- Building a Rapport With Your Audience Using Social Media Research January 2, 2012
- YouTube Insights gets Facelift as Youtube Analytics January 16, 2012
- How Social Media’s Causing The End Of Business As Usual December 31, 2011
How To Engage Your Audience Using Twitter Research
Social Media has made it easier than ever to research and connect with your audience.
If you were to speak at a company just a few years ago, a common research technique would be to scan the corporate web site for press releases and news articles. But those resources don’t provide insight into a company’s culture.
The new technique I like to use revolves around Twitter. Twitter is a live, unfiltered, gossip-filled news-stream into the cubicles of a corporation. It’s a window into the culture of the company. You can learn a lot just by spending ten minutes a day reading employee tweets.
A friend of mine named Manuel Villacorta, the creator of the Eating Free Weight Management program, was planning a speaking engagement at video game-maker Ubisoft, a company he knew very little about initially.
Here’s how I suggested he research the company and its culture using Social Media:
First, research the company and its employees on LinkedIn. To do this, I had him pull up the Ubisoft Corporate page on Linkedin. There, he found employee personal pages, including their Twitter accounts (if they had one).
Second, Manuel created a Ubisoft Twitter “List,” which allowed him to categorize the people he followed.
If he had 10 minutes to kill, waiting for his latte at Starbucks, he could use his iPhone to scan his Ubisoft Twitter feed, free of any distractions of other tweets he may have on his global Twitter feed.
(I acknowledge that a few years ago, this research may seem a bit stalkerish, but in today’s “Like-Me-Follow-Me” Society, it’s become quite the norm. Twitter users become ecstatic when even the most random people start “following” them.)
Recently, Manuel was also preparing a speaking engagement at the Twitter Headquarters (believe it or not, it’s actually more than just 140 characters!).
I told Manuel, “You can use Twitter to research Twitter.”
I’ll use the “Twitter List” of Twitter employees to demonstrate this further, since Twitter employees are the last people who would call this “stalkerish.” (This is, after all, why Twitterites have a job, right?).
The first person Manuel added to his Twitter “Twitter List”: Adam Bain, CEO. Adam’s own “Twitter Lists,” which Bain has made public, included one called “Twitter/Team,” a complete list of employee Twitter accounts. In other words, this was exactly what Manuel was about to compile manually himself.
What did he learn from scanning the Twitter employee newsfeed?
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin recently spoke at Twitter. One Twitter employee tweeted: “Met Buzz Aldrin today… cross that off the bucket list. Next on the list: Walk on the Moon.”
Reading the CFO’s tweets in June, it was obvious he was a huge Dallas Mavericks fan. After they made it to the NBA Finals, CEO Bain tweeted: This seems like a good time to submit my expense reports.
Years ago, comedian Chris Rock use to ask taxi drivers for popular bars in towns where he was performing that night. Then he’d reference the bar in his routine.
This would make the audience think: “Wow! He goes to my favorite bar when he’s in town!”
Today, as a speaker you no longer need to hop in a cab to learn about where your Ubisoft, goes to Happy Hour. You can simply read their tweets, instead.
Sprinkling these tidbits throughout your talk should make it easier for you to connect with your audience.
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How to Engage Your Audience Using Metaphors
Using stories as a metaphor to make a point is a great way for public speakers to engage their audiences and make their speeches memorable.
That’s exactly what former Stanford baseball star Mike Robbins did Saturday in speaking to the Northern California chapter of the National Speakers Association. His talk focused on the importance of authenticity for public speakers, which is the theme of his new book Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken (Jossey-Bass/Wiley).
Being authentic is often a challenge for public speakers because sometimes the more they rehearse to familiarize themselves with their material, the more their body language can appear to be staged, rather than authentic.
Robbins, who now makes a living as an author and public speaker, was drafted by the Kansas City Royals and played three seasons in the minors, before an arm injury led to the end of his pro career. One of many metaphorical stories he told Saturday that was especially memorable and relatable to public speakers centered round a minor league teammate named Geoff Jenkins.
Jenkins was a massive guy, who would later go on to play 12 years in the Majors, mostly with the Milwaukee Brewers. Robbins described the burley guy as always swinging for the fences, regardless if it was batting practice or the ninth inning of a tie ball game.
“One time, Jenkins swung so hard in bating practice he broke the platform he was hitting on,” said Robbins, adding that he then walked off the platform flexing his chest with pride.
“Why do you swing so hard?” Robbins recalled a teammate asking him.
“In case I hit it,” Jenkins replied.
This story wound up wrapping up one of Robbins’ key points: When giving a speech, some people hold back, fear that they might make a mistake. But they should be like Jenkins and put everything out there. “Don’t hold back. You might hit the ball.”
Another one of Robbins’ stories on Saturday demonstrated that the challenge of being authentic is certainly not restrained to public speakers. For this, he described the day he had to pitch the Be Yourself book proposal to the president of his publisher. Initially, he assumed he was driving into San Francisco from the suburbs for an informal brainstorming meeting with his editor. However, his editor phoned and said the president was flying in from New York to join them.
This last minute bit of information compelled Robbins to initiate an emergency conference call with his wife to script what he would say in this all-of-a-sudden not-so-informal meeting. Hours later, Robbins found himself in full pitch-mode in a Jossey-Bass conference room.
The pitch, however, only lasted a few minutes, before he nearly broke down, and said to the president: I appreciate you flying here to meet with me. But I find myself putting on an act to impress you. Is it O.K. if I stop this act?
What unfolded next was a very candid conversation and brainstorming session leading to the book outline.
Robbins left that meeting with much uncertainty on how that discussion was perceived. He later got a call from his editor, who said: “After you left, we talked about you.”
“Oh?” Robbins gulped.
His editor said that was one of the most unusual meetings with the president. Then added: Robbins had the green-light to write the book.
If you are reading this blog post and thinking this is the formula to get a book deal, you may want to make sure you already have had the success of a published bestseller. Robbins’ first act was Focus on the Good Stuff: The Power of Appreciation, also bankrolled by the same publisher.
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Winners of the “Ads Worth Spreading” Initiative Announced
When was the last time during the DVR/iPhone-era you consciously watched a commercial? In other words, you didn’t text, tweet or email during the commercial.
The organizers of the TED conference, which aims to inspire Ideas That Spread, say they are tired of ads being “aggressively forced on users.” Therefore, they recently promoted the Ads Worth Spreading Initiative, encouraging the development of ads “so good, you choose to watch – and share,” according to Chris Anderson, TED curator.
Last Friday, the results were announced on its Web site. Out of 1,000 submissions from around the world, the top 10 winners of the inaugural contest came from both major ad agencies to tiny boutiques to college students to nonprofits.
If you are unfamiliar with the TED Conference, its organizers challenge its world-class speakers to give the “talk of their life” (usually in 17 minutes), aimed at changing the world. Many of their best presentations are on its Web site. Its ads run after the talk, not before or during.
“As well as avoiding the annoyance of interruption, this positioning means they can run longer than the TV-standard 30-seconds,” Anderson says. “And that’s the key — in 2-3 minutes, there’s more time to tell a story, share an idea, make an authentic human connection. These winning ads, many of them long-form, powerfully demonstrate these strengths. We think they represent an exciting new way for companies to engage with the world in the Internet age.”
Many of them are very engaging, such as The Girl Effect, by the Nike Foundation, Target Kaleidoscopic, and Sapporo: Legendary Biru.
See the full list of winning videos here.
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Social Media Tricks to Use in Your Next Presentation
If you read my last post on how to Use Social Media to Research Your Audience, you may also enjoy Chris Brogan’s article in this month’s Entrepreneur magazine. He covers not only researching your audience, but also how to market your presentation during the presentation by encouraging audience members to tweet about it.
He encourages people on Twitter to use his Twitter name, the hashtag for the speech and the event hashtag. Hashtags make tweets easily searchable. But be careful on how many hashtags you use in a single tweet. A best practice is no more than three.
The New Yorker magazine published a useful and entertaining article on hashtags by Susan Orlean in an issue last June.
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Using Social Media to Research Your Audience
Years ago, I took a standup comedy class at the SF Comedy College. The instructor mentioned that Chris Rock often used a clever technique to connect with a local audience at his comedy shows: While riding a taxi from the airport to the show, he would ask the driver about popular hangouts. Then he would make references to these restaurants or bars in his standup, as if he was a local and frequented them.
This was before the explosion of social web sites, like Facebook and Twitter. These sites today make it even easier for a conference speaker to research his/her local audience to prepare to build a connection.
If you are giving a presentation to a group or at a conference, there are a host of resources to research your audience:
1. Search Twitter or Google Blogs for the conference title to see if there are conversations occurring about the event.
2. Upcoming.org – is a localized event calendar and social site
3. Linkedin Groups – check if scheduled attendees are chatting about the upcoming event
4. Facebook “Event” or Corporate Fan Page
How do you know if your social research worked?
There are a few metrics you can use to determine that:
1. If you get asked back by the same organization (to speak on the same topic or another topic)
2. Referrals: If audience members request your professional services
3. Ripple Effect: if audience members tweet/blog favorably about your content
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What if Speechwriters Took Cues from Sports Announcers?
This State of the Union is brought to you by…
Are we close to the day when a President’s State of the Union is peppered with sponsor teases?
A mention of healthcare, for example, prompts the President to say: “Speaking of healthcare, let me pause to thank Lipitor, a key sponsor tonight, which lowers bad cholesterol and it’s clinically proven to blah blah, blah.”
This may sound ridiculous, but not if NFL play-by-play announcer Kevin Kugler was writing presidential speeches. In yesterday’s Bears-Seahawks game on Westwood One Radio, it was stunning how he squeezed in sponsor promos in the middle of live action play.
In the first quarter, while the Bears drove down the field, Kugler didn’t even wait for a break in the action to plug H & R Block.
Nearly out of breath from describing the Bears’ running back’s push towards the end zone, Kugler added: “Wow! What a block from Jay Cutler! Speaking of block, it’s nearly tax season. Consider H&R Block before filing your taxes.”
As part of the listening audience, I felt like my brain was blindsided by a left tackle. Where did that come from?
Kugler’s play-by-play partner Mark Malone even sarcastically commented seconds later, saying something like: “Good job in squeezing that sponsor in there.”
Kugler’s abrupt H&R Block pitch made me feel like the first time I saw the final scene of the Sopranos series finale, arguably the most talked about ending. When you’re expecting a blood-bath, the screen just goes black… on purpose!
Squeezing an ad into play-by-play is nothing new. The San Francisco Giants announcers often use a pitching change as an opportunity to plug an oil change sponsor. … When it’s time to make a change, go to Speedee Oil Change.
However, there is a big difference: usually the Giants’ sponsor plugs are during dead air time, not in the middle of live action.
Kugler’s pitch during live action was a train-wreck to the listening audience.
I sure hope President Obama’s Director of Finance was not listening to the game on Westwood One and thinking, “Sponsor teases in the speech? Awesome. That can help lower the budget deficit!”
We’ll see on January 25.
This blog post is brought to you by Advil… Advance Medicine for Pain Caused by Abrupt Trauma to the Head.
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How to Get Flash to Work on an iPhone
I love my iPhone, except when I try to view an Adobe Flash-enabled video.
And since Adobe Flash powers a high percentage of online videos (it’s used on 70% of high-traffic Web sites), Apple’s reluctance to allow Flash on iPhones is quite frustrating.
I recently discovered a cool app as a workaround, and ironically, the tipster was an Apple store employee.
The app is called Logmein Ignition. It allows you to view Flash video by providing remote access to your desktop or laptop computer. And since Flash works on iMacs (and of course PCs), you can use Logmein to view a Flash-powered video on a computer through your iPhone or iPad.
Some of the cool features include ability to zoom in and out of your remote computer from a simple pinch of your iPhone screen; a one-finger pan works like moving a mouse; a double tap allows you to drag items.
The Logmein app could also be a very handy tool (beyond viewing Flash video), if you forget to bring a key stat or piece of data to a presentation, and need to retrieve it miles away from your desktop computer.
[Disclosure: I work for the Omniture business unit of Adobe, which Adobe acquired in 2009. I’ve been a fan of Apple products since the 1990s, but I’ve never shaved an Apple symbol on my head.]
If you’ve discovered other similar apps or other workarounds to view Adobe Flash video on your iPhone, feel free to post it here in the Comment section.
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Repurposing A Presentation For Multiple Occasions
The ability to condense any full-length presentation (whether it’s 7 minutes or an hour) to two minutes is a valuable skill to have. Two minutes is the perfect length for just about any question in a job interview or a business-networking event.
If you are in Toastmasters, you are familiar with Table Topics, the impromptu speaking exercise, where you have two minutes to answer a question on the fly.
But how many times have you taken one of your favorite 7 minute prepared speeches and condensed it into a two-minute answer?
Some time ago, I had prepared an hour-long presentation for a client, which showed key performance indicators for the recently ended economic quarter. I hopped on a plane to the client’s headquarters, and was shocked to hear the CEO tell me in the hallway: “Hey Kevin, I can’t sit in on your presentation. I’m short on time.”
Right there in the hallway, I condensed that hour-long presentation into 3 or 4 minutes – focusing on the biggest nugget of the presentation: an analysis that benchmarked the company against their competitors in a very challenging economic climate. That peaked his interest. “I look forward to reviewing your PowerPoint. Make sure you leave it behind,” the CEO said.
The formula for condensing a speech to its core – in many scenarios – is:
1. Outline the problem
2. Explain the solution
3. Demonstrate the result after implementing the solution
This formula fits perfectly into one of the most common job interview questions: Tell me a time when you’ve used your skills when tested?
In the end, each two-minute speech should wrap up with a single sentence containing a key message or lesson learned.
If you prepare a few of these succinct success stories to have at-the-ready, you will master the art of communicating under pressure in no time.
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Making Your Presentation Change Behavior
The purpose of any persuasive speech or presentation is to encourage the changing of behavior. But even some of the most persuasive presentations, loaded with analytical data, fail to motivate the audience to act.
That’s because the audience fails to emotionally connect with the message, even though they may agree with it.
That’s part of the premise behind a new book called Switch: How to Change Things, When Change is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath, the brother duo that produced the 2007 beststeller Made to Stick.
In order for people to not only want to change, but also be motivated to do so, the authors say you need to appeal to two types of personalities: the Elephant (people’s emotional side) and the Rider (the rational side).
The authors acknowledge this is difficult, because the Elephant often overpowers the Rider. When you fail to stick to a diet or push the snooze button, that’s your elephant overpowering your rider, they note.
To change behavior, you’ve got to direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant and shape the Path. If you reach your audience’s Rider, but not their Elephant, they will have direction without motivation.
How do you develop a presentation packed with the proper emotional/rational combination?
Some people think the persuasive presentations is filled with analytical data, with a formula like:
ANALYZE > THINK > CHANGE
But that formula will only work for small changes, the authors note. For big changes, however, the Heath brothers, citing a study called the “The Heart of Change,” say the formula is:
SEE > FEEL > CHANGE
To illustrate this, the authors describe Jon Stegner’s dilemma in the Heart of Change study. He was tasked to correct the poor purchasing habits of a large manufacturer. He discovered, in one example, all the departments were buying work gloves from many different distributors at a wide range of costs: $5 – $17. The no-brainer solution would be for all departments to buy the same $5 gloves.
But how do you motivate all the people in charge of purchasing to care enough to do so?
The ANALYZE > THINK > CHANGE approach would be for someone to produce a spreadsheet showing all 424 gloves and their costs.
But the SEE > FEEL > CHANGE approach would be to do what Stenger did. He collected the 424 different types of gloves and tagged them with the price tag. Then the gloves were gathered up, brought to the boardroom and dumped on the conference table. Stegner invited all the division presidents to come visit the Glove Shrine.
That’s what the Heath brothers call making “a gut-level emotional connection.”
In your next presentation, ask yourself: Am I making a gut-level emotional connection with the audience?
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Why We Give Presentations
It’s commonly said that there are four types of presentations. Presentations that aim to entertain, to persuade, to inform or to inspire.
But if you think about it, there’s really only one reason: to have impact.
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