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The PRI team shares the people, actions, inventions, and places that are currently inspiring us.
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NPR’s Best Books page and app: Great books recommended by smart readers. And lovely UI too. |
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Pretty amazing. It’s still in beta (and you participate by uploading your own music), but at radiooooo.com you can choose a decade back to 1900, then locate a place on the world map to hear what music was playing at that time, in that place. So far I’ve discovered what my friends outside of the U.S. might have been listening to when they were teenagers, and what might have been playing on the radio when I was born. |
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Fighting for the rights of animals . . . I’m tremendously inspired this month by the actions of a group of dedicated people (including my friend Amy) who have been working for months to reform the Helmetta Regional Animal Shelter. Their actions resulted in innocent animals being removed from truly horrific conditions, and they’ve brought attention to reforming a corrupt system. I wish them continued success as more of the details are brought to light. |
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I’m inspired by a good story. I’m a big fan of George Dawes Green, the poet, best-selling novelist, and founder of The Moth. According to The Moth, George wanted to recreate, in New York, the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, where he and his friends would gather on his friend Wanda’s porch to share spellbinding tales. There was a hole in the screen which let in moths that were attracted to the light, and the group started calling themselves The Moths. Audiences are drawn to the stories, like moths to a flame. Like I am. |
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I am inspired by Finca Bellavista, a sustainable greenhouse community whose mission is to assist communities in Costa Rica in regenerating rainforest assets and restoring native habitats to encourage healthier lifestyles, economies and opportunities. |
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I have been revisiting some great thinking done by Bill Buxton, and his writings on the topic of User Experience. It is totally inspiring me this month. |
“Good design is good design” is a phrase I often find myself saying, whether it’s to someone I’m instructing, a prospective client, or in agreement with a coworker. (My other go-to phrase is “Don’t design in a vacuum,” but that’s a post for another day.)
When I first became a designer I was using Letraset and X-acto knives, and was hogging any computer I could get my hands on. Today I am much more likely to be presenting on a screen than with something I’ve painted or printed, and most of the time I’ve created a concept that’s been handed off to someone to program and execute for an online project.
Whether it’s a website, an app, or a printed piece . . . What makes a design good? It’s pretty basic, really. What all good designs have in common are clarity, readability, being true to the medium (web, print, music, writing, and so on), and being true to the subject matter—a financial website shouldn’t look the same as Chuck E. Cheese’s. If it does, that’s a mighty interesting banking concept.
“The details are not the details. They make the design.” —Charles Eames
And, design isn’t limited to paper or a screen. Your toothbrush was designed by someone who knows how to get the right amount of bristles to hold the correct portion of toothpaste. The chair you’re sitting in had an ergonomic designer that took into account the height of the average person, as well as the ease of adjusting the chair in case you don’t happen to be average height. Not only is everything you see on your smartphone’s screen designed, but so is its case, the size and heft in your hand, and everything else down to its headphone jack and microphone placement. All were optimized for the most satisfying and useful user experience. When it works right, it’s amazing. When it’s poorly designed, you’ll know it.
You have just purchased a lovely fixer-upper of a house. It will need renovation from top to bottom. The project can feel overwhelming, so what do you do? You call a general contractor.
For a small premium, they will save you money and time. A general contractor will review your entire building, and provide an audit to prioritize the important renovation. Then, they find and supervise the professionals to get the job done right, and on budget. It’s a cost-benefit to get a job done right — the first time.
When you take a fresh look at your marketing and communications, it too may be overwhelming. A full service vendor can act as a general contractor, and, without the premium, conduct a full-site audit. One objective is to provide a branded approach for all of your communications.
Look and feel
Everything that represents your company should have the same look and feel. That’s what defines your corporate identity. If your branding guidelines are out of date, have been compromised by ‘rogue’ designers, (or maybe a creative employee or two) then an update to your branding guidelines may be first on the list.
What else? Maybe your editorial guidelines were never updated to encompass social media. Perhaps they do not address how your branding elements work within mobile applications. Or maybe you are launching a marketing plan that includes a conference booth design that’s not yet referenced. Not only is order resolved from chaos, but the brand guidelines can foster a new form of creativity, one that is more powerful because it conveys your message with a unified voice, look and feel.
When your GC of Marketing and Communications comes onto the job, they will look at the following three areas with respect to their job:
The Vision: Clarity, consistency, corporate Identity
The Mission: Make it right.
The Goal: Create a scope of work with a prioritized action plan, milestones and deadlines.
Then do it.
If you hire a general contractor for your house, they assemble high-performing teams to get the job done. The same holds true for your GC of MarCom.
A full-service agency provides a working environment where teams from creative design, content strategy and applied technology will assess the full scope of a project from the onset. That’s what we mean by internal collaboration. Options and decisions are generated from the ground up, rather than the more expensive backwards approach.
The first consideration is audience(s).
The classic questions are reviewed across a project team:
- Who is the primary audience? Who is the secondary audience, and who are the other stakeholders?
- What does the audience want? Immediate, mid-term, long term time frames.
- What action(s) do we want the audience to take? Immediate, mid-term, and long term time frames.
- How can we determine your ROI? It requires identifying metrics, and putting them to use.
- Who’s following your social media, and what are they saying on their posts?
Sophisticated application of technology
- What software best fits the client’s needs?
- Is it scalable? In other words, can it grow as more functionality is required?
- Does it provide the independence a client requests to have control over their website?
- Are there open-source options?
- What impact will it have on the client’s IT department?
- What impact will the choice of technology have on the other two teams — design and content?
Site design — and the user experience
Understanding the audience and the content means that the teams collaborate on your clients will read a communication, and the actions you want them to take.
This is in the domain of the User Interface/User Experience designer. They will ask the following:
- How will the site be used?
- How can we enhance the site visitor’s online experience so that they are not frustrated during the (often brief) time they are on the site?
- How about the navigation? Does it provide a ready path for the user to find what they want?
- How does the content and action items influence design and navigation?
Corporate identity is an immediate consideration.
- Is there a branding guide?
- And if so, how will the design for a new product or service reflect the branding guidelines, while carving out a memorable visual identity of its own?
Content strategy
Just as we address visual branding issues, the team will pay similar attention to the written word.
- Are the messages consistent across the site, and with the sales and public relations team?
- Are they clear and unambiguous?
- How is social media integrated within the site, and,
- Is there room for client feedback?
- Does your social media content address the interests of your followers, and of your target audience?
Content strategy must work hand-in-hand with the site design. Where do we want the reader to go, and what do we want them to do? Visit our information center, or make a personal contact?
The above are just summaries. The areas of consideration overlap. But, with internal collaboration, the results should reflect best practices to make the site a powerful one, that leads to action and can put your house in order.
Each month, we at PRI pause to reflect on those events, people, places, and things that have lifted our spirits and ignited our imagination.
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I’ve long been a fan of filmmaker Richard Linklater. And because I’m a mom to two small boys, I couldn’t wait to see his new film Boyhood which was filmed with the same cast over twelve years, as the actors grew and aged in real time. The movie’s received rave reviews, so other’s share my inspiration. But I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie that I was still thinking about weeks later. A must see. |
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I’m so excited about the group Operation Christmas Child that I’m making it a service project for our religious education classes. Our students will help a child somewhere out in the world who doesn’t dream of the kind of luxuries we do; we’ll each pack a shoebox full of games, clothes, and necessities for them. Reading about the creativity in packing, and needs of the children is at once inspiring and heartbreaking — kids who wished for something as simple as underwear for Christmas, or a ball, because they have nothing beyond their utmost basic needs. You can even sponsor a box online today. |
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The Savannah Jazz Festival takes place in parks and other establishments across the city, but the high notes continue during the ‘after hours’ sessions at Rancho Alllegre. The Cuban Restaurant becomes transformed into a jazz club, where the headliners stop in, and play alongside local talent. The nights are swinging. And through it all, the memory of Ben Tucker still beats like a blessing on the lips of all who knew him. |
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I am inspired by meaningful innovation. Australians create Life-Saving Water Purifiers using a chip packet and the power of the sun. |
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Following the infamous Ice Bucket Challenge, and India’s very own Rice Bucket Challenge, here is another: The Book Bucket Challenge. The Book Bucket Challenge is a drive started by One Library per Village. You have to make a list of 10 books that changed your life, and donate books to libraries or those in need. The Book Bucket Challenge is about taking it up and providing the gift of knowledge. |
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I’m inspired by fresh berries. In the early fall it’s blackberries, but it’s already getting cold and they’re nearly gone. But we do have one last bush that’s putting out some super sweet end-of-season yumminess. Which I share with my dog Stella, of course! |
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Whether or not you’re a long-time fan, you can’t help but be impressed when a musician debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the fourth decade of his career. This past month, Weird Al Yankovic was everywhere. How the heck did he do it, and what in the world does this have to do with good business practices? 
1. He’s known for one thing, and does it incredibly well.
Even if he’s not on your playlist, you know of him. He creates funny song parodies and plays the accordion. His identity has reached the point where any new parody is automatically assumed to be his, until proven otherwise.
The takeaway: Do one thing extraordinarily well. What one thing does your company do that makes it the Xerox or Kleenex of its industry?
2. He may be weird, but he’s completely professional.
Zany? Sure. But he’s directed, arranged, and written songs for himself, and other musicians. He’s known for his musicality and devotion to his craft. He’s also known for asking permission of the artists he parodies, which isn’t legally necessary—he does it to engender goodwill.
The takeaway: Build your reputation as a consummate professional. It goes a long way toward establishing credibility and longevity.
3. He uses social media. He uses it very, very well.
Prior to release, a series of funny images of Weird Al’s latest album, Mandatory Fun, was sent to all the usual outlets you’d expect. But the real impact came at release time when he posted a series of eight videos over eight days of eight new songs from the album. And instead of trying to do everything himself, he partnered with well-established websites and media outlets to co-sponsor his videos. The only place to see his first video, “Tacky,” was on Nerdist.com. The next day, College Humor did the honors with “Word Crimes.” And then Yahoo! the next day, and so on. Was there a buzz? You bet. And through it all, he posted his own tweets and comments through his usual channels.
The takeaway: Social media is a powerful tool, but can be incredibly time-consuming. Businesses need to either have in-house or outside staff to take full advantage of its opportunities. You’ll also want to protect your brand by ensuring that your messages always come across in your own unique voice (this is where style guides and strategies for both content and “tone and voice” come into play). A consistent presence on social media is much better than a disappearing act.
4. He employs an amazing backup band that serves to enhance his message.
Whether Weird Al is singing in the style of James Brown, the Crash Test Dummies, or Lorde, the music is incredibly like the original. That’s because his band is made up of hardcore professionals who are well-versed in a variety of styles. Talented in their own right, they aren’t afraid to dress up as a potato or in a Devo outfit if the situation calls for it. He gives them a shout out every chance he gets because he appreciates how much his success relies on their musicianship and dedication.
The takeaway: A successful business relies on a strong team.
5. He’s not afraid to try something new, but it always has his unique spin.
Song parodies? Of course. Full-length feature film? Definitely. TV show? Yep. Children’s book author? Made the New York Times Best Seller list. Voiceover artist? You betcha.
A petition is currently circulating to include Weird Al in the Superbowl XLIX halftime show, and I can guarantee that if he does get to play, it will be one heck of a polka party.
The takeaway: Cement your corporate identity with consistency. Don’t balk at innovation, or branching out, but don’t forget to bring the distinct enthusiasm that only you and your business can bring to the table.
6. He has longevity and an outstanding reputation on his side.
Weird Al does not reinvent himself every few years to jumpstart his career. He’s been doing his own particular brand of humor and satire since 1979, and does it well. But perhaps the most important testament to his success comes from his peers in the music industry who consider it an honor to be parodied by Weird Al—count Dave Grohl, Lady Gaga, and the late Michael Jackson among his many enthusiasts.
Still, my favorite story has to be when Weird Al was at a party. He was standing near one of his heroes, Paul McCartney, waiting nervously to introduce himself. But before he could speak, the former Beatle turned to his then wife Linda and said, “Hey! It’s Weird Al!”
The takeaway: A solid brand plus doing one thing well, can and will earn the respect of your peers. Even being “weird” Al does not preclude a career that embraces musicality and the time-honored respect that your colleagues and customers will appreciate.
My mentor and friend, PRI founder Rich Mansfield, liked to talk about the importance of sincerity, and wind it up with song lyrics. “You gotta be sincere,” he’d quote from “Honestly Sincere” from Bye Bye Birdie. “You gotta feel it here,” he’d add, with hand over heart.
I’ve been thinking about this concept a lot lately, as the origins of the word “sincere” recently came up in my reading. According to one theory, sincere has its roots in Roman times, with “sin” meaning “without,” and “cera” referring to “wax.” So, to be sincere is literally to be without wax.
Putting it into context, artisans and vendors selling statues or blocks of marble, or even gold, would sometimes find flaws or cracks in the material and fill them in with wax so they’d looked perfect on the surface. When it’s a statue, that’s not so awful, but when it applies to actual blocks used to build something, that insincerity could result in something downright dangerous. So, sincere in this context literally means, “without wax,” as in, someone or something that is the real deal, not trying to cover up or hide anything. Being able to stamp something as sincere was a real mark of it being genuine. Pure.
While some sources call this an old wives’ tale, I take it to heart. In speech and correspondence, and everyday dealings—whether it’s a business conversation or addressing a group of children—sincerity goes a long way in establishing character. And honestly, don’t you think that being “honestly sincere” is a great virtue, no matter what you do?
I’m polite. All the time? No. For corroboration, ask my present realtor.
But most of the time, I am. It is a way of life, probably part of my nature, and it was how I was raised.
It usually surprises me when someone (including me) chooses not to be polite. The unwarranted use of swear words is one example.
Politeness is actually an academic field of study. And, because human nature is complex, it is even more important as cross-cultural communications become prevelent in a pluralistic world. Simply put, being polite is good business. I’d add that it’s just plain good. If I were a better person, I’m sure it would have created better relations with my realtor. Being polite is important everywhere, all the time: whether meeting someone over lunch, in the conference room, or on the court of play—whether a game of gin rummy or on the golf course.
According to researchers Janny and Arndt (1992), there are two forms of politeness. Tact, which is about saving face. And social politeness.
Other researchers drill further down, differentiating between being polite and being socially appropriate. Paul Grice, the British-educated philosopher of language, formulated what he termed the “cooperative principle”:
Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.
How’s that again? What I think he’s trying to say has to do with being a good listener, and picking up on social cues to be a polite conversationalist.
Grice divides his own universal principle into four maxims determining human conversation:
Maxim of Quantity
The speaker should make his/her contribution only as informative as is required, i.e., the message should not be more informative as necessary.
Maxim of Quality: The speaker should make his/her contribution one which is true and one which the speaker has adequate evidence for.
Maxim of Relation: The utterances should be relevant.
Maxim of Manner: The speaker should be clear and intelligible, avoid obscurity of expression and ambiguity, and be brief and orderly.
Sometimes I assume that writers and other artists whom I like may share my values. When a good friend recently acknowledged being influenced by Carl Rogers, and asked me about what books and authors I’ve found influential in my work, Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past jumped ahead of philosophers and writers on psychology.
With a little online research, I ran across Edmund White’s biography, and was surprised to learn that Proust himself, whose massive novel is all about relationships “thought friendship was valueless and conversation represented the death of the mind, since he believed only passion and suffering could sharpen the powers of observation and the only word of any value was the written.” Oh Marcel, really?
Summing up, being polite can be more complex than it first appears, both inside your head, and out.
The PRI team shares the people, actions, inventions, and places that are currently inspiring us.
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Climate change is something on the forefront of my mind. And the folks at grist.org know how to present facts in an interesting, sometimes funny, always compelling, way. |
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My friend introduced me to a fabulous show called “Only Connect” from the BBC. Four seemingly unrelated items are presented, and teams compete to find the connection between them. What’s the connection here: Plum, Moriarty, Indiana Jones, Higgins? If you said they’re all professors, you’d be correct. That’s probably the simplest of all clues we’ve seen—and that’s why my family and I are hooked. Presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell is sharp, witty, and just about perfect. |
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“Here we mark the price of freedom.”
I’ve always been inspired by the wit, insight, and humble inquisitive nature of Joe Persico, and am saddened by his passing. In addition to his role as a speechwriter for Nelson Rockefeller and the numerous books he’d researched and written (first on index cards—including the autobiography My American Journey: Colin Powell (with Joseph Persico), he participated in writing the words that adorn the WWII memorial in Washington, D.C. I’ll always remember the 4th of July discussions he and my father, a WWII vet, would enjoy. |
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Very inspired this month by Serena Williams’s sixth U.S. Open win. She’s also starring in an ad for Beats by Dre that inspires us all to get off the couch and get some exercise. |
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Eliza Dushku may be taking a break from acting, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t keeping busy. Best known for her role as Faith, the rogue vampire slayer in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she just returned from Africa on a trip for THRIVEGulu, a non-profit organization where she serves on the board of directors. THRIVEGulu operates a center for community gathering and learning in Gulu, Uganda, to support the emotional healing and rehabilitation of trauma victims of the Ugandan civil war through educational programs. Here she is pictured meeting some children from the village. |
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First the ALS ice bucket challenge, now the rice bucket challenge—India’s twist on the fundraising campaign that has taken the Internet by storm.
Unlike the ice bucket challenge, which involves pouring ice-cold water on one’s head to raise awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, participants of the rice bucket challenge do not dump rice over their heads. Instead, they are asked to buy or cook a bucket of rice and give it to someone in need. |
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Nail polish that detects date rape drug: “With our nail polish, any woman will be empowered to discreetly ensure her safety by simply stirring her drink with her finger. If her nail polish changes colour, she’ll know that something is wrong.” |
You can stay on message. So can everyone with whom you work. Your message becomes the way people think of you, it’s how they will position you in their minds: “Oh yes, that’s the company with a better light bulb.” But, there’s a caveat, an important caveat. You want that message to state the difference between your product (or service) and the rest of the market. The difference does not have to be the product itself; but, according to Jack Trout, “it must have a competitive angle, in order to have a chance for its success.” Trout uses Papa John’s Pizza by example. The difference provides a competitive position in people’s minds: ingredients. Their message: “Better ingredients, better pizza.”
Staying on message gets a bum rap in the press, because it can sound canned. Politicians have handlers whose job is to keep them on message. This is frustrating for the news media because the air of predictability is not newsworthy, often uninformative, and frequently a set of platitudes.
On the other hand, your business is probably not under constant scrutiny. Whether through earned media, advertising, or a self-funded marketing campaign to explain why you are the best thing since sliced gluten-free bread, you want your message to get out. First, build consensus on just what it is that differentiates you. Then get your message straight.
Rules of Thumb to Get On Message
Honestly now
Your message must be a succinct answer to why someone should prefer you to the competition. And, any claim you make must be bulletproof.
A Message to the Homeowner
An LED lightbulb is one of the few trouble free items in a homeowner’s life. Compared to an incandescent light bulb, LED lighting will lower your home’s electricity bill and pay for itself over the next 7 years. In fact, you will not have to pay replacement costs until after your children leave for college. Between now and then everyone will be safer, because it burns cooler.
Be memorable by being easy to remember
Keep your message simple, but not simplistic. You want your audience to easily recall those points that differentiate you. Sure, there may be other benefits. But, if you want to be remembered, make sure they are the first three things you say. All the time.
- An LED light bulb lasts for 20 years.
- An LED light bulb saves on electricity.
- An LED light bulb is cool to the touch.
Tell me a story I can remember
Our pre-school daughter has an LED lightbulb in the lamp on her nightstand. One night it toppled over. She picked it up by the bulb, without burning her fingers. By the way, the light bulb didn’t break.
Know what separates you from your competition, hone your message points, and tell a story. It’s a powerful combination for memorable marketing.
The PRI team shares the people, actions, inventions, and places that are currently inspiring us.
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I love everything about the new Airbnb redesign, especially the full-width photos/videos at the top of the homepage that show travelers doing what they do best. So smart and well done. Others are talking about it too.
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I’m inspired by my brother! What started as a hobby as a teenager—rebuilding his first Ford Mustang—has turned into not only a business, but a record-setting auction sale! He restored a 1970 Boss 429 KK2500 for a customer and it recently sold for a record-setting $375,000 ($340,000 + buyer’s fees)! It’s all his client’s money, but certainly tells a lot about the person who restored it: my brother Jack Brooks.
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I just loved Jersey Boys. The story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, as remembered from four different points of view, is tinged with mob references and, of course, loads of wonderful music. Christopher Walken as a gentle-hearted crime boss (who dances!) is sensational, and the songs are familiar and so singable. (My sister, mom, and I held out and waited till the credits to belt out “Sherry”.) You don’t even have to be from Jersey to enjoy it!
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Cosmologically inspired. The most detailed computer simulation of our universe starting shortly after the Big Bang.
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I’m inspired by Parenthoods.co a local community built by parents, for parents. It’s one of those rare apps that helps you live better as opposed to isolating you into mobile narcissism.
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Global email: Gmail will now recognize addresses that contain accented or non-Latin characters. This means Gmail users can send and receive emails from people who have these characters in their email addresses. In 2012, an organization called Internet Engineering Task Force created a new email standard that supports addresses with non-Latin and accented Latin characters. Every email provider and website that asks for an email address will have to adopt it to make it truly global.
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Google’s introduction of material design is so amazing. They made the most simple online guide that really highlights the important parts. Material is the metaphor—bold, graphic, intentional—and motion provides meaning.
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“Friendship Day” inspired me to be more generous in spending time with friends. These days, life has taken over many things, including time with friends. I was reminded of the good old times on the friendship day, which was celebrated this month. The social media which made easier to be in touch, has also made it much harder for people to be “really” in touch. I resolved to make time and meet my friends regularly henceforth!
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It’s easy to want to work tirelessly to provide a client with an overindulgence of options for their design project. It’s even easier to assume that showing many design options will get you to the project finish line faster. Typically, however, the reverse is true. Too many choices can affect your project’s progress and weaken your client relationships.
Your Private Design Process
Lay all your ideas out there, even if they are quick and sloppy. Let your mind run free: brainstorm on a napkin, a piece of scrap paper, make lists, whatever works for you. The less you allow yourself to get caught up in using non-intuitive software or other tools to get your thought process flowing, the better. Find out what your simplest, go-to method is for quickly exploring your ideas. And don’t be afraid to employ a helpful friend to talk through your ideas if you are stuck.
Sharing Your Designs
Don’t clutter up your presentation by giving too many choices, you will only leave them feeling confused. Too many options can give the impression that you are unsure of your ability to illustrate their business goals. Keep options minimal and thoughtful. This means limiting redundant iterations, show only those that most clearly align with your conceptual foundation. Here are some points to consider when you are collaborating with a client on a design project.
- Think Like the Client
You have to start by assuming that your client has no earthly idea what they want, and is most likely why they hired you. A client who relies on you is actually the best case scenario. Worst case is that your client does have an idea about what they want, and has a less-than-ideal perspective. Your golden opportunity is to help them reach the right design choices through your careful, focused discussion and presentation.
Tip: Present your designs in a finalized format, even if they are a work in progress. Use plenty of space around each one for maximum impact. Think of your presentation as an art gallery, a place for the viewer to look at and understand an artist’s creative expression, one at a time. There is a reason why art galleries have clean white walls and lots of space between each work, don’t make your designs compete with each other.
- The Big Reveal
Your client might not be used to viewing creative collateral. If so, they might find processing and understanding visual information to be a challenge. Keep your audience in mind, choose a simple approach for presenting your ideas to your client, and do a practice run-through before you present. A dry run will help you see if perhaps there’s too much information so you can pare it down to focus on only your top-level concepts. Your presentation can be a valuable asset in explaining your conceptual intentions to your client, and a good opportunity to clearly explain your ideas.
- Keep It Simple
A focused and simple presentation is often the best way to ensure your client buys into your idea. After all, throwing a bucket of darts at a dartboard doesn’t always earn you a bulls-eye. Presenting honest and precise options displays your confidence and design smarts, which builds client trust, which leads to lasting client relationships.
Most people that hire a creative agency want to be guided through the creative process. A good guide will keep it as simple as possible, the client will appreciate feeling like they understand your ideas, and it will help them align with your concept when it comes to getting other members of their team on board.
- Don’t Overthink It: Trust They Know Their Brand . . . and Listen
Even if your client doesn’t have a clue about design, you have to trust that they do have a clear idea about their brand and where they want to be going forward. Don’t ignore their feedback, instead, use it to refine your designs while keeping it within your original vision.
Writing content for your company is resource intensive. The costs of writing, editing, fact-checking, and then reviewing for SEO are amortized when you take that same content and make it available through a variety of outlets to reach different audiences via social media and more.
Good From the Get-Go
Of course, it should go without saying that the content needs to be strong from the start. All the best practices of writing must be in place. There is no room for sloppy mistakes. When talking about your company, the messaging must be consistent with your brand. This goes for describing the benefits you provide, what makes your product unique, and the tone of your writing.
Show, Don’t Tell
We like to say that content strategy means thinking like a publisher, not a salesperson. This means to err on the side of useful information versus making a sales pitch. Good information is more likely to encourage people to explore your site and keep coming back. It is the makings of a relationship.
Think of your writing as the equivalent of a stand-out dining experience.When it comes to SEO, it’s only the beginning. Yes, you want your rankings to attract site visitors, but you want them to return, or tell others. One might think of a highway billboard. Abundant advertising might cause you to pull off the road and drive in—but if the food isn’t good, you’re unlikely to return. Good content is like good food; you’d like to return for a second helping.
The Purpose of Repurpose: Be Heard With Less Effort
1. Blog post
Write a blog post about one aspect of the added value your service provides, and how it can be measured.
2. White paper
Got a really good blog post? Use it as the central idea for a white paper, with some specific case examples, and offer a checklist or some concise means for your reader to remember, use and/or cite your paper.
3. Twitter
Identify major points, and re-send them as tweets. Link them to your original blog post.
4. Imagery
Consider revising your post as an infographic, or recast the post with graphics to illustrate your main ideas. You might draw the attention you need from an audience overwhelmed by text.
5. Sound
Consider recording your blog post as a podcast, it may need some editing to sound more natural using the spoken voice, but it becomes yet another channel to reach and engage your audience.
6. Availability
Have your channels talk to each other. Include links to content, within the different channels you maintain. So, if you’ve posted a blog post, make sure it appears on your Facebook site, or that a tweet has a link back to your post or white paper.
7. Ink it
Print is another part of a repurpose strategy.
We’re celebrating summer with good books, good deeds, and as always, good ideas! What’s keeping you inspired these days? Please feel free to share with us!
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Most people like to spend their 4th of July weekend relaxing, enjoying a cold beverage and watching fireworks, but not St. Louis Blues captain, David Backes. Helping out the Starkey Hearing Foundation, he travelled to Kenya to help “give the gift of hearing.” The Starkey Hearing Foundation provides hearing aids around the world to people who may not be able to afford them otherwise and annually gives out more than 100,000. Here is David with some of his patients. |
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I was thrilled to see that the new Thursday Next novel from Jasper Fforde has come out, and in return the first five novels have been re-released in a new collection, ripe for re-reading. Fforde’s novels are witty, adventurous, and above all, loaded with literary references that could only come from a true book enthusiast. I’d recommend starting with the first novel, The Eyre Affair, in which Agent Thursday Next may or may not save the world, hobnob with time travelers, and accidentally change the ending of a classic. |
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Craft is a CMS for folks who like to take their time and do things right, building out their HTML, CSS, and JS by hand. This is not a site builder or some sort of design tool. There are no themes, and you won’t find any flashy UI tools full of sliders and other gadgets that will help you “design” your website in minutes. |
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I love everything about this. A functional use for the spring in my old ball point pen. The power of coils. And don’t you love that somebody out there who experienced the same irritating problem as I, found a solution and shared it with the world. It just has to work, doesn’t it? |
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Learning through the eyes of a child. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a technically savvy person. Wanting to learn some of the skills of my co-workers I recently purchased a book, Help Your Kids With Computer Coding by DK London Publishers. It utilizes a step-by-step visual guide from everything to binary code to building games. I’ve just started it and for a novice it’s quite helpful in understanding the unique dialect used by programmers, coders, designers, etc. |
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Baking!! I recently joined an online group for home bakers and discovered this awesome fondant art. I am very impressed with the magic one can do with a handful of fondant. Hoping to learn this beautiful art when I get a chance! Here is a cake made by one of the group members. |
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Google recently launched a web starter kit for inspiring developers. It includes templates and powerful tools for building multi-device web applications. The templates are optimized for responsive design and optimized performance. It also has an out of the box UX style guide. Check out more details here. |
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year (or don’t have school-aged children in your home) you’ve heard Frozen’s Oscar-winning ballad “Let it Go.” Did I say ballad? I mean ANTHEM OF POWER.
For those who aren’t familiar, “Let it Go” is sung by the incredibly cautious Queen Elsa, whose potent creative powers are suddenly revealed after a lifetime of hiding them from everyone.
Now, this song is not about giving up. Far from it. The reason this song is so great is because the message isn’t about mediocrity. It’s not a tribute to “meh.” It’s about owning your creative talents and celebrating them, and when to tell your detractors to take a hike. And most of all, it’s about knowing when a situation is just not working and it’s time to say “good enough” and spend your time and talents on other things more worthwhile.
Knowing When to Let It Go
When there’s a deadline that must be met, but you worry that your integrity will be compromised if you don’t go through and obsessively make continual tweaks. If the deadline is your number one priority, ensure your work is accurate and for the rest, let it go.
When you find yourself endlessly micromanaging, take a step back and get someone else’s opinion, and then, let it go.
When it’s preventing you from completing other projects. Sometimes a knotty problem has you so stuck that you feel you can’t move past it and finish the job. Put it aside for another time, switch gears, and come back to it later, then, let it go (for now).
Knowing When to Walk Away
When a project is causing you emotional or physical distress, share your concerns with a coworker or friend and let them help you with it. Don’t shoulder the burden alone. Walk away.
When your talents are being taken advantage of by someone taking credit for your work, or trying to discredit you. Stand up for yourself and back it up with proof. Walk away, they’re are not worth it. But, like Queen Elsa—you are.
You want your emails to be read, and not hidden in the spam folder. Technical reasons explain why and how an email lands in spam, but, let’s keep it brief. John F. Kennedy’s speech writers were charged to write with short words and phrases, with simplicity and clarity the goal. So, we’ll try to follow in their footsteps.
Getting Engaged
When you read your email, that’s called engagement. Engagement is an analysis performed by your Internet service provider to understand how you access your email. Less concerned with any single email, the metrics focus on frequency and time of use. Just like Santa knows who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, it’s an understanding of your overall actions.
A behind the scenes interview with Sri Somanch of Gmail’s anti-spam team provided some helpful advice that centers on engagement. We know that Google lives in a world of complex algorithms. For those of us who don’t live in this world, let’s simplify the concept of an algorithm as an instruction that leads to action. When your dog gets up, sits by the door, and paws it three times—you take a sip of coffee, put the bookmark in your book, get up from your comfortable chair, grab the leash, and take her for a walk. One set of actions triggers a response.
In the world of email, it’s about engagement. One piece of email won’t necessarily trigger the algorithm to classify a message as spam. Your engagement drives the algorithm. In other words, the more you decide to open certain types of emails, the more likely they will continue to land in your inbox and not your spam folder. That’s the quiet sound of algorithms at work.
Love and Engagement
Somanch recommends that you write content that people will love. Don’t worry about trying to psych out the spam filter. Focus on what would make your reader want to read what you’ve sent. High value Information is good. Calls to action are good. As you analyze the content that corresponds with a successful open rate, you’ll learn even more.
Tip: One of the biggest turnoffs to engagement is excessive frequency.
There’s a technical side to avoiding the spam folder. It’s called authentication. In essence, you let the ISPs know it’s you—your URL—and not an imposter. This should be standard protocol, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask, to assure it’s being done.
Tips to monitor engagement and maintain your good reputation
- Remove hard bounces. Never attempt to re-send your emails to an address has been returned and is permanently undeliverable, delete these from your list on a regular basis.
- Maintain an active list. Remove inactive subscribers.
- Get re-engaged. Run a re-engagement campaign with a special message. Ask respondents to add you to their contact list.
- Renewal of commitment. Run an annual campaign that asks your readers to renew, if they want to continue to receive your emails. It may narrow down your list, but it will be a good list, and help you to maintain your good reputation.
Our inspirations come from personal history, individual actions, the sun and more. Take a look and let us know from where your inspirations have come.
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My grandfather inspires me. I was Skyping with my co-worker Kevin while he was in the Philippines, and pointed out that my grandfather had been born there . . . long story short, Kevin pointed out a press photo of my grandfather from 1957 for sale on eBay and I bought it. My grandfather, Brig. General George B. Dany (yes, his last name is my first name) died September 22, 2002, and in the 1950s he commanded Operation Safe Haven, the Hungarian refugee relocation operation. There’s more, which I made sure to add to Wikipedia (my first contribution there!). President Eisenhower described this operation as “the greatest Humanitarian airlift in history.” |
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All the talk at our house lately has been about HabitRPG (thanks Rebecca!) and the crazy amount of motivation it’s given my kids. Reminiscent of ChoreWars but more individual and focused on building good habits. My twins are begging for chores to do so they can level up more quickly—my son actually scrubbed out the tub this week! |
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Ditto. Double ditto. Triple ditto. I’m inspired by Dany’s story. By Dany’s grandfather. By Kevin for his search and find. By humanitarian action in the face of death. And by the strength of families and individuals, all once and future refugees. (And, a dose of eBay inspiration, the global collective collection.) |
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Inspired by the Philippines, its history and its culture. |
Photo source: National Museum of the Philippines
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The power of the sun is amazing. We installed an outdoor solar shower at our shore home in New Jersey. Not only do I enjoy the decorative beauty, but it works incredibly well. It’s astounding how much can be done with a simple garden hose and the warmth from the sun. I am inspired to encourage everyone to take small steps in using some source of alternative energy. |
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31 countries will compete in 64 matches in 12 cities in Brazil = the 100% awesome 20th FIFA World Cup happening June 12 through July 13. |
This was not Aunt Dahlia, my good and kindly aunt, but my Aunt Agatha, the one who chews broken bottles and kills rats with her teeth.
―P.G. Wodehouse
I have always loved the contrast that Wodhouse creates. And how one can help but be drawn to Aunt Agatha. Good versus tough. Those of us who are good boys (or girls) have forever been bewildered about being ignored by the opposite sex whose own attraction is to our opposite. How can doing good be so unattractive we’ve wondered, drifting into sleep through the lonely night.
Is there a lesson to be learned here for effective communication? Are we going to be Aunt Dahlia in our writing, or is it OK to be Aunt Agatha at times? Jon Moon, author and independent consultant on document clarity, observes in his occasional email update that sometimes being good (following the rules) isn’t effective. He cites conventional wisdom that says that a sentence should not end with a preposition. It’s not always good. “Churchill supposedly mocked this last rule by saying: ‘That is something up with which I will not put.’ ”
I suppose it comes down to personal awareness. Doesn’t everything? Is it illegal, immoral, or just plain unconventional? We are better off and stronger when we know the rules, so we know when we are breaking them willfully and with gusto. Call it what you will. See Picasso, as in abstract expressionism. Creativity and effectiveness often share the same domicile with breaking bad.
Effective may not be rule-abiding, but on the other hand, the opposite of moral may not necessarily be immoral. Robin Hood, Bonnie and Clyde, and Eric Snowden have a personality brand, not because they are good and kindly like Aunt Dahlia, but because they may be seen standing next to Aunt Agatha, flossing their teeth with the tail of a rat.
Purpose and repurpose. In public speaking, you want to perfect one great presentation, and get in front of as many new audiences as possible. The same can be said of online content. In order to maintain a steady flow of high-value content you can often rework existing content to suit different communication channels, including your website, blogs, and social media.
A case-in-point is the completion of a news article for the Share and Care Foundation. The article/press release we helped create for them covered a star-studded event promoting their new Inspiring Change/Women Empowerment program to newspapers in the United States and India. Once delivered to the news media, the information was repurposed as a new page on their website, including a video of the event and a call to action to support the cause.
Basically, you want to make your content available where your audience can find it. In order to repurpose content, one way is to locate your evergreen content that you haven’t tapped yet for other channels. Also, keep an eye on your site analytics and reuse/repurpose content that stays at the top of the rankings, or reappears over time. From there you have several options on building onto your current content:
- Pull From Top 10s (aka “listicles”): If you have any previous top 10 lists, for example, pull one or more of those 10 items out and turn it into its own new piece of content.
- New and Improved: Update outdated information in a previous article and present it as a newly updated piece on that topic.
- Create Slideshows: Take images from a presentation, or turn statistics into graphics, and make a slideshow out of it (and can be posted to SlideShare).
- Spread it Around: Repost content previously only on one outlet and present on others (social media, blog, etc.).
- Present as a Series: Create a series of posts from one longer piece. A how-to can be turned into “lessons,” for example.
- eBook It: Turn a whole library into an eBook, or a series of smaller eBooks.
- Guest Blogging: Use a current piece of content and use it elsewhere as a guest writer or guest blogger. Each time, link back to your own article, creating more opportunities to be read.
- Add Sound: Create a podcast, either from sound files you already have (webinars, etc.), or create them using current content.
- Indexing: Create a blog post or article that indexes other articles within a certain category, and present it as a comprehensive list for information on that topic.
- Excerpt: Republish one smaller portion of a larger, previous piece of content.
The tactics for repurposing your content will depend on what you have available, your industry, and of course your resources, but by using your imagination and trusting in the content you’ve already created, you can get a lot more mileage out of your content than you may have previously realized.
Branding and corporate identity. When you can you spot the difference at a glance between an ad from Tiffany’s, featuring the Tiffany-blue box and white satin ribbon; and an ad from Target, whose tagline “Expect more, pay less” underscores the benefit for consumers and the financial return for investors: well, that’s branding.
Whether your company is just starting out, launching a new product, or manages corporate divisions across the globe, you need a style guide to protect your brand. And to be effective, it must be used by everyone all the time.
Why You Need One
The entire point of a style guide is to be the bible of how your brand and logos look, including fonts, colors, sizes, placement, imagery, etc. Pretty much everything that can or cannot be done with your brand identity should be outlined. To not have one, or to vary from its guidelines, is an invitation for it to become weak and diluted.
A style guide does not hinder creativity, to the contrary, it encourages it while maintaining consistency. It sets up a precise set of rules and guidelines to assure that no matter what is published by your company, it looks professional and stable.
The power of a style guide is what makes T-Mobile claim the use of magenta to the point that they even tried to trademark the Pantone color so nobody else could use it. And although I’ve never received anything from Tiffany’s, you can bet I know exactly what shade of robin’s egg blue they’re known for. They even have a secret, proprietary custom color mixed for them by Pantone. Don’t look for it in the swatch book—it’s not there for you. It’s there for them.
The key takeaway is that style consistency helps your company distinguish itself. And that’s an attribute every company wants to protect.
The Basics
We’ve used and created any number of style guides for ourselves, and our clients. They can be as fancy or as simple as necessary. Some have been specifically tailored around corporate PowerPoint presentations, and we have worked on all-encompassing guides that include everything from letterhead layout to the precise RGB values that should be used when making charts—including their order of appearance.
Here is an example of what we include to get started:
- Fonts: both for print and a web-friendly variant
- Colors: Pantone, CMYK, RGB, and hex values
- Logos: exactly what it (or they) look like in all its various applications, such as print, online, mobile, color/black & white, solid/transparent backgrounds, vertical/horizontal orientations, file types, etc.
- Placement: how much padding is required on all sides, centered, left- or right-aligned, etc.
- Imagery: a library (more on this below) of approved images in various sizes and file types for different uses, both print and online, which might include head shots, building shots, charts, infographics, advertisements, illustrations, plus guidelines for choosing additional imagery
- Presentations: believe it or not, this is where we find people take the most liberties with the company brand; here you’ll want to list approved fonts, sizes, colors, and placement
- Dos and Don’ts: examples include how to assure your logo and copy are always readable when placed on different colored backgrounds, or what works best on a Jumbotron in a stadium, or on something as small as a business card, can the logo be used without the tagline, etc.
The Style Library
While a style guide is essential, a style library is the icing on the cake. It’s just what it sounds like: a collection of the latest approved materials that you want all of your people to use. Approved fonts (the actual font, not just the font name), images in various sizes and resolutions, press release boilerplates, wording for locations for your company—anything and everything. This library will contain everything listed in your style guide, but in actual form for ease of use. It should ideally live online so that it can be easily accessed as well as current.
In addition to the actual, various logo files, downloadable fonts, and other imagery listed above, you may also want to include:
- Templates: letterhead, forms, white papers, newsletters, business cards, PowerPoint templates, to name just a few
- Copy: approved, standard text you use for press releases, bios, and company addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses, for example
- A downloadable PDF of your style guide
We will continue this look at style guides in future posts, including the answers to questions about enforceability, making it accessible to third-party designers, and the best ways to make your guide something people want to adopt.
There is nothing so annoying as to have two people talking when you’re busy interrupting.
– Mark Twain
Not everyone—but almost everyone—likes to talk. Not everyone listens. Too bad for them, because listening is good. A good listener may get credit from the speaker, for as you confer credibility on the speaker they will appreciate it. Next to talking, we like to be heard. Listening has its benefits. Even if you don’t believe a word they are saying, you can learn something, and in business communications you can learn a lot. You can find out about your firm’s internal strength and weaknesses, about client preferences, and what your competitors are up to. Listening is a competitive strategy. To separate yourself from the rest it’s a discipline worth practicing.
But if you’re around other talkers, you’ll need some techniques to consider, to help the speaker keep the floor.
When it comes to the discipline of listen, we can be our own worst enemy and jump in too soon. A good practice is to hold your thought and count to five. Silence can be a powerful motivator for the speaker to continue. Sometimes there are others, maybe one, maybe many who will interrupt the speaker just when it was getting interesting. One thing you can do is to steer the conversation back. “So, you were saying .” It’s really OK to redirect the conversation, especially if the interrupter was serving their own interests while impeding the speaker from making a point. A little, “Oh, that’s interesting, but as you were saying . . .” can help everyone save face, and get the conversation back on track. And just as you confer credibility on the speaker, you will receive it in return. You become recognized as someone who cares about what’s being said. Speakers really like that.
There are other tips and techniques to practice in the discipline of listen, but first, we need to get savvy about giving the speaker the floor.
Each month we share the things that make our spirits soar. From the first overnight for a lucky few to tens of thousands running in support, and more. Please share yours with us, we’re listening.
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Girl Scouts! I’m incredibly inspired by own my wonderful group of girls, and my other daughter’s troop that we shared a cabin with, at this past weekend’s Camporee. These girls had never camped before, and some had never spent a night away from home. They tried everything from archery to rope climbing, made s’mores, helped with every chore that was set to them and then some, and even got to see a black bear! Their enthusiasm was just infectious and they all want to do it again next year. |
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À la Recherche du Temps Perdu, In Search of Lost Time. Often, one will read references to the pivotal scene when Marcel, eating a petite madeline, becomes transported by a flood of memories which turns into a novel in seven volumes. Similarly, when sweeping out the dining room of my 18th century house to prepare it for sale, I found an old chestnut that had become lodged years ago behind a floorboard. Thanksgivings and holiday dinners, candlelight, wine, music, story telling, food, family and friends suddenly took their places around the long table in the now empty room. Memories are powerful stuff. |
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Ready for an app with stunning photos you’d expect from National Geographic married to a clear, slick design? The National Parks by National Geographic APP presents a beautiful, award-winning interactive guide to 25 of America’s most visited national parks. Included free are photo galleries, visitor information, and maps. Purchase the full guides for an even richer experience—and explore the national parks like never before. |
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Each Spring, many players in the NHL throw away their razors and let their beards grow. What started as a superstition about not shaving until your team was knocked out of the playoffs has turned into an annual charity event that has raised over $2.5 million since its inception in 2009. Known as the Beard-a-Thon, their website allows you to pledge money to your favorite team, track the progress of your favorite player’s beard or even grow your own and raise more money for your team’s charity. |
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Such inspiration came from Sunday, April 27th, when tens of thousands of people across the country came together to support the National MS Walk to conquer Multiple Sclerosis. I was so humbled, inspired, and grateful for friends, family and complete strangers who walked that day. Standing at the starting line when the ribbon was cut at the Freehold, NJ location and looking back at my co-workers, friends, and family to see hundreds of people behind us with police stopping traffic, was awe-inspiring. It’s something I won’t soon forget, and am looking forward to doing every year from now on. |
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Improved visual editing, drag, drop and easily edit images, gallery previews, easily integrate audio and video, live widget and header previews, sophisticated theme browser… WordPress, Smith. |
Are we afraid to say “I don’t know”? I’d argue that it frees us up to pursue an answer, with the freedom that comes from full transparency. We are on a mission. It may be counterintuitive, but you build trust when you say “I don’t know.” It’s way better than “I think so.”
When I received the following tepid answer to a direct question, “Only in a general sense, but I’m sure it can be used,” I was left with a lack of confidence. It made me wonder if, or when, the person to whom the question was directed might actually make the effort to find out. When one is seeking an opinion, we expect an informed opinion. And when you’re seeking the answer to a direct question, an evasive response undermines your confidence in everything that follows.
During an informative lecture by Donald Norman, one of the country’s preeminent designers and author of the best-selling book The Design of Everyday Things, he discussed the nature of inquiry and its importance to designers. Designers seek solutions. He told a story about seeing a doctor about a chronic ear infection. When he asked his doctor what it was, the doctor replied, “I don’t know. I’ll find out.” He was glad. We want our doctors to find out. We don’t want them to guess, surmise, or apply a general prescription to our specific condition.
When a person answers “I don’t know, I’ll find out,” we tend to believe that they will pursue a thorough path to get the answer. And then you can turn “I don’t know” into a comprehensive response, until the next question comes around.
From the outside, the potential of an innovation is lived through experience. So one might suspect. When I first began to use Dropbox I experienced some relief from the compulsive backing up onto a growing accumulation of disks, and celebrated the ease of use. The model worked well. I readily shared it with my friends. Getting it right can lead to big things.
Dropbox recently lined up a $500-million credit facility in addition to the $350 million in venture capital funding it arranged in January. Their approach, said, Drew Houston, chief executive of Dropbox still starts with “What is broken?” and “How do we fix it?” When it goes public the young founders will be worth much more, and besides that, they will have made a useful contribution to our digital environment, built around their mission to become a digital home for everything on the web. It boils down to a great service. Two years ago, Houston said he’s determined to build the next Apple or Google, not sell out to them. Big things.
And over the past week, the news on innovative technology has included Starbucks. Starbucks.Where it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to order my coffee. (Black. No sugar. Oh, say about 12 oz.) According to Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, their investment in mobile payment technology is transferable to other retailers who would like to license the Starbucks innovation. Financial analysts like Denee Carrington, with Forrester Research have asked, “… Do they want to be a technology vendor or do they want to be the world’s most well-known and visited coffee shop? Can Starbucks do that effectively while being a coffee company?” Schultz has responded, “We’ve been and always will be a coffee company.”
A focused mission, great coffee, can include, and not be distracted by investing in technology to make it easier at the checkout counter. I would argue, that done well, it will serve to burnish their reputation. I often refer to Harry Beckwith, Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Marketing, who said, “do one thing well, and people will associate you with doing many things well.” Starbucks has 5 million digital transactions every week. There’s not much to argue with, when a company shortens the distance between the transaction and the cash register.
Amazon is another example of how customer service + techology can have lasting impact. Look at a timeline of Amazon’s growth. Previous competitors have gone out of business or are in trouble, beginning with Borders and book seller icon Barnes and Noble, who, ironically, often host Starbucks cafes within their bricks and mortar bound walls.
Consumers adapt readily when their experience improves. And Starbucks has been able to “…use its system to help cultivate brand loyalty and improve customer service — like reducing customer wait time by allowing them to reload the card balance while waiting in line,” according to Daniel Wolfe, editor in chief at online trade publication PaymentsSource.
There are simple lessons that should garner our attention. One is that customer service is still a strategic advantage. It’s something everyone in the service industry should be thinking about every day.
Part I of our article dealt with the mechanics of how to set up an effective slide. Here we deal with YOU, the presenter.
1. Show It, Don’t Say It
One of the most important things you can do is to make your point clear with the proper graphics, illustrations, and/or images. There’s a reason for the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Which is more effective: 1) hearing about the numbers of things you’re comparing, or 2) actually seeing the disparity between the two using a bar chart, with one line twice the size of the other? Make (tasteful!) use of PowerPoint’s SmartArt graphics styles to deliver your message. They can all match your template and they’re editable too.
2. Don’t Read From the Screen
Whether you are pitching to a prospective client, giving a lecture, or promoting yourself, keep in mind that your audience is there for your unique point of view or expertise. They don’t want to be read to. Make your point with a minimal amount of top-line text, and then explain why it is important, in your own (though rehearsed) words. Maintain eye contact with your audience, and tell them something they’d never know unless they heard it from you. This point goes hand in hand with our next point below—this is not storytime.
That’s not to say that you have to memorize your entire presentation. Don’t. Use the Notes panel at the bottom of your presentation screen to prompt you, while it stays hidden from the viewer.
3. Don’t Give the Whole Plot—or the Handouts—Away
This isn’t quite as far-fetched as one would think; entire presentations are often distributed in advance, and then read out loud during the presentation (see point 2 above). I’m not going to tell you to never have handouts, they can serve to provide additional content, or resources for your audience that would have taken up too much time during the presentation. For example, if you use a bar chart to illustrate a point, the handout could include the study (or where to find it) that created the bar chart results. Some points to keep in mind per handouts:
- If your presentation requires a lot of detailed and complex points, provide the handout after the presentation, for your audience to refer to and share.
- If you want to make sure that people can follow along with you as you’re giving the presentation, or to take notes, then give a simplified version of your presentation listing each of your points and include space for them to keep notes.
- As we’ve mentioned before about animation and sound, ask yourself if it adds to the presentation, rather than distracts. Does having a printed handout make a significant and valuable addition to your presentation? If you can’t honestly answer yes, then please save a tree and your ink cartridges. Nobody will miss the printout. I promise.
4. Know Your Audience and Your Viewing Platform
One presentation size does not fit all. Each presentation should be tailored specifically to the audience and setting. If you’ve ever watched a TED talk, notice how the screens are light on text, but the text is distinct. It has to be seen from the back row, as well as being projected on a large screen (and later on a small screen on your computer). Some items you might want to keep in mind for your next presentation:
- How will this be displayed? If it’s via projector, chances are your slides will show lighter than if you’re presenting right off your computer screen. If it’s on a huge screen, your low-res images* that looked fine on your laptop may look bitmapped when blown up.
- How large is your audience, and the room? Will people in the back row be able to read your text? Are you doing a workshop for a small but select group? You want to make sure everyone has a premium experience.
- Who is your target audience? Students? Colleagues? A prospective client? What kind of connection do you hope to make with your presentation?
- Will it be a webinar?** Can you give a presentation online? Heck yes. But remember that nobody will be able to see your facial expressions, and you can’t see theirs. Make sure to stop periodically and ask if anyone has questions to help gauge the audience reaction. Then you can tweak your delivery on the fly.
5. Evoke an Emotion
Previously I mentioned that this is not storytime. That’s only partially true. They are not there to be read to, but telling your audience a story that grabs them and gets them emotionally involved is a different thing altogether.
What can you do to engage your audience at the gut level? I’m not talking about exploitative or shocking imagery, or explicit anything. What can you do to evoke a feeling in your audience that actually makes them invested in what you’re saying? What can you show your audience to prove what you’re saying is true?
The great marketing and communications guru Seth Godin once said, “Talking about pollution in Houston? Instead of giving me four bullet points of EPA data, why not read me the stats but show me a photo of a bunch of dead birds, some smog and even a diseased lung? This is cheating! It’s unfair! It works.”
Incidentally, while writing this article, I spoke with my sister who’s in the midst of giving a series of presentations for six different groups over two days. I checked with her that she wasn’t reading from the slides: “I talk to the slide, not read the slide itself.” Or giving handouts: “Nobody pays attention to you when you do. I give them pen and paper. No more. No soup for you!” And the outcome: “I got applause on the last one so I think I’ve got it down.” I’d say she does!
*Another article.
**And again. I could write a book.
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