Jonah Lehrer: How we decide
I already mentioned Jonah’s fast-paced presentation, which began with a story about trying to decide which box of Cheerios to buy, a kind of “paralysis by analysis” that led to his book, How We Decide. Key takeaways: Don’t overestimate the power of human reason and underestimate the power of human emotion. A compelling personal story will draw more financial support than statistics. Respond to your instincts, your senses, your embedded knowledge. You don’t have to eat the marshmallow (in other words, you can distract yourself to wait for something of value). Respect the importance of daydreaming. The only way to get good at something is to screw up over and over again.

Martha Muzychka, ABC: Flying solo
In a one-hour “idea jam,” Martha led tables of current and future entrepreneurs in a discussion of best practices for running your own communications business. Martha rewarded us for the early start (the morning after the CNW-sponsored Canada party) with goodies brought from Newfoundland, including t-shirts, soaps and chocolate. Some nuggets: Market yourself by networking, using social media, volunteering, cold calling. Get an accountant. Build into your proposals a request to submit the project for awards, such as a Gold Quill. Have a performance appraisal with yourself every six months. Keep up with other indies; every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., there’s a  Twitter chat under #soloPR.

Don Ranly: Let’s tell a story
Don has presented at IABC conferences countless times, and he’s an inspiration every time. Some tips: The traditional inverted pyramid style of writing presents dry material in a predictable way, which discourages the reader. Instead, immerse the reader in a story, using the nine senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, scent, sense of people, sense of place, sense of time, sense of drama. Aim for attention > comprehension > retention > action. Get attention with a concrete beginning, a real person, a scene, an anecdote or dialogue and transition to what’s in it for the reader. Avoid the vague words many, most, often, some; be specific. Show rather than tell, as in “She hadn’t voted for 10 years” vs. “She wasn’t political.” One of the best lines: Referring to a lead about a hurricane that began, “The birds were flying backwards,” Don said, “Even if that’s a damn lie, it’s a helluva lead!”

Nancy Duarte: That resonates with me
Nancy described presentations as “a tool to make our ideas reality.” Some key points: Your “big idea” must define a unique point of view and the stakes. You must also define who your audience is when they walk in the room, and how you want them to be when they leave. The audience is the hero, not you. Make your time so valuable that people feel they have spent time with a mentor. Include a “STAR” moment: Something They Always Remember. Always take less time than you are given. My favourite line: “Designing a presentation without the audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it ‘to whom it may concern’.”

Sam Harrison: Selling your ideas
As a presenter, it’s up to you to make sure your message is received and understood. Some takeaways: When selling an idea, you’re really selling value, how it will solve a problem. Selling is a transfer of enthusiasm. Be passionate about your idea and convey that passion. Five pitching secrets: (1) Have one theme you can sum up in one or two sentences. (2) Have a strong start that gets attention. (3) Use simple language, no jargon. (4) Paint pictures of your idea as reality, using words, images, personal stories. (5) Add drama; think of Steve Jobs drawing the MacBook Air out of a manila envelope.  Favourite lines: “It’s like sitting on a pig and praying for a ham sandwich.” “If they birthed it, they can’t kill it.”

Shel Holtz, ABC: Your company must become a media company
You don’t exist if you aren’t discoverable online, Shel told the group. Some tips: Companies must go beyond sending out news releases and annual reports, by using their web sites to tell stories, answer questions, entertain consumers. We must become adept at (1) Video: It doesn’t have to be stellar quality, aim for “good enough.” Home Depot has done a great job of becoming a trusted guide by issuing “how to” videos. (2) Audio: Issue a monthly podcast aimed at existing customers. Get consumers to submit questions via Twitter and answer them. (3) Print: Target key partners and customers. Reinforce key messages. Repurpose content, such as turning articles into blog posts. (4) Graphics and infographics: A great example is a simple “decision tree” helping consumers figure out what to do with old electronics. (5) Media portal: Help people find all your content in one place, broken out by content or categories of products. (6) Sharing: Encourage journalists, bloggers, customers to use your material. (7) Being open to engagement: The public increasingly expects to be able to like, rate, comment and review your company and your products or services. Negative comments just add to your credibility. (8) Transmedia storytelling: Use the appropriate channel to tell the story; you don’t have to answer a text question with text when a video might better demonstrate the answer. (9) Mobile strategy: It’s not just does your web site look good from a cellphone, but what are people looking for from you when they are in a car or on the street? Help them easily do what they’re looking to do, such as book a hotel room or find sports scores. (10) Curated content as media: Identify, collect, document, give context, display and share links.

Attending a conference like this may take a bit of budgeting and juggling, of both home and work responsibilities, but it’s a great way to re-energize yourself. See you next year in Chicago?

“We’re social beings, and to truly learn, grow and stay inspired, we need to get out, bask in each other’s energy, and soak up each other’s stories in person.”

There is a buzz that happens at the IABC conference that I haven’t encountered elsewhere. Give a bunch of communicators a chance to meet, and connect, and learn from each other, and talk, and do we ever!

Storytelling was a common thread that ran throughout many of the sessions. From the yellow box of Cheerios and the marshmallow test described by Jonah Lehrer, to the birds flying backwards in Don Ranly‘s talk and the young girl beating back ravenous hyenas with a stick mentioned by Sheryl WuDunn, stories and their importance marked many of the sessions. No wonder; stories capture interest, make concepts clear and memorable, and inspire action.

I’ll share more on specific sessions in another post, but overall they provided a wide range of topics and the latest thinking in areas like storytelling, social media, presentations and more. The opening reception featured delicious food and drink, although (small quibble) it was too bad it didn’t happen in an iconic San Diego location along the lines of New York’s Rainbow Room and Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum.

But one of the best things about the IABC World Conference is the people. I met some completely new people with whom I shared great conversation, watched part of Monday’s Vancouver-Boston hockey game, exchanged tips and even a hug. I finally met face-to-face with at least one person I only knew online, got together with friends from past conferences and made new friends.

The conference was thought-provoking, exhausting, energizing and fun. But now that I’m back to the real world of work and school and family, what I miss most is starting my day with a latte and muffin with Donna Papacosta — a good friend, colleague and podcast expert, as well as the best conference roomie ever!

Did you see my other conference summaries? Here they are:

• 2010: Toronto, part 1 and part 2
• 2009: San Francisco, part 1 and part 2
• 2008: New York, part 1, part 2 and part 3

The IABC 2011 World Conference in San Diego is coming up fast — it starts Sunday, June 12 — and although my bags typically don’t get packed until the night before I leave for any trip, a small box on my desk is already set to go. It contains my stash of indie identifiers, the Ask about IABC INDEPENDENTS ribbon.

IABC/Toronto’s independents, the Professional Independent Communicators, produced the ribbons for the IABC conference in our city last year. If you’ve been to these conferences before, you know that participants all wear large badges from which multiple ribbons cascade. They identify the wearer as a member, a Gold Quill winner, a speaker, accredited and so on, as appropriate.

The intent with our ribbon was that any independent communicator could proudly wear it, and so could anyone who knows and appreciates indies as the terrific resource we are. The idea was to strike up a conversation, whether about the fact that the Toronto chapter has such a vibrant community of independents, or about what we do individually.

So if you’re going to attend the conference in San Diego, watch for someone wearing an Ask about IABC INDEPENDENTS ribbon. Find out if the wearer is an indie or a supporter. If it’s me, ask me for your own ribbon!

One place you’re sure to see some of us is at the “idea jam” session called Flying solo: Charting your course as an independent practitioner, led by my friend and fellow Canadian Martha Muzychka, ABC. The session starts at 8 a.m. on Monday, June 13, so don’t stay out dancing too late the night before at the Canada party, eh!

See you there?

In all the excitement of the IABC 2010 World Conference last week, I forgot to point out the excellent Green Guide put together by IABC/Toronto’s Corporate Social Responsibility committee.

The guide is designed to provide “best practices, communications planning and success stories in green marketing communications, sustainable and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.” There are sources for vendors who provide ecologically responsible materials, tips for implementing environmental practices within an organization, a glossary of terms and examples of successful green campaigns.

The guide was written by my fellow Toronto independent Frances Roberts of Push Communications. Bernard Hellen, R.G.D., of traffic marketing + design inc., did the layout, and (ahem) I handled editing and proofreading. I’m torn between saying “tell me if you find any mistakes I missed” and “DON’T tell me”! Either way, I’d love to hear what you think.

Download a copy under “Green Guide” from IABC, or here: IABC/Toronto GreenGuide. (Sorry, the guide is temporarily unavailable!)

In Strategic Communication Planning, Les Potter, ABC (friend and cosmic blogging partner) said a quick way to determine the issues that need to be treated is to ask your CEO “What keeps you up at night?” Regarding tactics, face-to-face communication has the least reach (it’s hard to get your CEO in front of every employee) but is the most persuasive and powerful, especially if you’re trying to move people from awareness to acceptance to action. Les also said don’t wait until the end of a cycle or year to see how your plan is doing; do some sort of check every quarter so you can adjust as you go along.

When conducting communication audits, Karen Vahouny, ABC and Tracy Finneman suggested we determine what key information we really want to learn, and what will drive better employee decision making. Also check your communication channels; are they useful, clear, timely and relevant?

Julie Gebauer noted in Closing the Engagement Gap that due to the recession, people are thankful to have a job but disgruntled from pay decreases, few opportunities for promotion and low or no bonuses. To engage these workers, we need to appeal to three dimensions: think/feel/act (or head/heart/hands). Help employees understand how they can advance their own careers and how their work affects the company. Julie gave a great example of a hospital, where the people who clean the rooms were found to have a huge effect on patient satisfaction.

An energetic Gregg Lederman led a session on Engaging Employees to Out-Behave the Competition. Brand integrity, he said, means you are who and what you say you are — but if you don’t define the specific behaviours you want, people will make it up. Set expectations for what to think and how to behave; capture examples and communicate those expectations; and hold employees accountable. This includes positive consequences when employees do it right. “Don’t ration praise like it’s going to be gone.”

In Why Should Anyone Trust You?, Veronica Hope Hailey warned that lack of trust is not due to the recession, but was already an issue. She had us write our names with our non-dominant hand (a change) to remind us of the feelings that change elicits — feeling unsure, incompetent, at risk. “When you feel like this, you need leaders you can trust,” she said. Repairing trust includes dialogue, really hearing what people feel and think, and dealing with people fairly.

Mark Evans talked about Social Media Beyond Tweets, Followers, Digg, Updates, etc. His somewhat contrary opinion was that instead of a “dangerous obsession with metrics,” we should be spending our time telling stories that engage the audience, educate, entertain and inform. Rather than having a snippet of conversation with every single person (think Twitter), we should be connecting with a smaller number of people and having a real conversation.

William Amurgis shared a fabulous view of what a corporate intranet can be in How to Transform your Corporate Intranet. If your intranet isn’t keeping up with Facebook, Google, Twitter etc., he suggested, you’re failing. Thus the American Electric Power intranet features blogs, community pages, a photo of the week, personal pages and lots of discussion and interaction. His advice: keep it simple and relevant; enhance employee productivity; reinforce corporate messages; provide a place for everyone to meet; and have a personality. My only quibble is that he did away with an employee newsletter!

Katie Paine talked about her favourite topic, measurement. The key is defining what’s important. So if your CEO says, “We kicked butt this quarter,” what does that mean? What problems have you solved? Did you build relationships, generate leads, get the word out? Once you decide your performance indicators, pick your measurement tool, such as listening tools and web analytics, surveys and samples. (Shel Holtz recorded and posted Katie doing a similar session.)

As always, because I’m a writer, I like to get inspired by attending a session on writing, and so ended up the last day with Ann Wylie‘s Six Secrets of Persuasion.  They are (1) exert authority (quote experts and authority figures; (2) deliver less (offer A, B or C options and don’t confuse people with too much choice); (3) become a social butterfly (people are more likely to do what they see others doing); (4) practice likeability (find and point out things we have in common); (5) pull the trigger (use an environmental trigger to change the way people behave); and (6) make it about MOI, or My Own Issues (writing about the reader’s issues, not yours).

Were you at the conference? Which sessions stood out for you?

Part of the fun of attending IABC World Conferences is catching up with friends. My roomie Donna Papacosta is here (far left) with Diana Degan Robinson and me.

I’m back at my desk, trying to turn my brain back to reality after another terrific IABC World Conference.

Once again, I was able to put faces to names of people met online, mostly on Twitter, and reconnect with others met at previous conferences, friends and colleagues. As always, the professional development was solid, the people warm and welcoming, and the social events good fun. We had a great turnout of independents among the 1,400 participants and wore our indie ribbons proudly. And our shopping guide appeared to be a hit!

The official conference start featured the energetic drumming of the Drum Cafe; my hands were sore for a day after joining in! Next came the elegant opening reception at the Royal Ontario Museum Sunday night, followed by the traditional Canada party (sponsored by CNW Group). Unfortunately, I missed the party, but apparently my fellow Canucks held up our reputation with dancing until 2 a.m.

I have to confess that this year’s EXCEL award winner, Xerox’s Kevin Warren, did not generate the same enthusiasm in me as previous recipients did. His speech was very scripted and full of jargon; anyone playing “buzzword bingo” would have achieved bingo in the first 5 minutes. However, his more engaging and casual self emerged during the question-and-answer session.

Tuesday’s general session featured an inspiring talk by Craig Kielburger, co-founder of Free The Children and Me to We, talking about the value of bringing the non-profit perspective to the business world.  “People are desperate for meaning and want to know their jobs make a difference,” he said. Tap into that by building a culture of empathy (listen, don’t make assumptions), community (work together for the common good), meaning (celebrate success) and legacy (build a team and plant the seeds).

Guy Kawasaki closed the conference on Wednesday talking about the Art of Innovation, gaining enormous Canadian brownie points by sharing his love of hockey. He also earned applause by repeating his 10-20-30 rule of pitching: the optimum number of slides in a presentation is 10, given in 20 minutes, using no smaller than 30-point type. Although he had a few more than 10 slides, there were 10+1 main points about innovation, including make meaning (be motivated by how you can change the world, not just how you can make money); don’t worry, be crappy (when your product is revolutionary, don’t wait for perfection, fix the crappy parts in version 1.2); and let 100 flowers blossom (people who aren’t your intended prospects will buy and use your product for untended purposes; let them).

As happened in New York and San Francisco, I roomed this year with my friend, colleague and podcasting expert Donna Papacosta. Even though the conference was local this year, staying at the hotel saved us from horrible commutes and we split both the costs and the fun. Thanks, Donna!

In all, it was time well spent. Now it’s back to work to make up for all that time away from my desk, and I’ll share some of the session highlights another day.

Interested in my past IABC World Conference adventures?

• San Francisco round-up and highlights
• New York round-up, highlights and food highlights.

Sooner or later, when you find yourself in a new city, you probably do a bit of shopping. Maybe you pick up a souvenir to take home, or you replace a shirt that has miraculously sprouted a coffee stain, or you need some toiletries.  But where do you go?

Something I have often thought of but never found while attending an IABC World Conference is an insider’s guide to shopping in that city. Where do the locals go to buy a pair of jeans, for instance? What’s the best spot for souvenirs? Is there a place close to the hotel I shouldn’t miss?

So with the conference coming to Toronto June 6-9, IABC/Toronto’s Professional Independent Communicators, local colleagues and I have been working on producing The Insider’s Guide to Shopping in Toronto. And I’m happy to say it’s done.

As the guide notes, there are plenty more stores than are listed, but we’ve tried to keep recommendations to those from someone we know and that are within a reasonable distance of the conference hotel.

Particular thanks go to Christina Scicluna, who was an invaluable resource in sharing the results of her own personal adventures and pulling together recommendations from other friends and colleagues, and Teri McMahon, R.G.D., who designed the guide. I’d also like to thank the numerous people who responded to my requests for recommendations on Twitter or email.

For more online shopping advice, visit Modern Urban Guides, Toronto Life Shopping and Toronto Shopoholic, a blogger I found via Twitter but too late to get into the guide.

Want to see? There will be a small number of print copies at the hospitality desk during the conference, or download The Insider’s Guide to Shopping in Toronto now:

IABC/PIC Toronto Shopping Guide

And I’d love your feedback!

The ribbons are in Chicago, en route to Toronto.

The IABC 2010 World Conference is coming to Toronto June 6-9, and if you’ve ever been to one, you know that everyone wears these honking big badges. They aren’t just nametags; they have stick-on ribbons that identify you as an IABC member, a speaker, a Gold Quill winner, and so on. There are ribbons promoting the next conference location and date, and sometimes a chapter will produce something special, like Toronto’s “Large chapter of the year.” My all-time favourite is “IABC  Canada, eh!”

This year, IABC/Toronto’s independents — known as Professional Independent Communicators — are producing our own ribbon. Actually, it’s not just for those of us in Toronto; our intent is that any independent at the conference can and should have one. And we’d also like to share a ribbon with those who know and appreciate independents as the amazing resource we are. In either case, we’d like to start up a conversation.

So if you’re an indie coming to the party, er, IABC 2010 World Conference, watch for someone wearing an “Ask about IABC INDEPENDENTS” ribbon. And if it’s me, ask me for a ribbon, too!

Woo hoo! Toronto is getting ready. Some 1,400 of our dearest communicator friends from 40 countries are coming to our backyard for the 2010 IABC World Conference June 6-9. And it’s going to be one heckuva barbecue!

Well, OK, it’s not going to be a barbecue, but it’s going to be fun — and yes, a tremendous learning, growing and networking good time. And shopping. (More on that later.) Visitors will have a chance to go on walking tours of the hip and historic Distillery District, anchored by the old Gooderham & Worts distillery constructed in 1859, and Casa Loma, a medieval-style castle in the middle of the city. We’re going to the Royal Ontario Museum for the opening reception, checking out the love-it-or-hate-it Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition that opened in June 2007.

As always, there’s a stellar lineup of content, including high-profile speakers like Guy Kawasaki and Craig and Marc Kielburger, and IABC luminaries like Steve Crescenzo, Shel Holtz, Les Potter and Ron Shewchuk (sorry, I’m leaving off all your ABCs and other designations). My own more local friends and colleagues Jan Graves, Linda Johannesson, Cyrus Mavalwala and Donna Papacosta are also speaking.

I’ll be there! As an independent, I need to regularly update my knowledge and skills, and the conference is a great place for that. It’s also important to pull myself out of my home office once in a while and see and be seen; again, the conference is great for that. What I’m also looking forward to is something I found happened at the 2009 conference in San Francisco: meeting or renewing friendships with communicators I’ve met online. This year, I’m making an extra effort to meet up with other independents, so please let me know if that’s you, and let’s talk about how we’ll find each other amid the crowd of 1,400 or so.

Oh, yes, about the shopping. I’ve found at past conferences that attendees end up trying to dash out at lunchtime or between sessions to grab a souvenir of the city, find a new pair of jeans or indulge that passion for new shoes. If that’s you, you’ll be glad to know that your Toronto pals are putting together a quick guide to the “don’t miss” places to shop, whether you have an afternoon or just an hour. I’d love to hear what you’re looking for, or if you’re a local, where you think the hidden gems and great shopping spots can be found.

Are you coming to Toronto? If you’re already here, are you going?

Patriotic feelings. Canadians are normally shy about this, at least compared to Americans, but put us in the Olympics, especially on home turf, and watch out for the flags, red & white clothing, Canadian flag tattoos and spontaneous outbursts of our national anthem. Come to think of it, it’s kind of like the Canadian hospitality suite at the IABC World Conferences.

The feeling of goodwill that seemed to permeate the games. Well, until it came down to the big Canada vs. USA hockey game, when it was all GO CANADA on our part. (Thank you, Team Canada and Sidney Crosby, for letting Canada win gold and USA silver 3-2 in overtime. We may have lots of Americans on our Canadian teams, but we consider it Our Game.)

The unusual medals, a collaboration between artist Corrine Hunt and designer Omer Arbel. Each medal is unique; find out how here.

The crazy sports like ski cross that have athletes flinging themselves down steep slopes and runs with seemingly reckless abandon, although I know it’s only hard training that makes it look easy. And the snowboard races! And wild ski tricks!

CTV ran a great series called “How tough are these sports?” In it, various athletes tried a different sport than usual to see just how difficult it really was. So figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier discovered working with speed skater Denny Morrison that the skates and the method used for speed skating are quite different. Ditto for hockey player Georges Laraque, who had fun with short track skater Olivier Jean learning that racing isn’t as easy as it looks, and hockey player Wendel Clark, who strapped himself in to play sledge hockey with the Canadian Sledge Hockey team.

CTV ran another great series called “Difference Makers,” hosted by Rick Hansen, himself a difference maker. Hansen is the “Man in Motion” who pushed his wheelchair through 34 countries in 1985, raising funds for spinal cord injury research and awareness of the potential of people with disabilities. The series pays tribute to the extraordinary people who have helped Canada’s Olympians and Paralympians overcome their personal and athletic challenges.

Norway’s men’s curling team and their crazy pants. I didn’t exactly love the pants themselves, originally made famous by golfer John Daly, but I sure did appreciate the sense of humour the team had wearing them.

Here are some of the things that don’t get a medal:

The use of “medal” as a verb, as in, “She’s expected to medal in this sport.” I think I also heard “to podium” as a verb. Ughhhh.

How it so often seems to be all about winning gold, and seldom is a silver or bronze medal won; instead, it’s “settled for.” I think any medal is a real achievement, especially when you look at timed sports where athletes set personal records and finish mere fractions of a second apart.

The “I believe in the power of you and I” line  in the stirring song, I Believe, sung by 16-year-old Nikki Yanofsky. Grammatically speaking (word nerd alert!), it should be “you and me,” since “of” is a preposition and takes an object, as pointed out by grammarian Joanne Buckley.

CTV’s official Olympic coverage site, which wanted to make me “upgrade my browser with the latest version of Microsoft Silverlight” to watch the Canadian gold medal performance of ice dancing, and any other videos on the site.

What did you like or not like about the Olympics?