PowerPoint Rhythm

Part of the problem is the Engineer's tendency to try to include as many details as possible in a single presentation and on a single presentation slide. "I get it," says Alley. "I understand—you work hard on a project and you fall in love with the things you've done to solve this or that problem. But you have to ask, 'Does the audience really care about that?'"

But even when an engineer has carefully honed his talk to what's crucial to communicate, there's a kind of "culture of presentation" that seems to dictate the form of the visual aid.

The source of this culture is the very software that is meant to assist the dissemination of information. PowerPoint, like some kind of bullet point-craving parasite, seems to infect the mind of users, directing them to make one slide after another with the same structure: phrase followed by bullet point list, phrase followed by bullet point list, phrase followed by bullet point list, etc. "It's more of a meandering talk that doesn't develop the key details as well," says Alley. "A lot of times, if they have that billeted list, it's: turn, look at the screen, turn, look at the screen—you get that death by PowerPoint rhythm."

Beyond the Bullet Point

Technological wonders abound. And yet the technology for presenting that technology seems to encourage presentations that are less than wondrous. The audience that basks in the PowerPoint glow of an engineers' talk is likely to be verbally overwhelmed, confused, or just plain bored.

"We as a disciple, we need to do a better job in presenting our work," says Michael Alley, a professor of engineering communication at Penn State and the author of The Craft of Scientific Presentations. "There are so many important decisions that are made about energy, health, and safety that involve people understanding what we know."

Negotiation for Engineers

Most meaningful modern technical problems are beyond the reach of a single individual to solve. They require teams of individuals, sometimes large, geographically diverse teams, with distinct areas of expertise, to work together over long periods of time.

Though engineers may prefer working alone, a significant quantity of a team’s work takes place in a group. The impact that each team member has in these group settings, and therefore on the member’s own career, has as much to do with how one interacts within the team as it does with one’s technical skills. Thus, to be successful, an engineer must be comfortable in this highly interpersonal environment. And to advance, the engineer needs to excel in it.

When the outcome of an exchange has as much to do with the personalities involved as with the information presented, that exchange is a negotiation. The team environment is a serial set of negotiations, each the most difficult kind to carry out successfully and engineers must often work in team settings. Thus, beyond the skills that are necessary to excel as technical contributors, engineers need the skills of negotiators. A course that the authors have developed teaches engineers how to acquire just that. We call the course "Technical Negotiation."

The course makes two advances over other courses: the practical examples are specific to engineering, and the focus is on the difficult problem of balancing long-term relationships while achieving a desired goal.

So what are the skills that an engineer needs to master to become an effective negotiator? The authors’ course trains each engineer to approach and carry out an interaction by using the following steps:

• Explore the goals and objectives of all parties;
• Understand your own interests and positions, and those of the parties to the negotiation;
• Create multiple options, evaluate them, and select the one with the highest overall value;
• Balance the skill of advocacy with the skill of inquiry to improve both the effectiveness of communication and the likelihood of maintaining long-term relationships;
• Understand the best walk-away alternatives to any negotiated outcome, and how those alternatives compare to the options under discussion.

This last skill comes the closest to what most people think of when they hear the term "negotiation," and may seem a little out of place in a technical setting. But standing your ground, and learning how to do so without damaging your relationships, is key to achieving the confidence to negotiate effectively in the first place.

A successful negotiation maintains relationships by ensuring that all parties to the negotiation feel included in the process. As a result, the team is more invested in the result as well. This helps team morale, which in turn, helps the employ

er.

https://www.asme.org

Introduction

Move your eyes around you and you will find electronics everywhere, Refrigerator, laptops, TV, CD players, washing machines, Microwaves etc. We cannot think of our life without the electronic gadgets now. It covers a wide range of applications which make our life easier and enjoyable. Similarly, look at the role of communication in our lives and how fast the communication systems and networks have grown in past few years. Can we think of living without mobile phones, Facebook, internet and entertainment transmissions? From necessities to comfort and to entertainment, Electronics and Communication rules the world.

Electronics has a major role in improving productivity in industries like oil, energy, agriculture and so many other important sectors of economy. In steel, petroleum and chemical industries it is the electronic devices that direct, control and test production processes. Health care industry depends on electronic equipments to perform chemical tests and to check body functions. The safety in transportation, factories and mines and in homes relies heavily on electronics.

Environmental Engineering

Environmental Engineering helps make the air, waters, and land better and safer for humans. Work includes designing, building, and operating systems to manage waste-water, cut air pollution, improve solid-waste disposal, and make recycling more cost-effective. Engineers also find ways to reduce emissions from vehicles and power plants, and clean up toxic-waste sites. Efforts are guided by environmental law, regulators, and public health concerns, spelled out in environmental-impact statements.