jbailey | Did you hear the one about the Panda?

I've been spending a bit of time today thinking about the presentation that I will deliver in a little under 2 weeks. I spent last Saturday evening drinking and playing dominoes with a linguist and a couple friends of mine, and I heard a joke that goes something like this:

A Panda walks into a bar, and orders a meal. At the end of the meal, the waitress walks over and offers the bill. The Panda stands up, pulls out a gun, fires it at the waitress, and walks away. The restaurant manager is aghast by this, so he runs up to the panda and demands to know why he did that. The panda replies, "Because I'm a panda. Look it up in the dictionary." The manager does and sees the definition: "Panda. Noun. Mammal. Eats shoots and leaves."

Part of my task is to help speakers understand that not only is diction and clear presentation important, but that since a large percentage (possibly the majority?) of the audience members will not speak English as their first language, that word choice is just as critical. We want the audience to understand the message that we bring.

Much of my presentation will be a repeat of last year, with some specific points thrown in to cover some of the most common things I saw, but I want to make sure that people who are used to presenting can come away from this workshop with something to think about. I'm looking forward to the opportunity, not only to present and work with the speakers, but to talk to as many people as are interested in presentation skills and styles. It was a great way to meet people last year.