A Stronger Message
The “Back to Basics” Series
“A crazy person Says one thing, Does another and Believes something else. (Especially in Politics… but that’s another matter…) Sanity (and ethics) are usually described as the alignment of Thought, Word and Deed.” — Jennifer R. StJohn
Should text and graphics align with, support, and underscore each other? What about delivery? Should it really be neutral? Like a seated reading of the Periodic Table? Or should the presenter kick in some heat during the good parts?
Only if you want a stronger message…
In an ideal world, the text, the delivery, the visuals, and the intentionality of the presentation should support, underscore, emphasize, and reinforce each other…making for a stronger overall message.
But we’re sophisticated now, and industrialized. We have departments to create print media… with their own unique library of standalone messages. Then of course, we have galleries of text and number infested slides — with really complex evidentiary arguments… making it possible to pursue one argument on the screen while, at the same time, the speaker personally makes a different argument. Then of course, we support all that by giving out yet another argument (or a series of them) in the accompanying document, on the web and social media. Welcome to the “Modern Media Zoo!”
It’s almost as if the posters, the partisans, the highly regulated, the pharmaceutical advertisers (and of course, the politicians…) are working from a key assumption: That you are not paying attention to the fact that the images, the text, the hand-out materials, the person you’re listening to and their expressions and intentions — just don’t line up. The thinking goes that if they just keep talking, selling, showing — simultaneously on all channels, piling more sand into the over-filled bucket of your mind… That you’ll walk away with something, and maybe make a positive decision later on. That’s the thinking…
So. Is it working? Are you convinced? Are you buying? Or have all those attempts to sandbag you left you (like so many consumers of corporate and commercial communication) with a low grade distrust — or perhaps disgust?
You, however, are in a different business. You’re telling the truth. So isn’t the message stronger if the various communication channels reinforce and support one another? Truth requires no subterfuge. But it can usually benefit from a little reinforcement.
And don’t we weaken our argument if we allow our egos, our corporate structures or departmental pride to force us into creating separate and distinct messages and arguments for each communication channel? Aren’t we competing with, and talking over ourselves?
We hold with the Unifying Argument theory. “One Story! Many Voices!®”
Applications
1. For Yourself
It’s really difficult to stare down the horde of tools available today for building, ordering, screenshowing, analyzing, managing and packaging presentations. The temptation to try them all at once can be overwhelming! But that’s exactly the way you’ll leave your audience: overwhelmed and unconvinced.
2. At Home
Of course, the kids are there before you… So don’t try and take the lead on this. This might actually be a place to try that “Leading from Behind” thing… You can explain to your family that the secrets to reports, stories, presentations, debates, photography competitions, PTA discussions and home-based business promotions are: “Less Is More” and “One Story, Many Voices!®”
Let them proudly bring you the latest color story-telling exhibit for school, but you be the test audience and coach… “OK Dear, I get the story. But can you make it any simpler and more concise by doing fewer slides in the screen show?” (The path to Sainthood may be through at-home presentation coaching.)
3. At Work
Not too different in the office. It’s not a bad idea to have “all your ducks in a row.” But they don’t all have to make it to the “Show.” Think of the formal presentation as an “Indication of the Depth of Your Research.” Just don’t show it all! And everything you do decide to present should align with and underscore everything else!
Now, if you’re coordinating the communication effort for the firm (there is someone coordinating messaging for the firm, isn’t there?…), the challenge is to marshal the various departments so that the firm “Speaks with One Voice!”
“Fusion” is a great word for the objective of having what’s said in print, in person, on the phone and on the web and social media combine to create a single harmonious message….
Corporations, families and individuals can all end up sounding like crazy people — too many conflicting stories, tools and support docs!
The stronger message you’re looking for grows out of one basic strategy: “One Story, Many Voices!®”
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