Jon DiPietro is Domesticating IT

Back in July, I read an article about an ad agency who wrote a blog post criticizing Zappos over their review process for proposals after theirs didn’t make the final cut. At first blush, this sounds like a story of sour grapes but in reality, it’s much worse. The crux of the argument was that only 5 of the agency’s 25 page proposal were ever reviewed by Zappos, which in their mind was unfair and disrespectful. But as far as I’m concerned, if you’re an ad agency who can’t hook your reader in the first five pages then you’re not very good at your job. So how can this be a lesson for us to more effective communicators?

#1 Own it

The most stunning aspect of this story to me was the shifting of blame from the agency’s failure to deliver a compelling message to the vendor’s laziness. The burden of communication falls on the author. Period. Whether you are crafting a proposal, writing an email, authoring a blog post or designing a presentation, you must take responsibility for crafting a message in such a way that it will engage the reader. Our information-overloaded society leaves precious little time for things that don’t add value. Be respectful of the reader and recognize that if only 20% of your proposal is read, then “It’s not you, it’s me.”

#2 Use catchy titles and subject lines

This may sound obvious but think for a moment about how much thought you really put into the subject line of an email or the title of a presentation. The first step in crafting an effective title or subject is to tell people what they will get out from reading your content. For example, instead of titling your proposal “New Conveyor System Proposal,” try something like “Improving Efficiency and Capacity With a New Conveying Approach.” The first title is pretty typical, but automatically puts your message at a disadvantage by sounding pedestrian at best and a little desperate at worst. The second title makes a promise right out of the gate and sets an expectation that the reader will have something to gain from reading the proposal.

The second step is to use strong, concise words. Try to use words that personalize subject matter, like “you” and “your.” Also think about trying to strike an emotional chord. These can include anger, sympathy, fear, etc… Words like “tips” and “hacks” are examples of words that are emotionally enticing by creating intrigue. Finally, (when applicable) consider the search engine implications of your titles by using keywords “early and often.” This means choosing relevant words that are used as search terms and placing them as early as possible in your title. Then, use them often in your post to reinforce the relevance of the keywords. Just keep in mind that this should not be done at the expense of the humans reading the title and content; keep it readable.

I know my idea is in there somewhere!

#3 Don’t bury the lead

I’ve read a number of articles that talk about the journalistic tactic of not burying the lead, which means make sure that the most interesting and/or important idea in an article appears early and isn’t “buried” within the story. However, one of the best I’ve read comes from Copyblogger and is titled “What a Bestselling Author Can Teach You About Hooking Your Readers.” This article describes Steven Pressfield’s the lesson of using an “inciting incident,” which he had learned from screenwriter Robert McKee.

Pressfield is quoted as follows:

McKee has given me (and thousands of others) so many valuable lessons, it’d be hard to pick one out, but here it is:

The ‘inciting incident.’ I had never heard this term or focused on this concept before taking his Story Structure class. I did it in my writing, but only on instinct; I had no idea what I was doing. Having that idea crystallized helped me tremendously.

I now ALWAYS ask myself, even in short blog posts, What is the inciting incident? What event or moment gets this story rolling? It’s been a huge help.

If you go back and read the first paragraph of this post, you can see that I used this technique by relating a short story and immediately presenting the central plot. If you’re still reading, I guess it worked!

Again, many of the examples and links I’ve provided address blogs, but the principles apply equally to any other content you’re generating – including (and perhaps especially) emails.

#4 Make it sticky

At the risk of appearing to be a shill for this book, I find myself repeating my recommendation to read the book “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Other Die.”  Assuming you’ve accomplished the first three steps, the final task is to make your idea(s) sticky, which is to say memorable.  ”Made to Stick” presents six principles that help make ideas stickier:

1. Simple (prioritized, not dumbed down)
2. Unexpected (violate a schema, then use curiosity gaps)
3. Concrete (use sensory language to hook into multiple types of memory)
4. Credible (from authorities and/or statistics and details)
5. Emotional (what’s in it for your or appeal to identity)
6. Stories (simulation and inspiration)

Being a successful communicator requires that you get readers interested, then hook them so they pay attention, and finally present a memorable message.  Have I missed anything?

Photo credits:
‘Crybaby’ courtesy of loneymops from Flickr (creative commons)
‘World’s Messiest Office Cubicle Discovered in Colorado’ courtesy of Jeffery Beall from Flickr (creative commons)

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PowerPoint doesn't kill people, bad presentations kill people.

I used to think I was pretty good at creating presentations. I took a business communications class in graduate school and learned the same old rules; limit your fonts, three to seven bullet points, don’t read your slides, blah blah blah. I withstood others’ horrible presentations, invisibly smirking and silently mocking the 250 word novels slides with their horrifying color schemes and monotone, stammering presenter.  I congratulated myself on not being “that guy.”  But the truth is that I was just as guilty of Really Bad PowerPoint as anyone else.

Then I read Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds and everything changed.  My goal in this blog post is nothing short of paying forward that same change, and so I’m using myself as a case study to show what my presentations used to look like, what they look like now, and what I aspire them to be in the future.

But before we go down that road, in case you’re dubious about whether or not really bad PowerPoint is a problem, here is a presentation that Guy Kawasaki put together that was used as the forward to Presentation Zen.

The Presenter As Storytellter

The number one lesson I’ve learned is that “slides do not a presentation make.”  Rather, they are simply a prop for the story you’re telling.  The following slide show contains a series of before and after shots from the same presentation, which I completely overhauled after reading Presentation Zen.  They illustrate the first major change; move the narrative off of the slides and into the oratory.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Once the presentation is transformed from a distraction to a storytelling prop, the burden of communication falls on the story itself.  Based on the recommendation in Presentation Zen, I also read “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die.”  This indispensable book presents six principles that make stories “sticky.”  It’s invaluable to crafting messages of all sorts, not just creating presentations.  Whether writing an email, composing a blog post, or crafting a memo outlining your thoughts on your organization’s next mission statement this book will help you do it more effectively and memorably.  These six principles can be represented by the acronym “SUCCESs”:

1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotions
6. Stories

The Presenter As Designer

Duh.  That’s the one word that best describes how I felt while reading Presentation Zen.  Reynolds eloquently and convincingly makes the case that design is important, poorly understood, and badly implemented (by and large).  Those were the “duh” moments, as I realized that those are all true and that I had never realized it or paid much attention previously.  But next came salvation, as basic design principles and techniques are presented that make it possible to learn how to improve design.  Imagine that – you can actually learn how to design!  Looking back, I can’t believe that design wasn’t part of the core curriculum for my engineering degree or any of the computer science tracks I’ve seen.  And now that we live in the age of Web 2.0 where we are all content producers, it seems to me that it should be required in all college programs.  But I digress.

Reynolds begins by stressing simplicity, balance, noise suppression, and space.  These are all related and as I look back on my old presentations it seems as though I was deliberately violating as many of these guidelines as possible on every slide.  Take the slide shown below, for example.  This is not simple at all; there are too many ideas at once and even the screen shot, while appropriate was still complex and distracting.  The layout is completely unbalanced and top-heavy.  The slide template is noisy with lines and the “ISA” logo implanted in the corner of every slide.  Finally, there is a small amount of empty space on the slide, but it is concentrated in one corner and looks more like something is missing.  They eye darts around this slide searching for meaning with no help provided from the design.

My personal design renaissance has begun with what Reynolds calls “The Big Four:” contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.  I’ll now provide examples from my own presentations on how I’ve implemented these principles.

This slide uses contrast in two different ways.  The first is the color contrast between the dark gray background and the pure white text. The words jump off the page in way that bullets never can.  The second use of contrast is the emphasis of the words “interesting” and “boring” by changing the font size. For some reason we seem to be afraid to make things BIG enough or bold enough.

One of the central themes of this particular presentation was the abundance of free tools available on the Internet in our Web 2.0 world. Therefore, I made use of design repetition by placing the “Free” price tag graphic element on eight consecutive slides in the exact same spot. I also made sure to emphasize this in my delivery by asking the audience to guess how much each solution cost. Of course, the answer was the same and the audio and visual repetition made sure that this point would be driven home. Plus, the audience had fun with it.

Alignment stresses the importance of making objects appear as if they were placed in a particular place deliberately, rather than simply thrown anywhere there was space available. This slide aligns the letters of an acronym quite deliberately to show their relationship. While this is a good example of alignment, I’m not sure it’s a great example of contrast, balance, or noise. I’m sure there is a better way to present this idea, so I will keep tinkering.

This title slide demonstrates the use of proximity.  The graphic and title are strongly related and so they are grouped together in close proximity.  My name, company, and position are also grouped together and separated from the title in order to distinguish and de-emphasize them.  You can also see elements of contrast and alignment in play here as well.

Photo credits:
“death-by-presentation” from HikingArtist.com on Flickr (Creative Commons)

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Weekly High Five lists the most interesting, compelling, and/or useful links of each week.

Well, because of the holidays this was a very slow news week!  Nevertheless, I’ve been able to assemble a list of interesting links, but with no particular theme.

#5: Average Net user now online 13 hours per week

From the “We Kinda Knew That Already” department, statistics show that 80% of adults spend some time online every week (excluding email) and that they spend an average of 13 hours there.   The most active demographic is 30 – 39 year olds.

Link: CNET

#4: Amazon Sold More Kindle Books Than Physical Books On Xmas

From the “Long Tail Pricing Model” department, Amazon continues to change the landscape of consumerism.  Much like recording artists are learning that (lower cost) online downloads are earning them more revenue than ever, authors may soon find out that they too can earn more money from higher volume sales of lower margin products.

Link: The Business Insider

#3: What a Bestselling Author Can Teach You
About Hooking Your Readers

From the “Better Communication Through Storytelling” department and on the heels of my recent post, “ABC: Always Be Collecting” comes this handy article that provides some insight on how to hook your readers.  I think this is applicable beyond the scope of blogging and can be leveraged in emails, memos, job postings, etc…

Link: Copyblogger

#2: 10 non-PowerPoint books that can help you create better presentations

From the “Coming Attractions” department, this post contains a list of books recommended by presentation revolutionary Garr Reynolds.  I’ll be publishing a very interesting post tomorrow about how dramatically my presentation style has been influence by his book “Presentation Zen.”  Be sure to check out all of the before and after screen shots that illustrate this step change by incorporating principles of design and storytelling.

Link: Presentation Zen

#1: Online Footprint Survey

From the “Shameless Self-promotion” department, I am asking readers to fill out this short survey about their online profile.  The winner will be announced on the Domesticating IT Facebook fan page.

Link: Survey Monkey

Feel free to provide your thoughts and/or contributions…

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Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations

I’m giving away a copy of one of my favorite books, Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody.”  In order to enter, you need to:

1. Fill out a short survey about your online profile and habits (be sure to leave your contact information in the last question).
2. Become a fan of Domesticating IT on Facebook and keep your eye open for the winner announcement.
3. Spread the word about the survey – a winner will only be chosen once 100 responses have been collected.

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Alec Baldwin's character colorfully presents his selling philosophy, "ABC: Always Be Closing."

Getting started with blogging and social media is intimidating to many.  It took me time to develop the confidence, skills, and habits that make it possible to deliver content on a regular basis. More than anything, it requires a 24/7 mindset that I call “ABC: Always Be Collecting,” which is a take on the fantastic movie Glengarry Glen Ross.

If you’ve never seen the movie, you can get a good sense of the plot from this seven minute clip of Baldwin’s passionate, insulting and obscenity-laced motivational speech.  Warning – there is some strong language in this scene.

“Always Be Collecting” means establishing a commitment and habit to always be thinking about collecting content for your blog, Tweets, and Facebook updates.  This mindset will only have limited effectiveness without a support structure.  I’ve included 4 tips to help you get going.

#1 Intelligence

I am not referring to the ability to comprehend, but rather the collecting of information.  For me, intelligence is the oxygen that fuels my content generation.  These are my intelligence gathering tools:

• Barnes & Noble: I read, read, read, read…
• Google Reader: I subscribe to 210 RSS feeds and have read over 11,000 articles in the last 30 days.  However, keep in mind that “read” is probably an overstatement and it’s more accurate to say that I “scanned” those articles, looking for interesting content and then reading, bookmarking, and sharing as appropriate.
• Twitter: More and more, people are using Twitter as a source of “pre-qualified” information.  Because you are presumably following people you trust and/or in which you’re interested, then it stands to reason that links they share will be of interest to you also.  It’s becoming a real time news echo chamber that helps me stay on top of the latest tech developments and trends.

This is a shot of a hotel room I stayed in for two weeks that is still in the "hopper" waiting for a hotel room rant post that is coming.

#2 Raw Materials

Words are the foundation of all online content, but pictures and video constitute the paint, carpeting, furniture, etc…  Throughout the course of the day, I am mindful to be collecting pictures, screenshots, and video that may eventually be used in a post somewhere.

My BlackBerry Bold smartphone is absolutely indispensable as a raw material collection tool, as it is something I always carry and can take pictures and videos that are of perfectly acceptable quality for online use.

I use TechSmith’s SnagIt as a screen capture tool for grabbing screen shots of programs and web pages that may come in handy later on.  I also use Camtasia Studio for authoring and editing screen casts.

#3 Total Consciousness

Content collection needs to become a habit, which requires you perform the action at least 21 times.  Here are some tips to help ensure you remember:

• Write down the habit you’re trying to establish and post it in as many places as possible.
• Schedule your content collection ahead of time.  Obviously, you can’t really schedule something like this, but if you can put calendar appointments on your phone, then at least you are getting regular reminders that will help keep you in that frame of mind.
• Reward yourself every time you come up with a new blog idea.
• Concentrate on consistency rather than results.  In other words, don’t worry if the content you’re collecting is not of the quality level you’d like it to be.  The most important thing is to keep developing the habit and mindset, which will eventually become a habit that will result in more “aha” moments and better quality stuff.

My blogging tools of the trade

#4 Be Prepared

Assuming you fuel the content machine, collect the raw materials, and develop the proper habits, the last piece of the puzzle is being prepared to trap and keep that content.  I’ve settled on a system that relies on two tools; the voice recorder feature of my phone and a Moleskine notebook.

If you’re as scatter-brained as I am (and even if you’re not), then a voice recorder is a non-negotiable, must have tool.  I finally grew tired of ideas zipping in and out of my head as often as Tiger Woods… well, you get the idea.  I’d been telling myself for quite some time that I need to pick up one of those small voice recorder devices when it occurred to me that my BlackBerry had one built into it.  Now, I’m in the habit of carrying my phone everywhere, including some places that may be construed as a “too much information” moment, because you never can tell when your next blog idea will strike.  I had three in row occur to me when I was shaving the other day, and quickly dictated them to the phone’s voice recorder.

Eventually, the random thoughts and musings get transcribed off of the phone and into my blog notebook.  This notebook contains a diary of ideas for articles that is actually starting to grow quite fat.  I am gradually picking up the pace of my posts as a result of growing confidence that I’m not going to run out of content any time soon.  They key is to build up a healthy backlog of articles that can smooth the peaks and fill in the valleys.

These are just my ideas – let’s hear about your tips and tricks.  I’m not sure I’d recommend Dogbert’s approach:

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