Keeping Up Is Hard To Do

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You’re not the only one on information overload. As wave after wave of information washes up in our inboxes, desks and brains, information overload is becoming a top problem for communicators.

In fact, according to a new report from the Plank Center for Leadership, a think tank for public relations types, “speed and volume of information flow” was cited by 23.1% of the survey’s array of international respondants, making it their number one concern.

What they’re doing about it indicates unfolding spending priorities. In descending order, the top five tactics for dealing with information overload are:

  • Adding new skills and work processes
  • Adopting new technology to collect and disseminate information
  • Same staff, more work
  • Bringing in consultants
  • Hiring

The most powerful driver of new strategies was social media and digital communication. Conspicuously absent: overarching strategies that integrate all strategic communication channels. While the leaders who completed the survey reported that they are boosting training and skills for staff, they appear to overlook the one thing that will always support growth: creating work structures that are designed to always integrate change and adaptation, instead of constantly resetting to accomodate the latest, greatest communication innovation.

 

I Heard What You Didn’t Say

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Want to build influence?

Less talk. More listen.

It’s counterintuitive, but it works, according to research cited in the November 2012 issue of Scientific American Mind.  Referencing research accomplished at Columbia University, professional colleagues credit you with more authority and insight when you listen more than you speak.

Balance is the key: thoughtful responses based on careful listening reflect genuine engagement. The key takeaway: win trust by paying attention to what others are saying. Then, speak up, not out.

Metaphor Me!

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Gotta love a writer who can summarize his creative process in succinct metaphor.

“I’m a dancer who walks for a living,” says Michael Erard in a recent New York Times essay on the creative process. He has a day job — he is a ‘think tank researcher.’ But on the side, he writes for fun and profit.

His two best pieces of advice are useful for anyone seeking to craft messages.

  • Note what catches your interest — especially if it represents a style approach very different from yours.
  • And when you are immersing in your own creative process, really immerse! Turn off your social media and news feeds, and shut down your email.

It’s All About Me..Until It Isn’t

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As Dale Carnegie always said, if you want to break the ice, ask someone to tell you about themselves. They’ll be off and running, and they’ll think you are a great conversationalist.

People spend 30 to 40 percent of their speaking time expressing their own opinions and feelings, according to Harvard researchers, as cited in the September 2012 issue of Scientific American Mind. Talking about yourself triggers happy chemicals in your own brain. Yup: it feels good!

This dynamic cuts both ways when navigating on-the-record interviews. First, a smart interviewer will encourage you to ramble on. You’ll be flattered. It’ll feel good! And then you’ll wander off point and suddenly, it won’t feel so good any more. You’ll have to pull yourself back on point — and correct any off-message comments.

But, if you are just getting to know a journalist or interviewer, ask him or her to tell you about how they became interested in the topic at hand. That will get positive brain chemistry flowing, and will help get the interview off on the right foot.

Proust Was Right

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Comfort food, meet comfort memories.

Harvard researchers have found that when people have childhood memories top-of-mind, they are likely to be more helpful, be more judgemental of unethical behaviour, and are more inclined to donate to charity.

In other words, childhood memories also evoke a more childlike moral perception, as reported in the Sept. 2012 issue of Scientific American Mind.

If it’s appropriate for your audience and your message, considering constructing a metaphor that evokes a child’s sense of right and wrong, or a child’s point of view. For example, someone advocating for consumer protection laws might say, “These are the same lessons we learned on the playground. If you catch someone else’s ball, throw it back.”

Haystack, Meet Needle

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All the news that’s fit to keep.

That’s the expanded mission of the Internet Archive. Having aggregated volumes of print news, the Archive now offers access to the video of national news shows. “TV News Search & Borrow” enables users to search for video based on the terms used in closed caption transcripts.

This makes it much easier to find relevant coverage if you are scheduled to be interviewed for broadcast. You’ll want to view prior shows to see:

  • the interviewing style of the host
  • what points were made — and best received — by guest experts
  • the length of the segment

Plan accordingly!

Best Metaphor of the Campaign

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It’s hard to beat veteran political speechwriter and commentator Peggy Noonan for the right turn of phrase at the right time.

Which is why she delivered what might be the best metaphor of this election cycle, in the Wall St. Journal:

“You know what Romney sounded like? Like a kid new to politics who thinks he got the inside lowdown on how it works from some operative. But those old operatives, they never know how it works. They knew how it worked for one cycle back in the day.

They’re jockeys who rode Seabiscuit and thought they won a race.”

Here’s why it works:  the jockey is in on the victory. But everyone celebrates the horse.  Think for a moment: what IS the name of the jockey who rode Seabiscuit?

I don’t know either.

And that’s how Noonan makes the point that Romney and his cohorts think that their success is 100% due to themselves, when they enjoyed a rising economic tide plus many priveleges. Any of many jockeys could have ridden Seabiscuit and won. And many equally talented managers could have delivered Romneyesque success, given the same circumstances.

That’s the power of the metaphor: a concise message wrapped in an unforgettable package.

New Old Rules for the Interview Road

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Is it ok to request or require that a pre-publication review of a story before conducting a media interview?

It used to be that only amateurs asked: the answer from any credible news outlet would be ‘no.’ Newspapers, magazines and broadcast news journalists did not, as a matter of policy, allow sources to review quotes or stories for approval. (Though it has been standard for reporters to read back direct quotes or clarify technical or contradictory information.)

Then journalists started to trade away their power for access to well-placed sources, as reported today in the New York Times. The rules got fuzzy. Understandably, sources took as much leeway as reporters would allow. It was no longer the mark of an unsophisticated source to ask for quote approval.

Now, the old rules are back in place: don’t ask, because they won’t tell. To quote the Times’ memo:  “So starting now, we want to draw a clear line on this. Citing Times policy, reporters should say no if a source demands, as a condition of an interview, that quotes be submitted afterward to the source or a press aide to review, approve or edit.”

The Times’ stance gives other publications permission and backbone to firm up their own no-review policies. Always clarify the “rules of the road” before you start an interview…even if you have been interviewed in the past by that journalist.

Women Nearly Absent in Election Coverage

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If you’re thinking that election coverage is testosterone-driven, you’d be right.

Men are quoted much more than men, across all types of news outlets, topics, and issues, according to election coverage tracker 4th Estate. Even on abortion  — a topic that you’d think women would have the final word and the moral high ground — 81% of the quoted sources are men.

Men dominate the source lists for other women’s issues, too:

  • Birth control -75%
  • Planned Parenthood – 67%
  • Women’s rights –  52%

Of the major newspapers, USA Today exhibits the strongest gender balance, with women comprising 19% of its courses. The Washington Post brings up the rear, with 15%.

What does this mean for your organization? Editors are acutely aware of this gender imbalance. To increase your chances of getting your point of view into print during the election cycle, have a woman be your spokesperson. (Qualified, of course, with media readiness training!)

Get Ready to be Ambushed

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First, it was bloggers who’d come up to you at a conference, video camera or smartphone in hand, asking for a few comments and a snip of video about industry trends.

Then local publications launched “backpack journalists,” who were expected to take notes, photos, video and audio, all at the same time, while reporting. From AOL’s Patch to cash-pinched local newspapers, staff reporters were suddenly doing all of it.

Now, big media has gone backpack. In August, the Wall St. Journal launched WorldStream. Now, WSJ reporters use their smartphones to upload micro-interviews, video snapshots of scenes, and spur-of-the-moment commentary, all the time.

What does this mean for you, the potential source?

It means that you must have a messaging formula memorized. Not a message itself — because you’ll customize what you say according to whom you are addressing. Having a formula at the ready means you can quickly frame up your comments. Even if a WorldStream reporter catches you at the baggage claim carousel at the airport, just like Mike Huckabee.