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8 seconds - Coggle Diagram
8 seconds
What’s your audience thinking about? Let’s assume they’re preoccupied with 10,000 things. That’s 10,000 reasons not to listen to you. Unless you give them one. So give them one, with a purpose statement.
A purpose statement is not an agenda. Almost every executive I work with has an agenda—that’s good—but a purpose statement is more important.
Example: “Our purpose is to help you sell more beer. How? By inspiring your employees to sell more beer. By leadership.”
“You won’t remember anything I’m about to tell you. Except for ONE THING, and we’ll get to that one thing in a minute.”
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In 2015, Microsoft did a study on attention spans.1 The conclusion? “You now have a shorter attention span than a goldfish . . . eight seconds.
Let’s talk about your time. In the next 24 hours, everyone in your organization—in every organization—will do one of three things: 1. Talk 2. Listen 3. Pretend to listen
“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever . . . Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time—a tremendous whack!” - Chrucill
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Here’s something different: Tell them what you’re NOT going to tell them. A research scientist could say, “I’m not going to tell you about each of the 278 validation studies we ran. Let’s just say it was complicated.” Message: We didn’t just pull this data out of a hat.
In one-to-one conversations, talk less than the other person. Instead of rambling on and on, ask at least one thought-provoking question per conversation.
When presenting, slim down to 10 PowerPoint slides or less. And occasionally, lose the entire deck
Most messages, spoken or written, are designed from the speaker’s point of view. That’s upside down. Imagine you’re the audience. What would capture your attention?
- Why should I listen (or read this)? 2. What exactly are you saying? 3. What should I do with this info?
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The 2.5 Step Method
But lists have their limits. Main problem: you’ve got to see the list to remember it. If I put “olives” on my shopping list, and then lose the list, there go the olives.
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- “After a lot of unsuccessful interviews, I finally found work.” 2. “After 10 years in prison, I feared that I’d never find another job in organized crime.” You may be thinking, “I dislike both. Too negative!” We’ll come back to that objection in a second. I like #2 for one simple reason: mystery. We don’t know how this story turns out. Opening #1, by contrast, reveals everything.
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When speaking to a business audience, you need a compelling point. A good story has multiple points, which means you can refashion it for different audiences and different purposes. But each time you tell it, stick to one point.
“After only two days,” the man continued, “I no longer recognized my wife.” Bingo! He had us. And yes, there was definitely a problem here, but, remember, that’s what a story is. A good story hooks us with a bad problem.
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