The Choroeography of Presenting by Kendall Zoller and Claudette Landry

This past summer as a Fellow of the Maine Governor's Academy in Mathematics and Science Education Leadership, I had the privilege of spending four days with Kendall Zoller. Kendall is coauthor, along with Claudette Landry, of The Choreography of Presenting: the 7 Essential Abilities of Effective Presenters.  Kendall is also the president of Sierra Training Associates and presents throughout North America on facilitation and presentation, and leadership skills. His international research focuses on identifying nonverbal patterns in the learning environment and their influences on thinking, memory, and learning.

Kendall's work with us during those four days was eyeopening. Not only did he help us learn about how to be an effective presenter, but he organized his time with us in such a way that we practiced our new learning and became people watchers ourselves. Kendall's ability to put a group of individuals who barely knew each other at ease and get us  willing to take personal risks was remarkable. He employed a combination of humor, research, activities, and anecdotes, from his work with other organizations including supervisors within the Los Angeles Police Department, to illustrate every aspect of his work.

Even though the main focus of our time together was helping us develop the skills necessary to be effective deliverers of professional development opportunities, we learned much more. We were shown ways to use the skills presented when dealing with resistant colleagues and administrators, and how to enhance our classroom learning environments.

Zoller and Landry's book is an easy read and seems very simplistic at times, but upon further reflection much of  the information contained in the book can be applied to our everyday interactions with our friends and families, and not only within our school environment. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to further understand an often neglected part of any interaction - nonverbal communication.

We learned "how to use body language, tone of voice, and other subtle physical behavior to convey credibility, capture and audience's attentions, and support learning." I am still a work in progress as there is more to think about when presenting than I ever imagined, but I continue making small steps all the time toward becoming an effective presenter.

Those of you who teach high school English might find the information presented in The Choreography of Presenting: the 7 Essential Abilities of Effective Presenters an interesting addition to an unit on oration.