1、 2012 All rights reserved: 1 Skills 360 - Organizing your Ideas (Part 1) Discussion Questions 1. Do you have any special ways of brainstorming ideas? 2. Think of someone who you think speaks well. How does he/she organize ideas? 3. Do you ever write out lists of advantages and disadvantages or pros
2、and cons? Vocabulary To run on at length: to continue talking, especially in a disorganized way, for a long time; “Darren often runs on at length about his new product ideas, even after people have stopped listening.” Vague: not clear or certain; “In a strategic plan, avoid creating vague goals that
3、 cannot be measured or broken down into action steps.” To tune out: to stop paying attention; “Studies have shown that most students begin to tune out about 70 minutes into a class.” Chaotically: in a very disorganized way; “On Black Friday, shoppers ran chaotically through the store, searching for
4、the best deals.” Clearly articulated: explained in a way that everyone can understand; “In her first media appearance, the new CEO clearly articulated her plan to save the ailing tech giant.” To tame: to make something less wild or easier to control; “During the crisis, finance ministers of several
5、countries met to figure out a way to tame inflation.” Framework: a structure for organizing ideas; “When writing a business plan, start with the basic framework and then fill in content section by section.” To get the ideas flowing: if you “get ideas flowing,” you help yourself or others think freel
6、y, openly, and creatively about something; “When I have to create new ad designs, sometimes I flip through magazines just to get the ideas flowing.” To deep-six: to throw away or get rid of; “The employees were so happy to deep-six the old office furniture when the company relocated.” (To) Lay it al
7、l on the table: to be completely open or honest, or to say everything possible about something; “I asked Dave what he thought about the business and told him to just lay it all on the table.” 2012 All rights reserved: 2 Fair game: if everything is “fair game,” it means that everything can be discuss
8、ed and that there are no right or wrong ideas; “fair game” can also mean that it is fair to criticize something; “During the negotiations, the union said that every part of the collective bargaining agreement was fair game.” To come to mind: be remembered; if something “comes to mind,” it means you
9、think of it; “Someone asked me about Grahams leadership ability, and a couple of examples immediately came to mind.” Easier said than done: if something is “easier said than done,” it is more difficult than it seems or sounds; “Keeping calm in a crisis is a great idea, but for many people its easier
10、 said than done.” Mind mapping: a technique for outlining or thinking of ideas that shows words branching out from a central idea; “The facilitator led a mind mapping session at the beginning of our business planning meeting.” Radial: having a design or arrangement like rays coming out of a center p
11、oint; “The radial organization chart had the president at the center and the other executives branching out from around him.” Say: we use the word “say” to present an imagined or hypothetical situation; “Say you were the branch manager who would you keep on staff and who would you release?” Branchin
12、g: having a pattern like a tree branch, with smaller lines coming out of larger lines; “The map showed the branching system of roads that covered the state.” To illustrate: to show how something is true or to give examples of an idea; “To illustrate the importance of white space in design, Tamara sh
13、owed us several good and bad advertisements.” To jot down: to write down, especially quickly or briefly; “I always carry a small notebook with me so I can jot down new business ideas when they come to me.” To put together: to organize, prepare, or create; “Joan put together bags of promotional items
14、 to hand out at the trade show booth.” Handy: useful or easy to use; “The new mini-projectors with internal data storage are much more handy than carrying around an LCD and a laptop.” To crank out: to create or make, especially quickly and without great care; “The new factory can crank out toys at t
15、wice the rate of our old facility.” 2012 All rights reserved: 3 Transcript Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. Im your host Tim Simmons, and today I want to help you organize your ideas. Before we get into that, Id like to let you know that our Business English App for the iPhone and iPad is now
16、 available in the App Store. The app comes packed with over 100 great lessons from Business English Pod including all our Skills 360 lessons. And the best news of all? Its free to download. Just head over to Business English Pod dot com for the App Store link. So, back to ideas. Sure, youve got lots
17、 of them. And sure, theyre important to you. But are they important to others? Well, they could be, but only if theyre clear and organized. Youve probably been frustrated when people run on at length about what they think using vague language. And youve probably tuned out when someone jumps around c
18、haotically from idea to idea without tying it all together with a purpose. That just doesnt work. And sometimes its not the best ideas that win, but the ones that are most clearly articulated. But exactly how can we do this? Ideas can be very wild animals. They dont always come into our heads in an
19、organized manner. Sometimes they dont seem to come into our heads at all. And they dont just get together in their own groups and organize themselves. So we need to generate them, tame them and get them into usable form. Today well look at a few different frameworks for generating ideas. In this cas
20、e, were using a form of organization to actually get the ideas flowing. But first, think about your purpose. What is it you are trying to do? Do you need to persuade someone? Are you trying to inform people? Are you trying to warn, recommend, guide, criticize, defend, describe, or inspire? Understan
21、ding your purpose will help you decide which ideas to highlight and which to deep-six. Once you understand your purpose, try getting out as many ideas as possible. Lay it all on the table. Everything is fair game at this stage. Dont be afraid of things that are off-the-wall. Just feel free to brains
22、torm, and write down whatever comes to mind. You can evaluate the ideas later. For now, you just want to generate them. But sometimes this is easier said than done. And thats why we use different tools or techniques for idea generation. One useful technique is mind mapping. To make a mind map, start
23、 with one word in the center of a piece of paper. From that word, youre going to create a radial branching system of ideas. What word do you start with? Any general idea or topic you want to explore. Say youre planning your goals for next year. Maybe you start with that word “goals.” Now write a few
24、 words around the middle, and connect them to that central word with lines. These are major themes that relate to the central idea. So around goals, you might have “work,” “health,” “financial,” and “social.” Then do the same for each of these major themes. Keep writing new ideas around each new sub
25、word, until you have a big branching structure around the central word. 2012 All rights reserved: 4 We also have something called concept maps. Concept maps have a branching structure like mind maps, but they branch down rather than out. And they illustrate how ideas are connected. Start with an idea at the top in a circle. Then jot down related concepts in circles below. Draw lines to these related concepts, and on those lines write how th
