Archive for August, 2009

Decker Made To Stick Messaging is here!

	Posted by Kelly Decker \| August 25th, 2009 \| 2 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Kelly Decker | August 25th, 2009 | 2 Comments | Tweet This

@kellydecker here with a super newsworthy post…

Decker_Made_To_Stick_Messaging

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?

Categories: Communication Skills, Leadership and Communications, SHARPs and Stories, Special Event
Tags: communications, decker, Heath, Made To Stick, Message, Presentation, Sales Pitch, training

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Using Twitter Well – Groups and more…

	Posted by Bert Decker \| August 13th, 2009 \| 5 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Bert Decker | August 13th, 2009 | 5 Comments | Tweet This

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.

Categories: Musings, Twitter and Social Media

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Simple. Natural. Downright perfect.

	Posted by Bert Decker \| August 5th, 2009 \| 3 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Bert Decker | August 5th, 2009 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

Simply Lemonade 2

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.