IOS Takes Communication Workshop on the Road

The third IOS Effective Communication Workshop, the second this year, took place in Chicago over the weekend of May 7-9. The institute offers these workshops from time to time as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen the logical and rhetorical skills of members who are (or plan to be) either teachers of Objectivism to the IOS community or public advocates to the world at large. The first two workshops were held in Poughkeepsie; this time, the program went "on the road," to bring it closer to a mostly Midwestern group of participants.

Once again, the workshop faculty were IOS executive director David Kelley, writing and presentation consultant Susan McCloskey, and the institute's visiting fellow, Will Thomas.

"The size of the workshop distinguishes it from any I've ever attended or even heard about," comments McCloskey, a former professor of English literature at Vassar College. "Six participants can count on the undivided attention of three instructors. And the feedback of the other participants raises the teacher-student ratio to 8:1. What a luxury! IOS is offering an opportunity that simply isn't available elsewhere."

The workshop gives the participants two intensive days of presenting talks, plus giving and receiving criticism, thereby learning under pressure to combine theory and practice. On Friday evening, the participants are introduced to each other and the methods of the workshop; they also receive a manual that summarizes the principles of effective communication. On Saturday, the participants present a short, prepared speech on some topic in Objectivism, which they present again on Sunday, making revisions to incorporate the techniques and philosophical analyses they learned the day before.

"Sunday, when the participants give the revised versions of their talks, is the best part of the workshop," in McCloskey's view. "It's exciting to see the differences: What didn't work now works, what was good is even better. To witness such transformations is the reward a teacher lives for. It makes the workshop a joy to teach.

"For me, the workshop is proof that Objectivism is a vital, developing philosophy. When two or more participants happen to choose the same topic, it's always interesting to see how their different emphases open up different lines of inquiry, unexpected applications, or arresting connections. I'd bet that a workshop devoted to presenting the Ten Commandments would be a lot less intellectually stimulating."

The participants this time included lawyer Martin Cohen, who is the founder of the Atlanta-area "Fellowship of Reason"; University of Chicago M.D.-Ph.D. and former Advanced Seminar faculty member William Dale, who is head of the Network of Objectivist Scholars and speaks on health-care policy; teacher, entrepreneur, and summer seminar regular Marsha Enright (who will speak this year on "The Habit of Hope"); computer programmer Molly Hayes, who organized the New York City Objectivist Salon; Chris Johnson, a graduate student in philosophy at Bowling Green State University; and Joshua Zader, a graduate student in psychology at University of New Mexico.

The workshop is distinctive for combining insightful instruction in the logic of Objectivism with a treasure-trove of public-speaking principles. Participant William Dale called it: "one of the most effective workshops I have participated in, especially for such a condensed time period." Martin Cohen wrote to the institute: "As a lawyer, I have spoken to various audiences for twenty-four years. I was member of Toastmasters [an international organization dedicated to improving public speaking skills] for perhaps five years. I have read effective communication books. Yet I personally learned more about public speaking during this workshop than in all those years."

Marsha Enright praised the "fabulous feedback from intelligent and insightful teachers and participants." Chris Johnson summed it up: "One of the greatest effects of taking the workshop is that I can't wait to speak in public!"

"This is the third time we have offered the workshop," says IOS's executive director David Kelley. "And it's very clear now—from the participants' comment and from our own observations of how dramatically the speakers improve—that we have created a highly effective teaching tool. We want to keep offering the workshop as often as we can, for as many people as we can. The more we can help people become articulate spokesmen for Objectivist ideas, the faster those ideas will spread."