Projects I’m working on and places work takes me to.
Together with a team from the Codex Secretariat (based in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome) I recently organized a residential workshop for committee chairs at the Chateâuform La Borghesiana.
Why were there only three things on the agenda?
A familiar saying, designed, I’m sure, to belittle those in the teaching profession says: “Those that can, do. Those that can’t – teach!” Ouch – go all the teachers.
This course gives you the opportunity to evaluate yourself as a presenter, with instant video, peer and expert feedback.
I’m in Costa Rica this week with the Codex Alimentarius Secretariat attending a meeting on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Food. This committee determines priorities for the consideration of residues of veterinary drugs in foods and recommends Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for veterinary drugs in food animals.
I will be working on drafting some sections of the report over the first 3 days of the meeting together with a team of Food Standard Officers from Codex.
These committees require you to be well prepared, tirelessly accurate in note taking and then able to synthesise and condense arguments in a short space of time so the report can be completed and then translated ready for adoption this Friday.
I work with many writers in complex and technical fields who have to continuously write about a specialist topic. This can be a theme such as Social Protection or it can be the type of document such a s a formal report or an audit or an evaluation.
Information no longer lives in hidden silos or on dusty library bookshelves. Almost everything written (in some of the agencies I work for) finds its way quite quickly into the public domain via the Internet.
This is a potential disaster for the writer who had in mind a much more selective audience.
So it is like my trip to France today. Looking at new sights, experiencing new ways of doing things, talking to new people – I get an understanding of the audience I need to reach and the perspective that needs to change. I stick my head out of the silo.
Audience is king and if what you are writing doesn’t mean anything to your audience then you have wasted your time and, more worryingly, you have wasted theirs.
In the second week of March I’m organising a facilitated event that will bring together a group of 20 committee chairpersons.
The residential workshop, held over two half days will look for creative participation and consensus on questions relative to communication, strategy and managing meetings within the framework of international standard setting for food safety – the Codex Alimentarius.
The workshop will take place at a country location on the outskirts of Paris.
This short video gives you a sample of the interactive nature of our training programmes and what you can expect to accomplish on just a one day “taster” course.
For a couple of years I have been involved with the talent division in the UN World Food Programme and as part of their learning path for Junior Professional Officers we have designed a public speaking and presenting module.
If you’re laughing you’re learning and this was a lot of fun.
If you eliminate powerpoint and allow human beings to use their creativity and imagination you can deliver great presentations with real power to persuade.
