Archives for September 2010

The Zombie’s Brain

Posted on September 14, 2010 Written by

In a crisis, what you see is what you get.

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No, I am not making a trite statement about “it is what it is,” or about transparency. What you see is what you comprehend… what you understand… what you internalize.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the pieces you need for effective crisis communications, and I’ve been thinking even further about how inadequate most organizations are with regard to making the right impressions stick. I can look at your messaging and know what you meant for people to get. But how do you take that next step so the public at large truly feels and knows what you want them to remember? [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Communication Tagged: , , , , , ,

The Stories Pictures Will Tell (If You Just Listen)

Posted on September 10, 2010 Written by

(No audio today… this exercise doesn’t lend itself to it.)

Show me, don’t tell me. Nothing new about that.

What is new is the thinking about the effectiveness of showing instead of telling. We’ve fallen all over ourselves as communicators, adopting flip cameras and Flickr streams. Bandwidth is cheap, and it’s no longer cost-prohibitive to launch a barrage of high resolution photos and videos when you’re trying to get your message across. Yes, “pictures tell a thousand words,” but are they the right thousand?

Most of the time, we deploy pictures with almost no regard to the stories they might tell.

Tell Me What You See

This is an exercise in telling visual stories, and you are an active participant. I want you to spend a minute or so with each photo, and jot down what you think you might be able to figure out about Wesley. When you’re done, click to the next page.

(The links are below the Share The Knowledge icons)

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Filed Under: Communication, Personal Tagged: ,

Card Collectors

Posted on September 9, 2010 Written by

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My son brought a napkin home from school yesterday.

It had a phone number on it. (I’ve blurred out some digits to protect the innocent.)

The conversation that went along with it went something like this:

“Mommy, can we call my friend?”

Sure, dear… what is his name?

“I forgot.”

You don’t remember his name?

“No. Can you call him, and ask him his name?”

But I don’t know who to ask for.

“Just get him on the phone, and then let me talk with him.”

Maybe my boy is destined for a career in upper management? [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Marketing Tagged: , , , ,

Words of Mouth

Posted on September 8, 2010 Written by

I got my teeth cleaned today.

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Don’t worry, I won’t gross you out. There was no evidence of any major dental issues. I did have a little bit more plaque than normal, which I attribute to a change in toothpaste to a gel that doesn’t leave me feeling fresh. Also, there were a couple of spots where I had some abrasion, but nothing too serious. No additional pits or pains, and I’ll be back in six months for some annual x-rays.

Still, that was probably more detail than you wanted.

I talked with Lisa, my long-time hygienist. We were joking about the fact that the Alice In Chains song coming across the Muzak was out before some of the staff could even write their names – and that the songs now on Oldies formats are better than the crap they call music these days… [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Language Tagged: , , , ,

Dancing With Myself

Posted on September 3, 2010 Written by

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Mirror, Mirror, on the wall; Who’s the sharingest of them all? Let’s play a little game. I’ll describe an object, and you tell me what it is.

  • It has feathers
  • It is yellow
  • It has a beak
  • It has webbed feet
  • It’s cute
  • It’s not fully grown
  • It cannot yet fly

What would you say it is? [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Communication Tagged: , , , , ,
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