Say it Better

Are Online Readers Grasping All Your Ideas?

Ever feel that someone stopped listening before you stopped talking? This problem extends to the web. Here’s why – and how you can increase the chance that readers will remember what you wrote.

Write So They'll Read it on Their Screen

Here’s a harsh wake-up call. As Jakob Nielsen notes, according to recent eye tracking and other research most people read just 20% of what you wrote in that blog post or online article. This is especially true if you have “above-average intelligence.” So, do you go for dumber readers or shorter articles and posts?

Tips for Those (Like You) Who Are Writing for a Smart Audience

1. Be brief
2. Outline your topic
3. Headline or otherwise separate subtopics
4. Present items in bullet and/or numbered format.
5. Skip “fancy formats” as they tend to look like advertising and thus ignore.

Do I still have your attention? (Presumably so since you’re quite smart.)

More Evidence: Why It DOES Pay to Be Brief

Hints:
#1: Although we spend more time on pages with more words and more information, we only spend 4.4 seconds more for each additional 100 words.

# 2: When one adds more words to that screen page, people will only read 18% of it. Ouch.

Tip: Like the pyramid style in good newspaper writing, include in the first paragraph the why, who, what, when and how.

Alternatively:
• Put your best example in the first sentence, followed by your summary sentence.
or
• Encapsulate your summary in the first sentence, followed by your best example in the second sentence.

Jacob offer more tips on writing for the web here and here and here here.

Considering the eye tracking research (and your smarts), I fear I may losing you so I’ll stop.
But first this confession. I must be in the dumber category because I enjoy the “feast” of reading longer posts and articles – when they are well-written – even online.

When is a Stultifying Speaking Style Helpful?

When you are delivering bad or - at best - ambiguous news to a powerful audience in a high-stakes situation, does it pay to “ah” and “um”?

Could it actually be beneficial to speak in an obfuscating fashion when you seek to:
1. Sidestep controversy?
2. Avoid being frequently-quoted?
3. Mitigate the impact of sometimes hostile questioning?
4. Prevent an “audience” from taking decisive action?

I am referring to the recent (not past) testimony on the hill by Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General Petraeus. It is difficult to be on the hot seat. Jargon and doublespeak are, too often, the norm in politics and in academic and corporate life.

Can it actually be smart to speak so that people do not understand what you mean and get tired of trying?

Even and especially in dire and/or controversial circumstances and with the four “avoidance” goals listed above, I’ll bet most communication experts would advise straight talk.

With his blunt and humorous response in The New York Times, Dick Cavett has stirred excellent commentary from Bert Decker and others. Bet Bob Sutton, Mark Halperin, Arch Lustberg, Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, and Dan and Chip Heath would concur.

For one thing, not speaking clearly and compellingly means your opponents' comments may become even more memorable in contrast. Rep. Ackerman noted, for example, that Petraeus was “pushing rocks uphill.”

The Art of Naming: How to Make it Positively Stand Out

Who “blew” it? How ironic. The widely reported prediction today, that Microsoft’s linchpin product is “in danger of collapsing,” comes on the heels of criticism for the corporate giant naming a beta product the “Blews.” Not a sunny Vista (sorry I couldn’t help myself) but a double whammy to give Microsoft the blues, again. The next irony? Blews is billed as the next step beyond “typical news-aggregation sites” to help readers of political blogs, “see the view from the other side.”

Are you about to name your new group, product, program, company, cause, or service? Worse yet, is a committee involved in crafting the name? If you are changing a well-known name, why? Refurbished image? Re-naming after a merger? From some adept naming pros, here’s some tips that may save you some public embarrassment or financial grief.

Success story: This spring, “a 16-year-old company that sells air to ground telecommunications equipment to airlines, will launch a broadband wireless service for twitchy airplane passengers who need their Internet fix at 40,000 feet.” Gleeful Igor, a firm here in my small village of Sausalito put an apt name on the new service: Aircell.

Per Igor, a great name can:
• achieve separation from your competitors, reinforced, if possible, by a secondary meaning
• demonstrate to the world that you are different and unforgettable
• reinforce a unique positioning platform
• create positive and lasting engagement with your audience
• propel itself through the world on its own, becoming a no-cost, self-sustaining PR vehicle
• provide a deep well of marketing and advertising images
• be the genesis of a brand that rises above the goods and services you provide
• completely dominate a category

To set the right context for your brainstorming on a name, here's some criteria and ten questions to answer, from WriteExpress:
1. Who are my consumers?
2. What am I naming?
3. What type of a name do I want?
4. How long should the name be?
5. Do the sounds in the name have the right appeal?
6. What associations should the name evoke?
7. What are the foreign language implications of the name? Some clearly are.
8. How should I test the name?
9. How will the name appear in directories?
10. Can I trademark the name?

I'd add, will it lend itself to line extensions, such as Riverbed, with a product line Steelhead.

In each of ten categories of company names, brainstorm by your self and with others for several names in each area, provided by The Name Inspector, Christopher Johnson. Note the pros and cons in each category. Even if you aren’t seeking a name for your firm, these categories will help prime your creative “naming” pump.

1. Real words
Examples: Apple, Wink, Pandora,Gather

2. Compounds
Examples: Bubbleshare, Tailrank, Jumpcut, LaborFair

3. Phrases
Examples: StumbleUpon, Alltop, LinkedIn, DoorOne, Spoon Me 9double meaning there)

4. Blends or fusions
Examples: Technorati, Wikipedia, Brandscendence

5. Tweaked words
Examples: iPhone, eSnips

6. Affixed words
Examples: Dogster, PostSecret

7. Made up or obscure origin
Examples: Odeo, Spanx, Bebo, Zimbra

8. Puns
Examples: Farecast, LicketyShip, Tongue Fu, Consumating

9. People’s names (real or fictitious)
Examples: Ning, Bix, KikoKiko
Though witty to some, the Slate + Ben & Jerry’s “Yes, Pecan” campaign is another reminder: know ALL parts of your "market". Yet it did generate a heap of publicity.

10. Initials and acronyms
Examples: Guba, AOL

11. Whimsical or down right strange
Examples: Qoosa, TagTooga, Tandango and Fandango

12. Learn from past successes.
Examples: AltaVista is Spanish for high view.
Mozilla Foundation is a combination of Mosaic-Killer and Godzilla.

13. Use the right letter(s)
Examples: Want to sound high-tech? Go for lots of Z's and X's, such as Xanax, Xalatan, Zyban and Zostrix.
Want to sound poetic? Try Lyrica, Truvada and Femara. That’s what Indianapolis Star reporter, John Russell learned. Yet Guy Kawasaki (and I) adamantly disagree.

Now that you have some prospective names, review each, considering the criteria suggested by Intuit’s Laura Messerschmitt, writing at Biznik:

Is the name:
• memorable and distinctively different?
• easily spelled and pronounced?

Does it:
• suggest the products and services you offer?
• distinguish you from the competition?
• have the potential to be appropriate for new products and services you may offer later on?

Want to discover more on the anatomy of crafting a positively memorable name?

Now what's some of your favorite names for firms, products, non-profits, causes, services, or...?

See the Basketball Lesson in Observation You’ll Not Forget

My favorite journalism professor in college staged an experiment in our class to teach the same lesson as this basketball “dance” provides. It changed how I view what happens around me in my work and my life. Not surprisingly a dear classmate from those days sent this link. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - and acting things out does make one remember more. Watching this related game makes me recognize that I have not mastered the lesson. Sometimes it pays to just enjoy being startled.

Thank you Daniel J. Simons and Viscog Productions for making it available for us to view.

What Happens When People Can See You Speak

... and More Than 3.8 Million Do?

As of today, that's how many YouTube viewers have watched Barack Obama's much-discussed speech on race relations. Four million saw him give the speech live.

Images, real€ or modified, can change the power equation in a presidential campaign. They can also alter how people perceive you. Elections, career advancement, perceived choices, personal and product reputations - all can be altered faster and more widely than any time in our past.

Motion Pictures Move Us More Than "Just" Words, Research Shows.

Free, widely available and easy access to video scenes sets emotionally-charged opinions in motion more than "€œjust"€ the words we Twitter, text message, email or write for the Internet. Whether it is video clips of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's radical sermons or "misstatements" by Senator Clinton about ducking sniper shots in Bosnia, long ago or recent pasts can come back to haunt one, and not just individuals who know they are in the public eye. Hint: make sure the people you involve in acts of support do, in fact, support you.

What to Do When You A€™re Behind the Eight Ball.

There'€™s a tip in negotiations that, if you feel you are not getting your fair share of the pie, make a bigger pie. That can be done by involving more people in the negotiation and gaining their support before your opponents reach them - or even know that they are now involved. Obama has benefited from this several times in this presidential campaign as many apolitical and/or "€œundecideds" €have gone online and watched the speeches, interviews, informational interactions with crowds and the spoofs and fan and opponent-created mash-ups of real video to distort a situation or personality. Hint: inspiration, celebrities, parody, quirkiness and other humor attract crowds.

We have unavoidable transparency in more of our companies, countries and personal conduct. That'€™s not news to you, I a€™m sure. Yet I continue to be in awe of the gathering speed with which technology is enabling someone, even with no money or constituency, (but with a captivating scene or message) can race to the top of our collective minds.

Get Reputation Insurance for Yourself.

Be proactive. You can't stop people from talking about you, but you can increase the chances of discovering what they say sooner. Don't just look once but check regularly for what people are saying about you, your organization and the people who most matter to you. Check several places, using at least google and google images and clusty. Set up google alerts to automatically get news when the people and organization that affect your life are mentioned on line. Now this seems obvious to many of you, I a€™m sure, yet I spoke at two conferences this year where attendees were well-educated and the median income was at least $150,000 - yet only a small minority of people were aware of these basics in reputation protection. Where else do you check?

How What You Hear, See or Feel Affects What You Think or Do

This persusion technique probably won’t work on hormonally-hit teenagers (sorry weary parents) yet you could try it on spouses, co-workers or customers. Suppose, for example, you’re tired of the dirty cups in the office coffee nook. Try spraying the air with a lemony scent reminiscent of a cleaning agent. When those sloppy colleagues smell it they are more likely to tidy up. That’s what several psychologists have discovered, including Jonathan Haidt, Henk Aarts, Aaron Kay and John A. Bargh.

It’s called priming. We are unaware of it happening to us. It affects your attention, memories, performance and relationships. It is prompting one towards something, for example taking a certain action, such as cleaning up the nook, or holding a certain opinion. As Yale students who’d volunteered to be part of a study were sent, one-by-one, down a hallway to the study they passed a lab assistant in the hallway.

As the assistant’s hands were full, holding a clipboard, textbooks, papers and a cup of either hot or iced coffee, he asked each student for a hand with the cup. A few minutes later the students read about a fictional person then ranked that individual on a range from warm, thoughtful and social to cold, selfish and less social. You guessed it. Those who’d held the cup of hot coffee were more likely to rank that individual more positively than the students who’d held the iced java. They were “primed” to do so. Bargh and Robert Wyer relate this effect to “the automaticity of everyday life.” As you’ve anticipated, priming can prompt “good” and “bad” behavior.

Read more here.

Don’t Let That Reporter Catch You Off-Guard

When conservative radio talk show host Glenn’s Beck’s "butt surgery" was featured on You Tube, the media, bloggers and a wild assortment of pundits had a field day covering it.

Are you ready if someone does something stupid at your organization? What if a fired worker tells a reporter lies about your organization or an accident or act of violence or other kind of harm happens on your site - or your product fails badly? And that's just the short list of possibilities in our new normal world where bad news travels faster, farther and in more directions than ever before.

Here’s my brief primer, tips from Chris Thomas for crisis planning - and Kami’s suggestions to get vital messages out quickly, using social media. Such planning may have saved lives at Virginia Tech.

Consider reading these short articles BEFORE a crisis hits. Don’t wait to be caught like a deer in headlights when people turn to you for guidance – or you pick up the phone to hear that reporter bluntly ask for your response.

Keep your people as safe as you can - and your organization’s reputation protected. Who knows? You may be the hero who gets a career boost.

Snarky Battle Up to This Showdown Day

“When you throw mud you get dirty”, Adlai Stevenson once said. See some of the most-discussed recent political video vignettes plus Jon Stewart’s commentary on Hillary’s increasingly sharp attacks and Barack’s “passive aggressive” responses. Stewart suggests that they get in the same room and shout it out – yet the battle is for votes today, this Super Tuesday, so a private battle won’t happen. And how have the vicious spoofs and gushy and celebrity-laced tributes affected our perceptions of candidates - and their backers? Stick to the points of difference, not the personalities when people are more drawn to the personal battle? Do you think negative campaigning works?

How do you behave when criticized and where does it get you with others who are watching?

P.S. Attacks appear to be working, at least in one state.

Offer What the Media Needs to Cover Your Story

Want to become your kind of media’s favorite subject matter expert?

Read ten tips with links to real life examples to become catnip for that media to quote you. Thank you Nancy Schwartz for this pithy, spot-on top ten list. Although Nancy is writing for those who run non-profits the suggestions work just as well for any business, government agency, special activity group, club, professional association or soloist. As a former journalist I heartily agree with her approach.

I’d add these suggestions:

• Provide an online list of the kinds of timely and timeless stories where your expertise could be helpful.

• Make your contact information for the media very easy to find throughout your web site, blog, online social network or other kind of Internet presence.

• Make a guarantee as to how swiftly you will respond to someone working under deadline.

• Provide a captioned album of photographs, graphs, diagrams and other images from the activities and other background on your topic. (My addition to tip number two.)

• Provide a list of related organizations and other resources so you become the “go to” site for your category of media coverage.

Intrigued? Then read her excellent suggestions to “Make the Most of Media Queries” and “Make it Easy for Online Readers to Spread the Word.”

Don’t Start Your Speech With a Joke

Why? Your audience does not yet know you.

Give them time to grok you and to become enthralled with your message. As a former journalist who's given over 2,000 presentations I was impressed with the advice MIT professor Patrick Harry Winston gave at his annual presentation on "The Art of Speaking." Thanks to Cal Newport who took notes on his talk and my friend Ben Casnocha who followed up with his thoughts, you get some of the best advice I've ever heard on communicating to connect and be understood. What a great application of knowledge for a professor who teaches artificial intelligence.

Here are three of my favorites (from my research three is the magic number, the maximum that most people can retain, at one time, from a single talk or article):

1. Do provide an empowerment promise.
Explain why your audience will come away from the talk better than when they entered.

2. Describe the "almost" notions.
When explaining an idea, also describe other ideas that are close but not quite the same. This helps people understand the most vital points that define your central message.

3. One way to end a talk: with a joke.
They know you now. And if they leave happy they will assume the entire talk made them happy.