April 20, 2006

Top-10 Cluetrain Theses: Imperatives for presenters

Cluetrain(1) "Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors."
Markets are not abstractions, and neither are our audiences. They're people worthy of our full attention and respect. If we can remember that it's about them and not about us...we're on the right path.

Top-10 Cluetrain Theses: Imperatives for presenters

Cluetrain(1) "Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors."
Markets are not abstractions, and neither are our audiences. They're people worthy of our full attention and respect. If we can remember that it's about them and not about us...we're on the right path.

(2) "Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice."
I don't hate politicians and I don't hate marketers...but I hate the way they talk. "Mission-critical, forward-looking value propositions...." People do not talk that way! Many corporate speakers have a special gift for the "blah-blah-blah." Is anyone listening? Speeches and presentation do not have to be be stuffy and dull, but neither do they need to be hyped-up and shallow — your audience is praying you'll be different.

(3) "Already, companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the dog-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone."
Even if your presentation is directly sales related, you have to believe in your product (not the hype) deep down inside. I'm not talking about drinking the Koolaid kind of belief, I'm talking about believing in your product (your cause, research, etc.) like you believe in yourself. Speak to the audience like you respect them, like you think they are smart, like you think they are interesting. Don't be a TV commercial. Commercials more often than not insult us. And even when they're clever, we don't really care and soon forget because...they're not real.

(4) "Companies need to lighten up and take themselves less seriously. They need to get a sense of humor."
The best presenters take their cause and their audience very seriously...but they do not take themselves too seriously. They are relaxed...they have nothing to hide. At that moment, nothing could be better than sharing time with the audience, and the audience feels that.

(5) "Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived."
Your speaking does not have to be perfect. In fact, perfect speech and too much polish may alienate a crowd. It's not real. Each case is different, but an open, natural, friendly, relax approach — away from the podium — is usually best. People pay more attention to a natural, open voice. And few things are more boring for a crowd than the reading of a long manuscript from a podium.

(6) "By speaking in language that is distant, uninviting, arrogant, they build walls to keep markets at bay."
If you want your talk to fail, simply build a wall between you and your audience. There are many ways to do that: Speak in abstractions, stand in the dark, insult the competition, speak too long, create dreadful visuals, be evasive, and on and on.

(7)"Learning to speak with a human voice is not a parlor trick. It can't be 'picked up' at some tony conference."
You can learn a lot from presentation coaches and communication books, but this is not rocket science. We can be much better by simply looking at the presentation as an opportunity to have a conversation with others about something we care about. All the technique, training, and "PowerPoint" tricks are useless if the talk doesn't come from your gut, from your heart and soul.

(8) "The inflated self-important jargon you sling around — in the press, at your conferences — what's that got to do with us?"
Never try to impress. It didn't work in high school (lord knows I tried) and it won't work with your audiences (or your markets) either. A good presentation is like a good blog: it's transparent, unique, fresh, honest, authentic, and accurate even if not perfect.

(9) "If you want us to talk to you, tell us something. Make it something interesting for a change."
Most sales presentations are designed by committee and sent to people in the field with scripts in the PowerPoint notes view. No wonder the presenter sounds distant and "corporate."

(10) "De-cloaking, getting personal: We are those markets. We want to talk to you."
As the Cluetrain authors say, people "...do not want to talk to flacks and hucksters. They want to participate in the conversations..." The best presentations feel like a conversation.

Posted by Dane Troup at 09:48 AM | Comments (1)

March 28, 2006

The Brainstorming Problem

I was looking over my blog rss feeds (bloglines is a great tool) and came across Wired's article about brainstorming. I never thought about the history of the concept and why it came about. The article introduces this and goes on to explain why in this day and age it doesn't work as well.

I always had a problem with brainstorming sessions especially when they were briefed on the spot. How does one expect someone to come up with a creative solution on the spot? When it comes to creative solutions, I do have a bag of tricks but why reuse an idea if there are fresh solutions to be found.

There have been many times when I found myself sitting in a room with a random sampling from a company to come up with a creative solution to a business problem. I never found myself in a meeting to come up with an accounting solution or a client relation’s solution but for some reason everyone is capable of coming up with creative solutions. This atmosphere is on par with "the chain is as strong as the weakest link". You begin to defer to the lowest common denominator, the biggest mouth or someone trying to prove their importance to the company.

I'm in a room where there is a range of qualifications/understanding. The problem is presented and then its go time. In my head, I eliminate every trite, banal and obvious solution and try to come up with a solution that will be set apart from the rest. However, before I can process the problem, around me starts to fly every obvious solution there is. So what happens is we get a long list of obvious solutions. How do you quantify what makes an idea better then another? Well if you have experience and training in the field of design you understand the principles and know that they rely on trends and the audience that the material will end up in front of. Also, you need to keep in mind budget, resources and turnaround time. If the group is a random sampling from a company, they will all have different levels of understanding. However, they will have perfect understanding of the obvious solutions. Is it possible to educate each person on what makes good ideas and bad ideas? Maybe. Is it realistic? No! So inevitably what happens is the idea that is the strongest obvious solution prevails.

This is not to say that I do not brainstorm. I brainstorm best with people on my level of understanding or people who complement my understanding with strengths of their own and we defer to the other in our areas of weakness. Creative problems have hundreds of solutions and the best solution is not always the best idea. It is the idea that will work best within the parameters of the problem. Experience, creativity and training are needed to achieve this solution, not a desire to be creative.

Posted by Dane Troup at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2006

the Slivercast Is Born

For some time now I have been toying with the idea that there is a market for mini content. Not just video feeds but interactive content or mini-sites that can be carried from their birthplace and posted and shared from any portal where the author chooses to post it. It would even still be served up from the original server so it could be updated, archived and tracked.

As Internet TV Aims at Niche Audiences, the Slivercast Is Born came to my attention and thought I would share... It is just focused on video but I like the idea of Slivercast.

Posted by Dane Troup at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)

Googleidol

Googleidol Oh lord what is going on out there.

Posted by Dane Troup at 08:46 AM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2006

Lazy Sunday

This is awesome.

Posted by Dane Troup at 07:48 PM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2006

Excesspool is Born

I'm starting off 2006 by jumping on the band wagon and starting my own blog. I'm hosting with Mediatemple and use Movable Type as the engine. The purpose of my blog is to keep a log of the projects I creste and my thinking behind them. I often work on a lot of projects and then will forget all about them or not keep any documentation on my thought process. I'm in a Digital Design program at Philadelphia University. I am in the 12-month graduate program. I finished the first semester in the fall. The program is excellent. I will be working on planning my thesis project in the spring semester. I will be hoping to try to create an online app that will challenge visitors to build the site or create and post content that they can personalize and share with others. It is something that will hopefully go viral and spread around the web.

Posted by Dane Troup at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)