November 26th, 2009 at 02:34pm
Under General knowledge
Most of the history of dyslexia has occurred during the last 25 years. Before that the condition was practically unknown.
Dyslexics see things differently. Their eyes are the same as those of non-dyslexics, but their brains interpret the signals differently. Because of this they learn differently and need to be taught in the way they learn, not in the traditional mold.
For roughly the last 15 years, as part of a program to help in overcoming dyslexia, school-age kids have all been screened for signs of dyslexia in children. Those identified as “probables” went through a full-blown test for dyslexia. Those dyslexics then identified were subsequently taught according to the way they needed to be taught.
Those who went through grade school more than 15 years ago almost all bear the scars of being hammered into molds that did not fit. They were ridiculed for their differences, looked at as retarded (which most are definitely not!), slow learners, etc. They were embarrassed and learn to hide their differences.
Millions of adult dyslexics today have never taken a dyslexia test. They still struggle with learning and reading difficulties that could be easily overcome if they were only known. A half-hour dyslexia test could make enormous improvements in their self-esteem and abilities.
There are many different types of dyslexia. In fact, there is no standard “type”; everyone is different. Dyslexics cannot be classified and put into different “boxes” to process. Each one must be tested and evaluated separately.
Dyslexia testing is not difficult or expensive; there’s even an online dyslexia test that takes half an hour, can be done from home or wherever you can connect to the Internet and costs less than $60! If you or anyone you know might possibly be dyslexic, it’s really easy to find out for sure!
There is more information on the subject of dyslexia you can see by clicking on any of the links in this blog posting.
Disclaimer: This posting is based on information freely available in the popular press and medical journals that deal with dyslexia. Nothing herein is intended to be or should be construed to be medical advice. For medical advice the reader should consult with his or her physician or other medical specialist.
By – Jonathan J. Jones
By Thinker
November 23rd, 2009 at 02:34pm
Under General knowledge
Human beings are generally tough, durable and long-lasting. Every year there are more centenarians, people 100 or more years old. We are now coming to understand that certain nutrition and life-style choices we make have not only short term effects but also intermediate term (10-20 years) and long term (40-60+ years) effects on human health.
For example, there is a generally accepted minimum daily Vitamin C intake necessaray to prevent scurvy. Once we thought that this minimum amount was all that anyone needed. Subsequent scientific studies showed us that increased Vitamin C intake had significant health and well-being benefits.
If you don’t get any Vitamin C, you will contract scurvy in a few months. But the goal in nutrition is not just to avoid obvious short-term vitamin-deficiancy diseases. It is to promote optimum health, energy levels and well being. For that we need many times the scurvy-prevention level of Vitamin C intake.
There are still longer cycles of nutrient deprivation and lifestyles involving many different nutrients, phytochemicals, antioxidants, etc. These deprivations can lead to diabetes, circulatory problems, heart disease and maybe alzheimer’s disease and others.
On the dark side there are pollutants, toxins, carcinogens and other substances, both known and as-yet-unknown, that have cumulative life-shortening effects on everyone.
All this pushes us to avoid artificial drug solutions and move toward more natural cures.
Knowing this now allows us to successfully deal with fibroids in uterus problems, find the best cures for psoriasis and treat fibroid uterus symptoms more effectively.
Science marches on, bringing new understandings and suggesting new possibilities every day. As researchers continue to unravel the secrets of how our body chemistry really works, down to the molecular level, our view and our capabilities to improve and prolong human live are constantly improving.
DISCLAIMER: I hope this helps, but please note that I am not a doctor so you should consult with your physician before taking any medical advice from the Internet.
Courtesy of Willard Helms
By Thinker
November 22nd, 2009 at 02:47pm
Under General knowledge
There are several types of conferences; the dictionary definition of conference says “A meeting for the exchange of views”.
My interpretation of conference, being a conference producer, is a place where people meet to confer and share knowledge. In the sharing theme I have decided to detail the elements required to ensure your conference goes smoothly. Whether you are getting a conference production company like mine to do it for you, or if you are going to manage it yourself, follow this outline and you can be assured that if you have made ample allowances for each of the items then your attendees (usually called delegates) will have a great day out. The better the feedback from the delegates the better the conference will have been received by the end client, either your MD or client depending on whether you are doing it yourself, or are an event organiser.
There are many different types of conferences, one of the most popular types are seminars which are normally an academic style forum where people go to learn about a specific topic.Quite a few companies run free seminars to teach their clients about the products they sell and how they can help to fulfil a need. Quite often the clients do not realise they have the need until the seminar is over!
I mention Forum above because this is probably (at least to my knowledge) the oldest type of meeting or conference that I am aware of. My partner Sam will cringe at this, as when I discuss my work, I always have to get the Romans in somewhere! A lot of the passion in my work comes from Roman history.
A Short History of Conferences
The forum as many people are aware was the centre of power in Rome for many hundreds of years, a Roman general would return from a successful campaign and he would have been received at the forum and made a speech from the rostrum to the people of Rome.
So for thousands of years people have been having conferences around the world, the tools for doing the job have changed, but I can imagine and have indeed read about, the effort and organisation that went into preparing for one was as important then as it is today.Much like decorating, running a successful conference is all in the preparation!
Things haven’t changed much no matter how large or small a conference is, there are some rules that we must all follow.
The Right Venue
Once you have a reason to hold a conference and an audience to attend the next step is venue selection, this is crucial as you will need a room large enough for the numbers attending, without being too large. If you are going to have a conference set with rear projection then the throw distance has to be taken into account when you are looking at the room, (I will come onto throw distance later when thing get more technical) as this uses space too.It is also a good idea to try and make sure you have extra ‘breakout’ rooms available for delegates to have private discussions and to make and receive phone calls.
Once you have a main meeting room suitable for your delegate numbers, you then have to consider where they will have tea and coffee breaks for networking and if there is potential for exhibition style displays.
An often overlooked aspect in conference production venue selection is choosing a venue location close to an airport if the majority of attendees are international.
Remember if you are going to do the job right you are also responsible for the delegate experience prior to arriving at the venue, you want them to have a pleasant journey and feel as relaxed as possible on arrival so venue location is very important.
Conference Production
Once a venue has been selected and it fits with all the criteria above, then it’s time to give your production company a call, they will normally recommend a site visit, so the room can be measured to check all of the conference production elements fit within the room available.
There are various different styles of the seating and this is an important consideration. There is theatre style seating where the delegates sit in rows next to each other. Then you have classroom style seating where delegates sit next to each other with a slim table in front similar to when you might take an exam. Then there is cabaret style seating which is where delegates are seated on round tables which are usually six feet across.
After your production company has completed the site visit they will propose the elements of staging you require to achieve your purpose. This will include stage and set, video projection, sound, lighting, crew levels to operate the show, and any pre-production requirements.
Pre-production
Not all conferences require pre-production, for example if your conference has PowerPoint slides you may want your production company to create them for you, a lot of companies now have the expertise to do this in-house, but if that is the case they need to be of a professional standard.
You may want a video to be created, there are different types of messages you could utilise a video for, for example, a short opening sting, like an advert, to give a high impact start to your show.
Sometimes there may be presenters that can’t attend so you could have them videoed prior to the event and then played back during the conference at the appropriate time.
Not all presenters are comfortable with presenting, so a speaker coach may be a good idea, the coach will do as much or as little as is required. Usually they will come into your offices and asses the presenters, presentation techniques and will advise accordingly.Speaker coaches can be invaluable to the success of your event if your presenters are new to their role and do not have any public speaking experience.
For a very large events management project you can hire a specialist production company to deal with everything from finding the venue through to delegate badges, or if you are gaining more experience in conference production you can use the company to perform he functions you still need help with.
However, if you decide to do it yourself, then below are some useful hints and tips to creating your own successful production.These tips are the culmination of over 25 years working as a conference producer.
Set and Staging
A conference set is usually a timber framed construction covered in a material of a colour that fits the client’s corporate colours, normally this would have an aperture in it for rear projection with a screen, the screen should be large enough for all of the audience to see the content on the screen without too much trouble.There is nothing worse than being on the back row and not being able to see the screen, especially if it forms a major part of the presentation.
The base of the screen, known as the under panel, needs to be at least 1.2m (5ft) to ensure the audience has a clear view over the heads of the people sat in front of them.
This is where the ceiling height comes into play. For example if you had a screen height of 2.5m, a screen base of 1.2m and a screen header, above the screen, of 300mm the minimum ceiling height required is 4m.
There are many different styles of set you can use, many companies have a stock set option which is pre-built, when it is used it is recovered to suit the client’s corporate branding. Other styles of set include a bespoke set where you consult a designer who will take a brief from you regarding the theme of the event and come up with a purpose built set with various options. This is of course more expensive compared to the standard stock set options. Provided you use a competent production company a stock set will do the job fine, unless you need something really different.
Whether you decide on a stock or bespoke set it is advisable to have some scale floor plans created to ensure all the elements fit into the available space and most production companies will do this in-house. if you went for the bespoke option you would receive some 3D drawings so you can visualise what the set will look like in the venue.
Once the set has been decided upon then the stage will also need to be included in the plans. The most cost effective stage option for corporate events is a standard stage the width of the set, which is normally about 2.5m deep and 450mm high.
The size also depends on what you want to have on stage during the conference, for example if you are going to have just one lectern or two, or if there is a requirement for a top table or some comfortable chairs and a coffee table.
Video Projection
Video projection is required if you want to put an image on the screen behind the speaker. The image can be data or video playback or indeed both. At small conferences this may just be a data projector and a laptop, controlled from the lectern, either with the client pushing buttons or with the help of a remote mouse so a presenter can move around the stage area freely.These are a great tool and whilst being relatively cheap to buy really help the presenter to get into their presentation!
You can also use a stage monitor screen so the presenter can see the slide changes without having to turn and look at the screen, the presenter should never have their back to the audience. To enable this you will require what we call a VCA DA this piece of equipment splits the signal from the laptop to both the projector and the stage monitor screen. Generally this is a trade tool only of the AV industry so if you can’t find one ask your conference production company to provide it.
If the presenter is more akin to speaking than using a computer and doesn’t want to control their own slides then a cue light system can be used. This is a hand held controller that when pressed sends a signal to a light backstage and a technician then forwards the slides for the speaker.
If you want to play DVD’s you will require a DVD player with a preview monitor and a switcher. There are many different switchers you can use but it is recommended that if you’re going to play a lot of videos during your event then a good quality data switcher should be used.
So you’ve got your data projector, your cue light system, your stage monitor and your DVD playback.
What other event planning techniques can we use to enhance the experience of delegates at your conference?
Recently I did an event which had a live camera feed.
The client wanted this for two different reasons firstly there was a presenter that didn’t have any PowerPoint slides except a name slide, so when he was presenting we had a live camera feed on the screen so the audience had a more up close and personal experience with the presentation. Then we utilised the live camera feed during the question and answer session for the same effect. By using two cameras we were able to switch between the person asking the question and the speaker responding to the question so everyone could properly see and hear both the question and the answer.
The second reason was that the client wanted to use some footage for the internet like a webcast, to be run after the live event. Certain elements of the conference were edited out and compressed for the internet so that delegates who were unable to attend could get a feeling of the content of the conference|, simply by watching it on their PC’s}.
Sound System (Public Address PA)
The sound system can range from a couple of speakers and one microphone in a small conference for say 50 delegates, or multiple speakers and microphones for up to thousands of delegates.
The basic sound system requirements are speakers, amplifiers, microphones and a mixing desk, to enable each microphone or set of speakers to be turned up and down as required.
The speakers are generally on stands, however if you are organising a large conference they may be able to be flown from truss above to give an even coverage in the centre of the room.
In the event that you do have a very large audience than a delay line is required, this ensures that the signal reaches all of the speakers in the various locations around the room, or venue, at the exact same time removing any echo there might be.
There are various different types of microphones, the most commonly used these days are the tie clip radio microphones which enables the presenter the freedom to walk around the stage without having to worry about a trailing cable.
If the presenters are going to stay at the lectern then lectern microphones which are wired are more suitable.
With regards the amplifier, most professional amps will run four speakers so if you need eight speakers for good coverage then two amplifiers will be needed. When the amount of speakers and amplifiers is specified, the next piece of equipment required is a mixing desk, generally people who are doing their own event don’t plan for this, but it can be the one piece of crucial equipment that makes the difference between an amateur and a professional event.
The mixing desk takes in all the signals that need to be heard through the speakers, such as the microphones, CD players and video playback. Once the equipment is plugged into the Mixing console, a feed is taken out of the desk and into the amplifiers, then from the amplifier to the speakers.
After this has been done the sound engineer then equalises the system which in layman’s terms means making it sound good in areas of the room. A well equalised sound system will have the feeling for the delegate, that the presenter is seated next to them not shouting from the front of the room.
All mixing consoles have a basic equaliser on the unit itself, however a professional conference producer will know it is advisable to get a separate graphic equaliser which has more options on it.
In a very large room it is recommend having what is called a multicore which as the name suggests is a cable with multiple cores inside it that carries the signals up and down the room from the control position from front of house to the control position backstage.
Lighting
Lighting is one of the most important visual elements of the conference. If you don’t have the luxury of a bespoke conference set then lighting can make all the difference.
There are several different types of lighting available, there is up-lighting normally provided by Par 64 floor cans, which you will recognise from seeing any professionally staged event. These can have coloured gel in them to add a set wash. There are also Fresnells which is a type of lamp which can hang from a truss or floor stand and again these can have a coloured gel in them to provide a set wash or coloured lighting effects. Profile lights are used to highlight elements of the set such as logos, steps or other details.
The most modern type of lamps on the market are LED lights. They are the most expensive type of lighting but they are worth it if you have the budget, the beauty of this type of lighting is that it can change colour at the press of a button|, which saves having to use gels to set the colour, and of course is a much more flexible for of lighting. I am sure you have seen LED lights being used all over the place these days, in torches, in mirrors, in cars, there are even some new cats eyes in the road that use LED lights.
Once the Lighting type and style is specified then it’s a good idea to get a lighting designer involved.
The designer will specify the type of lamp, where it should go, and what it’s going to do, if possible it’s best to hang lighting on a truss in front of the set, as opposed to using floor mounted stands. After the lighting has been decided on then it will need power, this usually comes from the venue supply via a dimmer rack to the lamps.
Crew
The crew is very important as they pull all the elements of the show together, professional conference production companies will know the value of a crew communication system which comprises of headphones and belt packs for each crew member allowing them to communicate with each other, and the production manager or producer.
On larger shows we have a production manager and if required a conference producer, either one of these will show call, which means they will tell the crew what they should be doing and when they should be doing it. For example, when a video is due to be played they will let the video engineer, the sound engineer and the lighting engineers know in advance so they are ready when the caller say run VT.
When this happens the video will run, the audio will go up and the lights will come down.
Transportation
Again transportation is a crucial aspect of any event, or else how is everything you have ordered going to get there at the right time on the right day? The size of the vehicle is dependent on the size of the show, it can be anything from a transit size van up to an arctic with a 40ft trailer. It is the responsibility of the conference production company to decide on the type and size of transportation, but remember if you are booking a venue and it’s a large show that requires an arctic then make sure the vehicle can get into the loading bay! Fortunately it is not from my own experience that I have learnt this but from watching a competitor learn the it the hard way many years ago at an event I was working at!
In Summary
Organising a conference requires a lot of forward planning, the more you put in to it before the event the smoother it will run on the day.
Remember to look after your crew because they are the ones who enable it to all happen, look after your presenters because they are the ones it is happening for, and most importantly look after your delegates if you want it to happen to them again in the future.
By Thinker