1-day pre-conference workshop

Creating high-impact messages

12 April 2012
Presented by Mila Naimark

In this highly interactive workshop, you will learn how to craft and convey a persuasive message - one that influences your audience and achieves results.

Whether speaking or writing, getting the message right can be challenging when decisions are critical, deadlines are tight and stakeholders are skeptical or resistant. This intensive one-day workshop gives you the tools needed to craft and fine-tune messages, so they can persuade and move your target audience to action.

During the workshop, you will learn the two most important elements for creating a persuasive message. First, you will explore how to organize and structure the flow of information, so that your audience is clear about the message you are sending. Second, you will become adept at strategically customizing the message to effectively influence the audience and significantly increase the likelihood of achieving the result you want. More specifically, you will learn how to:

Organize for clarity

• Define the result, the target audience and any secondary audiences for the message.
• State the central message simply and clearly.
• Organize and structure the flow of ideas so the central message is strongly supported.
• Provide the right amount of supporting information that is relevant to the audience.
• Avoid obscuring, generalizing or confusing the message with jargon, buzzwords, euphemisms, hyperbole and over-important words.
• Use precise and concise language that makes the message quick-and-easy for an audience to understand and interpret accurately.
• Uncover hidden assumptions that can lead to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

Customize to persuade and influence

• Determine the imperative decision-making drivers of an audience.
• Position key points of the message to appeal to those important decision-making drivers.
• Anticipate constraints influencing an audience and overcome possible objections, resistance or competing messages.
• Demonstrate respect and sensitivity to the issues and challenges constraining an audience.
• Incorporate the right mix of information for an audience - story, example, data and facts - to add interest, credibility and persuasive power.
• Create a strong opening to capture attention and a memorable closing to reinforce the central message.