How to report scientific research to a general audience.. Is Blogging Dead?.. Virgin America creates a watchable safety video.. Top Ten Best and Worst (American) Communicators of 2007..
Don't include details that are only relevant to scientists
Don't use scientific jargon
Tell a story
Visuals need the same treatment as words
Keep it concise
Cite your sources
Don't overstate your case
Have fun!
Although his article is written for an academic audience, it's highly relevant for anybody delivering a complex message. You'll find that all his guidelines apply just as well in a corporate, business or personal context.
Is Blogging Dead?
Blogs are the new publishing tools of the Internet. Now, with just a Web browser and an Internet access account, anybody can publish their own Web site (after all, a blog is just a Web site).
But does this makes blogs good? Or useful? Or effective business tools? Business consultant David Maister doesn't necessarily think so. He argues that blogs give a short hit of instant gratification, but unless you're committed to it, your blog will die a swift death.
Virgin America creates a watchable safety video
You know those airline safety videos you watch carefully every time you take off on a flight? No, me neither. Let's face it - most passengers don't bother watching them.
To counter this problem, Virgin America created a safety video with a difference: It's entertaining! Watch it yourself and see:
This clever twist on the standard safety video taps into people's natural inclination to watch something interesting. Virgin asked the question, "How can we make this something people want to watch?"
How can you do the same thing in your message management? Even if you think it's interesting, your message might be boring, mundane, prosaic or humdrum to your audience? How can you make it interesting - even entertaining - for them?
Whether or not you agree with the writer's point of view, there's no doubt that positioning and public relations have changed in today's world. If you're not using today's technology to deliver your messages - and more importantly, if you're not using it well - you'll be talked about, but for all the wrong reasons.
Stating the obvious
Providing proof is an important part of creating a credible, memorable message. But you don't have to prove things that are obviously true.
Sounds obvious, right?
The National Post has a humorous round-up of some of the serious but unnecessary research conducted over the last year. Examples include these "discoveries":
Slideshare.net makes it easy to display full PowerPoint presentations on the Web. It's similar to YouTube, in that you upload your presentations to their site, and others can view them by searching on key words and tags you specify.
After uploading a presentation, you can also embed it in your Web site or blog. In fact, you can embed anybody's presentation, just like YouTube.
Here's an example of a presentation I uploaded recently to SlideShare.net:
Richard Wiseman's Colour Changing Card Trick
One of the most powerful forms of persuasion is a demonstration. Watch Professor Richard Wiseman as he demonstrates our powers of attention (and inattention!) in this card trick:
Professor Wiseman uses this as an example of science communication. After all, isn't this so much more powerful than a dry scientific lecture or an academic research study?
Business Presentations - Pros and Cons
How do you deliver an effective business presentation? Experts will give you varying - sometimes contradicting - advice. But some things remain the same - such as practising your material, keeping it simple, and establishing rapport. Darrell Zahorsky of the About.com Small Business Information channel has an article about 8 Secrets to a Knockout Business Presentation.
Classy video from Defenders of Wildlife
The Defenders of Wildlife organisation has created a simple thank-you video for its supporters, for all their work in 2007.
As you watch this video, notice a few effective design techniques:
The video is introduced by the president of the organisation, demonstrating support right from the top.
Statistics are shown in simple ways.
Most of the video is in fact a series of still slides, not motion video - but it's still very effective.
Creating a sales video in PowerPoint
The technology to create a promotional video might seem expensive and out of reach of the average business. But you've probably got the technology already - and it's called PowerPoint.
PowerPoint expert Dave Paradi describes how to create a sales video using PowerPoint. You won't learn about the design of the message in Dave's article, but he does talk about the process of planning, producing and packaging your PowerPoint presentation in a form that's easy to distribute.
Cause Marketing influences your customers
Can you make money by giving it away? Yes, if you're giving it to a good cause, and one your customers care about. "Cause marketing" is big business, and works well, provided you do it well.
Shannon Raybold Nothing But Nets presentation
Shannon Raybold of the U.N. Foundation recently made a presentation named "Nothing But Nets". Although it uses bullet points (which I abhor!), it's still a pretty good example of a well-designed PowerPoint presentation.
Watch Shannon's presentation here:
If you're giving a reason, make it plausible
I recently added my bank account as a payment option to my PayPal account (previously I could only use my credit card to pay). PayPal now tries to encourage me to use my bank account instead of my credit card. I suspect it's a lower fee for them.
Here are the reasons it gives me (copied directly from their Web site):
Paying with your bank account offers the highest level of PayPal protection and security, plus these advantages:
No Fees -- Payments made using your bank account don't accrue interest fees
Instant Payment -- Bank account payments are processed instantly
Convenience -- Paying with your bank account means that your payments always go through -- instantly.
Sellers with Personal accounts cannot receive credit card payments. Any PayPal user can receive bank account payments.
Safety - Your bank account information is kept safe through the highest grade commercially available encryption and is extensively covered against unauthorised use
Looks fine at first glance, right? But let's look at them more closely ...
No Fees: Fair enough
Instant Payment: Huh? I thought my credit card payments were also processed instantly. And anyway, why should I care about whether it's instant or not? That's more an issue for the seller.
Convenience: Seems to be just restating the previous point.
Sellers with Personal accounts: Fair enough.
Safety: Are they saying my credit card information is not covered by the highest rate of security??? That would be a big concern!
What's the point? Simple: People aren't stupid. If you give reasons for them to take action, make them real reasons. Some might be major reasons, other minor reasons - but none should be irrelevant.
The Three Essentials of Every Presentation
What are the keys to every successful presentation? They are not new - in fact, they go back over 2,000 years. I explain them in this short video:
From: Mrs Rebecca Thatcher. No:36 Old Shrewberry Street, London England.
Beloved,i am Lady Rebecca Thatcher, suffering from cancerous ailment. I used to be married to Sir Jeremy Thatcher an Englishman who is dead and resting peacefully. My husband was into private practice all his life before he passed. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of Twenty Million Pounds (20,000,000.00 Million Great Britain Pounds Sterling)which were derived from his vast estates and investment in capital market with his bank here in UK. Presently, this money is still with the Bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to the cancerous problems I am suffering from.
Though what bothers me most is the stroke that I have in addition to the cancer. With this hard reality that has befallen me, I have decided to donate this fund to you and want you to use this gift which comes from my husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows, widowers, orphans, destitute, the down-trodden, physically challenged children, barren-women and persons who prove to be genuinely handicapped financially. I took this decision because I do not have any child that will inherit this money.
My happiness is that I lived a life worthy of emulation. Please assure me that you will act just as I have stated herein. Hope to hear from you soon. You can contact me through my personal email address at [snipped].
Thanking you in advance for everything,
Sincerely yours, Lady Rebecca Thatcher.
It's a scam, of course, and full of holes if you're looking for them. But read it again, pretending you were a more gullible person. What does the writer do to try to influence you?
Specifically, look for answers to these four questions:
Why this? What are the benefits of responding to this letter?
Why you? What is her credbility?
Why me? What is the relevance to me, the reader?
Why now? What is the urgency to take action?
Make them right, but make them uncomfortable
It's hard to inspire people if you start by telling them they are wrong - they immediately resent you. But it's also hard to motivate them if they think they are right, and don't have to change. How do you resolve this dilemma?
One way is to convince them that what they are doing used to be right, but might no longer be as effective today.
For example:
Paying off a home mortgage used to be an effective investment strategy. But now there are so many other options for using the equity in your home to purchase investment properties.
Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week used to be good advice, but now you have to do forty minutes four times a week because of even more desk-based jobs.
Salespeople used to focus on product knowledge, but customers with Internet access now come to the sales meeting armed with all that knowledge themselves.
In other words, you make the audience right, which encourages them; and then point out that circumstances have changed, which motivates them.
Stand out from the crowd on-line
I've just conducted an interview with Colin Pearce for one of his audio programs. He interviewed me about getting business on-line, and in particular how to stand out from the crowd. In other words, if there are tens of thousands of businesses like yours on the Web, how do you make yours stand out from the rest?
The answer is: You don't! You're not competing with every other book shop, every other travel agent, every other financial planner, or whatever other industry you're in. They are not all fighting over the same customers and clients. Instead, know your particular niche - whether it's a niche by geography, demographics or motivation - and do your best to attract them.
This is crucial for effective message management. Don't aim for "everybody" - you'll reach nobody.
Death By PowerPoint
I've seen a number of presentations complaining about "death by PowerPoint", but few present the opposite view - creating compelling PowerPoint presentations - as clearly and effectively as this one by Alexei Kapterev:
Reckoning With Risk, by Gerd Gigerenzer The test for breast cancer is extremely reliable. It correctly detects breast cancer in 90% of cases when the cancer does exist, and only mistakenly reports it in 9% of cases when the cancer doesn't exist. The incidence of breast cancer in women is 1 in 100. Suppose you (or, for men, a woman close to you) take a test for breast cancer, and unfortunately it returns a positive result (i.e. it detects the cancer). What is the probability that you do have breast cancer? Would you be surprised to know it's just 10%? Not 90%, 99% or some other high number?
Another example: DNA testing on a murder weapon matches your DNA, and a forensic expert says there's only a 1 in 100,000 chance of that happening. Are you doomed? Would you be surprised to know that in a city of, say, 2 million people, this means you're 95% likely to be NOT guilty, based on that DNA evidence alone?
Do these examples surprise and confuse you? If so, take heart: They surprise and confuse most people - laypeople and experts (doctors and lawyers) alike. Unfortunately, this can have disastrous - sometimes tragic - consequences in law, medicine and other fields.
This is the topic of Gerd Gigerenzer's excellent book about working with risk and uncertainty. Read it and you might be horrified at some of the horrible mistakes being made by experts giving advice. At least you'll be in a better position to question them and become better informed.
Is this the best book ever written about dealing with uncertainty? I'm not sure. But it's certainly well worth the read.
Web Copy That Sells, by Maria Veloso Professional Web copywriter Maria Veloso has written an excellent overview for Web site owners, Web designers and on-line copywriters. You don't have to be a techie to understand her ideas; in fact, they are deliberately not aimed at techies. Rather, they talk about the principles of writing sales copy for the Web.
In terms of message management, I love her idea that your Web copy should sound like editorial, not advertising. In other words, provide information first, promotion second.
A lesson from a puppet in Prague
When I was in Prague last week, I attended a marionette performance of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. Yes, this was Don Giovanni performed by puppets!
Although it was obvious these were puppets, it was easy to fall under the illusion that we were watching life-size actors in action. So much so, in fact, that when one of the puppeteers really appeared on the stage late in the performance, he looked like a giant!
It reminded me that all message management is an illusion (or, as Seth Godin says in his book of the same name, "All marketers are liars"). This doesn't make it wrong, unethical or manipulative - though it can be all of the above. It just means you have to present your message in a way that your audience believes it to be real.
Walk Your Talk
One of my coaching clients is a communications consultant, specialising in significant (read: difficult, emotional, stressful) conversations. In a recent session, she mentioned that she felt uncomfortable promoting her services until she had more business experience.
But I pointed out to her that she already has plenty of relevant experience - for example:
As an experienced salesperson, she's had to communicate effectively with clients and prospects;
As a State manager and team leader, she's faced many tricky communication issues with her team - sometimes on personal, emotional and stressful issues;
And as an active friend, daughter, sister and wife, she's had her fair share of communication issues in her personal relationships!
So she's got real, practical, hands-on experience with the sort of things she teaches her clients.
And that's better than all the theory in the world.
Experience matters. Many "experts" don't walk their talk; they don't practise what they preach. When you can draw on your own experience and have the maturity to step outside it and put it in context, you provide a richer, truer and more significant service to your clients.
It's not enough to have the experience alone. After all, that just gives you the authority to speak from one person's viewpoint. But it's also not enough to have the theory alone, either. You need both.
Are you faking it?
Can you honestly say that you're living proof of the things you claim to teach? Are you the poster child for your own keynotes, seminars and workshops? Or are you worried that some day you'll be "found out"?
"I know many of the world's leading customer service speakers and writers. Call them. You will be lucky to get your call returned.
I know many of the leading experts on leadership. Most of them can't keep employees working for them because they are such lousy leaders.
The relationship experts aren't usually in a relationship. The humorists aren't funny. The financial experts are broke. I even know experts on ethics and integrity who don't pay their bills.
These people clearly are not experts. They may be well known and they may have given lots of speeches and sold lots of books, but they aren't true experts."
Think it doesn't matter? Think again.
First, there's the basic ethical question about whether you should be teaching stuff you can't even live yourself.
But even if you don't believe that's a problem for you, there's the practical issue that people will find out, especially in the Age Of Google. And that can destroy your credibility and authority.
Consider this, for example: The day after Al Gore released his movie An Inconvenient Truth as part of his worldwide campaign for action against global warming, an investigation revealed that Gore's own household uses more electricity in a month than the average U.S. home in a year! However much Gore protested that there were special reasons for that, in many people's eyes, his credibility was immediately shattered.
So are you walking your talk? If not, take a different path or tell a different story.
Getting Through to the Technical Buyer
When you're delivering a message in a sales presentation, the person receiving the message might not be the only person who you have to convince. Solution: Get in front of the "economic buyer" - the guy/gal who signs the cheques.
Easy, right? Wrong.
It's not always easy to get to that person directly. More importantly, it might not be enough to convince that person alone. They might have final authority on spending the money, but they'll take advice from others about the purchasing decision.
In addition to the economic buyer, you might face the user buyer (who'll actually use the product) and the technical buyer (who decides how the product will fit into the organisation's structure).
The technical buyer might in fact be the person you most have to convince. Online marketing company Enquiro Research has released a free report, Marketing to a B2B Technical Buyer, which gives detailed ideas and guidelines for marketing to this species.
Goodbye, dear brand - I knew you well
I've just finished reading "Forced Focus - The Essence of Attracting and Retaining the Best People", by a client and colleague, Penny Burke. It's not just a great read for organisations looking to attract and keep employees; it also has value if you're working on your own organisation's brand. This is an essential concept for delivering a consistent message inside and outside your organisation.
I'm going to share one idea I love from the book (one of many!)
When Penny works with organisations on their branding, she uses some "Brand Personification Tools" to help them identify their brand. One tool I love is the "Brand Eulogy". Penny kindly gave me permission to include that extract from the book here:
"Another exercise I have used successfully as part of a Forced Focus approach to brand personification is encouraging people to eulogise a brand. A bit weird I know, but bear with me. First, you ask people to pretend that the brand in question is a person who has come to life, and can interact with you on a human level. Then you ask them to express how they would feel if that brand suddenly 'died'.
I ask people to actually write the eulogy for the ex-brand, and then reflect on the emotions they are feeling. I recently conducted a research study for Noodle Box, the Asian noodle chain, and included the eulogy writing exercise in the course of my research. This is one of the responses I received:
'Oh Noodle Box ... I didn't know you for very long, but the time we shared was magical. So tasty, so convenient, and oh, such good service. You always made me feel so special, like I was the only customer, when really your loyalty is spread over the vast region that is Melbourne. There is no substitute. Wednesday nights will never be the same. I only wish you'd lived long enough to share your blessing on an international scale – you had such potential.'
Pretty remarkable, huh? That sounds like a brand that has engaged with their consumer. Even more interesting however is the eulogy that I frequently see in employer branding workshops. They generally go something like this, which is from a company that shall remain nameless:
'It's sad you've passed away – but I'm more worried about me than I am about you. Even though I saw you every day I’m not sure I ever really knew you. You used to talk at me all the time. But I never really felt you were that interested in me. Oh well, I guess I'll miss you, but I'm sure I’ll find another friend.'
There's obviously a huge difference between the two eulogies, and it's not hard to see which one reflects the stronger brand engagement. While exercises such as this don't lead to a specific outcome, like the brand pyramid process, they do shed valuable light on where the brand is now, and how it is perceived both internally and externally."
So what would people say about your brand if it died? Is it brand or bland?
The test for breast cancer is extremely reliable. It correctly detects breast cancer in 90% of cases when the cancer does exist, and only mistakenly reports it in 9% of cases when the cancer doesn't exist. The incidence of breast cancer in women is 1 in 100. Suppose you (or, for men, a woman close to you) take a test for breast cancer, and unfortunately it returns a positive result (i.e. it detects the cancer). What is the probability that you do have breast cancer? Would you be surprised to know it's just 10%? Not 90%, 99% or some other high number?
"I know many of the world's leading customer service speakers and writers. Call them. You will be lucky to get your call returned. 
