 Your customer is the hero. You are the guide.
If you're at all interested in marketing & storytelling, you're familiar with this thought (made popular by Donald Miller). It's one of the cornerstones of modern marketing. We think we understand the point. But the thought implies a question that few realize. Imagine, you just had a great idea. You know from experience that the idea will help everyone do their work better, so you want to share it with your boss & coworkers.
Next week Wednesday, you are going to have a remote all-hands meeting with your team, so you decide to present the idea there. You feel a tinge of anxiety and your heart starts pounding, but you move on with it.  First, a word of warning: this post has absolutely nothing to do with communication skills.
I had other reasons to write this post. After hosting dozens of pizza evenings and having made 1000s of pizzas, I’ve started to gain some name in my circles as the guy who makes amazing pizza. So, almost weekly I’m asked: “How do you make your pizza dough?”  As I was preparing for my trip of a lifetime in South America a couple of years ago, an exciting thing happened.
I was invited to give a speech to 1000 Mexican students. In my head, I’m thinking: Ok, I have zero time to prepare it before I leave but hey, it sounds exciting. I ask: When is it? The answer: This friday. In 4 days. I’m struck by anxiety for the tight schedule, but I push it aside and accept. Fast forward a few days. I'm sometimes asked: "Miika, what one tip would you give on how to prepare a speech?" What you're about to read is what I usually reply with.
It's one of my favorite tools to use for preparing a speech. The 9 Questions. Every time I’ve failed at a speech, it’s been because I haven’t paid attention to one of these questions. Every time I’ve succeeded, it’s because I have. Tästä keskustelusta löydät hyviä tarinoita ja heti sovellettavia vinkkejä esiintymispelkoon. Ja paljon muuta.
P.S. Vaikka mä oonkin vähän allerginen hippeilylle, niin Antti oli todella cool. Päästiin hyviin keskusteluihin niin kameralla kuin sen ulkopuolellakin. Antti oli rohkea tyyppi jolla on mieletön taito kuunnella. Oli hauskaa! The 3 things people do when they don't want to hear what you're saying (and what to do about it)6/20/2019
 Two weeks ago, I was lying in a delirious fever in a remote beach village in Brazil. On the phone, I was talking with my sister. She’s a trained doctor and knew my particular case well. She was trying to convince me to return home for treatment. I didn't want to go.
She would tell me, it's very dangerous for me to be sick without proper medical care, especially since we didn’t know why I was sick. Especially since I had gone through a severe viral infection only 3 months earlier. What did I do?  A couple of months ago, I left for Brazil with no return ticket. I just found some of my thoughts on that decision from the time just before leaving. I'm posting this, because I think it might help someone out when they're considering jumping into the unknown. You know, make the unknown seem less of a scary place. Plus I believe that it's better to put your stuff out there, even if it's not perfect, and I try to live up to that.
So here we go - enjoy:  When I was a kid, we had a tradition. We lived close to a forest, and there were these small white flowers that blossomed in the spring. Just in time for Mother’s Day. We used to go to the woods with my sisters to pick up those white flowers for mom. It was a beautiful moment.
But why was it so beautiful? Pidin hiljattain puheen. Se ei mennyt hyvin.
Miksi? Olin harjoitellut. Puheeni oli selkeää ja sujuvaa. Aiheeni oli myös tärkeä ja koskettava. Ei. Epäonnistuin siksi, että pääväitteeni oli liian ehdoton. |
about meMiika Karppinen. Adventurer, public speaking coach, storyteller. Dedicated to making you a charismatic communicator. archive
May 2020
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