Andy Nonaka

According to Keidanren, the Federation of Economic Organizations, communication skills are really required for businesspeople in Japan, and they need to try to develop the competences to survive. The skills, however, are vaguely defined in Japanese culture (e.g., the anticipation of conversation flows, compromising with superiors, and attitudinal flexibility to various topics.) On the contrary, Western cultures clearly define communication skills as communicating appropriately and effectively. Appropriateness refers to “not breaking the rules” and effectiveness here means “shortest route to the goal.” The Communication Skills Association (CSA) applies this idea to presentation training because the two concepts are synonyms of vocabulary and logic. More specifically, a large vocabulary allows individuals to properly paraphrase and summarize their comments in a variety of ways. Likewise, in order to give explanations effectively, you need logic. By employing the Rhetorical canons, the association teaches practical presentation techniques without using PowerPoint slide shows. At the same time, CSA emphasizes the link between the boring presentations, known as “Death by PowerPoint” and poor skills in communication, observed in Japanese society. Successful examples of the training program will be introduced.