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TECHNO S T R E S S E D ?
March 17, 2004
Don't let your gadgets and gizmos get you down
By Dave Zielinski
If "techno-lust" is the yin of the presentation world, "techno-stress" is the yang. On one hand, the tantalizing parade of software upgrades, hardware innovations, new plug-ins and other toys can seduce presenters with visions of ever-more dynamic, media-rich presentations. On the flip side, the time and energy needed to stay current with the latest, greatest technology can leave people (particularly those not born with the gearhead gene) feeling overwhelmed, undertrained and "techno-stressed."
Technostress, a term coined by clinical psychologist Craig Brod in the 1980s and re-explored in the 1997 book, TechnoStress: Coping with Technology at Work, Home and Play, by authors Larry Rosen and Michelle Weil (John Wiley and Sons), is an unfortunate but inevitable by-product of societies wed to the marvels of technology. Each successive upgrade of hardware or software may represent a technological step forward, but it also places demands on the user – to relearn tasks, troubleshoot new problems, get comfortable with new systems and gear, etc. – and these demands can cause a great deal of stress. Presenters are particularly vulnerable because the success of their jobs, if not their careers, is often bound to devices – laptops, projectors, electronic whiteboards – that don't always work the way they are supposed to.
Then there's the angst of what experts call "technologically captive moments," those increments of time in which you wait for some machine-driven event to happen – or in many cases, not happen. The hours spent futzing with technology siphon away valuable time from researching, refining or rehearsing a presentation, compounding frustration levels further.
Couple this presentation-technology tsunami with long days spent juggling e-mail, voice mail, pagers, fax machines or Webconferences, and you've got all the ingredients for technology meltdown. If you feel you're spending more time communicating, configuring, fixing – and cussing – than actually doing, you're not alone. Millions of workers the world over are running on the very same treadmill.
The first step
In the broadest sense, of course, everyone is affected by technostress to some extent. Technology has inserted itself almost everywhere in our daily lives, and when it doesn't work the way we expect it to – if the phone stops working, say, or the network goes down – frustration and anger aren't far behind.
You'll notice, however, that if your company's e-mail system goes on the fritz, the IT guy is hardly ever the one losing his cool about it. That's because he is the one most likely to know what is causing the problem and what needs to be done to solve it. Everyone else is at his and his department's mercy.
So, the first thing to understand about technostress is that it can't be entirely avoided. However, you can minimize its impact by understanding what causes it and knowing what to do when it threatens to consume you.
The multitasking paradox
Technostress has many causes, but one of the most prevalent is the productivity paradox that technology introduces into the workplace. While technology enables new levels of efficiency by allowing us to do more than one thing at a time (also known as multitasking), it also instills in us a nagging feeling of never being "finished," or of always having to be "on." Over the long term, this pressure to always be "plugged in" can be exhausting all by itself. But in the short term, it can also be counterproductive, especially if you're trying to concentrate on developing a presentation. The manager who tries to write a critical PowerPoint presentation while simultaneously experimenting with narrated video clips, juggling e-mail and fielding phone calls might think he's nailed it, but all his audience is likely to see is the shoddy evidence of his scattered focus.
Our brains have an "executive" or controller that keeps track of all the tasks we undertake, says Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and an expert in the psychology of technology. The more tasks we assume at once, he says, the greater the chance the controller will break down. When you jump from creating a PowerPoint presentation to checking voice mail, your thinking shifts in that direction, and it takes time to return to the writing mindset. The upshot is a lot of time spent transitioning between modes – and a subsequent drop-off in performance of all related tasks. The trick, Rosen says, is to grab control of the technology and do everything you can to "uni-task."
When creating a presentation, "an hour spent uni-tasking is probably better than three hours spent multitasking," Rosen says. "When you're on a roll writing a presentation, and the words are spilling out of your fingers, you don't want to stop to check e-mail, because as soon as you self-interrupt, that creative process stops and the magic often takes a long time to recapture when you return to the keyboard."
Don't rely on sheer willpower to keep that narrow focus, Rosen urges – early on, banish any temptation to multitask when incubating a presentation. Develop your presentations away from the bustle of the office, if possible. If you can't flee to a quieter environment, close your e-mail, forward your phone, and hang a sign on the door reading, "Closed for presentation-development time."
Know what you need to know
Technostress also afflicts presenters who obsess over keeping current with the latest tech upgrades or innovations. The symptoms are easy to spot: anxiously eyeballing stacks of unread product reviews, beating yourself up for not taking the time to learn those new PowerPoint tricks, always feeling as though your equipment is obsolete no matter how new it is, and generally feeling sucked into the I'll-never-catch-up abyss.
Rosen says having a realistic view of how much you really need to know about presentation technology, and knowing where you can rely on the expertise of others, is crucial. "Take what you might need to learn right now, learn just that one thing, practice it, make mistakes and see if you can fix it," he says. "You don't want to learn everything on a superficial level, but know what you need to know, and know it well enough that you're comfortable with it. If you can't meet those conditions, don't use it."
Viewing this as experimental "play" time, rather than technophobes' boot camp, goes a long way toward easing the pressure, Rosen says. Companies can help by not demanding that people experiment on their own time, and by providing non-punitive opportunities to learn how to use tools such as electronic whiteboards, projectors or tablet PCs. The best way to build competency without burnout or backlash is to "let people know they are expected to explore and play with important new systems on company time, not just personal time," he says.
A matter of choice
Among the most common but least-recognized causes of technostress for presenters is the lack of choice or say they have in the equipment they use. When organizations invest in technology platforms to be used to develop and deliver presentations, says Rosen, the expectation is that everyone will quickly learn and adopt them, regardless of any individual's personal preferences.
"Today's workers have little control over the technology they use, little training in how to use it and little respite from the constant stream of information and innovation," Rosen says.
Once a new technology is introduced, it's often perceived as breach of etiquette – and a sure sign of technophobia – for a presenter to use an unsanctioned delivery method. For example, the manager working for a high-tech firm might think using a flip chart is the best way to accomplish a presentation objective, but he might be loathe to use one for fear it might lead people to question his technical competence.
To study the choice issue, Rosen's consulting firm, Byte Back, surveyed 300 managers, 200 clerical workers and 50 executives across several industries. Some 78 percent of those surveyed reported they had no input in decisions about what technology to purchase or how to use it.
Although most executives are farsighted about the potential impact of technology on business practices, Rosen says, they are often oblivious, in denial or naive about the impact the technology has on the people who use it. The smart executives know they can't just roll out new systems and expect waves of cheering employees to line the hallways – they have to sell the need and benefits before a new platform or system is implemented.
Another common oversight is that the question, "Do we really need this?" is often posed to the wrong people. If executives query only workers in the information-technology group, for example, they'll always hear arguments in favor of technology upgrades. However, these changes may not be welcomed by or even necessary for the people who will be most affected.
Stress reduction through rehearsal
Some presenters add unnecessarily to technology-induced stress by employing dubious rehearsal practices. It's not rare, for example, for executive presenters to get their first feel for a remote pointer a few minutes before they take the stage, expecting to perform flawlessly with the gadget with little or no practice.
"If they're not accustomed to the feel of the remote in their hand, they either use it like Captain Kirk finishing off a Klingon, or the awkwardness creates a distracting preoccupation," says one presentation-skills coach who counsels executive speakers. "It's like all of a sudden they have a baseball in their hand and don't know what to do with it."
Compounding the problem is the general lack of formal training or ongoing support for presenters as they learn the ins and outs of new software or equipment. Microsoft PowerPoint is a perfect example. Beyond the basics, relatively few companies offer training for creating and delivering PowerPoint presentations. Consequently, people tend to get comfortable with certain functions and ignore the rest, even when they get an upgrade. PowerPoint has gone through four major upgrades in the past six years, so there are many businesses in which only one or two people in the entire organization really know what they're doing with the program; the rest are clinging to the tried-and-true, afraid to move beyond their comfort zone.
Trials by fire
Precious few people get any actual training in the use of electronic whiteboards, document cameras or other types of presentation technology, either. More often than not, a presenter's trial is entirely by fire.
Terry Seamon, manager of training and organizational development for NUI Corp. in Union, N.J., is blunt about the challenges of conducting such training in his company, whether it is teaching presenters to use Webconferencing or how to navigate through new presentation-design software. Because of the volume of other training needs in the company and his lean training staff, "We have almost zero formal training on using presentation tools," Seamon says. "You basically learn by doing and by observing others."
According to Brian Nichelson, executive director of the TechMatters Institute in Pearland, Texas, the formal training that is done is often poorly conceived or has little lasting impact. Employees might get a one-shot training "injection" as new presentation products are rolled out, he says, but without regular use, mentoring or reinforcement on the job, that knowledge quickly vanishes into the ether. "Such upfront classroom training has minimal return, with some studies showing only 10 to 20 percent retention over time," he says.
Too much time sinning
Presenters also increase their stress levels by going too far in the opposite direction – by getting so wrapped up in playing with the technology that when they finally come up for air, they're left with presentations that are ample bun and little beef. Although the visual aesthetics might score high, the message itself may betray thin research, a poor understanding of the audience's expectations, or a multitude of other presentation sins.
Says Nichelson: "Some people who spend all their time getting the dissolves and animated bullets right might be better served allocating more time to creating a focused message or adding spoken context to their slide bullets."
Stress-busting tactics
There are plenty of ways to defeat technostress if you remember that it's you calling the shots and not the machines. Often, the first step is to establish boundaries between technological "space invaders" and the rest of your life, TechnoStress author Rosen says. Know that the globe will keep spinning and you'll still be gainfully employed if you don't respond to all "urgent" e-mail or voice mail within 30 minutes, or if you opt for a well-conceived but static text-and-graphics PowerPoint presentation versus one with high-end animation or narrated video clips.
Indeed, using presentations that are light on PowerPoint pyrotechnics and heavy on communication basics helps many a presenter rest easier at night. While less-stable elements such as Flash animation or Internet links can add considerably to a presentation's impact, they also increase the odds of technical snafus. Having to make last-minute changes to animation, for example, can be a recipe for disaster for anyone unfamiliar with the task.
When technostress hits the fan
When it comes to fretting over pre- or mid-presentation technology glitches, nothing eases anxiety like good disaster preparation. Carrying extra copies of the presentation on CD, placing a version on a secure Web site should the CD fail, and bringing hard copies in case the electricity goes out – these are all good anxiety reducers. Leaving adequate time for equipment run-throughs to make any necessary adjustments is helpful as well.
Should your technology fail during a presentation, avoid trying to fix bugs yourself unless you've got the proper technical chops. Too often the repair takes longer than anticipated and the presenter's credibility takes a hit. Bill Keeley, a project integration manager for Washington TRU Solutions in Carlsbad, N.M., uses an approach worth modeling. "Try to seamlessly and casually say, 'I come prepared for these inevitable technical glitches,' and pass out page-numbered hard copies of your presentation," Keeley suggests.
If an older laptop locks up, take a 10-minute break or engage the audience in discussing a topic you've planned ahead of time. If the breakdown happens near the end of a session, simply shut the equipment down and move into a session summary, rather than jeopardize the impact of your close. If you've done your homework, this should be among the best-rehearsed portions of your presentation anyhow.
As part of his seminars, Jim Endicott, president of Distinction Communication, a presentations design and coaching firm in Newberg, Ore., has participants talk about their "biggest presentation disasters" as a way of highlighting the silver lining in these episodes.
"Time and again I hear salespeople or executives tell me that when their technology failed them and they were forced to just talk to their audiences conversationally and without a visual crutch, their outcomes were much better than with the computer-assisted approach," Endicott says. "What they discovered is that, first and foremost, the presentation process is about relationships, not technology."
Dave Zielinski is a regular contributor to Presentations magazine. He can be reached at zskidoo@aol.com.
Originally published in the February 2004 issue of Presentations magazine. Copyright 2004, VNU Business Media.
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