The problem with the panel.
TECHColumbus Marketing Technology Panel. September 7, 2011
Let me thank the panelists from last week’s Women and Marketing event at TECHColumbus: Joan Manter, Nancy Bohman, Amy Marshall and Padma Sastry. I won’t repeat the content of the panel discussion since Nancy has a wonderful recap on her blog.
But what I do want to explore for a moment is the notion of the panel as a presentation format.
Yes, it may seem hypocritical that I’m in the photo above moderating last week’s panel and now want to question its veracity.
The reality is when I accepted the invitation, I insisted that we all gather to map out a ‘panel plan.’ And indeed, I made good on my promise and helped them wrestled a narrow topic presented in the form of five thought-provoking questions that each of us would answer. While unstated to the group, my goals in facilitating this plan were:
a. Do not have any replicating content, i.e., we each need to say something worthwhile and different;
b. Find a quality example (story, anecdote) to illuminate the ‘answers to the questions,’ i.e., give what we say a fighting chance to be remembered;
c. End on time, i.e. if we are remembered for anything, don’t make people blame us for being late to work.
So, interestingly enough, I believe the general goals from TECHColumbus in having the panel were to:
a. explore a topic that would attract an interesting group of women
b. showcase some industry experts on their turf
c. facilitate networking
All really noble goals.
But therein lies the problem with the panel, in general. It is not designed with the very broad audience in mind. At least the audience as a person listening to content. Trying to decide what is important. Who is credible. What they should take back to their desks and repeat to their colleagues. In between three cups of morning coffee. Rather, it is designed with the audience as a person who wants to network and be seen.
I visited Wikipedia a while ago on a whim looking for insight. My hypotheses was correct (for once). The “panel” was created as a listening tool, not a talking one. As in panel of judges, listening to a case.
You can see from Wikipedia’s list of purposes that a panel serves, none of them center on inviting a group of people who don’t know each other to sit together and talk to others who are there to listen. It is usually the other way around.
I asked someone at our local discussion forum which I admire greatly, Columbus Metropolitan Club, once, why do you have panels? And his candid response was: it helps to drive a crowd. If there are experts on the panel with whom people can affiliate, then there will be attendance. Fair enough.
But I’ll say it out loud. As an presentation format, I’m not a big fan of the panel. Tough for panelists to get connected, coordinated and in a good flow; tough for the audience to follow, comprehend and be impacted.
As a tool for resonating an idea, creating buzz, telling a true story, transferring knowledge or even evoking one emotion, don’t look to the panel.
As a tool to market your organization, gain some awareness, or as a vehicle for networking, sign it up.
No CommentsHow was your summer?
In our Influential Storytelling class at ar.tic.u.la.tion, we apply critical thinking methodologies to help properly frame a story. So on our summer family vacation a week ago, I thought I’d test the logic with my 7 year old daughter. What better story to practice than “what I did this summer,” knowing she’d be quizzed upon returning to school in a few days.
We found some post it notes at our cabin (lucky us) and brainstormed every memorable summer moment. After coming up with 40 points, I suggested we try to group them in 3 themes. We came up with four different grouping options:
One set were grouped by who participated in the moments with her and her brother – us, her sitter or others.
Another group was where they did them- at home, in town, or out of town.
A third was by old things, new things and things to repeat.
The last was by activity type – sitting down, standing up or in a pool!
Before you claim I’m a horrible parent for inflicting such a rigorous overlay to my daughter’s outstanding summer, she called uncle and stopped it as it was “boring.” And it was.
We hadn’t gotten to how to weave in the great visual support for any example – such as of learning to play tee ball, learning about Cleopatra in Cincinnati, building a train with her brother in the basement art space, or watching movies outdoors at the local park. For a seven year old, the fun was in the examples, not the story structure. Fair enough for a girl still on vacation.
The point is that she won’t have time or space to report all 40 activities when she answers the question. Ideally, she’d have a great narrative rooted in three general groups that revealed a supporting example- and illustrated succinctly why her summer was so awesome. Of course I don’t expect her (yet) to understand this, but by the time our official Storytelling Class closes each time, our clients certainly should.
So, tell me, how was your summer?
No CommentsWhat’s your hook?
Late last year when we started paying close attention to good opening hooks, we started noting those TED talks that had particularly good ones. In this 3 minute video we produced below, we’ve spliced out 6 really notable ones, and what we consider a represenative sample of the different types of hooks you can deploy. From self-deprecating and provocative to extremely unexpected and wholly unrealistic (can you tell which one that is?), you might be inspired to try a different approach in your next talk.
See which one grab you best?
Great Opening Hooks from Articulation on Vimeo.
No CommentsHook ’em.
Everyone has their pet peeves. I have my pet loves. Among them, really awesome opening hooks. As in, how do you grab your audience from the first words out of your mouth. That means, ‘Thank you for having me,” or,
“I’m here to discuss an idea…” are no where to be heard.
This week at TEDGlobal, among the 12 or so talks that I got to hear live (via our TEDxLive@Columbus livestream), two grabbed me:
Pamela Meyer’s talk on Lies. She opened by accusing essentially everyone in the audience of being a liar: “The person to the right of you is a liar. The person to the left of you is a liar. And the person sitting in your seat is a liar.” (paraphrased since the talk is not published yet. I’ll link it here when it is.)
Aside from an artfully chosen opening, her talk continued the same engaging cadence, weaving story and fact, detail and reason. Not to mention, she provided some great tips on how to spot a liar (hence the name of her book, Lie Spotting).
Now, if we believed in the rules of PERP (the sequence that helps audiences overcome the communication bias — Point, Example, Reason, Point), the next TEDTalk by Tim Harford, also a TEDGlobal speaker this week, violates them. We aren’t exactly sure what his point is since he starts with his example, and he risks losing the audience by not sharing where he’s headed at the start.
But it matters not.
His opening hook story and his engaging storytelling style keeps you rapt to want to know more. And in particular, how he’s going to weave it into a poignancy to which we’ll relate and want to hear more. Watch it here:
Lesson is: Make sure you have your opening hook planned carefully. Usually I suggest writing it last after the rest of your talk is complete. Those nervous jitters can lock you down for the first few minutes of any talk — which is when you need to be most engaged and captivating.
No CommentsTALKBACK: Irene Navitadad
Talkback is an occasional series of review of live talks we’ve attended.
I’ve been listening to speeches the last few months with an eye to “the story.” You know, the example you give that transports you to a place with real sound, smell, taste and an example you can most assuredly repeat. That relatable moment that says I want you to care. And I want you to root for my message.
Yesterday, I went to lunch to hear Jane Goodall. She expectedly talked about reforestation, roots, shoots, chimps, apes, conservation – and waitressing to make enough money to take the boat to Africa to live her dream. Every word was rich with visuals, emotions and passion. She was sweetly elegant and so personable too.
But obviously, that’s not when I was craving a story.
Last night I went with an open mind to an event for women in economic leadership to hear what Irene Navitadad‘s story was going to be. She’s the President of the Global Summit of Women. I like the organization and was invited by a friend, but I really was hoping for a knock out talk.
During her 25 minute keynote at the “WELD KEYNOTE EVENT” focused on the status of women and where they land on corporate boards, in elected positions and what place women have at the table — the reality is, she told one repeatable story.
And it was about a man.
By all accounts, she was a very energized speaker. Great presence. Good delivery. Nice connection with the audience and seemingly a very approachable, real human. That is important toward the ‘believability’ factor of any talk.
But at a dinner event with 500 attendees, of the five slides she showed, four were (small) charts and graphs. Data from all over the world. Data I wasn’t sure what to do with in my life here in Columbus.
She did have one photo she started with – of a bunch of women opening the stock exchange in Madrid. By all accounts, it was a story to give her credibility to talk about everything else. But it really wasn’t a story. It was a proof point that she was doing her job well in getting women in great photo ops in places of influence.
I wish I had counted how many facts she shared. They were eloquent facts, indeed. But oh dear, after my 2 glasses of wine, I couldn’t remember one from the next.
So during the Q & A she shared the story of how former CEO of HP Lew Platt‘s wife died and he wanted to be involved in the raising of his children. He had to make unexpected sacrifices to his schedule and consequently, started to change the culture at HP to support other parents who were also raising children. I presume, since she chose to tell the story, that it became a model for many other corporations to follow.
Her point in a roundabout way was that unless women are in positions of influence, policies impacting women and families won’t be affected. She attempted to connect issues of better governance, tighter run meetings (and on time) and maybe another point – but I can’t remember one because I wasn’t transported to the ‘so what’ moment that is best answered with a great story.
So it may be ironic that when the woman that comes to talk to a group of 500 women about women’s place in the world ends up talking about a man.
Now that’s a story I will remember.
1 CommentOne Keynote, Five Parts.
Experience Columbus, our travel and tourism bureau, invited articulation to help curate their “keynote address” for their annual meeting. These five dynamic people pictured above ended up being the participants in what became a ‘fam tour’ — five short stories that wove a larger story about how Columbus is a great destination for tourism and travel — told like they may share it with a reporter who was visiting Columbus. Dare I say, we had a phenomenal experience working each story so that it was true to their own personal perspectives but working as a larger unit for the audience to follow and enjoy.
Many thanks to Christina Getachew, Kamal Boulous, Joe Santry, Jeni Britton and Nannette Macijeunes for their fantastic cooperation and even more outstanding deliveries. Some of you were hesitant, nervous and reluctant — but in the end, everyone really embraced the theater in the round, the teleprompters and headsets like it’s a part of your every day job. Bravo!
Christina Getachew as seen on the projection screen at the Experience Columbus luncheon.
Live from the Desert.
Palm Springs, the TED staff held a special workshop day for TEDx organizers. I gave a brief presentation on speaker preparation to my peers andEveryone needs a story
So she sat looking suspicious at me from the middle of the room. I was pretty sure she didn’t ‘buy’ what I was selling about the need to have your own signature story. After all, this is a group of highly motivated, intelligent and soon to be MBA’s from the Fisher College of Business.
There it came. “I don’t see any reason why anyone else needs to know our story,” she blurted out after seeing two colleagues get up and recite what they thought were each other’s “signature” stories.
I wanted to reply, “What do you have to hide?” But instead, posed the question back to the group. The answers I got were expected: So someone can refer you, so people know what you don’t want to do, so you can have a reputation in the field of your choice, and so on. I suspect her question was rooted in a disdain for people knowing her personal life. But we all have different stories about ourselves, and the one I tell about my tennis career or being a mom rarely comes out when I’m coaching or teaching public speaking, presentations or storytelling. It isn’t relevant.
But it was reinforced to me, in this Leadership and Professional Development Program class that I was teaching on Storytelling, that not everyone is comfortable telling their story – even if they want to.
That was evidenced later in the class by a young woman of Asian decent who was distraught. She wanted to share her story and her great achievements, but her culture, she explained, held her back. After a few minutes of explaining the different ways of overcoming that barrier, she found some freedom in being able to talk about the problems she’d solve, not just the trophies she’d won. She honored me with a blog post reflecting on this experience, and I’d like to honor her for being wholehearted, knowing she was vulnerable but had some interesting things to share. That, to me, was a great story in and of itself.
No CommentsA new governor, MBA students and a homeless guy.
Yesterday I attended the 69th inauguration of a governor in Ohio, this time for Gov. John Kasich. His personal brand is immutable: he’s driven by a higher force, is fiercely devoted to his family, and is determined to not let special interests get in the way of fixing Ohio (we have a $10 billion deficit). His inauguration speech was a true extension of his convictions, telling small visual vignettes along the way that make his larger message memorable.
OSU Fisher College of Business – MBA Personal Branding Seminar from Articulation on Vimeo.
This comes comes on the heels of a half-day workshop I attended two days ago at the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University: A personal branding workshop for the first-year MBA students. Instructor and Innovation maven Mike Bills conducted this seminar to help assure that these students thought hard about what was their driving force, passions and characteristics so that when it comes down to selling themselves for a job, they aren’t just ‘speaking to the spec’ but really sharing what’s fueling their fire. (In February I get the privilege of teaching the follow-up seminar on bridging your brand to your story for these talented students).
And last week in Columbus, we had the international spotlight blazing in our faces over a homeless guy with a golden voice named Ted Williams. A neighbor and Dispatch photographer Doral Chenoweth videotaped him at the side of a freeway sharing his deep, amazingly trained voice talent – only after stopping because the sign on the cardboard sheath read: “I have a golden voice.” Within a day he was being flown to appear on the Today Show and has job offers out of the woodwork.
On the surface, they all have nothing in common. The MBA students live here but many aren’t residents. Ted Williams couldn’t even prove last week that he was indeed a resident of Ohio. And yet John Kasich is not our most famous resident — as his inaugural address was indeed heard about 99% less than the Ted Williams video on Youtube.
But they have one important common bond: a personal brand that is expressed through a very unique story or narrative. Just to know what you like and what you want to do is one thing. To know how to bridge it into compelling ‘proof points,’ as Mike Bills would say or ‘defense’ as my collegue Wendy Hardman would claim is different. How do you extract the most critical examples that allow visualization and distinctiveness in your brand is what will be remembered.
So do you know your story? And better yet, can you tell it?
No Comments