Reading through the last few pages of Made to Stick was a great conclusion to this book and to all of the readings we have done for this class. Page 253 and on are a quick "reference guide" to the entire book. However, I can see why we did read the book instead of just skipping ahead to this section.
It gives a great overview of what this book is all about: the keys to SUCCESs. The first is Simple. It is all about stripping information down to its bare bones-- finding the core. It is important to get rid of all of the unneeded information and words when writing for media. The more it gets right to the point, the better.
Second is Unexpected. One must surprise the audience with the unexpected. What is the point in spending your time reading about something that you could probably guess the ending to? That is just boring! To keep an audience's interest, you have to create a twist.
Next is Concrete. This aspect is all about figuring out how to get your audience to understand what you are trying to say and find a way to help them remember it. If you can't paint a picture for your readers so that they cane easily visualize what you are talking about, then they won't understand.
Fourth is Credible. I know that I don't waste my time reading things that aren't credible, so this point is very important. You want believe to trust what your saying so have credible sources that have authority behind them so that your audience knows you did your homework and that you are feeding them accurate information.
Fifth is Emotional. If your audience isn't attached in any way to your idea then they aren't going to care about what you have to say. There are a lot of different ways to get people to care. This section of Made To Stick refers to using associations, appealing to self-interest and appealing to one's identity.
Finally, there is Stories. You want people to act, and stories are engrained in us as humans to teach how to do so. The book Squirrel Inc. goes into much more detail about using stories as motivation. Tell a story, and inspire your readers to action.
These are the main take away points of this book and I am glad that Heath & Heath spent the last section hitting the high points again!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Week of November 5th
One of my favorite parts from the Gillin reading was about dropping "old habits". He talks about how we are so used to pitching and giving a 30 second spiel. Well, honestly, I myself veer away when I hear someone trying to pitch something to me. For example, when you are walking through the mall and every ten feet someone at a kiosk is giving their quick pitch to try their lotion, or curling iron, or purse, or whatever! It becomes tiring, and the public, myself included, find them phony. Gillin says that is less about the quick pitch and more about engagement. I completely agree with him. When you truly engage and form a relationship with someone, that is when you can sell an item. It is all about gaining that trust, and you can't get that in 30 seconds nowadays.
I thought that Chapter 10 was a good lead up to Ch. 11 because it gave a general background to the detailed points made in the latter chapter. Gillin's 5 parts to creating good content were very interesting and potentially helpful to me in our group project. The aspect I really enjoyed reading about was the one of voice. It was touched on in the previous chapter also. I think that the use of voice is so much different in modern writing than it is in traditional writing. We are throwing out the perfect uses of grammar and the proper ways of piecing together sentences--which I like. Yes, it seems that some english classes were a waste of time in middle school, but the "perfect" writing tone is no longer attractive to audiences. People like to read things that make them feel like they are having a conversation. Therefore, writing as become much less formal, and much more personable. It is important to find that balance though so that you don't go too casual and end up losing all credibility as a writer.
The other 4 aspects (objective, medium, topic and angle) are also important. I think that these four are all about setting the content up correctly. It is important to narrow down what you want to talk about (topic), how you want to talk about it (angle), why you want to talk about it (objective), and where you want to talk about it (medium). If you don't know these things before creating content, then the content will be bland and probably go in circles because you don't know where you want to end up. Having a purpose with your writing sets that tone for creative content. This influences how our group is helping OHS. We knew that we needed to focus on one of their purposes, not all of them, so that we could have a more focused plan of attack instead of being jumbled in 8 different objectives.
I thought that Chapter 10 was a good lead up to Ch. 11 because it gave a general background to the detailed points made in the latter chapter. Gillin's 5 parts to creating good content were very interesting and potentially helpful to me in our group project. The aspect I really enjoyed reading about was the one of voice. It was touched on in the previous chapter also. I think that the use of voice is so much different in modern writing than it is in traditional writing. We are throwing out the perfect uses of grammar and the proper ways of piecing together sentences--which I like. Yes, it seems that some english classes were a waste of time in middle school, but the "perfect" writing tone is no longer attractive to audiences. People like to read things that make them feel like they are having a conversation. Therefore, writing as become much less formal, and much more personable. It is important to find that balance though so that you don't go too casual and end up losing all credibility as a writer.
The other 4 aspects (objective, medium, topic and angle) are also important. I think that these four are all about setting the content up correctly. It is important to narrow down what you want to talk about (topic), how you want to talk about it (angle), why you want to talk about it (objective), and where you want to talk about it (medium). If you don't know these things before creating content, then the content will be bland and probably go in circles because you don't know where you want to end up. Having a purpose with your writing sets that tone for creative content. This influences how our group is helping OHS. We knew that we needed to focus on one of their purposes, not all of them, so that we could have a more focused plan of attack instead of being jumbled in 8 different objectives.
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