Raw Meat, Replacing Reality, and Effective Speaking

It wasn't easy getting all of that into the title.

Mike Wagner at Own Your Brand provided the motivation with his Some Like it Raw post. Mike is a first-class brand guy whose metaphors lead to metaphors.

In his post, Mike likens the customer experience to either raw or cooked food. The cooked stuff is all about being slick, going with market research and demographics, and pushing a highly-produced "invitation" on us through some medium. Mike notes that there are times when we want to see something slick with high production values. But I think the words "we want" are the operative ones. Much of the time, we get tired and skeptical of what Mike calls the "overcooked" world of marketing and hype.

Why?

Because we didn't ask for it. We didn't say we wanted it. We're smarter about marketing, psychology, and media than ever before. So we're more skeptical as well.

How About the Raw Version?

Here's what Mike says:

"Raw brand invitations don’t worry about super-high production value. They avoid slick. They’re very direct and straightforward. Transparency is more important than technique. And it’s served up using social networking and conversational media. YouTube, blogs, wikis, and word of mouth are some of the great ways to disseminate the raw, unfiltered story of your brand. Your potential customers, tired of the overcooked messages of the broadcast world, are eating it up."

Your Listeners Want a Raw Presentation

The same is true when it comes to presentations, meetings, and speeches. I'm convinced of that. For 30 years I've invested about 30% of my time working with individuals and groups on how best to speak and make presentations. My counsel has always been the same:

• Tell your story using stories.

• You are invited to speak because of who you are. Don't work on being someone else.

• A few good pictures can be worth a thousand words each. Or, you can use lots of graphics and pretend that the audience came to see your rendition of War and Peace.

• Truth comes in sentences. "B_ _ _S_ _ _" comes in paragraphs.

Take this with you: A good presentation starts a good conversation. You can tell you're doing well when people start asking meaningful questions related to your topic but are no longer worried about hearing your presentation.  Think about it. This is when the real movement begins to happen. Revel in it.

You Can Only Create Memories By Being Memorable

"Memory isn’t a filing cabinet of facts. It’s a library of stories we’ve told ourselves about the way life was and the part we played in it."

That wonderful contribution comes from Adrian over at Slow Leadership . If you click here you can read the entire post about how "stories about events are more powerful than the reality they replace."

The next time you are asked to speak--whether it's a group of 10 or 1,000--ask yourself about the kinds of stories that will touch the listeners and create the memory.

• Engineers have filing cabinets of successes, disasters, troubleshooting trivia, and design anecdotes that will turn any number crunching session into a memorable meeting.

• Financial pros: Show the marketing and sales division that what you are doing can help them save/make money if they apply the same principles to their personal finances. Tell them a story about the part of your job that makes it unique and satisfying.

• Executives: When you are talking about change, talk about the toughest lessons you've learned about change. Tell them your biggest failure story and your most rewarding success. Most of all, tell them what you're going to do now as a result of what you've learned, and how you believe it will be helpful. Save the "____ Steps of Change" slides for a training session.

We live in a high-production, flash media, airbrushed world. And we recognize it as soon as it starts.

If your job is to promote "The Matrix XI," then be as flashy as you can be.

If your job is to promote Matrix Management, then the people around you want--and need--the real deal.

Cook up something raw.

Related note: If any of this food metaphor thing has tweaked your taste buds, pay a visit to my friend Viji at  vcuisine.  Viji's stories start with an enticing photo and end with a detailed, easy-to-follow recipe.

Comments

[Viji]

Oh, Steve, Thank you so much for your comment. When i started reading this post, i was so curious what you are going to tell. Though cooking is my passion, 75% of my diet is "RAW". So, you know very well now, why i like this post. Beautiful simple points to follow. Hope i will get a chance to listen your speech sometime. Back to your post, i agree, when you really talk from your own experience, you speak from your heart and attract many people. I love this post and the photo too :). Tks. Viji

[Steve Roesler]

Sure, Viji, very glad you enjoyed the post.

I was looking at your photos and the recipes that go with them. I hope people go to your blog because the instructions are very easy to follow.

Maybe you can open an online restaurant:).

[Mark Howell]

Raw is a very cluetrain idea. Especially the line that "truth comes in sentences. B.S. in paragraphs." Good discerning post about what real people really want.

mark

[Steve Roesler]

Hi, Mark, and thanks for stopping by.

Maybe we should do a cluetrain update and refresher!

[Eric Boehme]

Steve,

After your encouraging words over at my place, I thought I would check out your place. After finishing my "State of the Union" presentation yesterday with my staff, your post was timed well.

You said "You can tell you're doing well when people start asking meaningful questions related to your topic but are no longer worried about hearing your presentation. Think about it. This is when the real movement begins to happen. Revel in it."

Well yesterday, I reveled in it. After commenting that infrastructure was my number one challenge for 2007, the questions started. "What are you going to do about..." and "What can we do about this when they say there is nothing that will support..." On they went. The conversation that ensued for over 30 minutes after the presentation was worth more than anything in my powerpoint.

To add to your "raw" discussion, I would say that we can learn a lot through vegetables. I like them raw and good thing that I do. When they are cooked, they lose much of their value.

Great post.

[Mike Wagner]

I really have learned a lot from your expansion of the "raw vs. cooked" metaphor.

Your post reminds me of a bit of wisdom from Ecclesiastes - "the more the words the less the meaning and how does that profit anyone?"

Maybe that is what you had in mind when you wrote, "Truth comes in sentences. "B_ _ _S_ _ _" comes in paragraphs."

Thankful to be part of the conversation with you!

Keep creating,
Mike

[Steve Roesler]

Eric,

Very pleased to hear that the practical application of the principles showed through at your meeting. The initial information must have been thought-provoking and allowed people to respond in kind when you asked the questions invitational questions.

Thanks for the affirmation!

[Steve Roesler]

Hello, Mike,

As you can see from the comments, your "raw vs. cooked" initial post really led to some good things happening.

And yes, I think the wise writer in Ecclesiastes was expressing the same thought. But since he was truly wise, he chose not to take the "wise-guy" approach!