Ups and Downs |
Roller Coaster Designer
Technical and Professional Communications 12 |
Lesson Idea by: John Mutter, School District 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap)
Designing a roller coaster is incredibly complex. Designers have to follow rigorous technical standards, ensure the safety of riders and operators and obey the laws of physics. As well, they may oversee the actual building of the coaster, which will take at least a year and cost up to $4 million.
As if that's not enough, roller coaster designers must remember to make this monstrosity fun! Isn't that what brings people to an amusement park in the first place? For the ride to be thrilling and electrifying, it must twist and turn, race at speeds of 135 kilometres an hour, and plunge 22-storeys down.
Any project this complex requires the dedication of a design team. Each member must work with everyone else every step of the way. There's no room for error in this business, and the big designers make sure everything is done right. Communication skills must be honed to an art form, using whatever methods are necessary to convey the information.
Each roller coaster is unique and based on the client's needs. For instance, a major consideration is the site itself. Each coaster must be built to precisely fit its location. In order to ensure a perfect fit, the design team visits the site, then goes back to the office and designs the coaster. Then the team shows the prospective owner what they've come up with.
"We produce model and artist renderings to convey the information to the owner," says a roller coaster designer from Custom Coasters of West Chester, Ohio. "Then we'll do a layout in the field to show the owner physically where the coaster would fit on the site. As we get further into the design, we'll do a three-dimensional computer-generated rendering to show the owner what it's going to look like. Then we produce the construction documents to build from."
You have just been hired at a roller coaster design company. You're the newest member of the design team, which has been working on a new roller coaster design for the past month. Now they've picked you to make a presentation to the client. All they've given you are two drawings: a plan view and a vertical profile.
You realize that you have to do some research before the presentation. You will have to explain what the drawings mean to the client, and be ready for any questions the client may ask. First, label and identify the numbered parts of the drawings. Then, write a list of questions you think the client may ask. You will have to check all this information with the design team before the presentation.
These drawings have been based on Drawing C-56094, an actual drawing of a roller coaster designed for an Australian firm. They were provided courtesy of Ron Toomer of Arrow Dynamics.
As you create your list of questions, ask yourself what skills and knowledge you will need to plan your presentation. What will your clients need in order to follow your presentation? What explanations will they require about plan reading, scale, and orientation in order to make sense of your visuals? Do you have all the information you need to make an outstanding performance? What other visuals would help you in your presentation?
You will also need to know if your visuals are accurate and convey the ideas you wish to get across. Will these visuals convey the thrill and excitement of the proposed ride? Remember, you are selling an expensive product. Will the clients buy?
In small groups, prepare a key for the plan view and vertical profile. Check each plan for accuracy. Add any information you think is required to make the information clear. Create other visuals to convey important information during your presentation. Create a list of questions that may be asked by the client. Do you have all the answers?
If you have access to the Internet, visit the Roller Coaster Project, which offers a study of roller coaster design and the principles of physics involved:
www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/projects/frig/yepbyrji/coaster.html
The axiom "One picture is worth a thousand words," is very true, but it's also true that every picture may have a thousand interpretations. Using visuals like graphs, charts, drawings and pictures to enhance communication is beneficial, but they may end up confusing people unless everyone understands what the images are meant to convey.
Key points to remember when using visual aids:
- Visual aids are an essential medium through which much information is presented; they are integral parts of most business presentations.
- Good visuals can ensure a presentation's success. Poor ones can destroy it.
- The key to creating a good visual is to conceive of a clear visual message, and then making sure it works.
- Computer technology has made high-quality visuals much easier to produce, but having the tools doesn't guarantee they're used wisely.
Guidelines for Creating Effective Visual Aids
- Choose the best audio-visual medium or media to suit audience, purpose, situation environment and budget.
- Make sure each visual can be read without strain from all parts of the room.
- Ensure that each visual conveys only one main idea.
- Help the audience understand by simplifying, highlighting, comparing and visualizing.
- Keep it simple.
- Use the title as a headline to state the essence of the chart.
- An image acts as a shortcut to communicate information. A picture may indeed be worth a thousand words, a live model or demonstration may be worth a thousand pictures, and graph may be worth a thousand numbers. All may mean less time is required to get an idea across.
- Present material in bite-size pieces to keep the audience's attention focused.
- Present complex material sequentially.
- Show only material you plan to discuss. Thin out unneeded words and numbers.
- Present no more than seven items -- lines, labels and blocks.
- Print all lettering horizontally.
- Proofread visuals to make sure that all words are spelled correctly and that nothing detracts from the purpose.
Here are the key points about the drawings, along with some questions you need to ask the design team:
- Shows the shape of the roller coaster site.
- One of the many supports of the roller coaster track.
- The station where passengers will get on and off the roller coaster.
- The scale line is 50-metres long.
- The peak height of the roller coaster is 25 metres.
- The length of the roller coaster is 581 metres.
How fast will the roller coaster go?
How long will the ride take?
How many cars in the train?
How many passengers fit into each car?
As a class, brainstorm a list of effective and ineffective uses of visual aids in presenting information. Using a variety of resources, such as magazines, advertisements, Web pages, and textbook graphics, to illustrate both effective and ineffective uses of visual aids. Keep a copy of this illustrated list available for reference in preparing future presentations.
Create a short presentation with effective visual aids. You may try overhead transparencies, flip charts and computer-generated visual aids.
Or, on your own you may research a variety of presentations and drawing from sources like text books, magazines, commercials, live presentations and political brochures. Create a collection of effective and ineffective uses of visuals in delivering information. For each point on your list, show an example and, in your own words, describe why it is effective or ineffective.
Create a short presentation with visual aids demonstrating effective uses of the visual media. Use overheads, flip charts, and/or computer generated visual aids.
