“Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside”.

Stephen Covey

 

In their book Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath present 6 Key variables of Sticky Ideas (SUCCESs).

Similar to the premise of the book, when you speak, you need your ideas to STICK in the mind of your listeners. If they do, your audience will understand you and then be persuaded by your message.

S: Simplicity leads people to the core of the message and then

U: the unexpected gains people’s attention, mystery keeps it,

C: your concreteness in using details helps people understand and remember and

C: your credibility makes you a reliable source

But wait for what’s next: how can you get people to act??

E: Above all, they need to care about your message and it is EMOTION that brings people to care.

S: The story you tell will get them to act.

For people to take action and share your idea, they need to care about it. That’s where emotion comes in. Emotion elicits a reaction. The emotional component of “stickiness” means making people care enough to want to share your idea and message. Ultimately, to make it their own.

Learn how to build emotional appeal into your speech.

One of the four methods the Heaths point out—perhaps the most powerful— is to build ASSOCIATIONS to concepts your audience can relate to.

Stay tuned – this will be the topic of our next blog!

Until then, go catch the crowds … indeed: WIN the crowds.

-Baraah Hamoudi

July 2019

Source: Heath, Chip and Heath, Dan; Made to Stick, 2008. 

Photo by Angelika Agibalova on Unsplash