First Solo Flight - Oct 27th 2007

Yahoo... I just completed my first Solo Flight in my pilot training. It is awesome to fly the plane alone. Little anxious, confused, something different than you are used to, but eventually you land that plane right on the center line and there you go you did it. Having done the pattern work so many times, it is just another landing you would do. But the fun part of it is that you dont have anyone telling you what to do, you make every decision in getting that damn plane on ground. Boy I enjoyed it a lot. Let me show you what happens in a pattern. It is a lot of work happening really fast. From the take off to touch down it takes around 7 mins. In this, you need to change the throttle multiples times, change the trim tab for more than 3 times, turn 4 times, use right rudder pressure for a long time, need to be in contact with the tower, listen to their instructions, get the flaps down, and up once the touch down happens. Maintain the speed of 65mph when approaching the runway all the way till touch down. When just above few feet from the ground, you need to pull the yoke back and flair, let the plane settle and let it touch down. it is an awesome amount of work compensating for the wind all the way through.



I cannot fly if the winds are more than 4 kts. So I couldnt fly at the place where I generally fly. I went to Brown Field for Solo. It was cool. I am going solo in an airport where I havent been. Yes, it was exciting. My instructor and I went around the pattern couple of time, got familiar with the pattern. I left my instructor at the ramp and went back to runway to take off. There was another airplane ready to take off, but was going through their checklist. I called in the tower and told them I am ready to go. Tower asked me if I can go around the plane ahead of me. I said yes I can. Oh btw! A typical calls sounds like this "Brown Tower (people I want to talk to), this is Cessna 707GS (model and tail number of my plane, who i am), ready to take off (what i want)"
So I went around those people and jammed the throttle in, let the airspeed increase. While doing so, I had to compensate the left turning tendencies with right rudder pressure. When the airspeed reached 55-60mph, I pulled the yoke back and started climbing. And then I did the rest of the pattern as required. My first landing was good, though I thought that my base leg was not well placed. I tried a wider pattern to get a better base leg. It was much fun. I did three of these and went and picked up my instructor and we flew home. The controller at the Brown field congratulated me! Lot of people congratulated me on the way back to my base including Gillespie field's ground controller, GSA's manager etc.
Anyway, it was great fun soloing the plane. I am ready to go again.
Yahoooooooooooooooooooooo............

The Exceptional Presenter!

The Exceptional Presenter - Timothy J. Koegel

The Exceptional Presenter is a book by Timothy J Koegel. I have been looking for a book like this for a while, but never looked out for it. And with most of the things that happen, I found it in Hudson Bookstore in Dallas Airport while on a transit from NYC to San Diego. Here are my views on the book.
I think the book covers most of the details I have been looking for. It covers the points from what to cover to how to deliver, understanding your audience, body language and the feedback to watch for from the audience.
Koegel sums up an exceptional presenter should have six letter acronymn OPEN UP.
Organize - Look organized, poised and take charge of the presentation.
Passionate  - Display passion. Enthuse your audience and charge them up with yours.
Engaging - Engage the audience, ask questions, make eye contact, take their names.
Natural - Be natural, dont assume any unnecessary accent or fake smiles. Appear fully natural.
Understand your Audience - Know your audience, what they are looking for. Tailor the presentation to your audience. Know the cultural differences if required. Spend time on knowing what they are looking for.
Practice - Practice the presentation. The good old saying - "Practice makes a man perfect" holds good here too.
Here are some more main points and my takes on that.

The way you deliver the presentation is more important than the material you are presenting.
This is the main point that Koegel drills in the book. I would give a nod to it with the only addition being when presenting results, design for rocket science it is important to stress on the material in the presentation. No errors are accepted. Other than those, any motivational speech, any speech to fire up the audience, most of the business presentations can stick to the above line.
Even the technical intensive presentations should stress on the way the presentation is made. Body language plays a big role.

Standing is better than sitting
When we stand it is easier to make eye contact with everyone, bring more dynamics to the presentation, and move around to keep everyone engaged. You also assume a commanding position. Hands can be effectively used for communication while standing.

Make Eye contact with everyone
It is easier said than done. Making an eye contact with everyone in the audience is really difficult. But make eye contact give a smile, move to the next person.

Arrive earlier to the presentation place
Arriving earlier gives you time to set up everything and have a dry run to see everything goes as planned. This applies especially if you are using online tools. You may not have internet, wireless may not be working. Expect glitches and be prepared.

Use the charts as visual cues
Dont look at the slides as you speak. Use them as visual cues to start your story. Organize them well and have a good flow.

Open dialogue and engage
Have an opening dialogue. Few suggested are:

• My objective today is ---------
• My understanding of your position is.....
• I am here to present...
• Open with a quote, statistic, question, etc. what ever to get attention. A friend of mine once opened his ship wreck speech with "ladies and gentlemen and the very beautiful girl at that corner" of course there was none at that corner, but it did get their attention.

Observe your body language
Assume a relaxed hands position with your hands by the sides of your body. This is supposed to be the best position. When you see presidential debates, observe how they assume their body language. Square up your audience, face them straight and answer their questions. Use hands to show the increase, decrease, lot, few etc.

Observe audience body language
Observing audience can be a valuable tool to change your pace, volume, modulation, and regaining audience attention. An average attention span is 15-25 sec. Do whatever it takes to regain the attention. Take their names, ask if the concept is clear.

There are more good points in the book. Anyone who wants to become an exceptional presenter should read the book. You can get the book from Amazon

I found that the book answers most of the questions. But I thought the book didnt address most of the challenges engineers and designers face. Any tips on this regards are most welcome.
Please write your comments and your own techniques you used for your presentations.

Disclaimer: All the points given are my own observations reading the book. Please read the book for the original comments.

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