Dahle Communication

Are You Focused on the Right Things?

A great web program called Wordle allows users to type in words or a website and create a Word Cloud from the text. You can personalize it, change the colors, the style, how many words you want to use, etc. There are two things that I really like about the program:

1. The visualization is just cool - and the fact that you can put in your brand's colors also helps (it would be nice if they would allow you to chose your brand's fonts as well, but I'm trying not to be picky).

2. It let's you see what you are talking about and what key words you are using the most.

The second part is what I wanted to focus on today. I copied and pasted all of my blog entries that I have made over the past 4 months. I cut all of the dates and the bookmark buttons. There is an option for you to click to remove common words, which I did as well.

What I have left with is a visualization of the things that I have talked about. The first image is a 200 word limit, the second image has only 20 words. This allowed me to see which words I have been using the most and which ones I was not using.

Let's first take a look at the larger image. The first thing I noticed was the word 'people.' I liked this a lot because the focus of Dahle Communication Group really is on how people communicate with each other and how that affects our lives. We want people to be the focus of our business. I was very happy to see that as the top one. Other words that stuck out included presentations, good, great, presentation, Twitter, and blog. All of those I was glad to see because those are things that are important to communication. However, I also noticed the words: something, lot, one, things and going. While those words are not necessarily bad, I am now more aware of them and am going to try to cut down on the use of those words: especially something, which was quite big.

The second image is neat because it is stripped down to the top 20 words. While those words were bigger in the first image compared to the other words, sometimes you just need to cut out the fat of an image to truly see what is going on.

If you are working on a presentation or a speech, you should use Wordle or a similar program. What it can do is tell you what you are focusing on. Are you using key words that you want people to remember? Are you using phrases that will confuse people? Putting your speeches and/or documents through a program that tells you which ones you are using the most will give you some perspective as to what you are doing and can help you fine tune your message. 

Others have already recognized the value of using wordle as a tool. Carolyn Elefant of myshingle.com, Nan Hu of The Daily Princetonian, Emily Cagle Communications, Sentence First and Inside Out are just a few of the blogs that have been talking about Wordle and using it themselves. This gives you a good idea as to what impact it is already having on the way people think and re-fine their information.

Travis

Do Something Daring: Steal Home Plate!

I'm not a huge Major League Baseball fan (outside of cheering for the Twins). I would rather spend my time watching the NFL, playing Golf or maybe going to a minor league game with my kids. However, there are certain stories that I enjoy following because that story is compelling. As much as I like the Twins and don't like the big markets dominance, I do enjoy the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry. The history, the hatred, the back-stories - there is a lot involved. This weekend was the first of their series this year at Boston. In case you missed it, yesterday, the Red Sox Jacoby Ellsbury decided that he didn't want to wait for J.D. Drew to get a hit to score a run - he decided to just steal home - with two outs, the bases loaded and the Sox holding onto a 1 run lead. This sent a spark through the Red Sox and helped propel them to their 10th straight win and a sweep of their hated rivals. This is something that just doesn't happen on a regular basis (despite what we've seen in movies like "Major League"). The announcer was so surprised by it that he was stumbling over his words. It was a big gamble, but one that paid off and one that is going to be talked about for some time.

There is a lesson here for you when it comes to preparing your speeches. Are you surprising your audience? Are you giving them a spark to get excited about and rally around? If not, you should think about doing something daring. Is there something that you've been wanting to say, but not sure if it would work? If you have, I would say now is the time to try it out. Be bold and daring. Sitting on the sidelines is the safe strategy, but if you want to get your name out there and get people excited about what you are doing, you sometimes have to steal home.

As always, don't do it without planning it through. There is a good chance you might get tagged out at home. You want to make sure that if you do, it won't be the end of the game - just a small set back that you can recover from. So be daring, but PLAN on being daring - don't just do it on a whim. I am sure that Jacoby Ellsbury has stolen plenty of bases and he planned it out in his head what he was going to do. It was an exciting play that was fun to watch and is going to be discussed for a while. Do the same thing.

Travis

Articles you should have read

Instead of delving into something new today, I wanted to highlight some of the great posts and articles that I have found over the past couple of weeks that I felt needed to be discussed more. With so many posts out there, it is sometimes hard to find the good articles and a lot of times someone will post a great blog and for whatever reason, it is just missed. I'm not saying this happened with these posts, I just wanted to highlight a few of those that I really enjoyed and want people to check out.

1. Audience on the Stage - Duarte Blog

Chris Iufer of the Duarte Blog talks about getting the audience to participate and helping Nancy Duarte prepare for the Web 2.0 Expo. They wanted people at the expo to be able to answer questions without having to shout out the answers. They looked at Twitter, SMS Polls and a Chat room. Its an interesting discussion looking at the feasibility of using Twitter in your presentations.

2. Lessons for 6th Graders (and us) - The You Blog

John Windsor has a great article about working with 6th graders and giving them advice on how to prepare slides for their presentations on the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs. If you have ever had to give a presentation to middle schoolers you will relate to John's post - and even if you haven't, you should still read this. 

3. 1. Experience the world instead of talking about experienceing the world - The first of 21 Principles from Metacool

Diego Rodriguez is putting together quite a series on his blog Metacool. He is going through 21 principles that you should follow. The link above will take you to the first one and as of this post he was on number 9. These are not just one or two sentences of advice either. He goes into a lot of detail to talk about them.

4. 27 Visualizations and Infographics to Understand the Financial Crisis - Flowing Data

If you have never read Nathan's blog Flowing Data, this is the perfect post to start reading. I like statistics and numbers, but being able to see those numbers placed visually and in a compelling manner is even better. If you have had a hard time putting your numbers into a presentation in a compelling way, take some tips from Nathan and attempt to do what he does.

5. PowerPoint make-over artist tricks for newbies - Slides that stick

One thing I love about this blog is that it is usually concise and is updated almost everyday. This means that I will usually learn something or have something make me think on a daily basis. This post is really good if you are just getting started with presentations.

6. Ashton Kutcher, CNN and the Twitter Celebrity Effect - Marketing In Progress

Brett Duncan has some great thoughts on Twitter and its impact as of lately. He also adds some great points in the comments section about the future of Twitter. A great start to a blog that will have you looking at marketing in a new way (and yes I stole this idea of putting together a few of my favorite links from him...thanks Brett for the idea).

Is Twitter Getting too big? A lesson for your speeches

A recent post by Brett Duncan of Marketing In Progress really made me think about twitter. It wasn't even the post so much as his comments at the bottom of the page. When discussing the growth of twitter he states "Early adopters like a product as long as they are the early adopters for it. Once it reaches that majority status, early adopters start looking for something else to adopt . . . early." 

This is an interesting thought. Is Twitter getting too big? Is it starting to grow too much? I am guessing that those who are invested in the growth of twitter would say no, but I think it is a fair question. I think Brett's point that people who are early adopters of something do tend to get upset when whatever they have adopted becomes mainstream. I equate this to the music fan who thinks that their favorite band was much better when no one knew who they were.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure what I would think of Twitter. I was a little skeptical at first and didn't know what all the fuss was about. However, after trying it out I have really liked it and use it almost every day to keep up on news, new blog posts and just banter with other people. I was not one of the "early adopters" but have sort of jumped on the bandwagon just before it exploded with the likes of Oprah and Ashton Kutcher. However, I have noticed the explosion of twitter as of late and I'm not sure what to think of it. Will people leave? I think they will. At what point will that saturation get? If you know then you are a smarter person than I.

Take a lesson about Twitter when you are preparring a speech. Know when to say when. You want to leave the audience waiting for more. If you start putting too many things in your speech or your presentation you are going to start losing your audience. If people start to feel overwhelmed or that you are putting too many things in your speech, they will start to lose interest and they are going to be looking for a way out to something better.

Is this going to happen to twitter? Probably not for quite a while, and I am sure they will do just fine. However, something will probably come around that will challenge it, much like they have challenged facebook. Were you an early user of Twitter? Are you starting to feel like Twitter is getting over-exposed? If they are, is it that big of a deal? Are you looking for something new?

Travis

Watch the context of your language - why MSNBC should learn slang

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One of the sad things about not having cable anymore is that I don't watch The Daily Show on a regular basis. I try to catch it on-line the next day if at all possible, but have missed more than a few episodes. I was lucky enough to catch Thursday's show about the tax protests that were organized by the republican party. While the commentary on the protests was quite funny, it was how the major news sources covered the event that was so entertaining. MSNBC decided to use the phrase "tea-bagging" because of the references to the Boston Tea Party protests that the protest organizers wanted to emulate (it is near the end of the clip above). Unfortunately, the phrase "tea-bagging" has taken on quite a different definition than the one that MSNBC was aware of. As the Daily Show pointed out, that type of phrase is used by The Daily Show!

While funny, speakers also need to be aware of current slang and use of phrases when they are talking. While you might think that there is nothing that can be misconstrued in your speech, you should take another look. Maybe have someone younger look it over to see if they notice anything. Words take on different meanings over the years and slag terms can change quickly. It is better to be safe than sorry.

While I love a good laugh and unintended humor is usually the best, I don't want to see you do something that people are going to laugh about. You want people to remember your speech and presentation for its content - not your unintended humor.

Travis

How do you communicate with someone you disagree with?

Seth Godin posted an interesting blog this morning title "What do you call things you disagree with?" Well, since he doesn't have a comments page to discuss what we would call it, I figured I would post about it here and if anyone wants to add to the discussion they are more than welcome.

What I think is most obvious in Seth's post is his comment that when we get annoyed with something or afraid of something, we "lose eloquence and start calling things names." Evidence of this can be seen every single day if you watch any type of news commentary, read blog posts on politics or marketing or listen to AM talk radio. When people disagree with something, they get angry and just delve into name calling. While I think he is talking more about marketing, I see it more often than not in politics.

For me, I call things that I disagree with by their names. If I disagree with someone, I don't delve into name calling and trying to degrade them. What I try to do is see things from their perspective, analyze it and then disagree with them in a civilized manner. Unfortunately, people forget that they are talking to another human being when they are arguing with them and they are passionate about something. This is one of the main reasons why I got out of politics.

It is also one of the reasons that I love teaching debate. It forces students to learn how to see things from both sides of an issue and be able to defend both sides of that issue. This is also why I want to extend my knowledge and teach people that communication is about talking to another human being. They are not someone who you should throw names at and try to disparage them. Disagreeing with someone is a necessary component of our democracy...calling them facists, left-wing radicals, communists, socialists, right-wing bigots or anything in-between doesn't solve anything. All it does is create more hatred in this world.

As Seth Godin says, "there's never a shortage of boogy men available to the people in the community that you're frightening." This is true. But don't get sucked in with them. Raise above it and try to engage them in an intellectual discussion. Be civil. Most importantly, remember that they are just someone who disagrees with you...and that's okay.

Travis

Mantras versus Mission Statements? How about a Passion Statement

In Guy Kawasaki's book Reality Check (as well as his blog), Guy talks about putting together a Mantra for your business versus a mission statement. He states simply that "A mantra is three or four words that explain why your product, service, or company should exist." He then goes on to discuss how painful it can be to develop a Mission Statement for your business. 

Guy gives a couple of great examples of companies that have mantras instead of mission statements such as Nike: Authentice athletic performance and eBay: Democratize ecommerce. 

While I think mantras are great and you need to have them, I think you also need somthing more. You need something to drive you and your employees to do their best each and every day. While eBay's mantra tells me as a customer essentially what eBay is at its core, the mantra would do nothing for me as an employee or the owner. You need something more. However, instead of a mission statement, how about a Passion Statement.

What is a Passion Statement? Well, what are you passionate about? Why are you starting your own business or working for your company? Being passionate about something is usually not a problem for people that are starting a business. Most people are so passionate about something that they usually go overboard when explaining what they are doing. Putting this down into a mission statement usually takes away all of the passion and excitement that your company has because you want it to sound "professional" and "important." 

What I would suggest is to put down exactly why you are doing what you are doing. Keep it personal, keep it passionate and most of all, keep it interesting. Good communication is all about keeping things human and personal. Don't create something that is so short or so bland that you lose that. Your Passion Statement should evoke to the person reading it how much you love doing what you are doing and make them want to get involved with you. Don't let your business suck out your passion. How you do all of this might take some time, but it shouldn't be work if you are truly passionate.

Travis

Keep Their Focus - A Lesson From Amsterdam

If you haven't seen the urinals that they use in the Amsterdam airport, here is a picture. There is a black fly etched into the urinal. You might be asking yourself: why? Why would they etch a fly onto a urinal? Well, the reason is simple: spillage at the airport has dropped by 80% because of the fly. Apparently, if you give a man something fo focus on, they stay on target. Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein's talk about this in their book Nudge. They state "tiny changes in environment can influence behavior" and they call this "choice architecture." I think its great that men need to have something to focus on when using the bathroom to avoid spilling. There are now even companies that have been created following the Amsterdam model. The Urinal Fly company gives you stickers that are guaranteed to stay on the toilet.

What does this have to do with communication? Well, how many times have you felt that people were not focusing on your speech? Have people tended to drift when you speak? If this has happened, you need to change the way you do things so you can give them something to focus on. People tend to drift and daydream when they don't have a compelling reason to focus. Your message needs to have that fly to focus on.

Figuring out what that fly on the urinal should be can be tricky. However, just being aware that you need to have something compelling for people to focus on is a start. From there, you just have to keep working on it and figure out which one works...and which ones are just going to keep spilling over.

Travis

Don't Wait to Improve Yourself - A lesson in trackbacking

Over the past couple of months I have gotten into blogging quite a bit. During that time I have learned a lot about the blogging world and what I need to do. For example, you want to blog on a regular basis: once a week, twice a week - whatever your schedule, try to keep it consistent. It's hard to get people to come back to your blog if they have no idea when you're going to post again. Tools such as linking to other sites, adding images and videos are useful as well. One key tool that can be very useful is the TrackBack. Referencing someone else's blog and having it posted on their site is a great way to increase traffic. I knew that this was a good thing to do, but I had yet to use it -- that was until Monday. On Monday I posted an article on Twitter vs. Facebook and had it trackbacked to a post from Seth Godin on his blog about what makes things better. Doing this increased traffic on my blog by a significant amount!

I knew something like this would help me, but since I had not used it, I was just putting it off. Now that I have seen how beneficial it can be, I will use it again and not just to help myself, but to hopefully increase traffic on someone else's site as well.

Communication can do the same thing for you. Being able to effectively communicate will increase your business prospects as much as trackbacking can help your blog. It is a tool that you need to use if you want to be successful. But don't do what I did with trackbacking and wait. Putting things off will only delay the inevitable. Unfortunately, we are creatures of habit and we don't like to change. Why should you get a speech coach or work on your presentations if you haven't in the past? The reason is that it will only help you. In this time of economic turmoil and businesses struggling and unemployment rising, you need to be able to take your speeches and presentations to the next level. Don't wait like I did - you'll only wish you would have started earlier.

Travis

Twitter vs Facebook - Why Simplicity Matters

I have essentially stopped going to facebook on a regular basis. I check things when I get a message sent to me. Once I'm done with that message I might spend a minute looking at things, but then I leave. For me, facebook has become an overgrown blob of applications that take up way too much of my time. I just don't have time to fill out every survey or application like mob wars and lil' green plants that get sent to me everyday. If I was still in college, maybe. Being 32, married with 2 kids, a real job, starting a business and trying to golf from time to time means my time is valuable and I don't want to waste it on facebook.

This sentiment seems to be growing among those of us who are social media savvy. Sam Diaz from ZDNet.com shares my thoughts on the subject. Both of us are spending a lot more time on Twitter. In fact, Twitter's growth in the past year was 1,382 percent! That's quite an increase. Facebook isn't hurting though, they saw their growth increase by 228 percent. I don't think they have to worry yet about losing people. However, I do think it is a word of caution to Facebook. Myspace was the biggest social network out there until Facebook came around and they saw a 4 percent decrease in users over the past year.

Seth Godin(who actually doesn't Twitter, but I am sure people wished he did) has a great blog this morning on what is better. He makes a great point that it is up to the consumer to decide which is "better." To me, and a lot of people who are annoyed with all of the junk that comes with facebook, Twitter is better. Granted, I can't post pictures or videos or play mob wars...but really, I don't want to. I like things that are simple, clean and easy to use and so do most people. 

A lesson in communication is a simple one: make sure your message is clean simple and easy to understand. I don't mean simple as in 'dumbed-down.' It means that your message has been stripped down to its core. If you try to put too many bells and whistles into your speech because you think it might help improve your speech or presentation...don't! It is one of PresentationZen's key tenets to presentations - simplicity! Otherwise you might find people starting to leave your speeches the way that they are leaving facebook.

Travis

Pearl Jam Ten Redux CD - Addition by Subtraction

I started high school in the fall of 1991. During that school year I discovered the following albums: Pearl Jam's Ten, Nirvana's Nevermind, Soundgarden's Badmoterfinger and Alice In Chain's Facelift (and Dirt the next year). Before that time I listened to my share of hair metal bands like Poison as well as early hip-hop/rap music from NWA, Too-Short and Ice-T. Needless to say, 1991-1992 was an awakening for me regarding music. I am not, however, someone who thinks that the greatest music ever written was when I was in high school. In fact, I'm constantly on the lookout for new music (like Your Vegas and The Parlor Mob which I have found recently). I do still follow Pearl Jam, U2 and Chris Cornell from Soundgarden (except his last album which I thought was awful from the 30 second clips on iTunes). For the most part, they have put out some music that runs the range between good and bad. However, what Pearl Jam has done with their first album, Ten, not only impressed me, it made me appreciate it even more.

The release includes a re-mastered copy of the original recordings - which is nice, I guess, but since I already have the album it isn't a big deal. The second CD is what makes this package great. It includes a re-mixed version of Ten from their long-time collaborator Brendan O'Brien. The re-mixes do more than just change things around so they can make more money from completists.  Rather, they add so much to the recordings as to re-define them. I have listened to the original recordings so much that I know them by heart. So, I could really tell the difference between the two. What I was struck with is how much better the re-recordings are over the originals. There is more intensity to the songs, more clarity, and it doesn't sound like it was recorded in the early 90's. The new mixes have improved Ten so much, that whenever I listen to it in the future, it will be the redux verion that I play.

There is a lesson here if you are in communication and presentations. The original Ten utilized a lot of re-verb and noise in an attempt to make it sound "big." The new, cleaner version got rid of a lot of that abstraction and filler so the actual music could fill that space. The result is a much better album. You should do the same thing when it comes to your communications. Once you think you have finished your presentation, take a break from it. Let a little time pass. Then, later, go back to it and fix all the things you missed before. Are you including things that are just adding noise to your slides? Can you eliminate some things that will actually add impact to your presentation? My guess is that you can. All of us think that we can't go wrong by including too much. In all actuality, it is probably just creating noise to your speech which prevents your presentation from having its full impact.

I was very impressed with the Ten Redux CD and am glad that I picked it up. In terms of simplification, do what they did for yourself and your presentations. Don't just put it together and think it is good enough. Revisit it to see if there is a way you can eliminate some of the noise to make it better. Create a demand for your speeches and presentations.

Travis