So this week I’m resting frorm the rigours of teaching another public workshop at Queen’s University, Belfast.  The subject?  Body language.  The title?  Body to Body: How to Communicate Without Words.

It’s the second time I’ve led this workshop at Queen’s.  Both times it’s been the largest, most popular course I’ve ever taught.  Both times, the numbers have been well over the 40 mark.  But there have been a few changes over the years.

Back in 2006 when I first taught the course I tried to lay a foundation of theory before offering some application and role-play.  This time I launched straight into it with a ‘Top Ten Uses of Body Language in Evey-day Life’.  Only after this I squeezed in a bit of theory before lunch, mentioning the likes of Mehrabian, Morris and Eckman.  After lunch, I hit them with 10 ‘Special Techniques’ of nonverbal-communication they could try out upon unsuspecting friends and colleagues.  The day finished with a test and ‘graduation’!

Another difference was the venue.  The first time, we were squeezed into an average sized room, which makes it hard to organise activities.  This time, because the numbers were greater, we were placed into a lecture-theatre with fixed seating… which made it hard to orgaise activities.

As usual at these Open Learning events, the students demonstrated a brilliant mix of interest, insight and debate.  They don’t let a PhD get in the way of their crap-detection skills; I’m never short of challengers.  This is how it should be, doubly so when teaching adults.

A few times they asked me to recommend some books.  Any bookstore with a half decent ‘Self Help’ or ‘Popular Psychology’section should offer a fair choice.  My judgment is that about 80% of what these books have to say is the same, so its a matter of personal preference for the ‘feel’ of the books that’s perhaps the best criterion.  However, I found the Body Language For Dummies useful for the scope and variety of its content.  But your first port of call should be the Web.  There’s a massive amount of free stuff out here for those who know how to Google.

I’m thinking of taking this workshop on the road, out of the cloistered halls of Queen’s University and into the real world.  What do you think?

Oh, I forgot to say that I got no lunch due to being interviewed by a journalist from Dublin.  More of this later.

Last 5 posts by Allen Baird, Partner

• No More Heroes? #2 - March 10th, 2010
• No More Heroes? #1 - March 3rd, 2010
• The Politics of Depression - February 22nd, 2010
• Class, Race and Sex In Education - February 15th, 2010
• How To Be Fearless - February 10th, 2010