Archive for October, 2009

Grab a mop!

	Posted by Kelly Decker \| October 29th, 2009 \| 2 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Kelly Decker | October 29th, 2009 | 2 Comments | Tweet This

I know. Another Obama post? Put your politics and feelings about health care and the economy aside to learn a great lesson here. Obama brings ideas to life with his words. He did it again on Tuesday at a rally for Senator Creigh Deeds, Virginia’s democratic candidate for governor. With the election just one week away, Obama stumped for Deeds and drew on his own experiences to inspire Virginians to action.

“When I showed up after inauguration, they had left a big mess on the floor. So I got a mop, and I started cleaning up their mess. That’s okay, I don’t mind. But you know — you know, it does bother me when they start saying, ‘You’re not mopping fast enough.’ ‘You’re not holding the mop the right way.’ My attitude is, why don’t you grab a mop?”

He used the concrete analogy of a mop instead of what most politicians and business leaders might have said (warning: this might sound all too familiar to you):

“After inauguration, it became even more apparent that our economy is in crisis. As we strive for bipartisanship, they continuously blockade our endeavors, impeding on our progress instead of joining the effort.”

But instead, he drew a picture. Simply. Right away, you can see that mess and that mop. Then, he tugs at the hardworking, roll-up-your-sleeves drive in all of us – calling us to action, instead of making our eyes glaze over.

This is a quick example of the power of being concrete to drive a message home. We thoroughly explore concreteness (and all Made To Stick SUCCESs principles) in our Decker Made To Stick Messaging workshop – and find that people walk away saying that it will change the impact of their messages immediately.

Think about this the next time you chime in at a meeting and want to get your point across. What could you do to remove abstractions and make your message resonate?

Categories: Communication Skills, Political Communications, Public Speaking, SHARPs and Stories, Speakers
Tags: Barack Obama, Bert Decker, communicating, Communication Skills, communications, decker, Made To Stick, Presentation skills, President Obama, Public Speaking, simplicity

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Eye Contact, Eye Communication and Eye Roll

	Posted by Bert Decker \| October 25th, 2009 \| 8 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Bert Decker | October 25th, 2009 | 8 Comments | Tweet This

Eye Quote Ralph Waldo Emerson

Two weeks ago a speaker looked down at his TV monitor most of the time, and glanced fleetingly at the audience.
Last week a sales person looked me in the eye when he explained how the camera worked, and I believed him when he said he wouldn’t bargain.
The other night my wife made a comment, and unfortunately I gave one of my (rare) eye rolls, and she picked me off.

At Decker we teach and preach six behavioral skills – they have nothing to do with content and everything to do with establishing confidence, trust and authenticity. The most important of these is eye communication.

eye contact 2 Clients often ask us what is the difference between eye contact and eye communication.

Eye contact is fleeting. It can be in passing, just a glance or a fraction of a second. It can be eyes flitting across an audience not really connecting. It could turn into a form of connection, but it isn’t necessarily communication.

Eye communication is connection – think of eye contact on steroids. It’s the act of two pairs of eyes connecting and the contact leading to communication. Eye communication involves more extended eye contact (at least 3-5 seconds for speakers communicating to a group) that forms a bond between two people. As a speaker communicating to an audience, eye communication is the key to engaging with your audience. It makes your presentation more like a conversation than a pitch.

Eye communication:

establishes rapport
strengthens listener involvement
contributes to a higher retention level
increases your ability to persuade

A successful communications experience requires engaged eye communication. If the listeners’ ears are open but their eyes are closed, no connection can be made. Eye communication is the key.

On the other hand, eye roll is discounting what the other person said. It is a put-down, and is actually much stronger a put-down than we tend to think. Often after an eye roll is picked off by the other party we hear the reply, “But I didn’t say anything.”

Look at this classic case of disdain shown by the many eye rolls (and other behaviors) from the TV show, The Apprentice:

“To make oneself understood to the people, one must first speak to their eyes.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

Don’t just make contact, communicate with your eyes. Positively.

Categories: Communication Skills, Leadership and Communications, Public Speaking
Tags: Effective Communicating, Eye contact, eye roll

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Does your message stick?

	Posted by Ben Decker \| October 20th, 2009 \| 1 Comment \| Tweet This

Posted by Ben Decker | October 20th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Tweet This

I’m thrilled to introduce @MeredithGood, one of our newest team members brought on to do program development and marketing. She’ll be contributing to the blog from now on, starting today!

In true Decker form, we videotaped the entire Decker Made To Stick Messaging debut program so we could (what else?) give ourselves feedback! Several participants gave us feedback, too, so we can continuously improve and evolve. With all this video lying around, @MeredithGood put together a short testimonial (for kicks!) to give you a sense of what Decker Made To Stick Messaging is all about.

What are you waiting for? Get in on the action and register for December 2nd! Hope to see you soon.

Categories: Communication Skills, Great Books, Leadership and Communications, Public Speaking, SHARPs and Stories, Video - Use It
Tags: Chip Heath, communicating, communications, decker, leadership, Made To Stick, Presentation skills, speaking, video, videotape

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Feedback in Threes: Keepers, Improvements (& video)

	Posted by Ben Decker \| October 14th, 2009 \| 2 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Ben Decker | October 14th, 2009 | 2 Comments | Tweet This

To criticize used to mean “to give counsel.” Now it too often means to tear down. In the age of instant communicating, we need to pause and think about what true “criticism” really means – feedback.

Without question, praise is the most powerful motivator. I was amazed at the profound meaning a few nice words (that I saw as no big deal) had for someone recently. Yesterday I got this email after I had thanked one of our people: “Wow, Ben. You’re welcome. Thanks for noticing! Means a lot that you said something.” Encouragement is powerful.

I must continually remind myself as I tend to look towards filling that half filled glass. So must we all.

We have a team of Program Leaders that lead various programs around the country and for them to lead an entire Decker Program takes months of training and extensive feedback. That feedback can easily fall into “tweaks” or “constructive criticism.” It is a great reminder that there has to be encouragement with that. Another of our Program Leaders reminded me she still has a note from me stating “Nice Job” on an initial program that she led…from 3 years ago! I don’t remember doing it, but I’m glad I did.

We run into problems as speakers when we don’t take the time to solicit objective feedback. Although I now make my living from professional speaking, it wasn’t so long ago that I should have been paying people to listen to me (and even then might not have packed the house). I didn’t begin changing until I heard myself bumble through a speech on an audio playback. In just three minutes! Unbelievable. This prompted action.

I began seeking all kinds of feedback. There are three basic types, what we call the 3 x 3 Rule.

The 3 x 3 Rule: Pursue and obtain:

3 positive aspects of your presentation

3 areas where you could improve

You apply the 3 x 3 Rule via:

People feedback – in every presentation, ask five people to provide feedback to you according to the the 3 x 3 Rule.
Video-record every presentation you give (a quick and simple way to do this is with flip video cameras). When you see and hear it played back, write down your observations according to the 3 x 3 Rule.
Audio-record yourself at every opportunity. When was the last time you listened to a voice mail of yourself? (In many cases, you can hit # to playback and approve it before sending.) Record conference calls and business/board presentations. You don’t have to listen to the whole thing – 10-30 seconds will give you a feel for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

If you multiply the 3 x 3 rule, you get more than 9. What you obtain is a foundation upon which you can build an action plan for excellence.

Categories: Communication Skills, Public Speaking, Video - Use It
Tags: audio, communication, continuous improvement, feedback, leadership, Presentation, speaking, video, video feedback

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You can learn to be sticky

	Posted by Kelly Decker \| October 9th, 2009 \| 3 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Kelly Decker | October 9th, 2009 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use the pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time, a tremendous whack.”

-Sir Winston Churchill

I used this quote to start our great day on Tuesday – the premiere of our new program, Decker Made To Stick Messaging. What I love about these words of wisdom is that great, sticky messaging can be learned. You don’t have to be “subtle or clever”, be born with a wildly creative mind, or spew the perfect witty comment at all the right times. What a relief!

Earlier this year, we set out with Chip and Dan Heath to combine our Decker Grid with their Made To Stick SUCCESs template into a training program to teach anyone – regardless of creative DNA, experience, title or industry – to create sticky messages. It came to fruition on Tuesday, when Chip and I led a diverse group of 20 business leaders through a hands-on experience that yielded some amazing transformations – and it was really fun, too!

chip and kelly

More details and examples are coming, but for now, just a couple highlights:

The CEO for a furniture company came up with a fantastic Unexpected statement to describe his product, “You may think of modern furniture as being cold and sterile, but this is completely the opposite. It’s warm and comfortable, like your favorite pair of jeans.” Contrast this to typical business-speak which might have sounded something like, “the environmentally-friendly materials combine with durable construction and charismatic design to create inherently unique pieces.” Alleluia!

Another participant used Credible human scale statistics to call her listeners to action and become an advocate in a non-profit organization. In her initial pitch, she used really big numbers, like 248,000 out of 750,000. At the end of the day, she converted those numbers into something so meaningful that she had half the audience in tears. She stated that only 1 in 3 kids are assigned an advocate in this organization, and went on, “that means that if you have three children, you have to decide which one will get assistance and support. You have to single one out and provide them with an advantage over the others.” That did it for me. She made big, lofty, somewhat incomprehensible numbers hit home…hard.

Others were able to unbury the lead of their pitch and focus their message. Still others told stories, found feeling, and removed jargon-filled abstractions to make their ideas concrete, visual and meaningful.

How did it all happen? grid in action

Structure: We developed a new messaging folder that incorporates our Grid with the SUCCESs checklist. As we worked through exercises for each section, each person continued to refine their pitch throughout the day using easy-to-apply tools and simple recipes to make it stickier, little by little. Here it is in action, with post-its and all.

Video: Yep, even though it’s a messaging program, video was a key component. We used cool little cameras attached to tabletop tripods to record a before and after pitch to witness the transformations. Here’s David, a Yahoo, recording his group (and there’s Chip right behind him, totally focused on feedback):

Yahoo filming

Feedback: Working in small groups, each person received Keepers and Improvements from peers to learn what was working and what wasn’t in their messages. Many found the Curse of Knowledge was unfortunately alive and well when others in their group just didn’t get it!

3x3

All in all, it was a huge, sticky SUCCESs (no pun intended). Stay tuned for testimonials, before/after videos and many more great examples. In the meantime, you can check out Jay Ehret’s (@themarketingguy) blog post for his top takeaways.

Can’t wait for the next one! BTW…we’re already sold out for November. Check the website to register for December 2nd!

Categories: Communication Skills, Uncategorized
Tags: Communication Skills, decker, Heath, Made To Stick, Messaging, Presentation skills

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New look, expanded outlook!

	Posted by Bert Decker \| October 5th, 2009 \| 6 Comments \| Tweet This

Posted by Bert Decker | October 5th, 2009 | 6 Comments | Tweet This

Today we’ve redesigned the blog and moved to Wordpress. More importantly though…

We’re excited about change at Decker Communications, Inc. I started this blog over four years ago (here’s the first post.) Didn’t know much about blogs then, but my ultra techie son Sam Decker (@SamDecker) of the fast growing Bazaarvoice got me started – and seems clients and others have found value over these years.

Now that my other son Ben Decker is President of Decker, and he and his ultra talented wife and Executive VP Kelly Decker have pretty much taken over managing and expanding our communications consulting and training business – it’s time for their voices to be more prominent. I’ll be continuing to post, and now and then you’ll hear from one of our Program Leaders or a guest communicator as well. Our plan is to increase the breadth and depth of our coverage while not losing focus.

We’ll continue to blog about insights, tips and new ideas on the behavior and messaging of communicating in the business world. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and we will apply our 30 years experience of what works – so you can create YOUR communications experience – in any situation.

We’ll continue to cover personal communications, leadership influence and the impact of exploding technology in speeches, meetings and conferences. (See last post.) We’ll always have a consistent Point Of View – making the subject one of value to you, our clients and readers. But we’ll have some fresh perspectives now, and different personal approaches as well.

So thanks for subscribing and reading – and tell us what you’d like to hear about. We’ll plan to make good use of your time.

Categories: Musings, Newsworthy, Short Bits

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