SBDI BACKGROUNDER
2008 PDS
MI Presentation
Designing introductions
that Open the door for
Learning
Overview
Presenters have a few minutes –
tops – to connect with an audience. In
order to successfully involve an
audience – for SBDIs generally school
bus drivers and attendants – in your
topic you must do careful preplanning.
Your SBDI training and training manual,
the authors you read in preparation for
the SBDI course, and information that
you have received during PDS sessions,
including presentation critique over the
past three years, have all reviewed this
important topic. Last year’s PDS took a
broad look at presentation planning; this
year’s PDS is going to focus down
specifically on introductions.
The first two “T’s” of the “4 T’s”
we learned in SBDI class – tell them
what and tell them why – are what the
introduction is all about. Unfortunately
in many presentations I have observed –
and probably some I’ve taught – the
SBDI jumps right to the 3rd “T,” that is,
they jump right into the content without
an adequate introduction.
In our real world, it’s like pulling
away from the school without making
sure all your students are on the bus. If
you miss students who are supposed to
be on your bus you have to go back and
pick them up, a process that wastes time,
bores the students who made it to the
bus, and it means that your next trip is
going to be late. While bus trips that
take longer than scheduled can still be
completed, when a 2-hour refresher is
scheduled, going back to pick up
audience members who are lost means
that some of the content will not be
covered.
Over the years SBDIs have read
How to Develop Self-Confidence and
Influence People by Public Speaking by
Dale Carnegie, Making Successful
Presentations by Terry Smith, and
Inspire any Audience by Tony Jeary on
making presentations. Some of the MI
courses have used Robert Garmston’s
book, How to Make Presentations that
Teach and Transform.” Each of these
authors has some very specific
recommendations about successful
openings, and in particular how to grab
the audience’s attention that may
provide some useful perspectives for our
consideration of this topic.
In this consideration of
introductions we are going to use “6 P’s”
to remember all the pieces we have to
keep in mind when planning an
introduction. These “P’s” stand for:
 Purpose: What is my hoped for
outcome?
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People: Who are the people I am
teaching/
Place: How can I create a positive
learning environment?
Presenter: How will I prepare and
present myself?
Plan: What is my instructional
plan?
Pizzazz: How will I get their
attention?
Purpose
So what does it take to successfully
open a presentation? The first step in
planning a presentation is deciding what
your desired purpose or outcome is
going to be. This outcome may also be
referred to as an instructional objective.
What will the learner be able to do after
the learning has taken place? Will they
be able to successfully load and secure a
wheelchair? Will they be able to
identify 10 defects on a pretrip
inspection? Will they be able to
correctly fill out a student discipline
form? Will they be able to create an
emergency evacuation plan for their
students who receive transportation as a
related service on their IEPs?
The purpose or outcome must be
measurable and obtainable. Have a
purpose or outcome for a defensive
driving presentation that states, “Drivers
will drive better” doesn’t define how we
will know that drivers are driving better.
There are many quantifiable measures
we could use to test the effectiveness of
our teaching if we take a moment to
think about how we came to know we
had a problem with defensive driving.
We can count phone complaints about
our drivers, accident reports, body
repairs, fuel mileage, DDR and BTW
test results (although it will take 1 to 2
years to get a final answer). Any one of
these measures can tell us if our drivers
are driving more responsibly. We could
even use them all and say that our
objective was for 4 of these 6 indicators
to improve.
In stating our purpose and
establishing our objectives, we want to
be sure we set goals that are obtainable.
Saying that our goal for a new student
management program is that no students
will misbehave on the buses is probably
unrealistic and unobtainable while a
30% reduction in discipline reports
might be obtainable goal and one you
could publically celebrate when it is
reached.
Steven Covey tells us that we need
“to begin with the end in mind.” No less
of an intellectual, Yogi Berra said, “If
you don't know where you are going,
you might wind up someplace else.” But
of course he also said, “I never said most
of the things I said.” Lewis Carroll said,
“If you don’t know where you are going,
any road will get you there.”
Garmston offers five simple
questions that allow us to begin to focus
our topic and our presentation in order to
have a clear and accomplishable desired
outcome:
 What do they already know?
 What do they want to know?
 What do they need to know?
 What don’t they need to know?
(Don’t waste time on tangents.)
 What shouldn’t I talk about?
People
So with this #1 goal in mind, that is
having a clear destination, our second
and equally important task is to
understand our audience. If we don’t
know our audience, how can we know
how to get them to our destination, our
outcome? We need to know three things
about our audience:
1. Who are they demographically,
culturally, and personally?
2. What do they know about my topic?
3. What are their learning styles and
experience?
If our goal is loading and securing a
wheelchair, we need to know if they
have ever done it before. We need to
know if they have used this equipment
or maybe that of a different
manufacturer, we need to know if they
are physically capable of the positions
and movements required to secure a
wheelchair on a school bus, we need to
know if they know operation policy for
the roles of drivers and attendants if an
attendant will be present, we need to
know if they can read the manufacturers
materials that we want to distribute
during the training, we need to know if
they are experienced in receiving
training – do they even know the ropes
of a classroom situation?
In addition to these knowledge kind
of things, we need to know if there are
any things going on in the operation that
need to be addressed before learning can
take place. Was there a big accident
yesterday, a positive drug test, someone
fired for leaving a child on the bus? Is
there an unsettled union contract, a
coworker who experienced a stillbirth of
an eagerly awaited child, is the underdog
football team playing for the state
championship? All of these issues,
either positive or negative, can affect the
success of your training. By
understanding them and planning for
them you will make it through the first
two “T’s” with flying colors.
We hear a lot about diversity today,
about different cultural groups, and
about the different characteristics of
different generations from the boomers
on forward. Age, gender, cultural and
racial identifications, first language,
religion, disability, Yankees/Mets, and
literacy all define our audience in
different ways.
Carnegie reminded us that Aristotle
said there were three parts to a
presentation; the instructor, the
presentation, and the audience. If we
don’t take enough time to think about
our audience, our presentation may turn
out to be boring, too difficult, or
offensive.
A good hook will get your
audiences attention, but if you want your
outcomes to be accomplished you need
to think about whether or not you need
to build a bridge from where some or all
of your audience is – attitude and
knowledge – to the topic that you want
to present. During your introduction you
need to find out if all your students have
the basic information they need to have
in order to understand your lesson and
achieve the desired outcomes. Any
discrepancy that exists between your
expectations and reality constitutes a
“knowledge gap.” If everyone does not
have the knowledge and skills necessary
to begin the lesson, you might have to do
some remedial instruction at the very
beginning – providing a bridge from
where they are to where they need to be
for successful learning.
One simple way to test your
audience’s readiness is through an
ungraded pre-test. Make sure it isn’t
used to make folks feel silly or
unprepared, but so that you can test to
see if they have the background
knowledge to be successful. The
subsequent discussion about the pre-test
can also provide the background
information that the audience needs to
get up to speed.
If you are afraid that someone has a
language or literacy barrier or really
lacks the experience to succeed on their
own in this lesson, pair them up with
someone you know has the expertise or
is more bilingual in their language and
English. Your class might get a little
chaotic if you have students explaining
the lesson to each other, but relax, real
learning is taking place. Remember
Dale’s Cone from SBDI class? The best
way to learn is to teach the subject to
someone else.
Schools used to be designed with
one type of instruction and if students
weren’t able to learn with that
instructional style it was just too bad.
Research that began to be recognized in
the 1960s suggested that different people
learn best thought different types of
instruction. Since an instructor will
never have a class who all learn the same
way, instruction must be planned to
accommodate all learning styles. SBDI
and MI, Bill Hoosty, did an informal
study of school bus drivers attending
Basic Course in the 1980s to see if bus
drivers had a particular preponderance of
learning styles and found that bus drivers
where just as diverse as the population
as a whole.
There are many classifications that
have been created to describe learning
styles. Often these categories describe
four learner types. Garmston classifies
learners in the following way:
 Scientists. These individuals want
to know “How do these concepts fit
together? Is there a pattern?” They
want to examine the process, make
judgments, and dig deeper. Involve
them in formulating ideas.
 Professors. Professors want to
know, “What is the source of that
quote? Where did you get that
information?” In today’s world,
these folks will be going home and
getting on the internet to check out
your story. Engage them with the
facts.

Friends. Friends are more likely to
ask for more time in small group
discussion, “We’re not done yet,
can we have more time to talk.?”
They learn best in the give and take
of the interpersonal.
 Inventors. Inventors are quickly
bored with what’s known and want
to move beyond, Given these facts
and data, what should we do next?”
These people might lead you on a
lot of tangents, but they also might
come up with some great ideas.
As you can see, these different
styles each require activities that can
turn off the other styles, so successful
teaching is a function of balancing
activities that will give each their day in
the sun. When we look at creating your
agenda we will identify specific
activities that will appeal to each group.
Place
Once you know the type of
presentation you are going to make, but
before you begin to plan the instructional
details, you need to think about the place
all this is going to happen. While the
environment is not a part of your
introduction, per se, the environment has
a significant impact on the state of mind
of your audience as you begin and their
receptivity to your presentation.
Terry Smith reviews the importance
of choosing an appropriate seating
arrangement, depending on how leader
focused or group interactive the lesson
will be and how large the group is.
Theatre seating is least conducive to
group interaction and along with
Chevron is entirely instructor focused.
Herringbone allows for group discussion
but requires learners to turn in their seats
to do so while round and U-shape allow
for learners to interact with the presenter
and other learners. U-Shape and
Facilitating make it possible for learners
to interact with the instructor and all
learners.
Garmston reminds us to that we
have to “care for the audience,” in order
to be successfully received. What we
need to do to “care” for our students is:
1. Prepare for the audiences comfort
and perspective. Have you sat in
every chair in the room to see if the
presenter can be heard and seen?
Does the presenter or do other
audience members block the screen
from some of the seats? Are you
using a TV set in the front of the
room and only the first row can
really see or hear it? How about
those chairs – would you want to sit
in one for 30 hours?
2. Are refreshments and course
materials ready? I know I’m
always more ready to listen with a
cup of coffee in my hand. Nothing is
more frustrating than inadequate or
insufficient handouts or student
manuals. Music playing in the room
really can help set the tone and when
you turn off the music it’s clear that
the instructional time is starting.
3. Complete preparations 30 minutes
before the presentation. Lastminute preparations leave no room
for Murphy’s Law and you might not
want to find out that your daughter
changed the screen saver on your
computer last night with a room full
of people.
4. Talk with the audience. Even if
you work with the folks every day,
take the time to check in and find out
what’s happening. If you don’t
know them, this is the time that you
are able to connect as a fellow bus
driver, parent, Girl Scout leader, etc.
Not only will this allow you to relate
to them, it will demonstrate your
respect for them as well. Your
interest in them as individuals and
not generic audience members will
make them more willing to hear you
out.
Credibility and Presence
In addition to establishing your
credentials as a decent human being, you
also have to establish your credentials
that demonstrate why you are capable of
teaching the subject at hand. Introduce
yourself and your experience in a way
that let’s them know a little bit about you
personally and professionally,
“School bus safety is more than
a job for me; I have six
grandchildren who ride school buses
in our area every day just as I’m
sure you have children in your
family or in families of friends that
count on our safe transportation
every day.
I have been in school
transportation for seven years as a
bus attendant and a bus driver and
have been a School Bus Driver
Instructor for the past three years
which has really been a rewarding
experience. In addition to the
weeklong course we had to take to
qualify we have annual one-day inservice training that keeps us up to
date on the latest information and
lets us practice our instructing skills.
I have also been lucky enough
to attend NYAPT/NYSBCA/NAPT/
TSD conference(s) for the past two
years that have been another great
source of school bus operations
information. I have met some great
folks in our industry – school bus
safety is not just about our
operation, it is way bigger than that.
We are a part of a statewide effort
of 60,000 drivers and attendants
who are working every day to get
kids to school safely. We really do
make a difference.”
A personal introduction like that
will make people willing to hear what
you have to say. If you work with a coinstructor it can be even more effective
to introduce each other. It sounds less
braggy to talk about how great someone
else is than to talk about yourself.
More important than anything else
is to make a personal connection and to
let your audience understand how
passionate you are about your topic. The
saying goes, “They don’t care how much
you know until they know how much
you care” about them and about the topic
at hand. Creating this two-way
connection with your audience by letting
them know you respect them and can
relate to them will lead them to become
empowered learners – and you a
successful instructor who is likely,
because of your openness to your
audience, also learning from them.
Credibility also extends to how you
look. If you have identified all your
qualifications and experience but look
like you just got out of bed and couldn’t
possibly be worth listening to, then
winning them over will be very difficult.
This doesn’t have to meet a suit and tie
for men or the equivalent for women, but
it does mean that you need to present a
neat, professional appearance.
Nervousness
Many of the authors relate stories
about professional presenters,
performers, or athletes that throw up
before every presentation of always go
through a specific ritual to calm their
nerves. Nervousness is not a bad thing
in and of itself. Nervousness is an
indication that doing a good job is
important to you – what could be more
appropriate. The key, as Garmston
suggests, is not to try and eliminate
butterflies but to “get them to fly in
formation.”
Nervousness can best be conquered
by knowing what is making us nervous
and integrating a solution right into our
presentation. Sources of nervousness
include:
 Audience size. Both a very large
audience that seems overwhelming
and a small group where there will
a lot of interaction that will
demonstrate your true knowledge
of the subject can be unnerving.
 Audience importance. Many
SBDIs who are very comfortable
teaching a pre-service will clam up
if they have to give a presentation
to the school board. During the
PDS presentations over the past
three years many SBDIs expressed
how much harder that was then
their everyday presenting.
 Familiarity. Not knowing your
audience can make you nervous
because you don’t know what to
expect. If the audience knows “too
much” about you it can also be
difficult. “Don’t try and get high
and mighty on me – I knew you
when you were ‘Just a driver.’”
 Difficulty of Subject. If you are
presenting on a subject that is very
difficult or one that you are not
very experienced with it can make
for sleepless nights. Better to
spend those nights “boning up’ on
your topic so you know not only
what you need to present, but a
good deal more as well. If you
know that audience members may
be more knowledgeable than you
are, build their participation into
the lesson so they feel respected
and not ignored. Their expertise
can enrich the experience for
everyone.
How can you overcome
nervousness? It depends on what settles
you down. The best strategy is to talk to
other SBDIs and see what works for
them. What have they done that allows
them to get their butterflies into
formation?
 Some presenters who know that
they start out very nervous might
use a brief video segment to start
their presentation so they have a
few seconds to settle themselves as
it plays.
 Start with a question from the
audience and as you field the
responses naturally you may get
ready for the more formal part of
your introduction.
 There are physical things you can
to do let your body relax. Take
deep breaths, shake out your arms
and shoulders, and take a short
walk.
 One of the most relaxing things you
can do is to be really prepared,
even over-prepared. You also
might want to write out your
opening word for word and practice
it so you can “get over the hump”
and into a more natural
presentation style.
 Use mental strategies to fight the
nervousness. How much will this
really matter five years from now,
what’s the worst that could happen,
I mean really the worst? And
finally many presenters have prayer
or mantra that they recite to
themselves that allows them to go
to a more peaceful place and gain
confidence.
Plan the Agenda
When we talked about learning
styles we mentioned that we would
discus how to create an agenda with
different learning styles in mind. Now
introductions are just one part of the
total agenda of your presentations, but
there are still important agenda pieces to
plan on for your introduction.
Different formulations of
presentation outlines and agendas
construct the introduction differently but
all have a common theme:
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Event Design. Bailey’s model
requires, as a first step, asking the
question, “Who’s coming?” and
the second question is, “What are
my outcomes?” Starting with
audience and outcomes will help
you design a lesson that will work.
We all learned about the 4 “T’s” in
our SBDI Course and the first two
T’s are a part of our introduction:
• Tell them what you are going to tell
them,
• Tell them why it is important to
them,
• Tell them, and
• Tell them what you told them.
 IOCCE. The fundamental
building block of lesson plans that
we learned in SBDI training was
Introduction, Objective, Content
Conclusion, and Evaluation. The
Introduction is not just the first part
of the presentation, it is also where
we introduce the Objective and
where we begin to evaluate our
learners” preparation and ability for
learning.
 5 Presentation Stages.
Garmston’s 5 Presentation Stages
are; Before the Opening, Openings,
Body, Closing, and After the
closing. This emphasizes the
inclusion of pre-presentation
planning as a legitimate and vital
part of the whole introduction
process. Without the pre-planning,
an introduction cannot be
successful.
 Scaffolding. Garmston’s generic
presentation scaffolding model list
three key elements of the
introduction as; relevance, expected
outcomes, and presentation
framework. Again, why are we
doing this, what will we
accomplish, and how will we do it?
 3-D Outline. Tony Jeary’s 3-D
Outline includes as necessary
components of the introduction the
purpose, process, and payoff. In
other words why are we doing this,
how will we do it, and what will it
accomplish? If your learners are
clear about the answers to these
three questions, they will certainly
give you a chance to be heard.
So we see some themes in these
models. We need to answer some basic
questions so that our learners will agree
to take this journey with us. We need to
be sure they know WIFFM and why they
should get involved They need to know
what’s going to happen, and they need to
know what positive outcome will result
from this effort.
Some of the key components of the
introduction as a part of your overall
agenda include posting the agenda,
verbal and visual advanced
organizers, summarizing,
participation, and stories. These
different components will energize
different types of learners, so a mix is
necessary to include everyone.
 Post an agenda. Use visual and
verbal advanced organizers
Remembering back to our learning
styles, posting the agenda and clear
explanation of where you are
headed is important to professors
and scientists. They want to know
what is happening and how it is
going to happen. Knowing this
gives them a feeling of control and
they are ready to learn.
 Introduce key points. Friends and
professors want to know what they
have to look forward to. It is just
as important to introduce key
points in your introduction as it is
to include them in your
introduction.
 Have active participation.
Friends and inventors require active
participation, but for different
reasons. Friends are seeking the
person-to-person involvement that
is a part of activities and inventors
want a chance to grapple with the
ideas and concepts that is possible
in a group activity.
 Use stories. Stories also appeal to
friends and inventors. Friends want
the facts to be set in a real-world
person-based setting and the
inventors want to know how other
people grappled with the facts and
solved the problem.
You might be thinking, “That
doesn’t sound like an introduction, it
sounds like the whole talk.” Our 2007
PDS manual suggested that the
introduction should be about 5-10% of a
presentation in terms of time. This
means that in a two-hour (120 minute)
presentation the introduction should be
6-12 minutes, not an insignificant
amount of time. Or you might be
thinking, “I don’t want to waste that
much time, I’ve got a lot to cover.”
Spending time in your introduction in
establishing your credibility, introducing
the topic and making sure everyone is
not only able, but ready to learn is a very
valuable investment.
Pizzazz
Our learners live in a world where
their senses are under constant assault
through the media that surrounds their
lives. The sudden disappearance of late
night TV shows during the writers strike
demonstrates that there are folks who are
working constantly on defining and
focusing that assault.
We don’t often think of the
thousands of people who are carefully
writing and producing those media
extravaganzas, but what it reminds us
that we need to work just as hard to
insert Pizzazz into our presentations as
well if we want to compete for our
learners’ attention. We can’t just play
reruns like the networks did, but if we
try to rerun our previous presentations
without reworking them and keeping
them new, we will probably have the
same drop-off of viewership that late
night talk shows experienced.
The use of the idea of “hooking” the
audience has become a regular part of
our SBDI discussions, “Was there a
hook? What was it? Was it effective?”
These are the questions we asked during
the PDSs over the past three years.
Often the answer was, “I’m not sure” or
“I don’t think so.” Because there was
only limited time to reflect on these
presentations, we didn’t really solve
these problems, we just observed them.
This year we are going to focus on
creating introductions that indeed
“hook” our audience.
What we know about adult learners
helps us to create successful hooks –
why do they decide to learn something?
Adult learners are:
 Self-directed and autonomous.
They need to feel that they are
choosing to participate and that the
course format will allow them to
learn in their own style.

The sum of their experience.
Adult learners all bring a wide
variety of life experiences, skills,
and prejudices to their seat in your
classrooms. In order for them to
learn successfully, your lesson has
to build squarely on this base.
 Problem-Centered. Adults are
interested in solving problems –
that’s what their life is all about.
Introducing a new discipline
program might be more successful
if you first demonstrate that student
discipline is a problem and your
presentation can offer a solution.
 Readiness to Learn depends on
self-interest. While children may
learn multiplication tables, “Just
because I said so,” adults may not
be quite so willing, but if you
explain that this is information they
will need to regurgitate to pass a
CDL written test which will allow
them to be employed, they might
undertake that task no matter how
distasteful.
Understanding this perspective
helps us understand how to “bait” the
hook. What will allow your hook to
really do its work? We know that the
hook has to link to our audiences life
experience and we know that we have to
make a case for our presentation – it will
solve a real problem that our audience is
experiencing. Another concept we have
used in SBDI classes to talk about this is
“WIFFM” or “What’s in it for me.” If
our hook answers WIFFM then it has
done its job.
Hooks need to be designed in such a
way that they will hook everyone, not
just the folks who think like you. Using
the 2007 collapse of the Mets as a hook
might not be the way to get all your
audience focused on your topic while a
story about a funny thing that happened
at a New Year’s Eve party or family
gathering might have more universal
appeal. Children are (hopefully)
something that everyone in school
transportation is interested in so they are
usually a safe bet.
Everyone has a good time chuckling
about Carnegie because he suggests
using scripture quotations for just about
every part of a talk, but we have to
understand that the religious plurality of
our day and our audiences did not exist
in the audiences he was considering
when he wrote his book in 1926. We
need to remain sensitive to the religious,
ethnic, and cultural differences of our
audience if we want to hook everybody.
Our authors provide us with quite a
variety of materials for our hooks and as
you review these four books, the lists are
really quite similar.
 Startling Statements. “NHTSA,
that’s the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (Always
explain acronyms that your class
might not know.) reports that 87%
of all children in car seats in the
United States are improperly
secured.” That might be a good
lead for a presentation on car seat
installation. Know your audience
in terms of how startling you want
to get. You might have some gory
bus accident pictures that would be
inappropriate for pre-service
training – even if there is a good
point to be made because many
people are not accustomed to
analyzing accidents yet and the
gore might turn them off to the rest
of the lesson.
 Anecdotes. (True story.) “A
friend of mine told me a story
about one of her first days on the
job. She had just dropped off a
Kindergarten child but as she was
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
looking around before she pulled
away from the stop she didn’t see
him and didn’t think he had had
enough time to get into his house.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that
something was wrong. She got out
of the bus and found him in the
wheel-well holding on to the tire.
He told her he was going to ride the
bus down to his friend’s house.”
Now when you want to talk about
loading zone dangers you will have
them eating out of your hand.
Enrollment Questions. “How
many of the bus drivers and
attendants in this room have
concerns about student discipline?
Raise your hands.” “How many
feel that they have a good plan for
dealing with discipline? Raise your
hands.” The act of raising or not
raising their hands has enrolled
them, in their sub-conscious, in a
group of people who want some
solutions for bus discipline – which
just happens to be the subject of the
day!
Dissonance. A few minutes of the
news report, “Big Yellow Killer” is
sure to get their juices flowing
because this statement is in direct
opposition to the idea of school
buses being the safest form of
ground transportation, bar none,
that we tout in the school bus
industry.
___________ is like. “School
buses are like a torture chamber on
wheels,” might get their attention
for a lesson on bullying.
“Elementary school student
management is like herding cats”
has been used many times to
introduce the idea of discipline for
young children. Ask them to fill in
the blank with your topic,
“Defensive driving is like
____________.” and take the
conversation from there.
The key with hooks and
introductions in general is that you must
be prepared and near perfect in your
delivery. If you say you are telling a
personal story and you have to read it
people will wonder if it is really your
story or not. If you are not genuine and
on target for the first 90 seconds, you
will lose them. There bodies will remain
in the room for the appointed hours, but
their minds will be long gone.
Summary
We started out by identifying six
introduction topics that must be
addressed in order to prepare an
introduction that will open the door for
learning. Is we can answer every one of
these questions are we guaranteed a
successful opening?
 Purpose: What is my hoped for
outcome?
 People: Who are the people I am
teaching/
 Place: How can I create a positive
learning environment?
 Presenter: How will I prepare and
present myself?
 Plan: What is my instructional
plan?
 Pizzazz: How will I get their
attention?
It isn’t a guarantee, but if something
does go wrong during your introduction,
the time you have spent in preparation
will give you the resources to do quick
and effective mid-course corrections.
While it might seem like a simple thing
to pick up a prepared curriculum, the
work you do creating your own lessons
or working hard to make a prepared
lesson relevant and focused for your
learners will pay off in the long run. A
well-planned introduction will create a
high level of interest and a natural segue
into your lesson.