Speaking week eight

The future of spoken communication

Preparation work for live session

The events of 2020 have seen a huge shift in the way people work, study and interact. Conversations that we would normally have face-to-face are now being done online. Some of this online communication is synchronous, on video platforms such as Zoom, but we're also seeing a rise in asynchronous communication such as chat and messaging, where there might be a delay between responses. The entrepreneur Matt Mullenweg argues that this asynchronous approach to work has huge advantages in terms of efficiency, productivity, work-life balance and job satisfaction. In his vision of the future of work, most people no longer go to the office and stay there between 9 and 5. They work whenever and from wherever they like. According to Mullenweg, the habits that we've developed during 2020 should be nurtured and developed beyond the current crisis. What does this mean for us as students? Will we still need to give traditional presentations, or has the world moved on?

In the live session this week we're going to be discussing the impact of these changes on our spoken communication skills. For preparation, please read through the University's presentation skills guide page below and come ready to discuss the questions in the next section.

Open the University's Skills Guide page on presentations

Woman presenting a flip chart to colleagues

Are traditional presentations a thing of the past?

Mullenweg's five-levels of autonomy model. Click image to enlarge

Live session discussion - the future of spoken communication

What does the skills guide page suggest are important things to think about when planning a presentation?
Are all of these skills also relevant for presenting online? What additional skills would you add to the page?
What are the pros and cons of online and face-to-face modes of communication? Think about environments such as offices, universities and social environments.
Mullenweg's five-levels model argues that workplaces that go truly asynchronous will perform better than their office based counterparts. Building on your answers to the second question, what kind of skills do you think these kinds of employers will want? Does it depend on your type of industry?
This term has given you all some new learning experiences: in-person synchronous (in classrooms), online synchronous (on Zoom) and online asynchronous (your preparation tasks). In which mode of communication are you most effective and confident?

Live session discussion - seminar review

Now that we've had several weeks of class seminar discussions presentations:

What do you feel are your strengths and weaknesses as a presenter?
How easy do you find it to incorporate new language into your spoken English?
In which seminar have you given your best performance?
Who in your group do you think is a particularly effective speaker?
In future speaking sessions we're going to practise seminars with a greater focus on the individual presentation part. We'll follow a problem-solution structure as outlined in the graphic on the right. What kind of topics have you covered in your subject classes that would make a good discussion in this format?

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