commbasics

At the #51DAC in San Francisco this week, I was approached by three separate companies in the Exhibition Hall at Moscone South who wanted me to do a story on them.  I looked the representtive in the eye and say, "OK, Why?"  That I didn't ask "What do you do?" or "What is your product?" completely flummoxed them.  All I was asking was their reason for existence.  They had no idea. We've been talking about how the events are getting worse every year and we think our experience this year identified the problem.  We will be talking about it at a special Hangout tomorrow at 9:30 Pacific.   Here's the link , and the Youtube page . Come with questions and comments.   Related articles DAC 2012: Still flat

Following our current theme on the importance of storytelling we interviewed this week Scott Aughtmon, a content marketing consultant in the Silicon Valley.  Turns out there is a physiological reason a good story can make your communication more effective.  Look for the link to Scott's webinar at the end.     Related articles The Lost Art of Great Story Telling

By Joe Basques, Vice President Footwasher Media  In the new movie, Lincoln, there is a scene where the Great Emancipator is meeting with his cabinet debating about whether they should move forward on the amendment abolishing slavery.  In the middle of the heated argument, Lincoln starts telling a seemingly unrelated story and one of the cabinet members exclaims in frustration “Oh God, not another one of his stories.” But no one leaves the room.  They all are struck silent as he weaves the story into an important defense of moving forward with the legislation.  The story is so compelling that no one can argue against whether to move forward. The desire for a great story is engrained in our very DNA.  Since man started scratching pictures on cave walls, people have had a burning desire to tell the story of their history, inventions, ideas, and  great adventures.  Cave paintings to campfire stories to hieroglyphs to the written word, communication ...