Create Your Communications Experience

Brogan Battles Backnoise - and wins!

2009-09-30T14:24:24-07:00

You may have heard of the backchannel when one is speaking, but have you heard of BackNoise? If not, it's time you do. As blog post reader Paul Freet stated: "Backnoise is like the hammer in the 1984 Apple commercial."

Paul hit the nail on the head. BackNoise is the hammer being thrown into the theater of public speaking.

In my blog post "Speakers - Be Aware, Twitter is Coming," I affirmed that in any conference, event or speech setting where the speaker has a point-of-view and a message to deliver, the speaker is responsible for the experience. Twitter, BackNoise and other backchannel tools challenge speakers to step up their game in maintaining responsibility for their communications experience. Backchannel conversations compete for an audience's attention. Presenters need to master the art of engaging their audiences more than ever if they're going to be successful communicators of the future.

Unlike Twitter, BackNoise is an isolated conversation backchannel tool, centered around a single topic (or rather a single conversation name). Created by Keith McGreggor of Atlanta, BackNoise lets anyone establish these topical conversations quickly and easily, allowing those who know the name of the conversation to join in. These virtual conversations can occur during meetings, lectures, presentations and speeches - anywhere YOU may be presenting your message to your audience - whether you like it or not.

There have been many recent blog posts on BackNoise, (several listed at the end of this post) - most of which reference what transpired at the New Media Atlanta conference on September 25, 2009. My daughter attended that conference and had this to say about her experience:

I've read about the BackNoise chatter at the conference changing the tone of the conference from excitement and enthusiasm in the morning to a negative, disheartened mood in the afternoon. I didn't experience that because I wasn't online to view it. (The BackNoise conversation wasn't displayed publicly, but taking place on laptops throughout the auditorium - much like kids talking in class, uninterested in learning.)

Oblivious to the negativity spreading throughout the day on BackNoise, I first experienced BackNoise when the main speaker, Chris Brogan, took the stage and put BackNoise up on the screen behind him. Curious (because it was on the screen), I read some of the comments and found what I read to be mostly silly, boring, off-topic, uninteresting and frankly stupid. When Chris took the stage and began rapping, my eyes immediately shifted from reading comments of no interest to me on BackNoise to checking out what the heck this guy was doing. What I witnessed as Chris' presentation continued was a personable, down-to-earth and confident presenter connecting with his audience, sharing a valuable message in a way that engaged his listeners. While I continued to see BackNoise comments scrolling on the screen behind him, I paid no attention to them because they couldn't compete with him. I was so interested in what he was saying that BackNoise was just that - noise in the back that I tuned out because I wanted to participate in his communications experience.

I've watched the video of Chris' presentation (and you can too on Chris Brogan's blog). My daughter is right. Chris is an excellent communicator. He masterfully created, facilitated and led an effective communications experience for his audience. Realizing the effect of BackNoise in the shadows of laptop screens, Chris yanked the furtive chatter out of the laptops and threw it on the screen for all to see and for him to confront and control - which he did, artfully. Chris has demonstrated in Atlanta how communicators can tame the lion of backchannel distractions. (A more in depth review of how Chris Brogan tamed the lion is the material of a forthcoming blog post.)

What we can learn from the New Media Atlanta experience with BackNoise is this:

You (as speaker) are responsible for your communications experience.
Backchannel conversations are here to stay; embrace them as your competition.
Now, more than ever, you need to sharpen your skills to connect with and engage your audience --- you need to be BETTER than your competition (distractions in general, but particularly backchannel chatter).
BackNoise (unlike Twitter) is a unique backchannel tool that you can establish, encourage and control as you use it to create a more interactive communications experience between you and your audience.

You'll be hearing a lot more about BackNoise in the world of mainstream speeches and presentations. Don't fear it, face it.

Some of the recent blog posts about BackNoise:

Unexpected Learnings: Backnoise Can Be Toxic

Backnoise Is The New Listening Channel

How To Present While People are Twittering

Backnoise: You’re Not Ready for This, or Are You?

Don’t Blame Backnoise

Master the Art of Telegraphing

2009-09-24T09:22:04-07:00

Hi all, @kellydecker here...

Think telegraphing is outdated? Think again.

When's the last time you got a telegraph? Well, if you've interacted with anyone in the last ten minutes - a coworker, friend, boss or even your kids, you definitely got one. And I bet that you sent a couple in the process.

I'm a big John Madden fan. He's the kind of authentic communicator that makes you want to buy him a beer, sit back, and listen to his stories. So I do (minus the beer) - usually right about the time I take the Fremont exit during my commute into the city - on The Daily Madden, his 8.5 minute gig on KCBS at 8:15am. Today he and the great Tony LaRussa were talking about the typical random and rambling banter of this segment when they turned to the topic of telegraphs. (Listen to the segment here.)

Telegraphing in baseball is common. Turns out that pitchers do it all the time.

LaRussa says that pitchers "get in these habits wherein they start their delivery and they let you know what they're going to throw. The hitter sees that and they know what's coming."

This is pretty amazing. It means that the batter, who is standing 60 feet away, can look at how the pitcher raises his arm, grabs the ball and holds the glove and then that batter can figure out exactly how to hit the ball. They read telegraphs to their advantage, and to literally hit it out

of the park. Don't know about you, but I've got a new found respect for ball players.

LaRussa continues, "Some guys are great at seeing it - it can be really just a glimpse of something...and some can't, unless it's really obvious." And it's becoming more important. "There's a legitimate study going on in every big league team more every year at reading pitchers' little quirks and tips."

Sounds like business communications to me. Telegraphing is happening in nearly every interaction that you have, and you'd better get good at sending and reading those messages.

On the sender side, there's nothing that will help you more than video. Just like in baseball (and any other sport for that matter - which is why the best athletes just keep getting better and better), you've got to "break down tape." Until you get yourself on video, you probably have no clue how or what you do in your daily communications. What signals are you sending that either help or hinder your listener to do something with your message? It's about making what is unconscious to you (your habits, quirks, 'tells')...conscious.

And if you can learn to read the telegraphs, you've got a game changer on your hands. Whether it's selling a customer, delivering a performance appraisal, hiring a new team member, or talking with a friend - you'll be well served to pick up on their telegraphs and respond appropriately. Here's are a few ways to learn:

Read Blink. Malcolm Gladwell's great best seller on how and why we make judgments in the blink of an eye.
Watch/Listen to your kids: They can't help but wear their heart on their sleeve. Even though it's obvious (and pretty funny) it's a great way to get tuned into telegraphing in general.
For fun...watch a game of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. These guys and gals are good at reading "tells", and really good at hiding them. At least watch (or re-watch for the umpteenth time) the movie Rounders and learn how even an Oreo cookie can be a downfall.

Where's Your Lean?

2009-09-18T14:30:23-07:00

Years ago I co-produced the film "Robert Kennedy Remembered." One of my favorite lines in the narrative described when Robert Kennedy first came to Washington as Senator, “He hit the ground running, leaning forward.”

Politicians know it. Executives know it too. Successful communicators (ie. successful people) lean forward in all they do. They possess character and talents, of course -- natural gifts and developed skills. But it’s how they communicate with action that differentiates them from the pack.

The forward lean is a mindset. It impacts every facet of your life. It's a "can do" attitude, approaching opportunities with a simple commitment to just do it.

We're talking about leaders who engage. They get involved. They participate. They stand up, raise their hand, volunteer and take chances without hesitation. High energy, always working toward something specific and moving in a deliberate direction – successful leaders understand how to lead, by example. They communicate with action.

Do you have a forward lean? Do you:

sit in the front row at a seminar or meeting?
speak up, ask questions, volunteer?
often find you're the first to get things started?
jump in and get involved...put yourself on the playing field?

Successful communication is a natural extension of the forward lean. We see it in high profile leaders, but we also see it in every area of life: Home, office, church, non-profit, school, community organizations. The opportunities for any of us to lean forward abound.

So where does your lean manifest? Are you leaning forward? Once you start leaning forward, you MOVE forward.

Handling Hecklers - Obama does it well

2009-09-10T15:31:56-07:00

Much has been written about President Obama's speaking style, particularly here and elsewhere, so I'm not going to comment on the specifics of last night's speech. Nor get into the opinion of many as to whether he is using the Bully Pulpit to excess. (He is.) But I do want to laud him for the way he handled the heckling of Rep. Joe Wilson.

There are some lessons to be learned here. I doubt if any of us will ever have the massive stage, audience and pressure that Obama had at a speech almost State Of The Union in it's size and impact - but how Obama handled the outburst is worth noting.

As you can see in the clip, not only is President Obama taken aback by the shout, "You lie!" from Wilson, so are Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. Actually everyone was set back a bit - as with most hecklers it isn't whether the actual content is anywhere near accurate, it's the shock of the disruption - particularly to the President on the floor of Congress in such a major speech.

At 1 minute and 23 seconds into the clip Wilson shouts, "You lie!" Then Obama pauses, finger upraised and looks pointedly at him for 4 seconds. Then he wisely does not argue, but takes it in stride with a calm ad lib and low key refutation, "That's not true." And then he continues on to recapture his momentum. Well done. And an immediate acceptance of Wilson's rapid apology later furthered President Obama's accomplishment at turning a lemon into lemonade.

How You Can Handle Heckler's

We can learn from this very public example and apply it to our own communicating situations. Here are three things you can do to help you handle hecklers and hostile audience encounters:

1. Don’t argue.

You might win the argument, but you would probably lose the audience. The hostile questioner is ‘part’ of the audience, so you don’t want to put him or her down – publicly. Obama did that well – he stopped, looked and listened – and then went on.

2. Use simple behaviors.

Use your voice, and increased volume or change in tone, and/or a pause, to get the attention back to your message. Use your eye communication to engage the heckler, and then take the attention away from the heckler by looking and talking elsewhere. (This is also a good behavioral technique in a hostile Q&A session – when you ask for the next question, have your eye contact looking away from the past hostile questioner.) Sometimes a simple hand gesture (or finger pointing) might be useful to direct attention away from the negative energy. And then, you just talk and move on.

3. Keep control.

At all costs, you can’t lose control for it is YOUR communication experience and you are responsible for it. Don’t let anyone else hijack it. 95% of the time you can handle most hecklers with the simple behaviors in #2, but if necessary, raise your voice, confront, or do what is necessary to keep control, even if you have to ask for help in removing the extremely disruptive.

Simple common sense techniques, but they can work wonders if you keep your cool, and keep control. Like the President did last night.

Decker Made To Stick Messaging is here!

2009-08-25T11:53:27-07:00

@kellydecker here with a super newsworthy post...

Think back to a time when you've been so incredibly excited to give someone something that you knew they would LOVE. Maybe it was the Superman PEZ dispenser that your younger brother wanted for his 5th birthday...or your kid's first bicycle with training wheels. Maybe even the macaroni necklace you gave to your mom for Mother's Day. You thought about what they wanted and then went out and made it or bought it, wrapped it up, and eagerly awaited the day they would open it.

Well, we've been wrapping something up for you over the last couple of months, and we're just as excited. We're thrilled to announce a partnership with Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the fabulous, best-selling Made To Stick.

Announcing the Decker Made To Stick Messaging Program!

Together we created a program that is completely dedicated to messaging. It'll teach you how to talk about your ideas in a way that will make them stick, and most importantly, make an impact - with your customers, co-workers, bosses (and maybe even your kids). We take our Decker Grid system to bring focus and structure to the message, and then layer on Made To Stick's SUCCESs principles to make it good and, well...sticky.

Yes, it's for sales and marketing types, but just as important and applicable for the techies, engineers and ops managers. You'll learn to identify (and avoid) the dreaded "Curse of Knowledge" - the single biggest obstacle in our communications. Then, with lots of hands-on exercises, you'll give your idea the wings it needs to fly.

The premiere program is happening October 6th in our San Francisco office - be sure to check out the promo at www.decker.com. I'll be leading this one with Chip Heath. There's limited seating, with phone registration only. If you're interested, give us a ring or send an email to info@decker.com. If there's no room, we'll get you on the list for the next one.

Until then...start looking around. Anything sticking these days?

Using Twitter Well - Groups and more...

2009-08-13T15:45:37-07:00

You build relationships through spontaneous, casual, open and 'dialogue' communications. This is primarily done in the communications medium of face-to-face and not in text - until Twitter. Twitter is powerful enough to use right now, but will become even more of a relationship builder as people use the 'group' function. That means you can talk to the world, but gather people in your community (or in Seth Godin's view 'Tribes') of interests to dialogue and influence.

Last weekend we had our great annual conference of Speakers Roundtable, (my Master Mind group, among other things), and I urged everyone to use Twitter well - which means giving value and 'grouping.' There was lots of interest and questions, so rather than just an email to my small group I thought I'd give my suggestions here on my blog - with links - on how to start, how to give value, and then how to use Twitter powerfully by grouping.

Twitter 101: Some aren't yet engaged, so...

Here's how to start communicating on Twitter
Some additional tips from my early experiences: The How and Why of Twitter
From @MichaelHyatt on Beginning on Twitter - and he's a great person to follow
When you've read/done some of these things, be sure you are using Tweetdeck or Seesmic. (more later on those.)
You can be good and active on Twitter for 10-15 minutes a day, or a lot more. The more you put in, the more you get out. (Unless you get addicted, when the ROI will fall but still be very healthy. And a new fun hobby...)

Twitter 201:

Twitter can't be explained very well (here's one effort) - it needs to be experienced. But once you've given a few dozen updates and are following a few dozen people or more and have been at it a couple of weeks, you'll begin to see the value in building: relationships, community, influence, information, traffic... and more (that's just my list.)
Twitter is NOT about "What are you doing?" but 'what is of interest and value to your communities'
Here are several great ideas from @ChrisBrogan on how to give value on Twitter. (Chris is also great to follow, but realize his 'giving value' post is set up 'tongue in cheek.') As you'll see, giving value is the only effective way to really build followers, and community. And influence. Happily, on Twitter there are many different ways go about it.

Twitter 301:

To manage your growing stream of followers, you need to segment them into groups. To follow news events or conferences or topics you need to be able to segment them. To make sure you follow certain people you need to have a way to aggregate. That's why you need to use Tweetdeck or Seesmic.
I prefer Seesmic right now, but these two User Interfaces, and several others, both work similarly in easily putting people into groups. You can have any number of groups (I have an A Group; family, company, must read. B Group - friends, good info, try to read. C and D groups - get to if I can. Many Tweets - here I put good people, but they just tweet so much they clutter my other streams. etc.)
I'm starting a purely Speakers Roundtable Group (the motivation for all this) and urging them all to do the same, and I'll encourage them in the process as I'll be following all of them.

Twitter 401:

This could go on forever, but by now you have the idea. Take one step at a time. Go slow or fast. Have fun with it.
There are 1,001 blogs and posts on how to use twitter, and tools for twitter. Follow your preferences - there are no rules for Twitter.
Here is one of many good places to go for Twitter (and tech) info - from @Mashable

And if you didn't see this elsewhere on my blog, follow me at @BertDecker - tweet me as I'd love to help you get going in groups.

Simple. Natural. Downright perfect.

2009-08-05T22:12:18-07:00

Simple.

Natural.

Downright perfect.

This slogan for Coca-Cola’s brand “Simply Lemonade” captures desirable traits not only for products we consume, but also for how we express our ideas. In particular, these words describe an effective communicator.

As communicators, we want our ideas to not just be understood, but to be remembered. Our goal is to impact our audience, making a lasting impression. This can only be achieved by keeping the message simple and focused. In their book, Made To Stick (which we previously reviewed), Chip and Dan Heath emphasize the importance of making ideas stick with "Simplicity" (represented by the first letter of their acronym "SUCCES"). The Heath’s explain:

To strip an idea down to its core, we must be masters of exclusion. We must relentlessly prioritize. Saying something short is not the mission — sound bites are not the ideal. Proverbs are the ideal. We must create ideas that are both simple and profound.

All communication – whether written or verbal – is most effectively communicated when undiluted by extraneous matter. This is especially true in public speaking.

“I hear and I forget.” - Confucius

The more complicated, cluttered and crammed a speech, the less likely an audience is going to hear and remember, much less be responsive and motivated to action. A recent example of this is Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation speech.

Her speech was neither simple nor natural. Her core message was buried in rambling.

So how do we make our speeches simple, natural and downright perfect?

Identify your point of view (POV). This is the meat of your message. This is why you're speaking - the driving force behind the presentation.
Design your speech around your POV, using the rule of three to organize your message.
Deliver your speech from these main talking points, allowing your communication to flow naturally from the structure you've created. NEVER read or memorize a speech. The only way to communicate naturally is from the heart and mind, using key points to keep your message organized and on track.

The Decker Grid System™ is an excellent tool for designing a simple, natural and downright perfect speech. In Creating Messages that Motivate, the Decker Grid System™ is explained in detail, providing the steps to create a clear and effective speech.

Simple

Keep your message focused on the POV- the core of your message.

Natural.

Communicate naturally, from talking points

(using Decker Grid System™ )

Downright perfect.

Your audience will hear and remember.

Obama, Teleprompters and Authenticity

2009-07-28T22:49:19-07:00

President Obama is no longer the premier communicator - which is remarkable as he was elected largely because of his speaking ability. I even named him as #1 in my Top Ten Communicators of 2006. It's not about the words - he does have very good speech writers - it's about the authenticity.

He has slipped for several reasons.
First of all he is over exposed - speaking somewhere almost daily:

9 health care speeches in 9 days
4 Press Conferences in his first 6 months, more than President Bush did in 8 years
more interviews than any recent President in recent times

In this over exposure in the media it is also now apparent that he is too scripted and aloof in formal situations, and halting in the informal situations. Not the great communicator.

See it now
Let me show you what I mean. First, there's the teleprompter. It astonishes me that most people don't consciously know when a person is reading from the teleprompter - but I think they DO know it unconsciously. And authenticity suffers. When someone is using the teleprompter, someone is READING A SPEECH - not coming from the heart (or at least appearing to do so.) I do not understand why Obama does not have good teleprompter coaching so that he properly uses focal points to at least APPEAR to be talking to an audience.

Teleprompter 1
Here is Obama in his teleprompter mode at his Egypt speech. He appears to be observing a ping-pong game - 4 seconds to one side (left teleprompter paddle) and 4 seconds to the other side (right teleprompter paddle.) Throughout the campaign and up until last week he had this rigid habit - 4 seconds left, 4 seconds right - and here recently in a Health Care speech.

Teleprompter 2
It's very interesting that last week, in his press conference on health care (that turned into his ObamaGates speech that spawned the Beer Summit), he used the teleprompter (finally) like a newscaster - looking straight at the camera as he reads his speech on a transparent mirror. You'll see he's better - but still cadenced, stiff and academic.

Teleprompter 3
Now here's a funny but revealing take from the TODAY Show on Obama's reliance on the teleprompter. It's written and talked about, and has become so apparent that there is actually a teleprompter on Twitter that is very funny reading: @BOTeleprompter. (As BO says, no POTUS without TOTUS.) So Obama's use of the teleprompter is unprecedented. No President, nor perhaps any public figure in history, has relied on continuous scripting of what he says as has this President.

Extemporaneously speaking...
The sad fact is President Obama got elected because he was a supposed 'great speaker.' Actually he was, and is, a great orator - but I think the teleprompter is now getting in his way. He has to go to another level. Martin Luther King, JFK, Roosevelt, Clinton and Reagan rarely read from teleprompters - except on formal and State occasions. And their greatest moments were not when they were reading - it was when they were speaking. From the heart. Authentically.

Every leader has to be able to speak well extemporaneously - they are always in the limelight and have to communicate well in all situations. You can't take your speech writers and teleprompters everywhere. Sometimes President Obama is OK in extemporaneous mode, but more often he is halting and pedantic - his speech laced with ums and ahs, as in this press conference with Prime Minister Brown, and here in an informal press response that I posted on earlier.

Why it's important
President Obama is our President. No matter what your political bent you want the country to succeed. It is leadership that makes that happen. And we have a President who is now over exposed and, purely from a communications standpoint, going in the wrong direction .

Reading speeches is not leading - where inspiring is critical. I posted about President Bush losing the Bully Pulpit a while back, and most would agree on that. I don't think most will agree with me that President Obama is about to lose the Bully Pulpit as well, but it's happening.

And that would be a tragedy for a country that is already on a slippery slope.

Trust and Walter Cronkite

2009-07-20T21:02:19-07:00

Why was Walter Cronkite the epitome of trust? Trust is an essential quality to have in any communicating experience, particularly newscasting. And every article, blog or TV clip mentions how Walter Cronkite was so trusted. What can we learn?

I think there are three primary elements (of many) that made him "the most trusted man in America", and perhaps the most successful newscaster of all time. Two of them have oft been mentioned, so I'll just mention some adjectives here because they are well sprinkled in other more weighty commentaries on his passing, and then concentrate on the third one, which I have not yet read nor seen...

1. Character

Walter Cronkite: Even temperament, tough, disciplined, hard working, news leader, values, accurate, thorough researcher, thought leader.

As Lyndon Johnson said when Cronkite came back from Vietnam and reported that we were NOT going to win that war, "If we've lost Cronkite we've lost mid-America."

2. Behavior

Walked the talk, did his homework, loved his work, authentic, consistent, highly skilled.

Although he could read script and teleprompters with skill, he excelled (and preferred) to be extemporaneous and real, as when he told the nation of JFK's assassination.

3. Physical

This is an area that is not often mentioned, but in my view is critical to the trust that Walter Cronkite engendered.

First, a question on trust. If you didn't know their names, of these two public figures whom would you tend to trust more?

Now I don't mean to disparage Michael Chertoff, and he may even have the character and behavior of a Walter Cronkite for all I know, but looking at his face alone he is at a disadvantage in the trust sweepstakes. There are other examples of course, but here it's like night and day, black and white, closed and open.

Face: Walter Cronkite was called Uncle Walter because he was open and approachable - largely because he looked open and approachable. Walter Cronkite had the face and the voice to be "the most trusted man in America." This is not talked of much - perhaps it seems superficial - but it is not. Our facial expression 'speaks' volumes without saying a word.

Yet many people have a trustworthy face, but most don't have qualities #1 and #2 above. Of course there are a lot of people who have character and who walk the talk, but they don't 'look' that trustworthy. For the former, work on #1 and #2. For the latter...

Although we can't do a lot with changing our face, we can change our expression and our attitude. Particularly if we tend to appear closed, and not friendly or open. It's critical to our communications, and worth working on. In Walter Cronkite's case, he was unique in having one of the most welcoming faces in America to go with his skill and credentials.

Voice: And what a deep, resonant and ear pleasing voice Cronkite had. All of us who have heard him often can recall today that voice like no other. It IS the voice of trust. Always calm, never strident. Conversational but not casual.

We are fortunate if our voice naturally gives us credibility. No matter, our voice gives our feelings away - like it or not. In the age of the cell phone we ought to take note. We can work on our vocal energy and enthusiasm. If we work hard we can affect the tone and resonance of our voice, and professionals must train at this. In the age of podcasts and YouTube replacing newscasts - the voice becomes even more important for credibility and influence. For professionals - and for us. For we are communicating daily to others, when it counts, on the phone - no matter what our occupation.

So with Walter Cronkite, perhaps we had the 'perfect storm.' In this one man came together the blessings of his physical nature that he honed, along with the character and behavior of a man that was destined to become the foremost newscaster of the ages - and a man we can trust. He will be missed. May he inspire all of us.

The Power of Story

2009-07-05T20:43:18-07:00

At a recent speech the presenter before me started out with a story, followed by another, and another. All linked to points. Brilliant, and so rare in business presentations today. He warmed up the audience, and I was grateful.

"Story" is the S of our SHARP principles, Story is also the primary tool in making your message stick, as in Chip and Dan Heath's great book "Made To Stick." And in the vernacular of Malcolm Gladwell - story makes ANY idea stick, and if you haven't read his great book get ("Blink")

The Top Ten Reasons stories are useful and powerful:

They are real
They are short
They are interesting
They are human
They give third party credibility
They are easy to tell
They are memorable
They are emotionally connecting
They move people
They are the principle communication tool since Man began talking

What Others Say

To be a person is to have a story to tell.
-Isak Dinesen

The story is more important to me than the part.
-Catherine Deneuve

Of course it's the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.
-Margaret Thatcher

A compelling story, even if factually inaccurate, can be more emotionally compelling than a dry recitation of the truth.
- Frank Luntz (Communication Specialist in language – also a political consultant)

Eighty percent of our life is emotion, and only 20 percent is intellect. I am much more interested in how you feel than how you think. I can change how you think, but how you feel is something deeper and stronger, and it's something that's inside you.
- Frank Luntz

From Todd Paulsen, here is some of the power of story, and the reason behind it (see the complete article here):

"THE USE OF STORIES IS A POWERFUL TOOL that aids in material retention, but methodologies of inclusion are rarely discussed. The desire to share emotions and effect the emotional states of others drives us to tell and retell stories. A story is a vector that spreads the information and emotion that is contained within it. No classroom or teacher is needed past the initial storytelling. We have been doing this for years in the form of childrens stories. It has been widely speculated that the story of Hantzel and Gretel (sic) is a cautionary tale used by elders to prevent children from wandering off into the dangers of the European forests alone."

Jesus told stories and parables. He didn’t talk in concepts – he only needed stories, and he riveted peoples attention. Sowing seeds along the path, the rich young ruler, a house built on sand, faith growing like a mustard seed, and dozens more.

Remember, people buy on emotion and justify with fact.

A great resource for getting great at telling stories is Doug Stevenson's Story Theatre - after our "Communicate To Influence" program this is one to take - it pays as a communicator to get serious about storytelling.

Create YOUR communication experience - stories will add mightily.