Change

Outlineandtranscriptexample.pdf

PHI201

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Creating an Outline or Script for Week 9 Assignment

Prepare for Recording

For many, hitting “record” is stressful. What are you going to say? How are you going to say it? What happens if you mess up?

While you cannot plan for everything, you can avoid some of the most common with strong preparation. As part of the Week 9 Assignment requirements, you are asked to prepare by developing either an outline or a script.

The focus should be deciding, in general, what you want to say and when to say it. This simple act of planning makes it easier to hit that record button and, when combined with some solid practice, increases your chances of making a solid presentation or podcast.

Two Options

Different people have different preferences in how they work. Do you want to create a general overview to work from (an outline), or do you want to write something to help you make sure you get the words just right (a script)? The overall structure of either will be the same. The only real difference for this assignment will be how much you write.

NOTE: Using a script can be difficult without practicing. It is important to avoid sounding like you are reading (or looking like it if presenting on camera or in person). Remember, the script is there to help make sure you collect your thoughts and deliver the presentation the way you want. It is not meant to be read word-for-word in front of the camera or audience.

Structure

OPENING INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW – FIRST POINT OVERVIEW – SECOND POINT RELATIONSHIP (FIRST POINT TO SECOND POINT) KEY EXAMPLE(S) CLOSING

Example for Assignment – Outline (Based on “Podcast Example A”)

1. Opening.

a. Name.

b. Background.

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2. Introduction.

a. Philosophy of Change.

b. 10 Skills.

3. Overview – First Point.

a. Heraclitus quote.

b. Change.

i. Connect change to quote.

c. Electronics example.

i. Background.

ii. Learning.

iii. Transition to 10 Skills (agility).

4. Overview – Second Point.

a. Return to Heraclitus quote and connect to 10 Skills/theme.

b. 10 Skills and different experience levels.

5. Key Example – Agility/Innovation/Problem Solving.

a. Focus on these.

b. Margaret Atwood quote.

c. Connect philosophy of change and 10 Skills through quote.

6. Closing.

a. Review key points on change.

b. Leave audience with something to remember.

i. Two options: be ready or ignore.

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ii. One is good.

Example for Assignment – Script (Based on “Podcast Example A”)

OPENING

My name is Ed Buchanan and I have traveled many different roads in nearly 40 years. From working in the professional world to working toward a degree, my experience points to one specific idea.

INTRODUCTION

Today I will share my philosophy of change and how it is reinforced through experience working with employable skills.

OVERVIEW – FIRST POINT

“The way up and the way down are one and the same. Living and dead, waking and sleeping, young and old, are the same.” —Heraclitus, Life Is Flux, about 500 BC

All of these comparisons have one thing in common: change. They are the same because they all involve a degree of change. If you do not look deeply, you may argue that there is no change happening in people who sleep or are dead, but that is not correct. Sleeping people breathe, cells heal, the brain functions and continues to work through the day’s problems. Even in death, we change. Some body functions may continue well after our deaths. We are not the same physical beings at the time of death as we are months or years afterward. Heraclitus believed that “the only constant is change” and that idea still drives people forward today.

If we settle on this idea that change is the only constant, we can use this as the motivation to move forward. I can remember working at a major company in my 20s. It was a good job where I worked on electronics equipment. Translation: I played with broken stereos, TVs, cameras, and camcorders, and did my best to make sure they were working when I shipped them back to the customers.

I was paid well—even though I had no real background in electronics repair—but I dedicated myself to learning. When a piece of equipment came in that I had never seen before, I sat down next to our senior technicians and watched as they took it apart, identified the problems, and corrected them. I was smart enough to recognize what I did not know and self-aware. The only way to improve was to find people who could show me the way and soak up everything I could.

I did well. In fact, I did this so well that within a few short years I worked my way to the highest technician level and was moved around the shop to work wherever there was a heavy

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workload. My agility made me a key team member and helped me pay my increasing school bills. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I had not used my skills and interacted with the change all around me.

Going from unskilled to top tech level in a few short years is a good way to showcase how to address the changing world, but it’s not the only story. Dealing with change was at the heart of each moment in that journey. I had to change my knowledge level. I had to change my outlook and recognize where I needed to learn and who could teach me. I had to change the way my

manager viewed me (beginning as unknowledgeable and becoming the go-to guy). Change, change, change.

OVERVIEW – SECOND POINT

What we will do now is talk about how each of you interacts with change. I have shared my outlook, mostly leaning on what Heraclitus said a long, long time ago. What do you know about change? How do you deal with it? More importantly, how will you deal with change next time you encounter it? [4:02]

These are the basic questions I used to help think of the role change plays in my life. They conveniently will help you do the same. When I think through these questions, my mind goes right to recent experience with the 10 skills taught in Strayer gen ed courses—skills that employers are looking for because people that have these skills succeed. Communication. Problem solving. Agility. Self and social awareness. Technology. Initiative. Productivity. Results driven. Relationship building. Innovation.

Like many people, I had different experience levels with different skills. Some of these skills, I came in with a really strong idea of what it meant. Other skills, I didn’t have quite the same grasp. What I did learn is that each of these skills developed over time. Stepping back, I realize that these all revolve around the same thing: change.

KEY EXAMPLE

Agility is how well you can adapt to an ever-changing world. Innovation is looking at new ways to address barriers or ways of doing things. Problem solving is changing a situation to fix something that is going wrong.

We started with an ancient philosopher, journeyed to the recent past and experience with the 10 skills, and now we move to the final part of my philosophy of change.

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For most of us, change is not a light switch. We don’t just flip it and something inside of ourselves magically changes the world around us. The last part of my philosophy of change comes courtesy of Margaret Atwood. Many people will know her for the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale and this quote comes from her book of the same name:

“Nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it.”

When the world around us gets more dangerous, we often do not recognize it. When the signs surround us that change is coming, we may not pay enough attention. What I encourage everyone to do, though, is to have a plan, or at least an idea, of how they want to respond to change and the person they need to be when change pops up in your life.

CLOSING

Change surrounds each of us—at home, at work, at school, sometimes just driving home after a long day. If we have a philosophy about how we deal with change, it can take a little of the sting out of change and make change something you actually look for in your life.

I cannot tell you what change is coming. What I can say is you have two options: be ready or ignore it. Only one of these options will pay off.