
President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863. Some of the more powerful phrases he spoke that day still echo across the United States, even though his speech, at two minutes 46 seconds and only 272 words, was the shortest given that day. View a larger image
Image attributions vary, but visit Wikimedia for details and a fascinating history of this image.
Lists of tips for memorable presentations or memorable articles often include suggestions to tell stories, be engaging, use humor, and so on. This is all good advice. To that extensive list, I would add one item: give your audience what they'll need when they're telling someone else about your work. That is, support word-of-mouth about your content.
Most Something magical happens when you create
your work with word-of-mouth in mindcreators who make conscious efforts to support word-of-mouth about what they create do so as an add-on, after the creative work is largely complete. But something magical happens when you create the work with word-of-mouth in mind. This post contains suggestions for doing exactly that. For example, the first suggestion below is to "Focus on what's most important," and avoid trying to do too much. It's advice that's a bit easier to follow when you remember that your auditors can repeat to others only what they can remember. With all this in mind, here are some concrete suggestions for supporting word-of-mouth.
- Focus on what's most important
- Trying to do too much makes all of it less memorable. A list of seven or eight items is about all anyone can handle. (No need to count mine; it's in the title)
- Structure your recommendations as lists
- Lists make it easier to use mnemonic techniques, which help you as you deliver presentations. And lists help your audience and readers as they try to recall your material, or relay it to colleagues and associates who ask, "What was that talk/article about?"
- Exploit the List Length Effect
- There is experimental evidence that as the number of items in a list increases, the probability of correctly recalling or recognizing an item decreases. [Kinnell & Dennis 2011] This is yet another reason to focus on what's most important.
- Exploit the Word Length Effect
- There is experimental evidence that as word length increases, the probability of correctly recalling the word decreases. In general, memory performance degrades as the word complexity increases. And as word familiarity declines, recall performance also does.
- Be strategic about rhyming and alliteration
- Rhyming and alliteration can be particularly effective if not forced. For example, Tuckman's sequence of stages of small group development is described as "forming, storming, norming, performing." [Tuckman 1965] Tuckman himself attributed the popularity of his model, in part, to this device, writing that the terms, "…probably account for [the 1965] paper's popularity," and, "…quotability may be the key to success." [Tuckman 1984]
- Invent a novel Acronym
- An acronym is formed from the first letters of the words of a phrase to make a pronounceable (though not necessarily real) word. Example: NASA for National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
- Invent a novel acrostic
- An acrostic is a word composition consisting of an ordered list of (sometimes) sentences, or (more often) phrases. The first letter or phoneme of each element, sequentially, forms a memorable name, phrase, or sentence. Unlike acronyms, the ordered list is usually coherent, and the word formed from the ordered list is usually relevant to it. More at LitCharts.com
Last words
Brevity and simplicity are essential. If the mnemonic device you adopt is longer or more complicated than the material you're trying to make memorable, remembering the material is easier than remembering the device. Brevity makes you more quotable; simplicity makes you more understandable. So, when someone asks you what this article was about, what will you say? Top
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Related articles
More articles on Effective Communication at Work:
Exasperation Generators: Irrelevant Detail
- When people relate stories at work, what seems important to one person can feel irrelevant to someone
else. Being subjected to one irrelevant detail after another can be as exasperating as being told repeatedly
to get to the point. How can we find a balance?
When the Answer Isn't the Point: II
- Sometimes, when we ask questions, we're more interested in eliciting behavior from the person questioned,
rather than answers. Here's Part II of a set of techniques questioners use when the answer to the question
wasn't the point of asking.
What Is Hypophora?
- Hypophora is a rhetorical device that enables its users to deliver simple messages with enhanced power.
But it has a dark side. The people who read or hear those messages tend to assess them as having more
merit than they do.
They Don't Reply to My Email
- Ever have the experience of sending an email message to someone, asking for information or approval
or whatever, and then waiting for a response that comes only too late? Maybe your correspondent is an
evil loser, but maybe not. Maybe the problem is in your message.
When You Feel Attacked
- Verbal attacks might be upsetting, but in creative conflicts they're usually permissible if related
to substantive matters. When verbal attacks are personal, they can be unfair and illegitimate. The ability
to recenter yourself quickly is invaluable.
See also Effective Communication at Work for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
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- Earned Value Management, widely used approach to project management, is most useful in contexts in which estimators are familiar with the Tasks, the Technologies, and the Teams. But even then, it is vulnerable to the tactics of those who game the metrics. Available here and by RSS on August 20.
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