• is the audience filter dependent on
  • Their previous experiences? (Filters)
  • MBTI - ???

Describe

• What is needed in order to efficiently, primarily in writing
  • How to provide a focused communication so that the audience can get the information a quickly as possible.

• getting ideas to paper

• MBTI: Meyer-Briggs ??

• Top 10 Ways to Communicate Powerfully!
• Ash10: 15 minute presentation including Q&A by Joey Asher
• Good ideas grow on paper
• Gal10: The presentation secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo
• Edutopia Webinar - How the Brain Learns Best: Strategies to Make Learning Stick
• Audience, Relevance, and Search: Targeting Web Audiences with Relevant Content

1. What is the purpose
2. What is in it for the audience
3. Define the audience

• Make the sentences understandable as they are read; so that the sentence doesn't have to be read multiple times or slow down the reader.
• One idea per sentence
  • Due to the director.

Your standard paragraphs should have four to seven sentences.

The introductory sentence introduces the main idea or topic. Two to five sentences form the body and should explain the idea introduced in sentence one.

The final sentence concludes your thought by reiterating the original topic and the ideas presented in the body(Mat04, c7).

• Sentence 1: Introduce the main idea/topic
• Sentence 2-(n-1): explain the idea/topic.
• Sentence n: concludes your thought by reiterating the original topic and the ideas presented in the body

• For the "Why?" Learner: Explain the benefits and purp+ose of the information you’re teaching.
• For the "What?" Learner: Develop an outline and provide documentation.
• For the "How Does It Work?" Learner: Provide plenty of hands-on experience and discuss the big picture relationships.
• For the "What If?" Learner: Be prepared to discuss the possibilities.

• 10 writing hooks

Writing Class Notes: Beginning Hooks - Strategies to use to catch your reader's attention

• Begin with a simile or a metaphor.
  • My life has been a carnival. My family is like an open book.
• Begin with a question.
  • Who is the greatest athlete of all times?
• Begin with a definition.
  • Amiable is the best way to describe my personality: I am friendly and caring. Perfect is the best adjective to describe me: I am flawless in every aspect of my life.
• Begin with a quotation.
  • "Learn to laugh" is something my kindergarten teacher told me after Ralph Thorsen spilled paint on my daffodil picture.
• Begin with a comparison to a well-known person or celebrity.
  • I am as photogenic as Tyra Banks.
• Begin with placing yourself in the future.
  • In the year 2012 I see myself as a supreme ballerina performing in Camelot at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
• Begin with a dilemma.
  • Deciding to attend Hampton Roads Academy, a private school, was one of my most difficult decisions.
• Begin with a scene.
  • The day of my birth began with Hurricane Charlie pounding at our door in Charleston, South Carolina.
• Begin with the best advice you have ever received.
  • "Butch, did you practice the piano?" Since I was six years old, this has been a daily reminder from my dear mother. "Be all you can be" has been my inspiration from my grandfather who is a retired Marine Corps colonel and my mentor.
• Begin with an anecdote.
  • As my cousin and I pedaled our new bikes to the beach, 6 years old, suntanned and young, we met an old, shaggy-haired man weaving unsteadily on a battered old bike.

• Images are far more memorable than words alone, and make learning much more effective.
  • (up to 89 percent improvement in recall and transfer studies).
• It also makes things more understandable.
• Put the words within or near the graphics they relate to, rather than on the bottom or on another page, and learners will be up to twice as likely to solve problems related to the content.

• In recent studies, students performed up to 40 percent better on post-learning tests if the content spoke directly to the reader, using a first-person, conversational style rather than taking a formal tone.
• Tell stories instead of lecturing.
• Use casual language.
• Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Which would you pay more attention to: a stimulating dinner party companion, or a lecture?

In other words, unless you actively flex your neurons, nothing much happens in your head.

• A reader has to be motivated, engaged, curious, and inspired to solve problems, draw conclusions, and generate new knowledge.
• And for that, you need
  • challenges,
  • exercises,
  • thought-provoking questions,
  • and activities that involve both sides of the brain
  • and multiple senses.

We’ve all had the "I really want to learn this but I can’t stay awake past page one" experience.

Your brain pays attention to things that are

• out of the ordinary,
• interesting,
• strange,
• eye-catching,
• unexpected.

Learning a new, tough, technical topic doesn’t have to be boring. Your brain will learn much more quickly if it’s not.

We now know that your ability to remember something is largely dependent on its emotional content.

• You remember what you care about.
• You remember when you feel something.
  • No, we’re not talking heart-wrenching stories about a boy and his dog.
  • We’re talking emotions like
    • surprise
    • curiosity
    • fun
    • "what the...?"
    • the feeling of "I Rule!" that comes when you
      • solve a puzzle,
      • learn something everybody else thinks is hard,
      • or realize you know something that "I’m more technical than thou" Bob from engineering doesn’t.

• express yourself efficiently
• how to write effectively
• writing concisely

• Tell me about how you learned how to do your last job.
• Who’s been most helpful in teaching you how to do your job(s) and what did they do that was so useful?
• Tell me about any examples of people who tried to teach you and it didn’t go very well.
• How do you typically use documentation to get yourself up to speed? Do you read every word, occasionally look for specific things, or generally not read much at all?
• If you’re learning a new tool or computer program, do you like to discuss the topic first, watch someone else do it, read about it, or try it out yourself first?

• The "Why?" learner wants to know why he cares;
  • Explain the benefits and purpose of the information you’re teaching.
• The "What" learner wants to know the facts;
  • Develop an outline and provide documentation.
• The "How does it work" learner wants everything in context, plus an opportunity to try it out;
  • Provide plenty of hands-on experience and discuss the big picture relationships.
• The "What If" learner wants to know how you decided to do the work in this specific way and if you’ve considered alternatives.
  • Be prepared to discuss the possibilities.
  • e-mailing the agenda as part of your meeting request, is excellent for "What If?" learners.
    • They’ll look at the agenda and e-mail you back with questions, such as, "Are you going to talk about x?"

If you’re already good at documentation, maybe you could leave more time to talk over the possibilities.

The more you can do to round out your teaching style, the less important learning styles will be

the tool that gives you the most support for rounding out your teaching style is the 5-Minute Meeting Plan.

• The order for a "What" learner:

  • Read - read the documentation
  • Show - watch someone do the work
  • Do - try to do the work yourself
  • Talk - Discuss the big picture, quality issues, best practices, and so on.

• The order for a "How" learner:

  • Show - watch someone do the work

• The order for a "Why" learner:

  • Talk? - Discuss the big picture, quality issues, best practices, and so on.

• be sure that you explain why you’re covering a topic before you start.

• offer documentation, or at least an outline, before you dive into new content.

• explain the big picture and provide hands-on practices.

• be ready to discuss the possibilities.

• Why should I care?
  • why learn this topic at this time.
  • why it is so important.
  • why should we focus on this versus all of the other input coming in.

Everyone benefits from knowing why they care about completing a task, so you’ll never do any damage by making this part of your repertoire, regardless of who you’re teaching. All adult learners seem to appreciate this information and it rarely takes much time.

Give a reason for the demonstration.

Some of your apprentices will have figured out how important it is to know why they care before they let you teach them. They’ll simply ask a few questions at the beginning. You can encourage these questions when they arise. This is the best scenario, because the apprentices can satisfy their needs and you can simply respond with answers.

"What do I need to know?"

• What?" learners just want the facts without a lot of fluff.

• Give them the information in the cleanest language possible for the best results.

• They need documentation or, at least, an outline or an agenda.

• They really like step-by-step processes.

• "What?" learners don’t do well if you’re winging it or talking without a plan.

  • They really appreciate being taught by people who are prepared and focused.

• What kind of a bridge is it?

• Is there anything I can read to be prepared?

• Where is it located?

• What is the plan?

• What are the steps?

• Is there a standard to follow?

• It is a good idea to offer any documentation as a matter of course.

  • Be sure that before you hand over anything in writing to this sort of learner, you provide a "warning label" for each piece.
    • areas to focus on
    • areas to read with some degree of caution (because they are somewhat out of date)
    • areas to avoid (because they are irrelevant or hopelessly out of date).
  • This warning is important because the "What?" learner will most likely read whatever he can find. You don’t want him to learn the wrong information.

"How Does It Work?" learners need to

• see the relationships between what they’re learning and the big picture.

• see the context relative to the workflow.

• get their hands dirty and practice the skills and ideas. For them, the information doesn’t line up in neat rows, it comes in connections to ideas and skills they already understand.

• Is it like the bridge we built last time?

• Is it going to be part of the state or national highway system?

• Are we replacing or rebuilding an existing structure?

• Who designed it?

• What kind of traffic is expected?

• Which contractors will join the project?

• What is driving the timeframe for finishing it?

How learners need context.

If you’re teaching "How Does It Work?" learners then you can use the "Explaining the Big Picture" from Chapter 3, "Focusing on the Most Important Information," to guide you.

Remember that these learners like to see the connections and put themselves "on the map."

"What If?" learners learn by testing your ideas while you’re teaching. Leave room for them to discuss some of the options you considered. They want to know if you’ve tried any of the ideas they might have come up with, and then, if you have, what happened.

they’re always poking around trying to find a better way of doing a task—even if there is a smooth, established way of doing that task.

• What if we built a ferry boat?
• Have you considered how much faster and cheaper a boat would be?
• What if we put two boats on line? Then we’d have double the capacity.
• What if we skipped Step 3 in the bridge-building process?
• What would happen if we put Step 2 before Step 1?

Each question is about understanding the boundaries and the options that were considered in shaping the information presented.

Sometimes the best ways to teach to this style of learner is to have an agenda or outline as a focusing tool. If your "What If?" learner asks a question in topic four that you know you’re going to address in topic eight, you can use this three-step technique:

1. Acknowledge the question: I am going to address your question.
2. State exactly where, specifically you’ll answer it: I’m going to talk about it in Step 8.
3. Give permission for the "What If?" learner to ask the question again: If I don’t answer your question in Step 8, will you please raise it again?

What if? learners ask to be put on challenging problems as a way of learning. Such learners do well with scenario-based questions: How could you improve this process? Or, how else could you use this tool? They like turning the problem around in their minds and considering all the ways it could be solved.

They can talk with you about their thinking, and you can guide them toward the right approach. Be sure to listen to their ideas along the way! They’re often very creative; you might just hear something that is an improvement.

• Che12: See What I mean by Kevin Cheng. 2012.
  • The graphics from the book:
• Other books:
  • Sketching the User Experience by Bill Buxton

• just talking is a bad way to describe an idea and often obscures its real essence.

  • You also need drawings, probably to spark the imagination.

• But Leonardo studies all these things—and he came up with new solutions to old problems every day.

  • Don't specialise, the broader your knowledge the more options you will have available.

• Guess what: it turns out that most great thinkers drew—even though we’re never taught that.

• Jack Kerouac wrote his first novel by drawing his concept out as a mandala.

• The idea is to use comics to storyboard a use case

• precede all the text. with a comic summary. also in FIPs and TRSs

• if you’re too good, you might just fool yourself into thinking your sketch is a deliverable. It’s not. The real value of sketching is that it allows you to explore and refine ideas in a quick, iterative, and visual manner with little overhead or learning curve(che12,l409).

• One added benefit to sketching your ideas is the ability to share, collaborate, and improve upon an idea(Che12,l412).

• Show a stakeholder the sketch and then encourage that person to mark it up. You can even give them the red pen and let them revel in the power!(Che12,l413)

• For larger projects, you might feel the need to create multiple comics that represent different personas and use cases(Che12,l770).

• The goal was to be representative, not comprehensive(Che12,l772).

(Che12,59)

• What is the story about
• Write the story
• Laying out the the story graphically
• Drawing and refining the story
  • Constraints will force you to select a handful of core ideas and then find the most concise way to explain them.
    • I’ve found that my process for writing a Tweet and fitting it within the constraints is the same process I use to reduce my story to a comic.
    • When I write a Tweet, I first write exactly what I’m trying to say without any editing.
    • then I think about what the truly important and salient points are that I’m trying to make.

• remove the text as you think about it.
• Remove unnecessary details
  • The first thing you can do is remove descriptions, adjectives, and other notes that aren’t important to the text.
    • which features can be excluded(Che12,l774)
      • Who is the product for, and who will be reading the comic. ( probably like the audience identification of SixSigma Products and white papers) Based on the identify what the audience needs in order to understand the story your are pitching...
      • What is in scope what is out of scope?
• Be direct
  • use the active voice.
• Combine points
  • If multiple points are highly related, why not combine them.
• Show, don't tell (if possible)

• By reducing the amount of detail in a drawing, you can encourage your reader to relate personally to what’s being presented.
  • You can draw a bridge that looks like a bridge, or you can make it very plainly the Golden Gate Bridge. When it’s just a bridge, the reader might associate a bridge they’re familiar with in their mind and thus create a more personal connection to your comic.
• you can also remove details by being symbolic instead of literal.
• you could use animals instead of people—like a talking rabbit or a hapless coyote.
  • In addition to being simplified drawings, though, they’re also abstracted by not being human characters. They’re not old or young, black or white. They are simply characters.
  • Nevertheless, they’re likely to feel a deeper connection to the characters because subconsciously they can apply their own experiences to fill in the abstractions.
• !!! You don’t have to use the same level of detail across the whole comic, either. By varying the detail of various elements, you can call attention to particular aspects and help guide the reader’s imagination.
• A common practice in manga is to draw a very detailed background with fairly simplistic characters.
  • The effect is twofold. First, the characters pop out of the detailed background, creating an effective contrast that guides the reader’s focus to the characters. Second, the detailed background makes the setting very clear while the character remains abstract, allowing for better reader-to-character
• immersion,
• A detailed background leaves no room for interpretation, but the character stands out with its lack of detail.
• We can also be deliberately vague when conveying user interfaces or processes in our comics.
  • Then we took the idea of simplification even further by removing the view of the screen entirely, as shown in Figure 2.8.
  • In the second iteration, the interface elements are hand-drawn, making the elements informal and even more concise.
• !!! Recognising how much to abstract away requires some amount of experimentation and practice. For the moment, simply remember the power that abstraction in comics gives you.
• What is perhaps more unexpected is how little one needs to show to convey meaningful facial expressions.

• What is perhaps more unexpected is how little one needs to show to convey meaningful facial expressions(Che12,l379).
  • It turns out you can illustrate emotions by modifying only the eyebrows and the mouth
    • Psychologist Paul Ekman is known for his work in categorizing expressions—in particular, facial expressions. He created a system called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) to categorize all the facial expressions possible(che12,l626)
      • Ekman also found that many expressions, such as anger, joy, and sadness, are universally understood and didn’t differ between cultures..
• When a person leans forward, it implies dominance, confidence, or intimidation. Leaning backward can communicate a need for distance, insecurity, or even fear.

• comic strip as: a group of cartoons in narrative sequence
• In Japan, comics are known as manga.
  • covering a wide variety of topics, including sports, fantasy, romance, business, and education.
• The New York Times recognised this trend by starting a Graphic Books Best Seller List
• Worth reading
• bound comic books are often referred to as graphic novels.
• Anatomy of a cartoon
  • Panel
    • Each of these boxes that contains the art and words is called a panel. The border itself is sometimes called the frame, but the two words end up being used interchangeably quite often.
    • A panel also isn’t necessarily rectangular in shape.
  • Gutter: The space between two or more panels is referred to as the gutter. It’s rare that anything goes here at all.
  • Dialog: characters’ mouths is referred to as dialogue.
    • A simple line is enough to show where the words are coming from, but if you want to add a bubble around it, these are called speech bubbles. If the dialogue or some other action is coming from somewhere outside of what’s visible in the panel, we call that off-panel.
  • caption: referring to the narrative text that typically resides near the top of the panel.
  • Motion lines: refer to lines that don’t actually represent anything physical but convey something moving
• Comics and Sequential Art.
• You can do a lot with just a little bit of theory.
• properties of comics here into four categories: communication, imagination, expression, and time.
• Hidden within comics is a universal language. That language is represented by iconic imagery, body language, and facial expressions that transcend words.

Che12,l505

• Communication: Comics are a universal form of communication, more easily understood and older than words.
• Imagination: You can abstract the unimportant details in a comic, encouraging the reader to focus on the areas of the story that are most important.
• Expression: By combining words with simple facial expressions and body gestures, comics can provide more meaning than either words or pictures.
• Time: The use of white space, panel size, and reference points provides many creative ways to express time in comics.

• The proportions of a human body can be measured as two head heights for the chest, one head height for the hips and groin area, and three head heights for the legs. The elbows should come just below the waist and the knees halfway along the legs(Che12,l579).
• One trick you can use to help figure out how a stick figure should look is imagining the emotion yourself(Che12,l608).
  • Never draw any action without taking the pose yourself. Even if you have a model to pose for you, you must get the feel of it first yourself(Che12,l728).
• Learn to exaggerate the action much more than would normally be probable in any figure. This is another secret of good cartooning (che12,l731)

• If you split the bottom half into thirds, you’ll roughly get the lines for the nose and the lips(Che12,l661).

• One trick you can use to help differentiate the background from the foreground is to use a thinner pen so that the foreground stands out(Che12,l714),

• How to Draw It is a fantastic website containing many tutorials on how to draw cartoons and animals(che12,l719).

The first question you need to answer for your audience: "Why should they care(Gal01)

Planning phase

• 1 - Mind map

  • 1.a - What is the subject
  • 1.b - What is the purpose, what do you want to achieve with the presentation
  • 1.c - Who is your audience
  • 1.d -What is the story

• 2 - Use a notepad or whiteboard to script your ideas for the presentation based on your initial proposition(?).

• 3 - What questions might the audience have throughout the process.

  • 3.a - Think of 10 to 15 questions.

• Possibly communicate using comics

Possibly use the Business Opportunity to introduce the presentation, to address the :"Why should I care"

Ash10

1. Prepare a seven-minute rifle shot presentation.
2. Allow listeners to fill in the blanks and raise objections with Q&A.
   • Answer audience objections well and you'll win them over.
3. Deliver the presentation with intensity.

• Your goal isn't to tell everything you did. It is to help your listeners with their lives.
• Start your presentation by putting your finger on the key issue or question that your audience cares about.
  • Then detail how you plan to help them with that issue.
    • Problem - Solution.
    • Challenge - Response.
    • Question - Answer.

Plan:

• The hook - 30 seconds.
  • If I were to ask my audience what worried them most about the topic I'm going to talk about, what would they say?
• The preview - 30 seconds.
  • What are my three takeaway 'bumper stickers?'
  • Bumper sticker means: The point should be no longer than six to eight words.
  • Assuming the audience will forget most of what you will say, these are the three things you want them to remember(Ash10,l312).
• The body of the presentation - 5 minutes.
  • The pattern to follow is to give a couple of sentences of explanation.
  • Then give some evidence in support of your points.
    • The evidence can be anecdotes, data, analogies, etc.
• The Recap - 30 seconds
  • Remind the listeners of the three key points.
  • Simply repeat them, don't get fancy, this is simply about driving home the key points.
• Call to action - 30 seconds
  • Tell the audience about the next step, theirs or you will take.
  • Give the audience a sense of direction.

• Each point can be no longer than two or three minutes.
  • To keep each point tight,
    • give a brief explanation.
    • Give some evidence.
    • Then stop.

To bring to life each point, imagine a conversation with a key listener. What would that person ask you about each point?

• answer those questions
• cite some evidence or examples in support of your answer.
• Then stop and move on to the next point.

Key takeaways:

1. Start with the point.
2. Tell the story chronologically.
3. Keep it tight.
4. Remind the audience of the point at the end.

• If you want to be a good speaker, you need stories.
• The art of telling a story is finding the right balance between the number of details and the length of the story.
• Remind the audience of the point at the end.
• Be specific in you stories, those details add authenticity and make the story more persuasive(Ash10,l458).
  • Don't be general.

• Good speakers always remember that listening is hard.
  • Capturing information and processing it.
  • Keeping all the points straight and figure out where all of it is going.
  • So put in plenty of signposts to always keep the listener oriented.
  • Example of signposts:
    • Hook to Three point preview: __I'm going to talk about three things today...'
    • Three point preview to Point 1: So let's talk about point 1, SUBJECT/ESSENCE OF POINT 1...
    • Point 1 to Point 2: So that's my first point. Now let's talk about my next major point, SUBJECT/ESSENCE OF POINT 2...
    • Point 2 to Point 3: So that's my second point. Now let's talk about the third point, SUBJECT/ESSENCE OF POINT 3...
    • Point 3 to Recap: So now, let's recap the/my three major points.
    • Recap to Close: So what is the next step?

Q&A allows the speaker to be focused on a few key messages and leave out the stuff that her judges to be less important. If the audience wants to hear about another issue, then can ask.

• When someone raises an objection, they're telling you, "I want to buy. But there is something that is in the way. If you can remove the objection, then I'll move closer to buying your idea."(Ash10,l579)

• Prepare 10 to 15 questions you think the audience might come up with.

  • Does anyone have any questions for the answers I've prepared?

• Good answers are tight(Sha10,l612).

  • If someone asks you the time, they don't usually want to know hot to build the entire watch.
  • You should start with the simple answer and then explain. Then stop(Ash10,l632).
  • Start with a tight one- or two-sentence answer. Give a little explanation. Stop.

• When someone asks a question, answer it immediately.

• If your listener asks a question, something's bother her.

• Taking questions leads to more questions -- and that's good.

• Getting back on track is easy

  • If the question is something you're going to address later, here's what you say: "Well I'm going to talk more about that later. But let me give you a quick answer..."
  • If the question takes you a little off track;
    • Answer the question fully.
    • The say: "And that leads me back to the X point I was going to make, ..."
      • Don't worry about whether it actually 'leads you back'. It is just a tool to help you control the conversation.

• Tell the audience what you expect.
  • I have 15 minutes with you. I'm going to leave half of that time for Q&A. So please jump in and ask questions, at any time.
• Repeatedly pause for questions
  • After each of you three points, pause and ask; "What questions do you have about this?" Then pause 5 to 10 seconds.
• Show your delight when someone asks questions
  • Smiling and showing your delight that the audience is participating.

• Make great eye contact and exaggerate.

  • To connect with an audience, you need to make great eye contact and speak with the same intensity that you bring to an animated dinner conversation(Ash10,l728).
  • What you thing is comfortable in terms of eye contact is probably not enough to give your listener a sense of connection(Ash10,l752).
  • Hold the eye contact three to five seconds before moving on.
  • To make great eye contact, work you way around the room by having random miniature conversations with the individuals.

• Your facial energy can communicate a great deal to your audience. Take your face out of park.

• Your arms and hands can add energy.

• Don't be afraid of intense gestures. They add energy.

• Rehearse out loud from beginning to end like it's a play. Then do it again and again until you're ready.

• Knowing the first two lines cold, helps you relax by getting you off to a good start at the beginning of your presentation(Ash10,l917).

[Gal10]

What to watch:

• Keynotes at Macworld Expo in 2007 and 2008

• iPod launch in 2001

• A Steve Jobs presentation is intended to create an experience

• There are no shortcuts to excellence.

• Structures like one of Job's favorite presentation metaphors: a three-act play.

• Jobs does not sell computers. He sells tools to unleash human potential.

  • Throughout your planning, ask yourself: "What am I really selling?"

• We all have passions that drive us.

  • The purpose of this book is to help you capture that passion and turn it into a story so mesmerizing that people will want to help you achieve your vision.

• The greatest product in the world will be useless without a strong brand evangelist to promote it.

• People do not pay attention to boring things.

  • Do not let your ideas die because you failed to present then in a way that sparked the imagination of your listeners.
  • Use Job's techniques to reach the hearts and minds of everyone you hope to influence.

This Gal10 book is split into:

• Act1: Create the story
• Act2: Deliver the Experience
• Act3: Refine and rehearse

• Director's Notes

  • Start planning before you open the presentation software.
    • Sketch ideas on paper or whiteboards.
  • Incorporate some, if not all, of the following nine elements to make your presentation come alive:
    • Headline
    • Passion statement
    • Three key messages
    • Analogies
    • Demonstrations
    • Partner showcase
    • Customer evidence
    • VideO clips
    • Props
    • The success of your presentation has everything to do with how you craft and deliver the story.

• Creating the story

  • The plot, is the first step to selling your ideas with power, persuasion, and charisma.

• Effective communicators

  • plan effectively,
  • develop compelling messages and headlines
  • make it easy for their listeners to follow the narrative
  • and introduce the common enemy to build the drama. (Is this like the charter thing where we talk about consequence if not done?)

• There's just something about paper and pen and sketching out rough ideas in the 'analog world' in the early stages that seems to lead to more clarity and better, more creative results when we finally get down to representing our ideas digitally.

• Duarte suggests that a presenter spend up to ninety hours to create an hour-long presentation that contains thirty slide.

• Bullets kill

  • texts and bullets are the least effective way to deliver information intended to be recalled and acted upon.

• Visually engaging presentations will inspire your audience.

• For the first day, we did nothing but sketch the story.

  • No computer and no powerpoint - just pen and paper.

• We needed only five slides for a fifteen-minute presentation.

• Once we wrote the narrative, designing the slides was easy.

  • Remember, it's the story, not the slides, that will capture the imagination of your audience.

• Writing -> Sketching -> Producing

  • Only after writing - scripting- the scenes does we start thinking about how the slides will look.
  • When you write a script first, you actually expand your visual possibilities
    • because writing defines your purpose before you start designing.
  • With a complete script in your hand, you'll be ready to sketch and produce the experience.
    • The script, however, must come first.

Slides don't tell stories; you do. Slides complement the story.

• Headline
  • What is the one big idea you want to leave with your audience?
    • write the headline as: subject-verb-object
  • Headlines grab the attention of your audience and give people a reason to listen.
• Passion statement
  • Steve Jobs exudes an almost giddy enthusiasm every time he presents.
  • Spend a few minutes developing a passion statement by filling in the following sentence: "I'm excited about this product/company/initiative/feature/... because it _________
    • Once you have created the passion statement, don't be bashful, share it.
• Three key messages
  • write out the three messages you want your audience to receive.
• Metaphors and analogies
  • As you develop key messages and supporting points, decide on which rhetorical devices will make your narrative more engaging.
    • According to Aristotle; metaphor is the most important thing by far.
  • Analogies are close cousins of metaphors and also are very effective.
    • An analogy is a comparison between two different things in order to highlight some area of similarity.
    • Analogies help us understand concepts that might be foreign to use.
      • The microprocessor is the brain of your computer.
  • When you find a strong analogy that works, stick with it and make it consistent across your presentations, websites, and marketing material.
• Demonstrations
  • Leopard had three new features, Jobs chose ten to discuss and demonstrate.
  • Instead of simply listing the features on a slide and explain them, he sat down and showed the audience how they worked.
    • He choose which features to highlight, why leave it to the media to decide which of the new features where mos compelling?
  • Does your product lend itself to a demonstration?
    • If so, script it into the presentation.
  • Your audience want to see, touch and experience your product or service.
  • Bring it to life.
• Partners
  • (did he bring partners in to prove that he is not the only one that thinks this great? or to give it more weight?)
  • Offering "customer evidence" or testimonials is an important part of the selling cycle.
    • Few customer want to be pioneers, especially when budgets are tight.
  • Successful product launches usually have several customers who were involved in the beta and who can vouch for the product.
• Customer evidence and third-party endorsements
  • Incorporate customer evidence into your pitch.
    • Including a quote is simple enough, but try going one step further by recording a short testimonial and embedding the video on your site and in your presentation.
    • Even better invite a customer to join you in person.
  • Always use third-party endorsements when available.
    • Word of mouth is one of the most effective marketing tools available.
• Video clips
  • Including video clips in your presentation will help you stand out.
  • you can show
    • Ads
    • Employee testimonials.
    • scenes of the product
    • people using the product.
    • customer endorsements
      • What could be more persuasive than hearing directly from as satisfied customer - if not in person, then through a short video clip embedded in your presentation?
  • Keep in min that the average viewed clip on you tube is 2.5 minutes.
    • Avoid clips that run much longer than two to three minutes.
  • e.g. "we realise that you probably have never visited a California strawberry field, so we decided to bring the farmers to you."
• Flip charts, props, and show-and-tell
  • There are three types of learners: [Editor: This is from NLP, this is the three way we anchor knowledge] There are four ways of learning...
    • visual (The majority of people fall into this category)
    • Auditory (listeners)
    • Kinesthetic (people who like to fee and touch)
  • Find ways to appeal to everyone.
  • A presentation should comprise more than just slides; Use:
    • Whiteboards
    • Flip charts or high tech flip chat - a tablet.
  • Bring "props" such as physical products for people to see, use and touch.
  • If you have a tangible product, find other ways outside of the slide deck to show it off.

The presentation software is not the main character in an effective presentation - the speaker is.

• You will win over your audience by spending more time creating the plot than producing the slides(,l438)
• Use a notepad or whiteboard to script your ideas.
  • It will help you visualize the story and simplify its components.
  • Jobs drew a very simple 2-by-2 grid on the whiteboard(for senior mgmt) accross the top he wrote Consumer + Professional and down the side Portable and Desktop.
  • Whether you plan best on a whiteboard, a yellow legal pad or post-it notes, spend time in analog before jumping to digital.
    • Your ultimate presentation will be far more interesting, engaging and relevant.

Aristotle's outline for persuasive arguments

1. Deliver a story or statement that arouses the audience's interest.
2. Pose a problem or question that has to be solved or answered.
3. Offer a solution to the problem you raised.
4. Describe specific benefits for adopting the course of action set forth in your solution.
5. Start a call to action.
   • For Steve, it's as simple as saying: "Now go out and buy one!"

Ref. [1] Writing white papers. Michael A. Stelzner

• 5-12 pages
• Educate as a top priority.
• Focus on benefits[/solutions] rather than features.
• Begin by addressing problems, challenges or needs, rather than the solution.
  • Is this to provide a common reference point, so that we all start at the same point???

• Clarify the topic.
• Identify the ideal reader.
  • Identify the primary and secondary audiences.
• Define the objective.
  • Educate, sell, inform, differentiate, introduce, etc.
  • What are the big issues, problems or needs that must be addressed in the paper.
• Develop an outline.
• Interview the experts.
  • Who are the key players that must be interviewed?
  • [Target audience, decision makers, and influencers???]
• Research.
• Write the first page first.
• Write the title.
  • First impressions matter. Create a relevant and compelling title that will invite readers to explore your efforts further.
  • Keep it simple and focus on the benefits the paper will bring your ideal reader.
• Write the core
• Writing the abstract:
• Hire an editor.

• Focus on the reader
• Leading with the problems the solution overcomes.
  • Focus on pain points experienced
  • Talk about the problems caused by the pains.
• The five basic elements of a white paper
  • Challenge, problem or need.
  • Solution.
  • Benefits of the solutions
  • List of considerations when examining a solution.
  • Specific advantages or product/service.

Some questions to ask[Ref. [7]]:

• Will this be a high-level overview?
• Should I focus on certain aspects?
• Will I be introducing the key benefits?
• Will I be portraying the positive or negative aspects [or possibly neutral]?
• From whose perspective should I be examining the topic: User, provider, …?

This is addressed in the Introduction.Purpose section.

Pinpoint the ideal reader to help develop the outline, mature the writing and keep discussion on track[Ref. [7]].

• What industry
• How big is the employing company?
• What is the readers title
• How technical is the reader
• What are the readers job responsibilities
• What is the reader’s general disposition (busy, actively researching, etc.)
• How old is the reader?
• How familiar is the topic to the ideal reader.

Submit ideal reader along with your outline for approval.

Generally described in the Introduction.Scope.Readers section.

For each stakeholder:

• Purpose (for the audience to read the information)
  • Awareness: here, they need generic information about how the technology category solves business problems.
  • Interest: Those who continue to explore the issues with deeper engagement into our content are therefore showing interest in a possible purchase.(Mat10)
  • Understanding/Insight: Understand the fundamentals of the subject.
  • Considerations: Here, they need detailed information that differentiates the various options by features, costs, benefits, and expected return on investment.(Mat10)
  • Purchase: users need information on whom to contact, what financing and other offers are available, and how to take advantage of those offers.(Mat10)
  • Support: Customers often need information on how to set up, use, optimize, and integrate the products they buy into a whole IT infrastructure.(Mat10)
  • Service: (Mat10)
• Size of the audience (how many)
• How technical is the audience (if this is a technical piece): Low/Medium/High
• Audience job responsibility: Executor/Influencer
• Audience disposition:
  • Wants tips
  • Wants facts
• How familiar is the audience expected to be with the subject: Low/Medium/High
  • (Expected prerequisites)
• Needs (What does the audience need)

If there is too big a difference between the primary(ideal) and secondary reader, then concider writing two papers.

For the secondary reader, go through the same questions as for the primary reader.

Describe in Introduction:Purpose.

Define the Overt goals and the Covert Goals. Be sure to check your work against the goals[Ref. [7]].

• Why do the white paper?
• What actions should the reader take as a result of reading the paper.
• What knowledge should the reader have after reading the white paper?
• Why should the reader, read the white paper, what’s in it for the reader.
• What is the take away message?

Ref(7,71) Contains:

• Motivation:
• Problem statement:
• Approach:
• Results:
• Conclusion:

Identify the top 3 to 5 issues related to the high-level problems[Ref. [7],41]. The problems section should address the challenges faced by your ideal reader when he or she does not have a solution similar to yours in place[Ref. [7]].

Introduce generic solutions before the specific solutions to remove the appearance of salesmanship[Ref. [7]].

First talk about virtualisation before talking about xen, kvm etc.

Discuss the benefits. The benefits should be directly related to the prolems you put forth.

Overview of important considerations.

• Market drivers
• Historical overview
• How it works
• Examples
• Tips/pitfalls
• Comparisons
• Features
  • Seldom belong to white papers, more use in e.g. brochures and data sheets.
• A new class of products.

Describe market trends[Ref. [7],38].

• Do the interviews in the same order as the outline.
• Space each interview, e.g. a couple of days, to allow time for the information to sink in, and to allow time for follow-up documentation to reach you from the expert.
• Max 90 minutes to avoid burnout of you and the expert.
• It is also possible to do group meetings.

1. Get a pre-approval of the outline.
2. Identify sources for the White Paper sections.
   • Problem
   • Solution 1..n
   • History
   • Market drivers
   • Advantages
3. Review existing documents.

• State duration of meeting.
• What you hope to achieve.
• Focus the participants
  • Brief overview of the ideal reader.
  • Topic
  • Objective
  • Review the relevant part of the outline.
• Go.

Bad question: Is a data backup plan important. Excellent question: What are the implications of not having a backup plan?

• Avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no.
• Very broad questions will return very broad responses.

Follow up questions if you question doesn’t spark

• Can you please elaborate?
• What are some examples?
• Why does that matter?
• What is the implication to our ideal reader?
• Can you say that another way?
• How would you explain that to a non-technical person?

If you do not fully understand the answer;

• tell the person how you understood the answer, [in your own words]: "So what I hear you saying is..."
• or ask: "Can you give me an example?"
• If too technical ask: "What are the benefits and implications of that?" [Ref. [7],55]

If you are going off track [Ref. [7],56]:

• "Can you explain that in terms the ideal reader of this paper would understand?"
• "Do you want that information in the white paper?"

Closing questions?

• Can you provide another example?
• Are there any last topics worth mentioning?
• Can you think of anything else?
• Are we forgetting anything important?

Remain silent and let the person answer.

• Identify the reader
  • Who will benefit from this paper, and how
• Summarize the challenge
  • Explain the key challenges
• Summarize the solution
• State the goal

If you have more than four paragraphs, it might need to be broken down, with e.g. subheadings[Ref. [7],140].

Try text extracts.

• In the left margin
• Or embedded in the text.
• Make it an original sentence that paraphrases a section of your white paper. Pg 141 on margins.

• Idea Killers

  • We tried that already
  • That never works
  • Would you like a pony?
  • Looks like ass
  • You’re fired
  • We will actively work against you
  • (Laughter)
  • Not in our budget
  • Not an interesting problem
  • We don’t have time
  • Execs will never go for it
  • Out of scope
  • But its the law
  • Too blue sky / Holy grail
  • This train is on fire
  • Wont make enough $$
  • Not in our business
  • Its Non performant (engineering)
  • What are you on?
  • Can we get someone with a brain in here?
  • That isn’t what people want
  • No response at all

• The conclusion is in the summary
• The most important first, so that the article could be cut at any point and it would only less important things that are cut.
  • Reverse trianle.

Coloumns:

• Skill/"Do statement"
  • Column 1 is the skill or task your apprentice needs to know how to do.
• Sequence
  • Column 2 is the sequence or order in which you’d suggest the apprentice learn the skills.
• Success measure/"Test" Be able to explain
  • Column 3 is the success metric or test questions that must be answered to prove that your apprentice "knows" the skill.
• Accomplish by (date)
  • Column 4 is the date by which your apprentice should be able to pass the test.
• Resources
  • Column 5 is the list of resources that are available to help your apprentice learn the information required to pass the test.

The apprentice should be able to explain the following:

• The top # vocabulary words
• The # steps in the process and why each is important
• The top # things that often go wrong
• The relationship between x and y (how it fits in the product or service cycle)
• How to troubleshoot the three most common problems
• The first # things to check when troubleshooting anything
• Who is/should be involved/affected/consulted and why
• How to identify and define a problem versus a crisis in this area
• How to escalate a problem or crisis in this area
• The # best practices for this topic
• Where to find resources (documents, people, samples, web sites, etc.)
• How to choose between x and y
• How quality is measured
• What standards exist and how rigorously they are applied
• How this skill is relevant to your job

• Developing a training plan starts with making a list of all the tasks your apprentice needs to learn how to do.
  • start by spending 10 minutes listing the 10 skills or tasks your apprentice needs to know how to do in the first few days.
  • Put them in sequential order in the left column of a table or spreadsheet.
  • Next, take out the menu of test questions from above and spend five minutes picking three to five questions for each skill that would give you a good indication of the apprentice’s competence.
  • Put either the text of the question itself or number from the menu in a second column.
  • Spend another five minutes and list the resources that are available to help your apprentice pass the test for each topic.
  • Put them in the last column.
  • Look at the list and make sure that each of the skills on the list is worded in such a way that you could send someone off to do it.
    • Remember that no competencies or characteristics, such as being a good communicator, belong on this list.
  • Finally, insert a date by which you want your apprentice to meet with you and answer the test questions in an informal, oral quiz
  • Save the table you’ve just created and have your apprentice add skills to it as they come up. # In this way the training plan will become more robust and useful for the next apprentice.
• You’re going to break the job into chunks of work that would take roughly one to three hours for you to explain.

Questions to ask when helping a mentor create the plan:

• What do you spend most of your time doing right now?
• What tools do you use and what do you do with them?
• What sorts of things do you do on a cyclical basis, weekly, monthly, and so on?
• What kinds of problems are you asked to solve?
  • What do you actually do when you set out to solve them?
• Are there mistakes that new people often make?
• Has anyone ever produced any documentation on this?

• In developing the list, start by thinking about the "tools" you use and what you do with them.
  • Make a list of all the tools you use and what you do with them.
  • Think through your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly tasks and make a list.
    • Both big and small, like; reviews, documents read, services provided etc.
    • Start with the things your apprentice needs to do first and keep building the list as time allows.
• Remember, you’re looking for chunks of skills or tasks that take about one to three hours for you to go over and teach.
  • Sometimes that will mean lumping a few ideas together.
  • Other times it will mean breaking the skill down into smaller chunks so teaching, and learning, is more manageable.
• If you have a written work plan, annual goals and objectives, or a current job description, reviewing them may trigger thinking about tasks and skills that need to be added to the list.
• Consider having a peer or your manager review this list and help you make sure it falls in line with expectations.
• If you work in an industrial setting, such as a professional kitchen or a manufacturing line, you can make a list of your physical tools and think about the things that your apprentice needs to be able to do with each tool.
  • Teaching kids to prepare food.
• every phrase starts with a verb that can be used to give direction
  • Measure, Select, Read, Create etc.

• Once you make the list of skills, then you have to think about how you’ll know that your apprentices have developed an appropriate level of competence in a particular area.
  • You need to know that they really "know" the task, not just that they can do the visible work.
  • The most common way that people measure learning is to have an apprentice actually do the task.
    • Though, The results are often unpredictable.
  • When you’re completely swamped and have very little time to train your apprentice, developing a test is even more important, because you don’t have time to monitor all of your apprentice’s work at every step.

• I use the word "test" because I literally want you to get in the habit of orally quizzing your apprentices on the information they’ve been learning, but I’m not suggesting you get carried away.
• Also note that if you can create the test before you try to teach, both you and your apprentice can focus on that information first.
  • This practice will allow you to "teach to the test,"
• examples
  • Do the skills on your list have acronyms or terms that an apprentice must understand from the beginning?
  • Is there a step-by-step process that you’ll teach? If so, are there reasons why each step is important? Are there consequences for missing that step?
  • Is there a work flow they need to know about?
  • Are there common problems to troubleshoot?
  • Could you explain three best practices for the topic?
• Pick a handful of questions that, if answered correctly, would allow your apprentice to prove that he has learned enough to be turned loose on the task.

• examples of resources
  • Other mentors
  • Classes offered internally or externally
  • Documentation (Be sure to give guidance on what sections of the documentation are current and reliable.)
  • Samples of other people’s work
  • Regulations, policies, standards, legal requirements, and so on

• Now you should begin to customize it specifically for the apprentice you’re working with right now.
  • working out the sequence in which he will develop the skills
  • the date by which you expect him to pass the test.
  • The two factors will vary depending on if you’re training someone who has some experience already and many other factors.

• What is your team’s mission or purpose? (What do we do that the larger organization can’t live without?)
• How does our work fit with the organization’s mission?
• Who are our internal and external customers? How do we prioritize our work for them?
• Who are our competitors (for both the organization overall as well as for the services we provide our internal customers)?
• What are the specific products or services we provide? (What would go on our brochure if we were selling our services internally, to other parts of the organization?)
• Where are we in the product or service cycle (just starting, in full production, or nearly finished)?
• How does the work flow for your job (what happens before and after the work is on your desk)?

1. Provide a reason for the demonstration.
2. Talk through the steps.
3. Demonstrate at a normal pace.
4. Demonstrate again and explain the logic behind each step.
5. Have your apprentice talk you through the steps.
6. Provide a practice.

The purpose is to make sure the knowledge is transferred from short term to long term memory.

A nod and a smile might just be the audiens' 'screen saver'

Ask open-ended questions at the

• Beginning: What do you already know about the topic?
• Middle: What did you hear me say?
• End: What are you going to do when you leave my office?

Instead of asking a question that has a yes or no answer, try a question that will get your apprentice talking a bit. I always start by thinking about my assumptions and asking a question that allows me to test them.

• Experienced employee: ask, "Tell me about your recent experience with (fill in the topic)."
• New employee with industry experience: ask, "Tell me about your experience with (fill in the topic)."
• New hire with no experience in the industry: ask, "Tell me about your experience with (fill in the topic)."

You’ll also give yourself, and your apprentice, a moment to push aside all the other information that you’re juggling and focus on the topic at hand.

The idea that you should ask questions to assess learning while you teach is the second most important concept I’ll cover in this entire book. (My choice for the most important concept is the training plan from Chapter 4, "Developing a Training Plan.")

The idea is to stop talking or demonstrating once in a while and ask a question to ensure that what you’ve been covering is making its way from your apprentice’s short-term memory to his or her long-term memory.

If you hear the sound of your own voice for 10 minutes straight, stop and ask for a paraphrase to ensure that your apprentice is learning.

• Hey, I’ve been talking awhile. Why don’t you read your notes back to me so I can make sure I’ve been clear?
• I’m going to give you a minute to talk me through those last few steps to make sure I’ve covered them clearly.
• Please explain back the main points you’ve heard me cover.

"OK, talk me through the steps to plant the tree and tell me why each step matters,"

Stop the transfer stream occasionally to allow the audience, 'to let it sink in':

• Turn off the fire hose before the bucket is full.
• Let the receiver(s) empty the bucket into the ocean.

Ask a question and let the audience think about it an answer.

I now not only make a point of warning people when I am going to "test" them (to relieve some of the discomfort), I make sure that I never back off of asking the questions. It really is the only way, not just the best and quickest way, to make sure people get it. I’m not only a trainer these days, I’m a consistent practitioner!

Why the apprentice appreciate it:

• When I’m asked a question, it tells me that the information must be important or my peer mentor wouldn’t be checking that I got it.
• It really helps me to know for sure that I learned it. Sometimes I think I did, but I’m not sure until I go through it again from my notes.
• I often find that I missed something. It is so much better to get that figured out before I cause any trouble!
• It is a lot easier to let the information sink in if I don’t have to do it while you’re endlessly giving me more information.
• Since I’m not a native English speaker, it makes it much easier to manage the translation in my head if you pause once in a while.
• It makes me feel like my mentors are really concerned that I learn the new information and I appreciate that support.

I'll stop and ask questions.

you’re asking the questions—to test whether or not the information you thought you delivered was, in fact, received by your apprentice. You’re checking the connections to make sure the wiring is working properly.

• Could you talk me through those last few steps?
• Why don’t you read your notes back to me to make sure I was clear?
• Before I go on, why don’t I let you go back over what I’ve just covered and explain it to me?
• Tell me what you heard me say. (I know, this doesn’t sound very friendly, but it is quick and efficient, and works perfectly because the apprentices have been warned. It isn’t a surprise.)
• Use the Test Questions from the Training Plan: Remember, you should also ask the assessment questions you picked out for the training plan in Chapter 4:

By the time you’ve warned your apprentice that you’ll ask for a paraphrase and then followed through with it three times, on the fourth round, something will change. You’ll deliver the content as before, but somewhere along the way, your apprentice will stop you and say, "Before you go on, let me stop a minute and tell you what I heard you say."

If you can make this happen, you’ll move the burden of ensuring that your apprentice is learning from your shoulders to his—and that is exactly where it belongs!

When you see your apprentice prepare to go, just stop and ask one of these open-ended questions:

• Before you go, could you talk me through your next steps?
• What are your action items from this meeting?
• What are you going to do when you leave my office?
  • The power of this last question is that you’re asking for a commitment.
  • When your apprentice answers, he will be setting a goal.
  • He will say, "I’m going to do something by a certain time." You should be able to depend on that.
• Do you have any comments for me? Would you mind walking through your action items so I know what to expect?

I strongly suggest that you write down your version of the three types of questions in Tool 7-1 and post them somewhere visible in your workstation so that you can reach for them every time you need them. Be sure you have

• one question for the beginning that helps you assess your apprentice’s experience;
• one for the middle that helps you assess what he has learned;
• and one for the end that helps you confirm what he’s going to do.

I’m going to need you to start by explaining the process, the vocabulary, the templates, and the expected outputs before you do anything else.

About every 10 minutes: Stop and say "Before I let you go on, I’d like to quickly go back over the notes I’ve taken to make sure I’ve got it all. Is that OK?"

Finally, you should always double-check your action items before you leave any mentoring situation. You have a responsibility to understand the expectations and to communicate your goals so you can always deliver consistently. Just say, "Here are my action items from this conversation. I’ll be doing "task" by "timeframe" and making sure it is well done by watching out for "quality measure."

From: Measuring Leadership Development Quantify Your Program’s Impact and ROI on Organizational Performance by Jack Phillips, Patricia Pulliam Phillips and Rebecca L. Ray McGraw-Hill (C) 2012

Determine the appropriate level of measurement for each program based on

• costs
• importance
• scope
• executive interest
• the future of the program.

• Level 1 evaluation measures students’ "reactions": Did they like the program? • Level 2 measures "learning": What and how much did they learn? • Level 3 measures "application": Are they applying what they learned on-the-job? • Level 4 measures "business impact": What was the learning effect on the organization? • Level 5 measures "return on investment" (ROI): Did the program make or save the company more money than it cost?

• Conduct
  • Level 1 evaluation on all programs;
    • participant feedback. Ask every trainee to complete a short survey after the course.
      • Do participants think the course is valuable?
      • Is the material relevant?
      • Are the instructors effective?
      • Do students think they will use what they learned?
      • Would they recommend the course?
      • How do they rate it?
    • analyze the information, share it with the right people and use it to improve programming.
  • Level 2 on about 80%;
    • measure how much knowledge students gained. Use pre- and post-training tests.
    • E.g: knowledge tests
  • Level 3 on 30%;
    • check how well people apply the information they learned on-the-job.
      • conduct focus groups or watch learners at work
  • Level 4 on 10%, Expensive, ongoing programs
    • determination of their effect on your organization
  • Level 5 on 5%.
    • Reserve a full ROI analysis
    • you may need attrition rates, absenteeism and productivity data, and performance-related costs

Understanding the Goal?:

documenting the course’s intended objectives. Link each course’s goals directly to a business priority. With a clear, predetermined understanding of every training session’s objectives, you’ll know the benchmark you’re trying to hit.

Prepare learners before and during the course to improve their future participation.

If you can’t obtain evaluation data, you must assume no improvement took place.

The opportunity statement defines the problem and the effect it has on the business.

The opportunity statement should address these questions:

• What is wrong or not working?
• Where and when does the problem occur?
• What is the extent of the problem?
• What is the impact on customers?
• What is the impact on employees?
• What is the impact on the business overall?
• Does addressing the problems make strategic sense?

An opportunity statement

• Is like a story telling, it must have an antagonist, the current state.
• Note that the opportunity statement does not mention causes or solutions.
• Must not contain the solution.
  • First off that is a spoiler
  • Second off it could hinder the SixSigma team from finding the right solution.

[I think these concepts below more are relevant for the charter as a whole.]

• For a commercial product, describe the market opportunity that exists and the market in which the product will be competing.(Wei03,51)
• For a corporate information system, describe the business problem that is being solved or the business process being improved, as well as the environment in which the system will be used.(Wei03,51)
• Include a comparative evaluation of existing products and potential solutions, indicating why the proposed product is attractive and the advantages it provides. (Wei03,51)
• Describe the problems that cannot currently be solved without the product.(Wei03,51)
• Show how it aligns with market trends, technology evolution, or corporate strategic directions.(Wei03,51)
• Include a brief description of any other technologies, processes, or resources required to provide a complete customer solution.(Wei03,51)

From: CharterPhase0

• State: (current state)
• Effect: (The effect of the current state)
• Desired state:
• Gain: What do we gain if/when we get to the desired state?

From: SixSigmaDmadvDefine The opportunity statement describes the current and desired states of the problem, clear, concise, and measurable terms.

It answers the question: "What is the pain?" (Git06, c4.4)

• Current state
  • What is the current state, relevant to the current project.
    • This is to introduce the reader to project. Put things in perspective.
      • Know where we are coming from in order to understand where we are going
• What has changed
  • objective being affected; The (main) objective(s), see 'Objective'
    • Measurable effect on objective: Data driven description.
    • What is wrong or not working? (WritingTheCharter)
• What could the consequences be
  • What is the consequence as a result of the change?
    • Where and when does the problem occur?(WritingTheCharter)
    • What is the extent of the problem?(WritingTheCharter)
• Consequence(if not changed)
  • What is the result if no changes:
    • What is the impact on customers?(WritingTheCharter)
    • What is the impact on employees?(WritingTheCharter)
    • What is the impact on the business overall?(WritingTheCharter)
• Desired state(what)
• When
• Gain at desired state
  • Result(why?):
    • Does addressing the problems make strategic sense?(WritingTheCharter)
      • [Isn't this part of the Business fit?]
    • What are the reasons for change? VOC/VOB Gaps? Are the reasons 'significant' enough to warrant major change? (OT)
    • It provides a high-level description of the issue and reasons why the project is a business priority.
      • Has the value of the benefits been quantified? * TODO V There is probably room for a SmartGoal? formulation here... (Desired state +when)

See FinancialMetrics

SixSigmaDmadvDefine

The product vision aligns all stakeholders in a common direction. The vision describes what the product is about and what it eventually could become(Wei03,48).

• For - target customer
• Who - statement of the need or opportunity
• The - product name
• Is - a product category
• That - key benefit, compelling reason to buy or use
• Unlike - [primary competitive alternative, current system, or current business process],(Wei03,53)
• Our product - [statement of primary differentiation and advantages of new product].(Wei03,53)

The Myths of Innovation (Scott Berkun)

• Pitching is for those that does not have the power to do on their own. You don’t pitch unless you need something from someone else.
  • where you need to pitch to get what you want, don’t mess it up by pretending you are in control. You’re not. You are asking, and if you want to get what you are asking for, you must prepare.
  • The act of bringing an idea to someone who has resources you need is called a pitch.
• The goal is to make it as easy as possible for someone to say yes, and that doesn’t happen all on its own.
• you’ll be presenting a possible solution
  • [Editor: Present the problem first...]
• encourage positive change to happen,
• the burden of developing a good pitch falls heavily on the creative person’s shoulders.

• All ideas demand change
• Even if your idea is undeniably brilliant, it will force someone, somewhere, to change something.
• Most people do not like change—they fear it. And the qualities of your idea that you find so appealing may be precisely what make your idea so difficult for others to accept.
  • (This I also came across in SixSigma somewhere...)
  • So, many people who have big ideas, surprised by outside resistance to their ideas,
  • put your great idea in front of someone who does not want change, you and your idea are at a disadvantage
  • be prepared to face the common kinds of rejections; see 'Idea killers' below.
• seeking out people interested in change, or who you know have a clear need or problem your idea can satisfy.
  • This was in one of the SixSigma books about early adopters.

• Idea Killers

  • We tried that already
  • That never works
  • Would you like a pony?
  • Looks like ass
  • You’re fired
  • We will actively work against you
  • (Laughter)
  • Not in our budget
  • Not an interesting problem
  • We don’t have time
  • Execs will never go for it
  • Out of scope
  • But its the law
  • Too blue sky / Holy grail
  • This train is on fire
  • Wont make enough $$
  • Not in our business
  • Its Non performant (engineering)
  • What are you on?
  • Can we get someone with a brain in here?
  • That isn’t what people want
  • No response at all

There is nothing special about getting "brilliant" ideas, what sets innovators apart from posers are the groundwork the innovators are willing to do.

• Think about why no one has executed on the idea before.
• Think about how the idea can be used, by whom and how it could be implemented.
  • Execution and delivery.
• Flesh out the concepts and difficult parts enough to demonstrate that the spirit of the idea is matching the specifics.
• Getting feedback on hunches, from friends, is ok.
• Answer the following questions
  • What problem does the idea solve?
  • Whose problem is this?
    • is it important to them?
    • Is there evidence that they would pay to have it solved?
  • What are the toughest challenges implied by the idea?
    • How will you solve each one?
  • Do you have a prototype, sample or demonstration (aka proof of concept)?
    • Of the remaining work, what is hardest to do?
  • Why are you the right person to solve this?
  • Why should our organisation give you money/support/time to work on this?

Big ideas require more changes to take place, and all things equal, this means the pitch must be more thorough.

First, assess the scope of your idea, from narrow to grand. Is it:

• A modification to something already in existence? [Edit: This looks like the SizSigma project thing]
• A new feature or enhancement to an existing product/website/-company?

; Name: Name of the task/project. ; Priority: Critical/Value-adding/Nice-to-have. ; Vision: Single statement to capture what needs to be achieved. (Good for the director and stage ready) ; Opportunity: Current situation, what has changed, what happens if nothing is done and what can be achived if changed is implemented. ; Depencencies: Any task that this task depends on. ; Needs: Any technical or knowledge needed to perform this task. ; Key objectives: 6Sigma cardinal objectives. ; Motive: ? ; Audience: Who is the audience/recipient of the result of the task. ; What: What is this task about? ; Benefits: ; Delivery: ; Possible owner: ; WBS: Work break down structure.

Git06,c4.4

• Current state - What is the current state, relevant to the current project.
  • This is to introduce the reader to project. Put things in perspective.
    • Know where we are coming from in order to understand where we are going
• What has changed - objective being affected; The (main) objective(s), see 'Objective'
  • Measurable effect on objective: Data driven description.
• What could the consequences be - What is the consequence as a result of the change?
  • Where and when does the problem occur?(WritingTheCharter)
  • What is the extent of the problem?(WritingTheCharter)
• Consequence(if not changed) - What is the result if no changes?
  • What is the impact on customers?(WritingTheCharter)
  • What is the impact on employees?(WritingTheCharter)
  • What is the impact on the business overall?(WritingTheCharter)
• Desired state(what):
• 'When:
• gain at desired state: Result(why?)

• Providing relevance for your target audience fuels your writing. It determines what you write, how you write, and how you design Web content to cue into Web users’ needs.

• More often than not, they will link to lower-level pages in your site—those that are most directly relevant to the points they are trying to make.

  • So this would mean that I would have to include both link to more details as well as links to higher abstractions In each topic.

• if you can develop relevant content for users who come to your pages from external sites, especially search engines, you can dramatically increase the overall relevance of your content for your visitors.

• The relevance of a statement, sentence, or fragment is determined by the context of the communication that surrounds it.

  • In oral contexts, this means that what was said prior to a statement in part determines the relevance of that statement.
  • In print contexts, the relevance of a sentence is determined by the sentences and paragraphs surrounding it.
  • And in Web contexts, the relevance of a piece of content is determined by the elements of the page on which it appears, and by how that page relates to other pages, both internal and external.
    • The page that referred a user to your page will give the user the strongest sense of your page’s relevance.
    • Something two clicks before your page will give a lesser sense, and so on.
  • The user, coming from a search engine, will land on your page cold. Unless your page can stand on its own for this kind of user, he or she will not find it relevant and will bounce off it.

• Develop your content to be relevant for users who land on your pages from search engines, and it will be relevant to the majority of your users.

• We define success as having a user land on a page that he or she deems relevant and then become engaged with that page—by clicking something.

• We define failure in terms of bounce: If a user bounces off a page within a few seconds, he or she finds the content irrelevant, and the page has failed.

• A user might land on a relevant page and bounce off because she had already consumed all the information on it.

• A page must be strongly relevant to a user to entice her to click one of its calls to action.

• Relevance:

  • 1 - A piece of content is relevant in a context to the extent that its contextual effects in the context are large.
    • A piece of content is relevant to the extent that it causes a large change in the audience.
  • 2 - A piece of content is relevant in a context to the extent that the effort required to process it in the context is small (Sperber and Wilson 1986, 125).
    • relevance is limited by matters such as time, space, attention, and patience. A piece of content is relevant to the extent that it requires little effort (time or attention, for example) to grasp it and act on it.
    • But what is a contextual effect?
      • It is a change in the audience. Sperber and Wilson define contextual effects in cognitive terms, that is, in terms of the audience’s mental state.
      • If the audience has an epiphany, that is a large contextual effect.
      • If the audience merely tweaks one of its beliefs, that is a small contextual effect.

• Effort is friction for relevance. In other words, the more effort it takes to process a contextual effect, the less relevant it is to the audience.

• relevance is not absolute; it is relative to a number of variables. These variables can be described in terms of the audiences’ discourse communities, past educations, language and culture of origin, interest levels, learning disabilities, and so forth. The common outward characteristics of audiences define to what extent a given set of words is relevant to them.

• All things considered, the less effort it takes to find the information you need, the more relevant it is

• If you want to create the most relevant content for Web audiences, write for Google first, and take care of all other aspects of effective Web content later.

1. Defining your target audience
2. Linguistic considerations for keywords
3. Discovering the keywords related to your topic that the audience most often uses
4. Developing Web content with those keywords in strategic places on your pages

When we form a picture of our audience, we strive to understand things such as their:

• prior knowledge
• common experiences
• shared beliefs
• shared assumptions so that we can use these traits to
• engage the reader
• narrow our focus to what the reader needs
  • maximize relevance for them.
  • minimize what is irrelevant to the reader.
    • Irrelevant content acts as friction and distracts readers from getting what they need.

you are forced to define the audience that you want to attract and write in ways that will tend to attract that audience through search.

• Diverse: you must write in ways that non-native speakers of English can understand. If you use a lot of local idioms or other culture-centric language, you will lose your audience and be subject to the dreaded bounce.
• Engage: If you have static content that will be relevant for a month or more, publish it in PDF format and put a description and a link to it on your Web page. Reserve your Web content for things that will inspire your visitors to do something, even if it’s just to download and print a PDF file.
• Intelligent: Don’t avoid complex and challenging topics; just explain them in clear, straightforward ways.
• Skeptical: You don’t just write content for the Web, you prove it. If you can’t at least demonstrate that your content is plausible (through links to trusted sources or your own proof points), don’t bother writing it.
• Time challenged: Web readers expect information design and writing to be efficient.
• Unique: Users also expect to be given a space to comment or otherwise enter feedback, and to engage in conversation with other users of the site.

• you have to be sensitive to the use of homonyms and related linguistic concepts in your keyword research.
  • Homonyms are words that sound alike but have different meanings or spellings.

Another type of complexity is in how keyword phrases are put together. The longer the phrase, the more permutations it can have. For example, the terms business, networking, and group can be entered in six different ways.

• try them out in search engines to see if your target audience will find the combination relevant.
• If the content Google returns in a search is relevant to your target audience, it is a good choice, all things considered.

The same keyword with the same meaning is typically highly relevant only to a subset of the population, and totally irrelevant to the rest.

keyword research should be a central part of your everyday Web operations. In particular, it should always precede the writing of each piece of your Web content. It is better to write with the keywords that your target audience uses than to retrofit content with keywords after the fact, keywords which may not perfectly match the content you’ve created.

You want to make sure your vocabulary is consistent with the vocabulary that your target audience uses to communicate about topics of interest, and to find content with Google.

Conducting keyword research is a matter of figuring out what terms related to your topic are most often searched on and choosing the words or phrases from that list that you think your audience is most likely to use.

it is an iterative process—you make an educated guess and test your success, prepared to make adjustments to tune the relevance of your pages for your target audience.

Tools such as

• Google adwords
• google insights
• ranks.nl

The best way to learn this is simply by searching on the words and looking into the pages that rank well in Google. How well optimized are these pages? How interwoven are they in the topic or field surrounding them?

A quick-and-dirty way to test the words that you think might be popular is simply by typing them into Google.

we recommend using four main tools to come at the problem from four perspectives: Google AdWords, Google Insights, The Keyword Discovery Tool, and Aaron Wall’s Advanced Keyword Research tool.

No matter what tools you use, you need to have an idea about the keywords to test out in the first place.

The goal is to have a list of related keywords that will attract your targeted audience through Google.

• Discover 'Seed words'.
  • Write down the most elementary words, with all their linguistic variations
    • the keyword tools can help
  • Usually descriptive words, also known as
    • themes
    • topics
    • core terms
    • keyword clouds.
      • The cloud should contain all the grammatical variations of the words, as well as all synonyms#* This process involves brainstorming about the main words that your target audience associates with a topic.
• run it through the keyword tools.
  • The keyword tools will generate reports that show which related words or phrases were most often searched on.
• Prioritize your keyword candidate list in order:
  • High: The keyword is a close match to your site’s content and is very popular or moderately popular or has a high conversion rate.
  • Medium: The keyword is a close match to your site and is somewhat popular, with acceptable conversion rates.
  • Low: The keyword is a close match to your site and has enough searches to be worth a paid placement bid—buying keywords to appear at the top or right column in Google results is called paid placement—but is not worthy of organic search optimization. It may have too much competition for organic optimization.
• Select keywords after you have done all competitive research and keyword discovery with available free and/or paid tools.
  • Pick the most valuable keywords, the ones the best fit the target audience.

It is important to start this process with the most generic words you can think of and gradually narrow the list down until you have a manageable list to test in your tool.

There are tools that enable you to scan your existing content for keyword frequency and develop a list of seed words from that list. Tools such as the Word Frequency Calculator Word frequency

• If a word appears often in an existing piece of content, it’s a candidate to add to your keyword cloud.

• The Google crawler will look at content of:

  • <TITLE>, <H1> and <BODY>

• The most important aspect of writing body copy is ensuring that it contains the keywords that appear in the <TITLE> tag. The next most important is the <H1> tag.

• For the SERP (the search engine results page) Google will take the:

  • <meta content="description">
  • Or the first 150 characters for the <BODY>

• Spelling out acronyms:

  • The crawler needs to see the full unabbreviated form of the keyword in all three primary locations.
  • In the <BODY> it should start by spelling out the the full word(s) with the abbreviation in (); e.g. Search Enginge Result Page(SERP).
  • The abbreviated form can be used in the body afterwards.
  • The abbreviated form should be used only when readability is not affected.
  • Use the spelled-out form as often as possible.

• Pumping up keyword density:

  • After the first sentence, ideally, between 2 and 4 percent of your body copy should contain the keyword used in your <TITLE> and <H1> tags.
    • If you go over 4% then Google will deem the page a spam page.
  • The strict rule in the print world that dictates that you should find alternative words if you see the same word twice in a short span of text does not apply on the Web, especially when it comes to keywords.

• Ensuring keyword proximity:

  • If your keyword contains multiple words, the closer the words are in proximity, the easier it is for the crawler to associate them.

• Stemming: (See Stemming, the process for reducing inflected (or sometimes derived) words to their stem, base or root form)

  • Because users will enter keywords in many different forms, you have a better chance of getting search results if you make it a point to stem your verbs in your body copy.
  • Stem enables you to gain more keyword density without replicating the same words over and over again.

• Using synonyms and other related words:

  • For every sentence in the English language, there are something like thirty alternative ways of expressing the same thing with different related words. Chances are, your audience will use the entire range of these expressions, especially considering audience diversity.
  • Keep the keyword cloud of related words from your set of seed words present, and use it for inspiration.

• Using descriptive link text:

  • it is important that your links be as descriptive as your body text.
  • Describe the site, preferably with the keywords in your <TITLE> and H1 tags.
  • Use the keywords of the page or media piece to which you are linking.

• Bolding for emphasis:

  • Web users’ eyes tend to cue into bullet points, bolding, and other ways of emphasizing text.
    • Use these concepts for your keywords.
  • You are less likely to get bounce and more likely to get engagement if it is easy for the user to understand the relevance of your page in a few seconds of scanning.

Your goal is to find keywords that are relevant to your audience.

• Define the purpose of your page/site
• visitors’ information-related needs change as they consume it.
• Content that readers find redundant is also irrelevant to them.
• including a page’s purpose in its keywords
• ''Awareness'' pages tend to be more relevant for visitors who are trying to solve a problem.
  • how to solve a particular problem
• ''consideration'' pages tend to be more relevant for those who want to compare and contrast potential solutions to a problem.
  • what technology offerings might help solve the problem
• Some pages that are relevant to the same keywords are designed to help visitors with different purposes consume the same content.
• you can more deeply engage with them, by using their language when you write.
• you’ll need to develop content that makes its purpose explicit in the title tag, as well as elsewhere on the page.
• task analysis: a.k.a Defining use cases for your page/site.
  • Most pages have several use cases

What purpose does the visitor have for visiting the page?

• Awareness
  • here, they need generic information about how the technology category solves business problems.
• Interest
  • Those who continue to explore the issues with deeper engagement into our content are therefore showing interest in a possible purchase.
• Considerations
  • Here, they need detailed information that differentiates the various options by features, costs, benefits, and expected return on investment.
• Purchase
  • users need information on whom to contact, what financing and other offers are available, and how to take advantage of those offers.
• Support
  • Customers often need information on how to set up, use, optimize, and integrate the products they buy into a whole IT infrastructure.
• Service
  • need information about how to get their products fixed or extended to perform better in their changing IT environments.

keyword use changes at each stage of the buying cycle.

Although the root keywords remain relevant at all stages, specific keyword phrases change, depending on users’ need for information.

The way to differentiate these pages for Google users is to state each page’s purpose clearly in the title tag, heading, URL, and abstract.

Considering purpose through task analysis is one of the prime ways to create an engaging site architecture.

to build a complete site that engages your audience at a deep level and keeps them coming back again and again in search of relevant content,

You must explore the depths of your audience’s vocabulary: not just their keywords in isolation, but their keyword clouds, and the myriad grammatical constructions they could use to combine keywords into meaningful sentences.

Tools: Omigli, Boardreader, Twing, Ice Rocket (for trending), Technorati, delicious, ReddIt, Digg, Magnolia, StumbleUpon, Filtrbox, Clusty, and the Google AdWords Keyword Tool.

• textSTAT

Long-tail keywords are like hard-to find items—longer key phrases that users take the trouble to type in when they want to find something quite specific. This is in contrast to popular search words, which are highly coveted by marketers because they will draw high volumes from a relatively narrow demographic.

We recommend a minimum of 300 words on a page, which allows you to write about your topic in greater depth.

• This will give you more opportunities to use different word combinations and grammatical constructions related to the same topic.
• But don’t be redundant just to get multiple long-tail combinations into your copy.

once they determine that they want to read it, they’ll read between 300 and 500 words.

Make sure that you give scanners the contextual cues they need, such as bolded words and multiple headings that include keywords, but don’t short change the readers either.

We expect writers to consciously stem verb forms, to use variations of the same noun, to use synonyms, and to try to use keywords in different parts of speech

Web writers should focus on word strings two to four words long when trying to target their audience through long-tail keywords

if you optimize for long-tail keywords, you can get a much better return on investment with a smaller number of qualified visitors than you would with a large number of unqualified visitors coming to your site from high-demand keyword searches.