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!
Haley,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the last few pages of Made to Stick offer a great conclusion. These pages basically sum up the entire book; however, I feel that people should not skip ahead to this section. The rest of the book provides imperative details that allow readers to understand what really makes an idea stick. As I look back on the book as a whole, I realize how important each of the SUCCESs principles is. Ideas must be simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, and have some type of emotional appeal. When these principles are combined with storytelling, ideas can be constructed that will remain present in the minds of audience members. As a budding business woman, I definitely want to create ideas that stick, and I feel this book will help me to do that.