Which comes first, the graphic design or the content ?

Content means words, writing, headlines, sidebars.  It can also mean pictures, photos, and/or drawing.  Graphic design is how it all gets laid out on the page or the website—the fonts, the colors, the spacing, the borders.

Too often, the writer and the graphic designer work separately.  I write it, then my client e-mails the content to a graphic designer, who lays it out.  Pictures can come from any of us—client, writer, graphic designer.

This works okay—not great, but okay—if you’re just plugging words into an already-designed format, such as letterhead, a blog, or a magazine with a good editor.  
It works badly for a brochure or advertisement, or any new undertaking: website, newsletter, magazine, special project.   Why?

What if I write too many words to fit the brochure, or advertisement? 
What if the designer and I have completely different notions about the audience and the message?

The best work comes from collaboration.  For that, you can hire an expensive marketing company.  Or you can hire people who know, like, and work with each other.

To find out about my designing friends, check out my website.  Or theirs:
Julie Manners, Graphic Ideas
Camilo Nascimento, 544 Productions Web Design
Monroe Payne, Payne Family Photographers

Happy February Flu season to all!
I’ve been croaking scratchily for several weeks.  How can I coach public speaking when I sound like a hinge that needs oil?

Well, because I know what to do about it.  It all comes down to three tips:  Breathe more.  Articulate more.  Talk less.

Breathe More

Breathing powers speech like food powers the rest of you. The harder it is to talk, the stronger your breathing needs to be.

Serendipity favored me this week. I had two classes in breathing.  The first was in Sharon Costianes’ Feldenkrais series; the second was in Users Guide to Your Body, with Maren Waldman and Ron Floyd.  

In order to breathe well, we need to know where our diaphragm is, how it works, and how to help it work better.  We need to get the knots out of our rib cage, both front and back.  Then we need to think about all that as we practice speaking.  For me, that means becoming a member of Bob and Ray's  Slow . . . . Talkers . . . of . .. America.

Articulate More

When you can’t rely on vocal power, pay attention to articulation and clarity.  Even quiet people can be heard when they crystallize every sylable.  No, you don’t have to lose your cool regional accent, unless it’s one of those mush-mouth ones.  Southerners rejoice—your lovely long vowel sounds only need strong consonants to divide them.  

Do your Ts and Ds sound alike?  Do you speak with your mouth mostly closed?  Or do you smile all the time you’re speaking?  Open wide and get those sounds out!  Tongue twisters help, and are a good warmup to practice when your voice returns

Talk Less

While your scratchy voice heals, don’t talk so much.  And don’t whisper—that’s even harder on your infected throat!  It’s a good time to practice listening skills.  Then you’ll have lots of new things to talk about when spring comes.  

On my last visit to the dentist, I once again realized that I have a very small mouth.

At this point, my friends always make a lot of unnecessary cracks.  But it’s true.  Cramming those x-ray thingies into my dainty jaws is always a struggle.

It’s a worse struggle because I’m a public speaking coach.  

See, the mouth is where sounds resonate.  Like a guitar’s body, like the innards of a grand piano, the better the space, the better the sound.  With no space to echo in, my voice insists on sounding tinny.

For those of you with the same problem, there are solutions.

First, practice humming into your face bones and sinuses.  “MMM”  sounds are best.  Make them echo around in your face.  Bonus: it feels like a massage.

Then be sure that your jaw isn’t all tightened up.  Yawn.  Rub your jaw joint.  If you clench your teeth, you can feel what my voice teacher friend Susannah calls your “cowboy muscle.”  You’ve seen the camera pan in on that strong silent face as he tightens his manly jaw in frustration.   We all do that when frustrated, so stretching it out makes it easier for your voice to get out of that teeny mouth.

Help people hear you by practicing your articulation.  Lots of consonants sound alike.   Was that name Pratt, or Bratt?   And can you say the word “anemone” clearly, or does it sound like “amenninny”?

Finally, practice enough so you can have fun explaining your interesting ideas to the big mouths.

“If you read your marketing, sales, or Web site descrptions for your business out loud, does it sound like a real person is saying it?”

Rohit Bhargava wrote this in his book Personality not included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity, and How Great Brands Get It Back.
Talk about a lousy title for a book.  But do not be fooled.  Read it.  It’s great.

Bhargava clearly articulates something that has been inarticulately bugging me for years.  He says that the market-speak of the past doesn’t work in the days of Web 2.0.

Even in the days before the Web, I never thought much of market-speak.  Stuff like this gave me hairballs even when I wrote it.

“Help from alumni, parents, and friends is key to meeting the demands of the 21st century while providing the best possible atmosphere for learning.”

(Before flaming, let me point out that most colleges and universities sound like this when asking for money.)   

Do you trust this college?  Does this sound authentic, like a real person wrote it?  Or is it something that The Onion or Wonkette loves to hate?  (For those of you who haven't met them, these are the kind of people who skewer phonies all over the Web.)

Read Bhargava for actual practical tips on how to stop being a faceless piece of Teflon and start talking like a real human being.



Teflon inventor Roy Plunkett

Last Friday November 6, I did a workshop in public speaking for the 2009 LeadNY class.  

The LeadNY program, run from Cornell University, provides a two-year program of seminars, workshops, and field trips for people in
New York’s $4 billion agriculture industry.  It’s a big commitment.  People from all over the state travel to various cities for a series of three-day events, learning how to lead their industry.

After my workshop, five brave souls had volunteered to be guinea pigs, each presenting a five-minute persuasive speech.  Experience level ranged from an ex-teacher to not so much.  Did I mention that they were brave?

Check out a of the few topics I learned about:
conservation tillage
mobile meat processing

Many of the LeadNY participants want to influence public and social policy, so it’s a good idea to start practicing early.  And, as with any speech, practice is the only thing.

Plenty of online sites offer How To Write the Persuasive Speech.  Here’s my favorite.

Looking at the Persuasive Speech definitely takes us back to the basics.

• Know your Audience—and use that to connect with them
• Learn what makes a good argument.  That’s argument as in “reason to believe,” not as in “talk radio.”
• Practice well.

Meanwhile, thanks to the LeadNY folks for the maple syrup and the interesting speeches.

In the past week, I attended three large networking events, collecting a fistful of business cards and listening to lots of elevator speeches.
The elevator speech is that 60-second talk about your business, suitable for telling to someone you meet in an elevator before he or she can escape—I mean, before they reach their floor.

At the Women Ties conference, we did some speed networking—moving from table to table and repeating our E-Speech over and over.  After the tenth repetition, even I was tongue tied, and one very professional woman lost her thread completely and sputtered into silence.

E-Speeches are not easy.

My favorite how-to article on this topic appears on Quintessential Careers site.  One great suggestion:  develop different speeches for different situations.  I’d suggest having at least a short one and a long one.  You can also tailor them to particular client groups, or to each service that you offer.

One again, notice the need to practice practice practice!   It’s the only way you’re going to sound relaxed and casual—and avoid tongue-tied sputtering.

I just gave a speech about public speaking, using my experience as an actor, teacher, and writer.  

The main points:

• You have to be yourself, and you have to communicate with the audience.
• You have to practice, and practice well.

I was not surprised to discover that the best books on the subject were by ex-actors.  Speak Without Fear, by Ivy Naistadt, offers great tips and exercises for all those who find public speaking to be a fate worse than death.

Taking Center Stage: Masterful Public Speaking, by Deb Gottesman and Buzz Mauro, uses all the skills you learn in acting class to help public speakers.

All public speaking advice begins and ends with the word practice.  But I would add that it must be good, useful practice, not just going through it wrong over and over again. You need a plan.  And you need an audience.

Actors call it rehearsal.  Actors rehearse with a director.
 
Athletes call it practice.  Athletes practice with a coach
. 
The director or coach creates a practice plan; then tells the performer when they’re on, and off track.  A good director stands in for the audience.  A good coach leads the athlete to do her best.

Don't practice hard.  Practice well!

I believe that clear writing reflects clear thinking.  And that fuzzy, buzzword-laden writing reflects fuzzy thinking.

Now I’ve got scientists on my side.

Awhile ago, I blogged about this topic. 

So I was excited to learn that John Geppert and Janice Lawrence, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, have proved that CEOs who use jargon and weasel words are more likely to commit the kind of fraud that led to the economic meltdown.  The Christian Science Monitor reported it.

But I first read the article in GoodNUz, a University of Nebraska alumni magazine.
 
Yes, this Bostonian-born-and-bred went to grad school on the Great Plains.

 And I’m not surprised that this study came out of the straightforward Midwest. 

Maybe their winds blows all the bullshite away.

Why would a freelance writer spend her vacation studying playwriting?

The obvious answer is because I’m also a playwright.

Another answer:  playwrights know all about catching the reader’s interest, telling the story clearly, and keeping the reader wondering what happens next.
 
In our world of the short attention span, writers need to grab and hold an audience with every tool we can find. 
The Playwrights’ Intensive at the Metropolitan Theatre Ensemble taught me how to discover those tools.  So I’m mining the world of playwriting in order to write better brochures, fund-raising materials, marketing materials, and video scripts.  Thanks to Karen Paisley and Stuart Spencer for an amazing experience!

(If you go to the Playwrights Intensive link, you'll see a photo of me being Dead Mother.  Blue t-neck, white pants, closed eyes.)

Then I went to the Southampton Writers Conference,where Laura Maria Censabella showed me how to catch and hold the attention of an audience.  And  Jacquelyn Reingold, who writes for theatre, television, and film, taught me about the incredibly detailed structure that TV writers use.

Think about it.  TV writers have to grab you over and over again, to keep you coming back after every commercial.  After all, you can change the channel any time.  Or go get a snack.  You can even just turn the tube off.
 
It’s the same with your direct mail letter, your marketing brochure, or your website. The reader can toss it away or surf to the next site.  The writer’s job is to keep them reading. 

Did you?



 

Higher education is my beat.

I love talking with faculty and students. I love learning about their work in every discipline: law, theater, agricultural economics, you name it.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about interviewing academics.

Start out filled with intellectual curiosity.  You can’t fake this very well.  An academic friend once complained to me about a writer he called a “dumb groupie,” who loved academics, not their ideas.

Bone up.  You’ll be talking everything from Chinese history to veterinary science.  And you’ll be talking with people whose lives revolve around their topics. With curiosity and research, you’ll be able to ask interesting questions and follow the arcane conversation with the same enthusiasm as the professor.  

Realize that the process will take at least two hours.  Ask enough questions to focus the interview without derailing the discussion.

Once you’ve got a notebook or MP3 full of high level talk, it’s time to make the story fascinating for everyone without misrepresenting the complexity of the professor’s work.  When you research the topic, be alert for when the writing works and when it doesn’t.  In general, notice, find, and read writers who make intricate concepts clear.  Then -- practice!

Your job is to make the college and its work look terrific, and your interviewee feel great about working there.  That means allowing your interviewees to read your article.  A journalistic no-no is the college writers’ “yes-absolutely.”

They will nitpick your work.  They’re academics.  So when you send the material, set them up carefully.  Say something like:  “I know how busy you are, so just let me know about any factual errors, or misrepresentations.  This is for a general audience, so I’ve simplified accordingly.  And my editor wants only 900 words, so if you really need to add anything, tell me what to take out.”

Usually the professor gracefully says “feel free to take or leave my suggestions.”  If not, treat him or her as you would a client, tactfully discussing how some of the edits will work for your audience, and some won’t.

Then stand ready to learn about another esoteric and enthralling topic.