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unCOILed 2011: Get Schooled 9 months ago
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The Ethos, Logos, and Pathos of Library Instruction, or How to Engage your BI Audience Persuasively

Presented by: David Oberhelman

"I will draw upon speech and communications concepts and techniques for public speaking and give tips on how to apply them to a library instructional setting. This talk will cover methods to break the ice, keep the class’s attention, engage a class during demonstrations, and how to use effective persuasive speaking techniques to convince students of the need to master information literacy skills and help them see the connections between effective research skills and academic success.”

unCOILed 2011: Get Schooled 8 months ago
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I think, out of this entire proposal, the line "how to use effective persuasive speaking techniques to convince students of the need to master information literacy skills" peaks my interest the most!

Sometimes it seems like they don't understand the need until it's crunch time. Looking forward to this, David!

Sarah Clark 8 months ago
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I find appeals to enlightened self interest are useful, but it's a more obvious argument for some tools ("Does anybody have any interest in a tool that will build your bibliography for you?") than others. Explaining the peer reviewed/popular journal distinction is a good example of the latter--it has to be covered, but i can SEE their eyes glazing over.

David Oberhelman 8 months ago
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Exactly, Sarah. I discovered a long time ago that BIs are really a form of persuasive speaking since we have to "win" over a not-always-so-enthusiastic-to-be-there audience and convince them that we can help them and we have better resources than Google or Wikipedia! Enlightened self-interest is one of the key points that can help in this regard, especially when you tie it to that evil instructor in the back who will be grading the fruits of their research!

But I will also talk about how you can appeal to them in other ways too! But convincing them that what they will hear is in their best interest to learn! And using some speaking strategies and (fun) audience participation techniques helps get their attention too (like the games talk about in the other panel).