For years, we've heard "experts" advising us to be more like Apple CEO Steve Jobs when we take the stage.
In this interview for the Trafcom News Podcast, Shel Israel explains why you should not don a black mock turtleneck and try to emulate Jobs as a speaker.
Shel, the author of the new book Stellar Presentations, shares more insights about speaking and storytelling in this 26-minute podcast. Hop over to the Trafcom News Podcast site to hear the audio and read the show notes. And please feel free to leave a comment here!
If you want to create compelling content, I suggest that you focus on the reader, drop the big words and remember to tell stories. But if you’d rather alienate people and drive them away from your site, here are some tips for you.
Use big words. Never say use or start. Cart out the heavy hitters: utilize and commence. You wouldn’t want to sound human, after all.
Pack as much industry jargon into your prose as possible. You can really impress people with your stellar vocabulary.
Don’t share stories about people. Stick to publishing dry messages about technology and its myriad features.
Write all about you, you, you and not your customers and their needs. Be sure to tell us repeatedly that your company is the “world-class leading provider of single-source solutions of…”
Jealously guard your turf. Never link to anyone who could be construed as a competitor in your space. You want to keep all the attention on yourself, right? You wouldn’t want to build a network, would you?
What other tips can you share?
By the way, if you want to get better at creating content, check out this book: Write Like You Talk, Only Better, by my friend Barb Sawyers. Barb can help you write in a natural, flowing way.
Visit the Trafalgar Communications website for information about how we can help your organization to tell its story through traditional and new media.
Last week I spoke at my friend Joan Vinall-Cox’s Documentary Scripting class at the University of Toronto (Mississauga). In the Q&A session, I answered many of the students’ questions about podcasting, but there wasn’t time to cover everything. So I’ll be answering the remainder of their very thoughtful questions here on the blog over the next couple of weeks.
For reference, here is the slide deck I showed the students last week:
Question from Bethany R: In Trafcom News Podcast 100, you state that you read Ann Handley and C. C. Chapman’s book, Content Rules. Did you read it because of the interview with them? Or had you read it, liked it, and then decided your listeners would be interested in the content, and then did the interview?
I am also curious as to whether you three were all sitting in the same room. It sounds as if you are, but your show is based in Oakville, and they don’t live in Canada. If you’re not in the same room, how did you make the podcast?
Answer
I’ve done book-review podcasts in different ways. Sometimes I’ll read a book, enjoy it, and invite the author for a chat on the podcast. At other times, as in the situation with CC and Ann, I requested a review copy and then invited the authors for an interview. (Of course I also receive books unsolicited; I don't always review these.)
CC and Ann were both in the Boston area and I was in my studio in Oakville when we recorded the podcast. We spoke over Skype, and I used Call Recorder to capture the audio. I had to do some editing to clean up the sound. In the end, the quality was pretty good, eh? That’s the ideal for a podcast – to make it sound as though everyone is in the same room.
One of the laments I hear from colleagues is this: I have all this great content, but I can’t generate income from it. Or, they’d like to write a book, but don’t want to start from scratch, since they’ve already put their blood, sweat and tears into reams of articles, blog posts, podcasts and videos.
Well, my partner Dave Williams has a solution for this problem: Taking your existing content – whether you’re a speaker, writer, coach, consultant or whatever – and packaging it into an eBook format.
He’s not just talking about creating a flat, static PDF. Dave’s approach is different, because he helps people to add interactive links and multimedia to their eBooks.
In the latest edition of the Trafcom News Podcast, Barb Sawyers and I talk about storytelling within organizations. Barb is an IABC/Toronto member, writer, and author of Write Like You Talk – Only Better.
Do you ever hear leaders say: "We have no stories to tell in our company"? Or do you work with an organization that fears sharing the real story of a problem solved or a challenge overcome? Do your stories lack a compelling narrative? If you work in employee communications, perhaps you'll pick up some tips as Barb and I share some of the experiences we've had with organizational storytelling over the last 20+ years.
At the end of my webinar for IABC members this morning, I mentioned three books on storytelling. I confess that I am still reading them (yes, all three at once), but can recommend them just the same. I hope to do a review on one or more of these books soon. For now, here are the names of the three volumes:
Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story, by Peter Guber
The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling, by Anette SImmons
The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative, by Stephen Denning
If you have read any of these, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Finally, a book about social marketing for business (not just consumer) marketers!
Listen to Eric Schwartzman, co-author (with Paul Gillin) of Social Marketing to the Business Customer, talk about how business-to-business companies can use social media to listen to the market, generate leads and build client relationships.
On the Trafcom News Podcast blog you can read the show notes and listen to the podcast interview. Please let me know what you think!
If you’re in Canada, you’ve probably heard that The Best Laid Plans, the debut novel by Terry Fallis, has won the Canada Reads 2011 competition sponsored by the CBC. This is a Big Deal, and those of us who know Terry are absolutely delighted for him, and gratified that even more people will read his hilarious and touching political satire, thanks to all the attendant publicity. (By the way, the book has also won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour).
What you might not know was that Terry, like most first-time novelists, had a hard time finding a publisher initially. One of the tactics he used during this period was a podcast in which he read a chapter of his book each week.
I was one of the readers drawn in by this. In fact, I started to listen because Terry is a friend, but the podcast itself – and the way Terry told the story – compelled me to buy the book. (I’m one of those who listens to many podcasts as well as non-fiction books on my iPod and iPhone, but prefer the old-fashioned dead-tree format for novels.)
When I speak with authors, I always share the example of Terry’s success and his use of podcasting. Of course the fact that he freely shared his book with the world is not the sole secret to his success, but it was one of the ways in which he generated buzz about The Best Laid Plans in the early days, before he was snagged by a mainstream publisher and started winning awards.
In this interview with me, Jennifer Tribe of Highspot Inc. asks about ways in which authors and other experts can use podcasts and various audio products as marketing tools. Over 60 minutes, we discuss whether audio products might be a good fit; the tools needed to record, edit and host audio files; how to use show notes to generate search engine juice, and much more.
To learn more about Jennifer Tribe and Highspot, a company that helps business owners package, brand, and sell the intellectual capital related to their expertise, visit their website.
I would love to hear your comments about this interview!
Not too long ago, small businesses were at a terrible disadvantage when they wanted to implement information technology. Big companies had access to pricey software and other tools that the little guys just couldn’t reach.
Today, everything has changed. And in Phil Simon’s terrific book, The New Small, you can learn how small businesses can attain amazing success by using technology smartly.
What I like about Phil’s book is his clear and interesting way of writing, and his ability to avoid jargon and vagueness. Too many business books are wishy-washy when they share examples, but not Phil.
In the first section of The New Small, Phil outlines current technology trends and what he calls the five enablers: cloud computing, SaaS (software as a service), free and open source software, mobility, and social technologies (social media and social networking).
Then, in the meat of the book, he gives us detailed examples of how diverse small businesses have used technology to improve their internal processes and their relationships with customers, while boosting the bottom line. The case studies are really interesting, from Voices.com to Torrance Learning.
Of course we shouldn’t be surprised that Phil has produced such a useful book, because he makes a living by consulting with companies on how to optimize their use of technology, and speaking on this topic.
Phil is also the author of Why New Systems Fail and The Next Wave of Technologies, and he writes for a number of technology-oriented media outlets.
One more thing: Mitch Joel has written a blurb for the cover of The New Small, and Chris Brogan has penned the forward. Phil’s in good company.
“We don’t really have any stories to tell in our organization.”
“What could we possibly share in a blog or on Facebook or Twitter?”
“What would we talk about or show in a podcast or video?”
If you’ve ever uttered these phrases (or have heard your clients say them), then hop on over to the Trafcom News Podcast and listen to this interview with Ann Handley and CC Chapman, authors of the new book, Content Rules – highly recommended for every communicator and marketer. This is a book you will refer to again and again as you create content for blogs, podcasts, videos, ebooks, webinars and more.
