it showed that in reality this is a viable product 82 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 83 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 84 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:32,020 after the presentation did say that we could possibly make this a real product. 85 00:07:33,253 --> 00:07:35,253 Let's continue watching the video. 86 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,560 For Walker Prime we wanted to focus on three things. 87 00:07:40,659 --> 00:07:43,460 Stability, simplicity, and ergonomic. 88 00:07:44,420 --> 00:07:49,920 This is an interesting design challenge because for each of the modes there were different requirements 89 00:07:50,340 --> 00:07:55,740 For Walker mode we used similar dimensions to those of other walkers on the market. 90 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. 91 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:07,360 The legs extend from hip height and are angled outward to create lateral stability. 92 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 93 00:08:15,100 --> 00:08:18,160 which also motivated many of our other design decisions. 94 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:25,500 We also looked at other canes on the market and consulted physical therapist 95 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. 96 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. 97 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 98 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 99 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:51,580 and bring your hands together into cane mode. 100 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. 101 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. 102 00:09:06,860 --> 00:09:09,420 Just below the handles are the safety locks. 103 00:09:10,340 --> 00:09:15,180 There are two different locks but they are both passive for simplicity. 104 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. 105 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:30,640 Then the locks on either side engage and lock it into Walker mode. 106 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:38,080 Then if the user wanted to make it into a cane again they would just simply 107 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. 108 00:09:46,100 --> 00:09:48,100 Moving down to the bottom we have the wheels. 109 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 110 00:09:56,860 --> 00:10:03,680 so we did some research and found that 5 inch wheels were necessary for outdoor use. 111 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 112 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. 113 00:10:19,260 --> 00:10:21,040 This brings up to our dual purpose skids 114 00:10:21,980 --> 00:10:23,980 These skids were designed to be stable in both modes 115 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 116 00:10:31,220 --> 00:10:32,980 for functionality in cane mode. 117 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,760 How did you decide what material to include in your presentation? 118 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 119 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 120 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:50,520 would ever buy this product or why anyone would make this product. 121 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. 122 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:00,980 So we felt especially given that we had a significant non technical portion of our audience 123 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...