Adding Meaning and Value to Data Through Story 2016 ICMA Emerging Professionals Leadership Institutes Felicia Logan, Director of Leadership Development

Back Bay Bistro

She strode purposefully into the room wearing a black baseball hat with the word RUN highlighted in neon blue. It made me wonder what kind of message there might be in that word—was she literally telling me to run? Was she celebrating a love of sport? Or simply making a statement about who she is and what’s important to her.

Beginnings Today I am going to challenge you to do something that 10,000 people in a 2013 Gallup poll listed as more terrifying than death! And I am going to offer you 3 ways to improve your ability to add meaning and value to data through story

YES WE ARE! We are going to speak publically. And that is what was feared more than death according to the 10,000 people who participated in the Gallup Poll. By a show of fingers—0 to 10 1.How much do you like speaking in public? 2.How good are you at speaking in public? 3. How good do you want to be?

WHY? If you said that you want to be a better public speaker the key to successful improvement lies in the question of “WHY”. If it’s because you “should” then you will fail. If it’s because you want to and believe that you have an important message or information to share then you have a chance of really improving your results when you speak.

How many of you get a little nervous when you speak in public? By a show of hands would you rather me tell you how to get over it after the nervousness has overtaken you OR Would you like for me to tell you how to prevent (or greatly diminish) the nervousness in the first place?

The answer is simple Get over yourself!!!!

It’s not about you—it’s about the message We trust experts based on competence, credibility and commitment or how much they care divided by how much they focus on themselves. If you have something worth saying then it’s your job to say it so that people really hear it, remember it and are moved to action.

Leadership Communication is about leadership and leadership is always about courage. Throw yourself into the content and ideas, connect with the audience and let the magic happen. Average attention span is 20 minutes so you need to learn a few powerful techniques to make your message memorable.

The brightest Don’t ponder the answer to this question just give us the first word or words that come to your mind to describe……… What was the most memorable?

IMPACT! HOW we say WHAT we say makes it memorable and calls people to action

Picture a bowl of fruit

The fruit represents the content Your job is to feed the audience. Think about powerful words to express the texture, taste, color, smell and look of the fruit you have chosen. Use single words-not sentences. Do not tell your partner what fruit you picked— they should be able to guess! You have done your job when the audience has taken a bite, tasted it, judged it, swallowed it, disgested it…and asked for more. Give it a try—select a piece of fruit now.

Filters We all have filters that keep the communication limited. Powerful ways to increase your effectiveness: 1. Make eye contact 2. Use names 3. Actually care about the audience

The Name Game Using your best imitation of James Bond say “ Bond…James Bond” Now introduce yourself to us in James Bond Style—using your own name. Memorable?

Cut out weak language Um, uh, etc, what I am going to tell you, in a few minutes we are going to talk about…. Weak language is any word or phrase that does not add direct value or information. Take out your smartphone or tablet and get ready to be videoed for 3 minutes on the topic of “What do you see yourself doing in 5 years?” Find a partner and hold the phone for each other as you make your recording

Replay Take turns replaying the audio. As you listen to the replay use a pad to record every instance of weak language that you heard What did you learn? Now give your partner feedback and 2 things they did really well in the audio and 2 things that you noticed to be opportunities for improvement

Debrief your recording What will you see yourself doing in the next five years? Count the number of times that weak words were used Did you learn anything? How could the recording have been more effective?

Data and information enter the right side of the brain before proceeding to the left side of the brain which governs logic. In other words, we feel before we think.

Paint pictures, evoke emotion Human brain does not think in words or numbers, we convert them instantaneously to pictures and emotions are we process them— like a movie in our heads. Communication is 93% non-verbal – 7% words – 38% tone – 55% gesture and body language and half of that is in facial gestures!

Strong language paints a picture and evokes emotion We often use too many words to tell the story.

6 word story project

Decatur GA Fan

Notes How can you start the story painting a picture and evoking emotion? What is the issue? Why should we care? What key words make the story powerful and memorable? What is it you want us to do, know or actively support? What is your call to action?

Thank you For your work today to make your story meaningful, memorable, and actionable. You add value by doing these three things.

So let’s try out our new skills Three case studies 1. Budget graphs 2. Community health consortium 3. Police office recruitment

Thank you for your courage and commitment and for caring.