Back in May, I attended the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference in Detroit and posted a list of 108 top tweets from the event. @dennajones reviewed the list from her home in London and writes about why final tweet in the listing resonated with her:

108. Consider Prezi.com instead of PPT: Animated visuals are dynamic and impressive. As shown in @shelhotz closing keynote.

Why I am switching from PowerPoint to Prezi (Part 1)
by Denna Jones

PowerPoint has taken a hammering in the press in the last few months. The New York Times piece We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint detailed the US Military’s blame game. “PowerPoint makes us stupid,” declared General James N. Mattis. And across the pond, the London Evening Standard article Why PowerPoint Makes Us Stupid gave Yale University information presentation guru Edward Tufte a forum for his emphatic take-no-prisoners declaration, “Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely.”

Sound bites are good copy, and Tufte’s clever tweak of Lord Acton’s famous power dictum is a guaranteed way to get press coverage. But the subset of Lord Acton’s statement – “great men are almost always bad men” – doesn’t translate. If PowerPoint is a great tool – and it is – it’s only a “bad” tool because users fail on two to three fronts. They have limited knowledge of its capabilities, and they have poor ideas or poor presentation skills (or both).

PowerPoint has its defenders. Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google, sent a letter of support to the New York Times. Norvig made the obvious point. The military “could just as easily have bemoaned bad written reports and summaries, and blamed Microsoft Word.” Another letter writer to the Times reminds us of the paper alternative. “Page after page of mind-numbing, often badly written paragraphs that are no better and certainly less efficient in getting the message across to audiences.” And I remember the tools PowerPoint replaced. Clunky slide carousels with upside down images. Overhead projectors with fumbling hands lining up multiple layers of slippery acetates. And worst of all, flip charts, which seem to be the tool of choice for those with the worst handwriting. All of these tools have equal power to numb the audience if used ineffectively.

PowerPoint stupidity can be explained with perhaps more authority if we look at Bloom’s Taxonomy. A 1950s era educational psychologist, Bloom created an “Educational Objectives” taxonomy to aid learning. His model has been revised and his categories updated, but his basic taxonomy remains relevant. When we learn something, we start at the lowest level of understanding. The more we learn about a given subject, the more we progress in skill and complexity comprehension, and the more we can do with the increased learning. If we persist, we are able eventually to adapt, shift and create our own theories regarding the subject. Sounds simple, but it’s probably fair to say that many PowerPoint users never move beyond the first level or two of Bloom’s Taxonomy, and perhaps never understand why the tool “fails” them.

So, you ask, if I am a defender of PowerPoint, why am I switching to Prezi? Find out next week in Part 2!

Denna Jones is a US-born, London-based writer, designer and consultant who grew up in houses ranging from a Shoji-screen suburban in Hawaii to a mid-twentieth century in California. She works on urban design schemes across England. More details at www.dennajones.com.

The Ragan Social Media Summit, hosted by Cisco Systems, was held in San Jose June 9-11, 2010.

The event promised the latest Web 2.0 strategies for PR, marketing and corporate communications.

Attendees generated over 2,700 tweets under the hashtag #ragancisco.

Twitter is ephemeral. It only maintains 10-14 days of content, so this information will soon disappear. However, here’s a useful permanent archive all of the tweets. It’s with deep gratitude to all the attendees who posted their messages that this content has been made available worldwide on Twitter. Thanks!

Building on an idea of listing of “top tweets” I first experimented with at the Detroit Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference at the GM Headquarters in May, I’ve curated a list of 116 tweets I found most content-rich and interesting; adding links where appropriate for easy reference; consolidating others; editorializing.

Full disclosure: I am employed by Cisco as an executive communications manager.

I aimed for brevity and so none of the Twitter handles or attributions are listed below, so search the archive if you need sources.

Please share your own experiences of the event in the blog comments (or on Twitter!). Let me know which of the many suggestions were of interest and how you’ve implemented the ideas you picked up at #ragancisco. If I omitted your favorite tweet please add it to the comments below.

Enjoy!

1. A listing of Twitter handles for presenters at the event.
2. @codella: my slides published for 17 social media tools.
3. Notes from @JeanetteG ‘s excellent talk on social media evolution.
4. @jowyang slides: On Future Trends in social media.
5. @GuyKawasaki is running his preso from this excellent list of sources.
6. Brands breaking boundaries: Notes on a great talk by @Britopian of @EdelmanDigital
7. @JeanetteG asks What’s your “twitch” – your business pitch in 140 characters. Tweet it!
8. Cisco started Social Media by blogging in 2005 (high-tech policy blog). Today 25% of blogs are video blogs. 5X more retention.
9. Videos need to be “snackable” … 90 seconds or under typically.
10. 60% of Cisco social engagements are on Twitter.
11. We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it?
12. Once on the net, it is there forever — no do-overs. Twitter is even archived by the Library of Congress.
13. “People die, but their posts never do.”
14. “Deleted messages often reappear in court” one can’t erase messages in social media.
15. Whirlwind tour of over 30 social media tools by @codella – learned about this directory of social sites.
16. Instead of a 30-page white paper, consider doing 10 or so blogs. Have employees use Flip cameras to save video production $
17. Cisco saved $250k in one launch using the corporate blog!
18. Cisco encourages all employees 2 use internal & ext social media, but NO ANONYMOUS POSTINGS-keeps ppl in check when posting online.
19. Cisco & video. THEN: video blogs, video data sheets, web video. NOW: meaningful engagement: public Q&A using video+Twitter+blog.
20. Use of Flip camera: NBC+Cisco Flip Sponsorship during 2010 Winter Games. 292,000+ mins watched. Showing video w/ Queen Latifah.
21. Live customer polling via Twitter is way cheaper than other ways of doing it.
22. @Cisco has 2 versions of their press releases in their newsroom 1. Social media press release 2. Traditional version.
23. Cisco’s currently tracking >20k social mentions per week.
24. Cisco is using crowd sourcing with the Cisco I-Prize to get new ideas prize= $250K http://ow.ly/1WMj7 cool stuff!
25. Check out A Special Valentine’s Day Gift ….from Cisco.
26. 54% of companies still block social media – Stopblocking.org a resource you can use.
27. If you Block Social ask your CEO these Q’s: What does it say about culture? Trust? Innovation? Attracting employees?
28. Suggestion to sell stock if you hold it in companies that block their employees from social media. Competitive disadvantage.
29. Lower video quality is an okay trade off for increased timeliness & better transparency. Some call it “scrappy” video.
30. “The purpose of a business is to create customers who create customers” says @kirasw of Ant’s Eye View. 40% of twitter users have recommended a product or service.
31. 97% of your customers are using search to research products/services.
32. Why use social media: 1/because of solution selling. Customers have pain points, not needs.
33. Social media policy is about allowing confident and competent engagement online.
34. Intuit told all the dev team: spent 10 minutes a day on their community…their code got better.
35. Social media team trying to increase engagement, cctr team trying to reduce call volume. …not on same page.
36. Customers expose/show you your silos all day long on social web. Like a mirror showing your flaws.
37. Put a screen in front of execs showing what customers really say (not just a metric of customer satisfaction based on survey).
38. Brands become believable when they listen AND ENGAGE. Listening not enough: http://ow.ly/1WQir
39. Intel humanizes the brand through video! “A Rock Star is Born”
40. Wow! Cisco’s TelePresence is amazing! @LionelatDell speaking from Dell’s headquarters to communicators at Cisco.
41. You know your brand is socially relevant when your content is shared without you asking.
42. Common blogging error … Not giving the reader a clear next step that keeps them on your site.
43. Marketers who don’t sell a product should use traffic analytics as justification, not the typical metric of product sales.
44. Focus on what your customers want more than what “outside experts” recommend for social media.
45. Twitter is no more a social marketing plan than a phone is a telemarketing plan.
46. Fact – there are over 20M tweets per day.
47. Social media is word of mouth on steroids!
48. The more people you know, the more you can do.
49. Consumer 1.0 gets unhappy and just doesn’t come back. Consumer 2.0 gets unhappy and shares with the world their opinion.
50. In social media you don’t need be fancy; you just need to be useful.
51. Millennials grew up on mobile screens that’s where they live & one day they will have $$ to spend! Do you have a mobile strategy?
52. You can’t prevent Facebook usage in the enterprise because of mobile devices!
53. Email is the original social media. Don’t leave it behind. Still relevant and great for 1:1 communications.
54. Social media does not create buzz, it uncovers the buzz -that’s when we should react to the buzz.
55. “If you talked to people the way advertisers talk to people, they’d punch you in the face.”
56. Twitter is your new (low barrier) newsroom.
57. Yahoo Pipes will pull all your content together – “everyone who uses it loves it”
58. EMC took an inside-out approach to drive social proficiency with employees first.
59. Now: Everywhere: EMC Gang: 500 emp. on Twitter w/ 90K collective followers, 25 public bloggers w/ 2M unique visits in 2Q last yr.
60. Community-generated example- 450 ideas with 20k views on “how to save EMC money” during dark days of 2009.
61. Great tips for Online Press Release: Use key word search engines before you write your story and use it a lot.
62. Social web is catching up with the many human interactions we have had since the beginning of time. Not new and scary.
63. Key to productive social media: educate, enable, & scale, teach best practices, etiquette, goals, and have social playbooks.
64. Never say anything online you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.
65. Etiquette in social is key and must be learned because ur reach is bigger than u think it is.
66. By 2020 there will be enough digital info that two stacks of DVDs will reach 1/2 way to Mars @LenDevanna. Now there’s a picture.
67. It’s in your best interest 2 figure out collaboration/knowledge sharing/social media b/c your next employer will expect it of u.
68. Part of a successful corp. social media strategy: Put someone in charge.SM should ultimately be pervasive throughout.
69. Database of Corp Social Media Policies.
70. @guykawasaki: Wow, have to go to work for Cisco. This is the speed there http://www.speedtest.net/result/843448685.png
71. Guy Kawasaki: If your first rxn to Twitter was not ‘This is the dumbest thing ever’, you fail the IQ test. Then you find http://search.twitter.com
72. Guy Kawasaki recommends following back on Twitter as polite, and notes you can’t DM unless you’ve been followed. Solicits DM’s.
73. Engaged followers are more important than a high number of followers if you’re trying to sell – example Dell Outlet.
74. Google searches like this one: ‘intext:”bio” “speechwriter communications” site:twitter.com’ find types of people.
75. Spokeo.com – type in someone’s e-mail address and find out what social media channels they are using. Good for finding nut cases.
76. How to find interesting stuff to tweet? Stumbleupon + Smartbrief + Alltop
77. Grab links in 1 click to tweet out: Objectivemarketer.
78. Source for nice photos on Boston.com/bigpicture
79. Use “LinkedIn” on Twitter as it’s a popular topic and you’ll get RT
80. @GuyKawasaki uses MarsEdit for blogging.
81. Typinator – efficient way to creating repeat messages in email, blogs.
82. There’s 2 kinds of people on Twitter 1/ ppl who care about how many followers they have and 2/ people who are liars.
83. @GuyKawasaki aims to gain 500 followers on Twitter every day (every Tweet goes out four times to hit primetime)
84. Email Extractor: grab email addresses from any text, remove junk. Spammers delight!
85. Tweetmeme I love this! Drives traffic. A good approximation for measuring quality of posts.
86. Who’s copying your text from your blog? Tynt knows…
87. Compelling reasons for execs to begin tweeting: Life is all about embracing change, so experiment with it.
88. Biz doing social media facing issues with scaling – too few employees, too many customers.
89. 3 ways to scale: Harness the Rings of Influence, develop p2p systems, invest in social CRM.
90. In social influence, prospects trust customers more than brand and customers trust employees more than brand.
91. CEOs are NOT CREDIBLE among most US consumers (26% trust a CEO). Edelman Trust Barometer
92. Crowds can work for you by developing robust customer communities. The self-service support model.
93. Rather than ghost-write exec blog, have them do video or podcasts.
94. The Intel Employees blogs give customers an “inside look” at their ops and lets outsiders interact w/ insiders.
95. BestBuy example of @twelpforce as a way to allow thousands of employees to support customers.
96. Wal-Mart failed at social media until it launched Elevenmoms that lets bloggers post on Wal-Mart site.
97. Microsoft recognizes Most Valuable Professionals (MVP’s) annually – knowledgeable, passionate, etc. It’s a badge of honor.
98. Google SideWiki shifts power to customers. Not big yet, but a hint of the future.
99. Starbucks partners with Foursquare to empower check-in advocates. Expect more advocate programs.
100. Prospecting: they may not be talking about you. So monitor their pain points, what they say about your competition.
101. Reputation, ranking, ratings | helps identify top advocates. Example: TurboTax users rank Best Answers; Oracle Super Users recognized on leaderboard.
102. What is social CRM? Connection between social web and your customer database.
103. Starting with 5M’s for Social CRM-Monitoring, Mapping, Management, Middleware, Measurement.
104. Make sure to do opt-in rather than scraping when you’re in a sensitive, maybe regulated area like healthcare. People get touchy.
105. Prediction from @jowyang: Insurance cos. will use what you say/don’t say on social web to determine rates. So don’t advertise how many times you go to a bar, for instance.
106. Will location-based social media platforms be used to affect your personal insurance rates?
107. Whether a Fortune 500 company or a small business, the approach is the same: show customer care in a public way.
108. Word clouds are a great way to visualize conversations and understand customer priorities.
109. Adoption of tools requires pioneers to test them who then become educators Culture of innovation helps.
110. Think of your social programs as parties. Be a host. Make it rock. Enable conversations, don’t drive all of them.
111. Hallmark used #flip to record moms at a live event then post to YouTube to continue the conversation when ppl went home.
112. More video was uploaded to YouTube in the last 2 months than if the major networks had been airing new content since 1948.
113. Average life span of a Fortune 500 company: 40 yrs. – so how to live longer than 40 years as a company? Embrace change, experiment, learn, leverage.
114. Three reasons you know you’re at #ragancisco: 1) Great people 2) Wifi is 5 bars strong and 3) You hear “bleep bleep” of flip cameras.
115. @guykawasaki: At Cisco, there’s always something to aim at. http://yfrog.com/bgxqoj
116. Not to mention that @cisco campus smells so amazing! Love the flowers!

By Angela DeFinis, DeFinis Communications

After working with a number of executives during the past few months, I’ve noticed some common pitfalls that diminish the quality of an executive’s presentation. These public speaking mistakes affect executives across the board, regardless of industry or profession.

Like everyone else who speaks to groups, executives must spend time preparing their message and practicing their delivery. However, many executives have formal speechwriters. Their content is often written for them and then passed around to other senior leaders in the company. As a result, the Marketing VP wants his spin included, the Engineering VP has certain requirements to be added, and the HR manager has a point of view that also needs to come through. The message goes through many rounds and edits until the final draft is perfected.

That’s a lot of time devoted to content creation. My only wish is that the executives would give the same amount of time and attention to actually practicing and rehearsing the delivery. Because they don’t, here are the common blunders that occur:

• Appearing unprepared to deliver the speech. You can have the most finely crafted message in the world, but if you’re not prepared to deliver it, your message can fail. The fact is that poor delivery can overshadow great content. Therefore, spend the same amount of time practicing your delivery as you do creating your content. And if you didn’t craft the content yourself, then find out how long others spent preparing it and practice at least an hour longer.
• Not focusing on the listeners’ needs. Many executives spend too much time talking about what’s important to them and don’t focus on the needs of the audience. This is the classic case of not knowing the audience. Unfortunately, audiences often interpret it as “this speaker doesn’t care about us.” Get clear on what’s important to your listeners and spend the majority of your time covering those topics. If there’s something you feel is important and that you need to say, then go ahead and say it. But don’t forget about or gloss over the audience’s needs.
• Foregoing conventional etiquette. Foul language, “good old boy” style, off color jokes, slang…these are things you should never use in your business presentations. If you’re speaking to a global audience, any of these things will be a turn off. And if even one audience member is offended by your language, style, or demeanor, then your credibility just went down a notch. When you follow conventional etiquette standards, you smooth the conversational pathway so you can reach understanding and build relationships. And isn’t that one of your main goals when presenting?
• Not using a “speaker’s tone.” Speaking in a “conversational” tone is fine for small group communication; however, when you’re giving a formal presentation, you need to use a more projected “speaker’s tone.” Remember that public speaking requires using the skills of the speaking trade. And one of those is maintaining an emphasis on vocal skills. Often, executives think that their personal style is enough and that they do not have to use professional speaking skills. But if you want to position yourself as the leading authority on any topic, you must use good vocal skills.

What’s the best way to overcome these mistakes? In a word: Practice! Yes, practice really does make perfect. By focusing on your delivery and approach as much as you focus on creating your speech, you’ll avoid these mistakes and give an executive level presentation that hits the mark, enhances your reputation and sets a high standard for presentation delivery throughout your company.

Following my recent trip to the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference in Detroit I created a listing of 108 “top tweets” from the event – tips, suggestions, ideas and topics which people found noteworthy.

Now, I’m as guilty as the next person of attending conferences and workshops, getting all fired up with ideas and suggestions, and failing to follow through and implement any of them. So, in the spirit of implementing at least some of these ideas from Detroit, I plan to examine some of the tweets in more detail.

Top Tweet: learn Screencasting

The first tip, which came out of Shel Holtz’s seminar at the event, was “Use Camtasia Studio to create audio “screen-casts” of apps – embed in departmental websites as training aids. Create animated preso library.”

I’ve asked my National Speakers Association colleague and uber-geek, Jim Carrillo, to explain in detail how screen-casting can be accomplished. His explanation includes a screen-cast – of course!

Screencasting – the Fourth Dimension in Communication

by Jim Carrillo

You may have seen Screencasting, or screen recording in its generic name, when you’ve watched online training snippets for some popular websites. Screencasting is a name coined by Jon Udell, and is a digital recording of a computer screen’s output that usually contains voice narration.

Before diving in to how you can use it, let’s start by explaining the fourth dimension concept. Communication is the backbone for all we do. The best form of communication is when we’re face to face with our counterpart, which I consider our first dimension. Unfortunately, one of the worse forms of communication is written, or email, which we use far too much. With email, we lose the tonalities of our voice, the excitement in our gestures, and the other forms of visual and audio interaction; this would be the second dimension. The third dimension of communication would be recording ourselves for distribution to a single person or an audience. Recording has been around for quite some time, and with voicemail, or HandyCam video cameras, we’ve all become accustomed to the word “recorded message”. It’s clearly either a video or audio recording of a communication (or both).

What do you call a video communication that doesn’t involve a camera though?, a communication that brings in a new element of reference that both the presenter and receiver can focus on? With the explosion of the integration of the computer screen in our daily lives, bringing this medium into the focus of the communication has become natural. Screencasting is exactly that. It’s a recording of a communication with the focus on the computer screen, not the presenter.

Oddly enough, Screencasting is one of the easiest methods of recording. Bypassing the Video or Audio recording industries, screencasting was born out of the computer generation. Ease of use was top of mind in creating this technology.

Don’t be misled though, just because something is easy, don’t expect professional production ready results. To give an analogy, many people know how to type in a word processing application, but it doesn’t make them an author. Everyone can learn how to create a Screencast in minutes, but don’t start calling yourself a producer just yet.

You can try it right now! The best out of the box (and there is no box), get your feet wet Screencasting system I’ve found is Screen Toaster (www.screentoaster.com) . Screentoaster is completely web based (meaning no software to install), and it’s FREEEEE! What a beautiful word isn’t it? FREEEEE.

Considering becoming a director or producer in Screencasts for a more professional production? I’ve tried many, and with much reluctance, I finally gave Camtasia Studio (www.techsmith.com) a try. The price is inexpensive for professional use (only $300), and is not only packed with features, they’ve made it very simple to use. The simpleness is what brought a tear to my eye.

Interested in seeing a demonstration? In this Screencast, I’ve created both a simple Screencast showing you how to create your own Screencast in about two minutes (ouch, that circular explanation hurts my brain every time I write it). I’ve also added three examples of Screencasts that I often produce. Screencasting is part of my daily communications, and professional marketing services. Not a day passes that I’m not recording my cursor fly by.

Edited highlights from the 1-hour presentation I gave at the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference, held May 4-7 at the General Motors HQ, Renaissance Center, Detroit, MI.

The speech outline, slides and resources I refer to are available on the presentation home page.

Having spent 30-plus years in organizational communications in Fortune 500 companies, consulting firms, and as an independent consultant since 1996, Shel Holtz, ABC, brings a depth of experience to his engagements. Shel has worked with online communications since the mid-1980s; he currently focuses on the application of social media to strategic business communication. Shel also provides counsel and guidance on traditional online communication and conventional media.

Shel is the author of five books, including Public Relations on the Net, Corporate Conversations, Blogging for Business and the recently released How to Do Everything with Podcasting. (Along with co-author John C. Havens, Shel is currently writing “Web 2.Open,” addressing the role communications play in organization efforts to attain transparency.) He has also written countless articles for magazines and journals. He is in demand as a speaker at conferences and workshops around the world.

Shel keynoted at the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference in Detroit. I asked him what was new in his world. To hear what he told me, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:20 — 1.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

This Weekend Financial Times profiled a moving TV advert which honors the role of women:

Set to a cover version of Billy Joel’s “She’s always a woman”, the spot shows the life of a woman: a little girl blows out her birthday candles, marries, moves home, has children, grows older and walks off into a parkland sunset, surrounded by dog, husband and grandchildren.

It is an old-fashioned weepy, prompting a very modern reaction: hundreds of thousands of YouTube viewings and spontaneous outpourings of emotion on Twitter. The song has been hastily released and is shooting up the charts.

Take a look:

The Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference in Detroit (May 4-7) was festival of presentations on Social Media, Speechwriting, Corporate and Internal Communications. Over 250 attended the event held at the General Motors Headquarters in the downtown Renaissance Center and hosted by GM.

Attendees generated over 900 tweets under the hashtag #ragangm. Since Twitter only maintains 10-14 days of content live they will soon disappear. Here’s the archive all of them.

I curated a list of the most interesting 108 tweets,adding links where appropriate for easy reference.

1. Use Camtasia Studio to create audio “screen-casts” of apps – embed in departmental websites as training aids. Create animated preso library.
2. Internal comms compete w/lots of entertaining options for employee mindshare. Videos & Photos need to be quality & entertain to compete w/Rolling Stone & People Magazine.
3. Every internal web page should have star rating system and allow comments.
4. When developing messages for employees, ask the question “What does this have to do with the key audience how does it speak to their concerns?” WIIFM at two levels for employees: 1) What does it have to do w/ me? 2) How does changing my behavior make my life better?
5. Three steps to changing employee behavior: 1) Handle comms logistics – content, design, 2) capture employee attention and 3) do be relevant. Result = change behavior.
6. Comms is responsible for simplifying complexity of business – diagram things.
7. We can no longer have internal comms messages targeted to everyone – the branch office does not see things same way HQ staff do. Gen Y workers diff. from Baby Boomers.
8. Every communicator (esp. long-timers) eventually stops communicating 4 their audience and starts communicating 4 their boss. Do whatever it takes to avoid this. Bonus be damned!
9. 3rd party media training is often more effective. Execs seem more receptive and less defensive/dismissive about their advice. Hire an outside coach for faster results.
10. People now have now gone from having ADD to ADOS – Attention Deficit … Ooh Shiney!
11. Executives need to understand Gen Y. “Connect with the coming tidal wave.” Try reverse mentoring, people!
12. Irrelevant information is not benign. Limited reader attn means messages must be focused on benefits or risk losing readers.
13. Write for the range of target audience that has least understanding of your topic. Duh!
14. 89% of journalists say they turn to blogs for story research. Lazy or smart?
15. 78% of people trust recs of other consumers; 14% trust ads. This is why social media is so important. Who do you trust?
16. 62% of employees who tweet, tweet from work.
17. 66% of employers have monitored employees’ internet use; 1/3 of companies have fired someone (mostly for visiting wrong websites).
18. Make sure to integrate comms channels with each other. Example given: The Petco Scoop blog.
19. Wildfire has a fun ways – sweepstakes, contests and give-aways – to engage SM audiences.
20. Ideal number of words in a graf before losing reader attention: 42.
21. Listening is the most important thing you can do on Twitter – check out http://search.twitter.com/ and http://www.socialoomph.com/
22. Speechwriter Rob Friedman: Eli Lilly’s main purpose is to show “the value of pharmaceuticals” – ask: what is it for your company?
23. “A speechwriter is a playwright for the client – script them well”
24. Era of destination website is over – archival ‘.com’ sites being replaced by social media.
25. 68% of online content read by Millennial’s is created by someone they know personally.
26. Check out cool tool PubSubHubBub.
27. Real-time search engines can tell u the sentiment & reactions to ur org’s news. Look at https://brandmentions.com.
28. Twitter is not a personal communication tool. It’s a news distribution service.
29. AT&T uses Twitter Ambassadors found those already on Twitter and take that passion to help your brand in a real way.
30. Write tweets in ways that add value to the reader to aid optimization.
31. Augmented reality is the next big thing. @shelholtz: “It’s going to be huge.”
32. Are u using http://www.evernote.com/ – It will change ur life.
33. Polleverywhere – Cool live polling technology. Used my phone to txt a vote and watched live results on the screen!
34. General Motors: Changing the public’s perception 1 customer at a time. Personal correspondence with GM execs. Actively seek unhappy customers.
35. Re finding/responding to online complaints, “It costs less…than finding a new customer,” Says GM’s Susan Docherty.
36. SM lessons learned by GM: Don’t be boring, don’t over-promote, cut the hyperbole, respond to people w/real people.
37. Social media “policy” for employees: if you can’t say it at your daughter’s bday party, shouldn’t say it online.
38. “Stop treating customers like a one-night stand,” GM CMO Susan Docherty. Great advice for all companies!
39. “Emerging” media is now traditional media. GM had 8-fold increase in digital media spending since 2001.
40. In communications, if you start with the consumer, you will do the right thing.
41. Qumu – great option for internal communications webcasting: Ragan Conference using them.
42. GM has “social club,” informal, regular meetings of those from all depts w social media responsibilities.
43. Remember you (your comp. or org) are a publisher and you compete with media outlets.
44. PR & Marketing need to have a ‘”happy marriage.” Audiences can’t tell the diff between the two. They just see you.
45. GM lets employees spend worktime in Twitter & Facebook so they can interact w/customers, which is now part of everybody’s job.
46. Viral is a phenomenon, not a strategy…absolutely true.
47. Any GM employee can tweet about the company, says @maryhenige. Co keeps them advised of rules, links them to info & asks them to be smart.
48. In the end – just provide value. Don’t lead w/your messages; community’s needs come first.
49. On Social Media…don’t be a brand, be human.
50. 70% of successful outcome depends on how well you communicate. The last thing u want is 4 execs to be hiding behind their desks.
51. “SM is like having a kid – you can’t just leave them when they’re done being cute.”
52. Writers are ditch diggers. Can’t wait for a muse. Get your ass back in there and DIG!
53. Any speech longer than 20 minutes is too long. If they want longer. Tell them you’ll speak for 20, QA for the rest.
54. How to determine speech length? 100 words = 1 minute is good benchmark. Anyone speaking faster than that needs to SLOW DOWN, pause for audience to absorb message.
55. Speechwriters: Make 3-4 big points. No more. Get them from the principal in ur 1st mtg, or they’ll throw ur 1st draft out.
56. Get a 2nd monitor for your computer (to monitor Twitter).
57. Use flickr to spark yr creativity.
58. Use flip cams for fast ‘scrappy’ videos (caveat: content must be good).
59. Greatest gift of YouTube culture: low expectation for video quality. BUT compelling content + authenticity is extremely high.
60. Using humor in Corp comm is not always a fireable offense.
61. Keeping it real: Bullfighter: – eliminate jargon & b.s. in your documents.
62. Hire a presentation/speech coach to help ur executives improve. Not overnight, but 3-4 months.
63. Use http://bit.ly to shorten URLs and track clicks.
64. Stay current: Read http://mashable.com/
65. Do a short 2 sentence interview with multiple ppl and mash together for a good video on a single topic. Example: http://bit.ly/aqzoCd
66. Create a presentation homepage for upcoming events, preview videos, outline, slideshare, ask for comments. Example: http://bit.ly/aWBAow
67. Flip camera tips: Clean the office behind you; use a desk light to highlight face; watch for b/g noise; bump sound with Windows Movie maker post-production.
68. Keep your language conversational. Test your writing by reading out loud as if you were talking to someone in an elevator.
69. Writers: Get rid of passive sentences; capture the essence of your press release in a Tweet.
70. Stop blocking social media from ur employees. Train them and empower them.
71. Spice up internal comms: Roving reporters and employee film fests: uncovering talent in ur organization.
72. “Who died & put IT in charge of employee productivity?” @shelholtz
73. Amplify employee voices thru low-cost podcasting. Can listen at user convenience, develops trust and community. And cheap to produce.
74. Journalism graduates today are trained to shoot, edit, and publicize. Get a dedicated staff member to focus on video.
75. @MarkRaganCEO on why authenticity matters: “We live in the age of bullshit.”
76. Useful podcasting tools: Wavepad, Camtasia Studio, Audacity, Levelator.
77. On podcasting…the tool is not the message.
78. Podcast Production Lessons: Cozy up to your radio. Get comfortable with being seen & heard. Prepare, prepare, prepare.
79. Podcasters: Think like a marketer. Create full campaign. Don’t 4get your global audience. Measure every podcast.
80. Podcasters: Your leaders make for great content. Look for your influencers. Let employees be the interviewers sometimes.
81. Internal Podcasts: You’ve got experts in your community. Help them tell their stories. Find the moment when the mike goes away.
82. Podcasts complement crisis communications. Can quickly be on the scene or respond to rumors. Easily done over the phone.
83. Time length for videos is controversial. Brevity important in most cases. 90 secs or less. BUT if it’s good, ppl will watch longer.
84. Executive communications is like a high wire act…eventually something will go wrong.
85. Public Speakers: Common mistake – spending more time on slides than on delivery. Dry runs are important.
86. Public Speakers: Conversational tone in a large audience doesn’t always work. Stage presence is important.
87. Speechwriters: Beware of tongue twisters. “Red Buick, Blue Buick”.
88. Speechwriters: Prep your exec in case their time gets cut. Provide a 60-30-15 minute version of the speech as a contingency.
89. Understand Cultural Sensitivity/Diversity issues: Resource: Culture Crossing – Beware of culturally-specific analogies (e.g. Sports US= “4th down”; UK= “batting on a sticky wicket”).
90. Think about mic’ing your exec when they present so u can re-purpose their speech/audio for other things (website, podcast, transcript, etc.)
91. “Opportunities multiply as they are seized”- Sun Tzu. Especially true for the internet.
92. @aribadler suggested we’ve moved from work-life balance to work-life blend.
93. Avoid extended online debates with ppl who disagree with a message.
94. 28 Best Praactices for virtual presentations, WebEx sessions: www.whatworks.biz
95. Best way to brief ur exec? Know them, their style. Personalize ur approach and style.
96. If your employees love what they do, make them ambassadors.
97. Pre-flight checklist for exec-comms events available as .doc source: http://bit.ly/bzzoTh
98. Blogs must be authentic. Don’t ghost write your CEO’s. Ppl expect authenticity. If they can’t write it, look for something else.
99. If ur CEO is a bad writer but a good speaker: have him dictate it + ur comm staff can transcribe to the blog.
100. Comm cascade often fails. Focus on interpretation + location! Help staff take the message, interpret, + pass it on accurately.
101. Branding: Detroit is considered “gritty”. Baby Boomers equate that to dirty. Gen X define it as “authentic”. Detroit’s brand position: Detroit is where cool comes from.
102. Ask your agency to pitch ideas they don’t think you’ll approve. Creativity will flow.
103. Whether it’s online or in print. If you don’t know if people are reading it, why are you doing it?
104. Interviewing tip: Don’t be afraid to go where your answer leads you and not where your question sent you.
105. Complaints are inevitable in any biz. Look at them as opportunities to showcase problem solving and communication skills.
106. Comms must compete for your employees’ attention – Paying employees gets them in the door, but that doesn’t engage and motivate them.
107. Measure communications by business goals/objectives.
108. Consider Prezzi.com instead of PPT: Animated visuals are dynamic and impressive. As shown in @shelhotz closing keynote.

The Ragan’s Corporate Communicators Conference held May 5-7, 2010 at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. Hosted by General Motors.

Full background on my own two presentations – slides, script and references:
Speechwriting in the age of social media: Magnifying the impact of a speech to increase your reach

What can go wrong in executive communications: Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Video of first-hand impressions by 15 attendees.

Nearly 300 members and guests of NSA/NC spent Saturday May 1 at the Achieve! The Professional Edge showcase of professional speakers from across Northern California.

I took to the podium with Jim Carrillo to demonstrate how easy it is to create a video on YouTube in under 10 minutes.

I then asked people to share their impressions of the day. See what they had to say in this YouTube video: