How To Map Your Story - or Maybe Write a Song?

Leaders in science and tech - are you on deck to address stakeholders soon? Try this:

When it's time to create a new presentation, or even adapt an old one, have you ever taken a fresh bird's-eye view? A view of your slide deck from up high?

Take a look at the image - the chart of blank squares. These squares are your slide deck in grid view.

• Each square is a slide.
• It's like a blank skeleton.
• .... It's kind of like a blank sheet of music.

On the first slide where the "H" sits, that's your "HOOK ME" moment. You have to plan a good HOOK to get your audience's (fleeting and unfocused) attention. And good luck keeping it.

But wait. Good News! The HOW-TO Model helps you KEEP their attention.

Let's look at the "O" on the final slide. That's your "OFFER ME" slide. Your audience is asking you to ASK. They expect it! Don't shy away from that ask. Don't cheat them out of that. They expect one.

This "Ask" - you must plan ahead. Deliver it directly, succinctly, and boldly. Ask for whatever it is you need.?The audience hates it when don't close with some kind of ask (and there are many different kinds).

It might be investment dollars, alignment, approval to move on your idea, agreement to simply consider a new perspective. Whatever it is, ask.

The Blueprint of Message Mastery

If you're part of our orbit at On Point Communications, LLC , you've probably read about our blueprint, the model we've infused in F250 tech companies all over the world - from Google to DuPont to big Pharma. It's called the HOW-TO? Model. I built this to help you get what you need faster, better, and easier.

If you're new to us, grab the link here and learn the HOW-TO acronym for your presentations.

It works. Leaders are securing hundreds of millions of dollars using it. They're advancing innovation faster ... becoming great storytellers - great songwriters. (Wait, what?)

You are a Songwriter, Did you Know That?

Let's talk about the songwriting part.

How is your presentation like a song? How is your slide deck like a sheet of music? This analogy seems to land fast, so I'm sharing it with you. Think about each of your slides like a musical note.

• Which slides are your "whole notes?" Which slides need the most attention from you as you describe it to your audience? Which slides will you sit for the longest to describe the model, to tell the story, to explain the finances or data? These are your whole notes.
• Which slides are your "quarter notes?" The slides you'll be on for just a short time but that have a lot of impact and your vision? Maybe you are in a workshop and it's your agenda slide - the slide that keeps repeating each time you move to the next section.
• Which slide is your "half note?" That might be a slide with a quote from great thinker like Einstein or Aristotle (which I use). You don't need to be there for long, but it deserves its own real estate.

Yes, you science and tech leaders, you are also songwriters. Songwriters are storytellers. You are conducting a beautiful melody with your message. Try this "half note / whole note" tip the next time you evaluate an existing message - or crafting a new one.

Nashville Songwriters Chime In:

Some final thoughts from songwriters at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville are below for you. This is to encourage you and cheer you on.

Because it's darn HARD it is to write a good song, but it's so worth it. It means we have to slow down to speed up. It's part art, part science.

Just like persuasion.

1-Minute "Thought Exercise" for You:

1. If you have an existing message you're struggling to get through in the right amount of time, you're probably hanging on to some slides for too long. Maybe they should be quarter notes and you're making them whole notes.
2. If you've got time to present you normally do that the way you press down on the proverbial piano of your pitch deck?
3. Drop me a comment: does this analogy ring for you? What "Song" are you writing this week?
4. Need help writing a song? DM me here or find us at www.onpoint-communications.com to set up a call. We'll simply meet, greet and chat about your song.

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