The power of the metaphor

So much that can be said about using metaphors to reach people with your communication. Here's a wonderful talk to introduce the subject, and gives you a sense of how you can influence people with the words you choose. Just the beginning!

Shaking in your boots?

I wish I didn't have to do this, I really do, but I sometimes spend a significant part of the time available for courses in talking about ways to control nerves. There are lots and lots of methods, which I might go into later. But right now I'm a bit preoccupied with the cause. If the principle behind being nervous has to do with being "on show" and being judged, then we shouldn't really get over our nerves with more and more practice, but we do don't we, usually. I mean I'm just as much judged tomorrow as 15 years ago; because the audience is not the same, the subject is not the same. I'm the only one who's been part of the phenomenon for 15 years, for them it's maybe the first time they listen to me speak. They're judging away at maximum levels.

We clearly do get more comfortable with the situation after a time and after practice. We get used to it quite simply.  If we can do this on the longer term, why isn't it easier in the shorter term? [It is of course, but no-one can be bothered to practice enough.] Is it really better to wait 10 years to be more comfortable than to spend a few days practicing NOW?

Just wondering...

Storytelling part 1

Tom Waits on Letterman. Just a taster of a great storyteller. He doesn't need many words, and no-one could ever copy this style. There's lots more (inteviews with Letterman) and loads of his music on YouTube.

Why not join me out here in the Webosphere?

I've had a week of total saturation in social media this week. Sometimes it gets like that, I don't know where it all came from really, but everyone was talking about it. Then of course, I did go to a seminar that was really interesting and there was another one today that I didn't go to but heard about. But I was also at a networking meeting in Stockholm where the subject didn't really need to come up, but it did, again and again.

But one thing that strikes me - everyone may be talking about it but VERY few of them are doing it. It's a shame because I don't think I have ever had such an intensive period in my life of learning new things, of insights into the way society is changing and understanding of motivation and social forces as I have since I started seriously exploring my way out into the social web. I was also one of those that said that I didn't have time, for a long time. I've been on LinkedIn since 2004, but no-one else was, so that didn't cost much time. Facebook I reserve only for family. Likewise most of my FlickR photos. But then Twitter came along and eventually I had a spare moment....That's a while ago now and my first attempt got aborted quite fast because it lacked purpose or strategy. But I have a seriously kinesthetic learning style, I can't take much in if I don't do it myself. I have to push all the buttons and try it out to see what it can be used for. I mean, just because it says "what's happening?" by the text box, doesn't mean you HAVE to write about what's happening...  does it...?

I was secretly itching to write a blog for about 4 years, embarrassing to admit that I didn't start earlier than february this year, but you might be interested to know if you haven't started "yet" that it took less than an hour to set it up, fiddle with the layout and write a post to test it. The slow bit is deciding what and why. Oh yes, and another useful factor is a speech recognition software that really works! Dragon Naturally Speaking, highly recommended.

So anyway, there is a vast amount of advice out there in the form of articles and blog posts, more that you will ever have time to read. So if you're curious, what are you waiting for? Press a few buttons, poke a few things, see what happens. And listen. Classic Web 2.0 intro advice:1)  listen, 2) contribute (comment on other people's material), then 3) create.

Sensory overload

Have you ever experienced this: you're giving a presentation at a conference or workshop and you've been sitting in the audience for a while waiting your turn. Your stomach is full of demented butterflies and you're thinking how nice it will be when this is all over.

And then it's your turn! Someone introduces you. You make your way to the front, and suddenly you're standing there, facing back into the room where you were sitting just a short while ago. You're confronted by a sea of faces and you see the room for the first time from this, completely different, angle. There might be some people in the audience that you recognise, you may see someone that you wish wasn't there, maybe a person who is more expert on the subject than you. I think that many people, however, when confronted with a large audience in that kind of situation, don't have such an easy time distinguishing individuals. At that particular moment you're subject to serious sensory overload. Your brain is really busy taking in all the new impressions and sights which are suddenly so unfamiliar from this angle, even if you've been sitting in the room for some hours already. It looks completely different doesn't it?

So is it really surprising that many people say that the first couple of minutes are really the hardest. They have to work very hard to remember what they were going to say and quite often completely forget it. Some people write it all down word by word in order not to be struck by total paralysis. A few minutes later you're into the flow of things and much more relaxed and the start is forgotten.

Why do this to yourself? There's really no need to subject yourself to the enormous sensory input PLUS the extra nervousness and stress at the very beginning of your talk. It's hard enough to focus on saying the right thing and getting off on the right foot. So here's a very simple tip. When most of the people are in their places and the room (or lecture theatre) starts to look much the way it will when you later stand there to give your talk,  take a few moments to stand at the front facing the audience in exactly the position you will take up later. Look around the room, get used to the feeling, and just let your brain absorb all the input, the sights and sounds and the experience of standing there. It couldn't be easier! And it makes a very big difference. When you stand there later everything will be familiar and you will have much more of your cognitive capacity freed up to actually concentrate on your talk.The people sitting in the audience will probably not notice you, they're too busy settling in and looking around for people they know.

PowerPoint templates to download

...can be found here: http://bit.ly/aLmokg
Not quite my taste, but you can always adjust them I guess.

Google shows how to demonstrate customer benefit

Incase you've missed it, this Google ad has given rise to masses of parodies. These days that's the ultimate sign of marketing success I guess. Anyway, pretty nice ad I think. Insightful marketing. Simplicity. Spot on.
I've tried several versions now and have the same problem with all of them; the image is the wrong size, at least on my screen: so if you can't see all the text on the right hand side, you'll probably have to go directly to YouTube and run it from there. Hope it works.

A bit more on Pathos

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou

Why Twitter is great

...because it forces you to be brief. I've run Elevator Pitch training many times and it occurs to me that I could just put up a Twitter window on my laptop instead and say "go ahead, write me what's good about your product."