To the point, no messing about

Still my favorite quote and summary of good communication:

"Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much."
John Wayne

The eeee-s of communication

No-one figured out the answer to my post of 3 september last year. It's quite simple really, ha ha. There's not a single "e" in the whole thing. You could try writing that way yourself when you have some time to waste. It's fun. But you have to go quite fast, it'd be too easy otherwise! Very good for stretching the mind and vocabulary. Of course someone is now gonna tell me, sure there's an e in there...

Just remove the bad stuff

The more I listen to bad communication, the clearer the good stuff becomes in contrast. It's quite natural really. So here are some quick rantings after the latest involuntary exposure to the dark side. We've heard it all before folks.

Good communication is about insight and understanding. "What's this all about, actually?", "What's the point?", "What does all this mean?". You know. Because (let's go the whole hog and give it capital letters) Good Communication SIMPLIFIES.

Good Communication is not trying to show how clever it is, or how much (else) it knows. So it doesn't need to talk really (really) fast.

Good Communication doesn't hide behind abbreviations or technical terms. It's clear to all who listen. It says "Here I am. What you hear is what you get." It's open and accessible and honest.

Good Communication passes from you to me, from human to human. It's spoken from the heart and is open and clear. It's a door that opens and a step forwards. No closing. No reversing its position. It doesn't shut you out, but invites you in.

In a perfect world. Which we don't live in all the time. Apparently. Sorry! I'll be quiet now.

Say what you feel

When I sit down and think about what I really do (not Presentation Technique or Marketing Communication, but what it's REALLY all about),  I come to different conclusions all the time.
Sometimes it's about controlling a situation, affecting the thought process of an audience or just surviving your nerves.  Sometimes it's about persuading, sometimes about inspiring and almost always about convincing.

But the bottom line is really this: what I really love doing is getting people to THINK about what they FEEL. To turn emotions into logic and intentions into words. Because if you can do it that way, then you can surely reverse the process and make people feel something through your speech or actions.

Behind the best, hit-the-nail-right-on-the-head communication lies always great wisdom. The art of creating an effective slogan or a neat one-liner is to understand. To understand what it's really all about. The bottom line, the real point of the whole thing and the WHY of a product or service?

Of course, anyone interested in communication will confirm this in one way or another. I've been fairly obsessed about this process all my life. It's the question that's always hanging in the air. Why exactly does that feel the way it does? Why exactly was that funny, or inspiring? Why did that ad make me curious about the product?

I watch great speakers and contemplate every movement, every twitch of their faces and sweep of their hands. To look at the audience and see what happens when a new slide comes up. I think about what actually happened when someone loses attention, or never gains it in the first place. Try it yourself. It's quite revealing!

They say there are wolves in Dalarna

I'm sitting here contemplating the power of suggestion, not least after chatting to somebody about lunch restaurants and then finding myself back in the office eating up my entire biscuit supply…

It's fascinating, isn't it, the way that thoughts can be planted in our minds. Just a tiny seed, just one small word, and we're off on a new track. Even that track can be littered with associations and sidetracks and lead to the most amazing things. Maybe this is more a description of how my mind works than anything else, but anyway.

A case in point: last summer I happened to hear a number of reports about wolves in Sweden. There was also a fair bit of excitement about bears. I have for many years spent the summer cycling along forest roads in Dalarna and by "forest roads" I really mean Roads and Forest, end of story. No houses, no people and very few cars. Mile after mile. Never, before that summer, had I thought about wolves or bears yet I find myself halfway along the road between Leksand and Sågmyra becoming quite obsessive about the idea that wolves probably run faster than I can cycle and that I heard somewhere they selectively pick on women, the weaker sex. You see what I mean? Utterly ridiculous, no perspective whatsoever and doesn't even fit with my normal behaviour.

I can by the way recommend a very interesting book with the title "Risk, the science and politics of fear" by  Dan Gardner that will give you some tasty little insights into how human beings perceive things. You can only capitulate and agree that, yes, sure, I really am that illogical.

But I digress. It has been said by somebody that you cannot change people's minds, you can only change the contents of their minds. Combining the power of suggestion with a credible, trustworthy style produces powerful communication. Imagine the body language that would signal your total conviction and belief in what you're saying, I think it's quite easy.

Try for example this simple test. At the same time as making a positive statement of fact in front of an audience, nod in confirmation. Look around the room and I can guarantee you will see some people nodding back at you, mirroring your body language without probably even being aware of it. Interesting, isn't it?

If on the other hand you make a statement of truth but you don't dress it in a body language and behaviour that says that you completely believe it yourself then you're in trouble. People prefer to believe body language over words if they have to choose.

So, it's powerful stuff this learning how to convince and well worth thinking a little about. Even if all you want to do is avoid being influenced into thinking about wolves.

A quiz for sharp thinking folks

A glorious day in sunny Uppsala. Sitting in my usual chair and on my usual spot. But not so usual in actual fact as a small thing is missing. It's important but not anything you usually think about I must say, just as many similar such daily bits and bobs that build a patchwork for an ordinary day. You miss so many minor things which your brain is built to cut out, as Common or Normal or Always around. You’d go nuts if you didn't, don't you think? But I ask you, what is it that is not around just now? Can you work it out? It’s in front of you and highly obvious if you know, naturally!

Put it in a short mail if you can work it out. 

We're all poets but we don't know it

I just saw a definition of poetry (thanks John). "Poetry is that which arrives at the intellect by way of the heart". R.S. Thomas. What a wonderful definition! But I would be the first to stand behind changing the first word from Poetry to convincing communication, or something similar. The way I see it, you always have to go by way of the heart if you are to reach other people with any message that you would like to have accepted, understood and remembered.

Simple as that.

There's a hole in the wall and words are leaking out

I did a great thing last week! Okay, someone else actually made the suggestion but I'm so glad that I acted on it spontaneously and diligently. What I did? I simply went along to a workshop on writing for business, writing from the heart and writing to truly reach people. I just turned up there and as someone (Woody Allen?) once said, the greatest part of success is just turning up. After that I just did as I was told. The workshop leaders did the rest.  John Simmons and Jamie Jauncey from Dark Angels in the UK managed in one hour to do things for my interest in writing that about 30 years of my career have not, to put it simply.

Just to mention one exercise we did. We introduced ourselves to each other starting with the opening "I am from" but without completing the sentence in the usual way, by naming a place or any other expected follow-up. Suddenly an introduction actually says something about the person. It was wonderful for a quick assessment of what really makes the person. What are the most formative experiences that you have? Which are the directions you have taken and the motivation that always works? What aspects of your character are most typical?

Here's what I quickly put together, now in a different and better order:
I am from cosy Welsh villages and narrow country lanes.
I am from constant contacts and spontaneous chitchat in a village that's really a family.
I'm from hills and valleys and woods and fields, always either uphill or downhill. 
I'm from close horizons and distant mountaintops.
I'm from movement, and moving, new starts and new things.
I'm from outdoors, always outdoors.
I'm from a place quite far away and fairly different.
I'm from outside, always outside.
I'm from somewhere else but I'm right here right now.

I'm constantly amazed that, if you put me on a stage in front of a bunch of people I have no trouble whatsoever in being creative and open and spontaneous but give me a pen and paper and it's like the Great Wall of China suddenly sprouted up between mind and paper. Funny that. So I would just like, for the record, to say a special thanks to John and Jamie for making a Great Big Hole in the wall. I'll try to keep it open until I meet you again. 

Hasta la vista guys.

The art of words

Here's a master of putting words together. Not just the words but the delivery! Watch this without sound to see  the sheer precision that's involved. Imagine being able to deliver this many words with this precision. Maybe not a good speed if you want people to remember what you said,  but I'm willing to bet that a whole lot of this sticks anyway through the art of poetry and surprise.
No hesitation and "aaah"s, or "uuuuuh"s 'n stuff. Oh what bliss!

Check this out: