Book Freak 119: How to Make People Care About What You Say
In this issue: four pieces of advice from Made to Stick, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Focus on prompting curiosity in your audience instead of solely conveying information
“To make our communications more effective, we need to shift our thinking from ‘What information do I need to convey?’ to "What questions do I want my audience to ask?”
Highlight the uncommon aspects of your message to ensure retention
“If I already intuitively ‘get’ what you're trying to tell me, why should I obsess about remembering it? The danger, of course, is that what sounds like common sense often isn't. It's your job, as a communicator, to expose the parts of your message that are uncommon sense.”
Embrace the unexpected journey to create a sense of mystery and engagement
“Mystery is created not from an unexpected moment but from an unexpected journey. We know where we’re headed—we want to solve the mystery—but we’re not sure how we’ll get there.”
Use storytelling to involve your audience
“The way you deliver a message to them is a cue to how they should react. If you make an argument, you’re implicitly asking them to evaluate your argument—judge it, debate it, criticize it — and then argue back, at least in their minds. But with a story, Denning argues, you engage the audience — you are involving people with the idea, asking them to participate with you.”
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