Last week we discussed the first few lessons that can be gleaned from Dan and Chip Heath’s Made to Stick, a book on how to make ideas stickier. We talked about the importance of making your ideas as concrete and concise as possible, as well as the benefit of violating our predisposed schema to come to unexpected conclusions. Today we’ll move on to the next two components that the Heath brothers say make an idea stick: concreteness and credibility.
Harness the Senses
The authors begin by discussing how concrete images found in fables have resulted in their lasting influence, helping their messages persist throughout centuries. The big bad wolf chasing after little red riding hood, the wolf threatening the three little piggies: “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!” These images don’t leave the reader’s mind easily because they deal in concretes, in tangibles. We can easily visualize fables, and thus we remember them.
“Language is often abstract,” the authors write. “But life is not abstract.” This is a great sound bite to keep in mind when crafting a presentation. Be careful that you’re not overdosing your audience on abstraction when you speak. Life is concrete and physical; it’s real and malleable. “If you can examine something with your senses, it’s concrete,” write the Heath brothers. Adjust your language so that it engages the audience’s senses. Paint a picture in their minds. Be detailed and descriptive.
The authors cite case studies as an effective way to learn because they turn the learning process into an experience, an actual scenario grounded in reality. Focus your presentation on the tangible and your audience will be much more likely to remember.
Be Aware of the Curse
One of the most interesting musings in Made to Stick is the authors’ discussion of the Curse of Knowledge, which we discussed in full last week in a guest blog post for SlideRocket. It occurs when an individual becomes knowledgeable about something and from then on cannot imagine what it’s like to be without that knowledge. This leads to a disconnect between expert and novice– think of the sometimes fraught doctor/patient, lawyer/plaintiff relationship. As the Heath brothers aptly say, a chess expert wants to discuss strategies, not how bishops move diagonally.
The dreaded Curse of Knowledge is something of an inevitable affliction, and while it’s difficult to avoid altogether, it can be counteracted with simple awareness. The authors recommend finding a universal language that everyone speaks fluently. This is especially important when giving a presentation. One of the easiest ways to lose an audience is by speaking at a level beyond their understanding, and if your presentation is chockfull of abstractions and intellections you’re going to do just that.
As the authors write, “We forget that other people don’t know what we know,” so a simple awareness of the different levels of expertise in the room is important. Keep things grounded in concretes as much as possible to avoid the inflicting the confusion and sometimes, the resentment that comes from the Curse of Knowledge.
Seeing is Believing
The authors mention experts and celebrities as two types of people who add credibility to something. Experts because well, they are experts in the subject, and celebrities because we want to be like them, so we trust what they say. But there’s also a third, more compelling person who adds credibility: the anti-authority, also known as a real, average person.
A great example of the anti-authority is a person who has been a smoker all her life and now has various illnesses as a result. Seeing her on an anti-smoking commercial is powerful because it’s extremely credible: This is what happens when you smoke. Think of Jared and Subway; the campaign was highly successful because Jared is a real person who lost hundreds of pounds by eating Subway sandwiches. Honesty and trustworthiness are what matters. Audiences believe and remember these stories because they are human and they are grounded in reality.
Credibility is essential to delivering an effective presentation. The audience must trust you and believe in what you have to say for any of your presentation’s meaning to stick. Expert opinions and testimonials from average Joes are excellent ways to nuance and strengthen your presentation while at the same time lending credibility to your presentation.
