New Book by CEO of Oratium Draws on Brain Science to Explain Why Messages Don’t Stick – and How to Fix this by Powerfully Landing a Small Number of Big Ideas
What if everything we’ve been taught about effective communications – such as the importance of crisp delivery, eye contact and body language – was seriously flawed?
According to Tim Pollard, CEO of Oratium, it is. As a result, communications are resoundingly poor. Their messages don’t stick and they don’t fulfill their fundamental mission of driving results – especially sales results – by compelling people into action.
That’s because most communications, including business presentations, are not based on an understanding of how the human brain is wired.
In his new book, The Compelling Communicator: Mastering the Art and Science of Exceptional Presentation Design, Pollard explains that the brain is wired in a very specific way regarding how it wants and needs to consume information. When aligned with this, communications are incredibly effective – regardless of a presenter’s delivery skills. When misaligned, they will likely leave audiences indifferent at best, if not bored and confused – and won’t yield the desired outcome.
Science shows that the brain is wired to process ideas. Biologically it is reductionist, boiling information down to ideas it can grab hold of. It does not, however, traffic well at the level of facts and data, especially in large quantities.
Yet most communicators take an approach that is at odds with this reality, overloading their communications with large amounts of facts and details but rarely conveying any clear ideas.
The solution is to structure communications so they powerfully land a small number of big ideas.
The Compelling Communicator walks readers through this process. After mapping out the underlying brain science, it challenges readers to ask two questions fundamental to the task:
- What outcome are you looking for?
- What argument will lead to that action?
The book then describes the essential steps, from teasing out the heart of a message and breaking it down into easy-to-remember chunks, to making it simpler so the audience can grasp and retain it. It’s approach can be used in everything from sales pitches, lectures, sermons, emails – and even conversations between parents and kids.
Other points The Compelling Communicator covers include:
- The serious dangers of complacency about poor messaging.
- How to keep your content within your audience’s brain bandwidth.
- The real reasons Powerpoint destroys communications effectiveness.
- How to anchor communication in the audience’s fundamental motivations – not the speaker’s.
- How to make content so sticky that your story can can be retold, not simply remembered
- Why the “delivery” of presentations is far less important than we’ve been led to believe.
- How to get your message through in an information-overloaded world.
About Tim Pollard
Tim Pollard is author of The Compelling Communicator: Mastering the Art and Science of Exceptional Presentation Design (Conder House Press, 2016). He is the founder and CEO of Oratium, a communications firm helping organizations from Fortune 500 companies to law offices hone their presentation and messaging skills. In his decades-long sales and marketing career, Tim has held key positions with Barclays Bank, Corporate Executive Board and Peacemaker Ministries – a nonprofit specializing in conflict resolution. Originally from the U.K., Tim lives in Montana with his wife and four children.
Title: The Compelling Communicator: Mastering the Art and Science of Exceptional Presentation Design
Author: Tim Pollard
Paperback: 316 pages
Publisher: Conder House Press
Release Date: December 9, 2016
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0998237302
ISBN-13: 978-0998237305
Price: $17.95
