What if you had a method to make your message memorable, or sticky, every single time? What if you could hook your audience on your content whenever you wanted. Would you be interested?
Earlier this month, I got a chance to spend some time with one of my training mentors and heroes, Sarah Singer-Nourie. She is one of the best trainers on the planet. Based on the skills I have learned from her, I have earned several million dollars in repeat business. If you want to know how I did that, you’ll have to attend our World Champions’ EDGE Train-the-Trainer and Get Paid to Speak Champ Camps.
Sarah’s superpower is full-out audience engagement. In my Train-the-Trainer online, home-study course, she got all the students from around the world to stand up and participate on a conference call. That’s right! I said a conference call.
Sarah understands people – what makes us tick, how to tap our motivation, how we best learn, and how to create transformative learning experiences for us every time (and consistently too!). She is an award-winning trainer, educator, and president of SarahSinger&Co.
She reminded me of one of her many techniques to make messages memorable, and content, sticky.
Are you ready?
Here it is:
“How Every Coach Succeeds Consistently.”
Say it out loud.
Isn’t it beautiful? No? I’ll repeat it again:
“How Every Coach Succeeds Consistently.”
Still don’t get it? It’s actually an acronym: H.E.C.S.C.
H−Hook
This answers their WIIFM (what’s in it for me) question, used to get into your audience’s world.
You want to ask a question they will say “yes” to, and it doesn’t give away the punchline; it keeps them interested. In other words, it hooks them.
For example, “What if you had a method to make your message memorable and stick every single time? Would you be interested?”
Sound familiar?
That was the hook I used to get you to read this post. I did not give away the punch line or how I was going to do it.
Here’s the formula for the hook:
1. Ask a “What if” question
2. Or say, “Imagine…”
3. After the “What if” question or “Imagine” statement, ask, “Would you the interested in…?”
How can you create a hook for your next presentation?
E−Experience
Experience before content. Give your audience a hands-on personal experience before you explain it to them.
Jackie Kloosterboer is the author of My Earthquake Preparedness Guide. In her workshops, she immediately put students into teams and asks them to come up with their own earthquake preparedness kits. Each team competes against one another. Finally, they explain the logic behind their kit. This process immediately immerses the students into the subject matter. They are completely engaged, buy into the program, and are open to learning, suggestions, and coaching.
How can you give your next audience an experience or activity before you give them content?
C−Coach
Deliver the coaching after they’ve had an experience to connect to your content. In the previous example, Jackie talks them through what they should do.
Here are a few coaching tips:
1. Make the feedback positive
2. Say “and” instead of “but”
3. Use the word “challenge” rather than “problem”
How can you design your content to build in coaching?
S−Send them back in the game
Give your students a chance to apply the information into reality right away. Like a football coach, you’ve just pulled your quarterback out of the game and are going over the play. Now you’re sending them back in the game to do it. The key here is to have players practice their new behaviors immediately.
How can you send your students back in the game after you’ve coached them?
C−Celebrate!
Anchor their success in learning early and often. The brain works best with positive reinforcement. Celebration helps people to perform better. Celebrate every success, no matter how small. You want to reinforce progress, not perfection.
Here are a few examples of celebration:
• Say congratulations
• Give a high five or fist bump
• Cheer (Woohoo!)
• Acknowledge their progress
• Initiate a group hug
What opportunities to celebrate can you build into your presentations?
Please repeat it with me: “How Every Coach Succeeds Consistently!”
Hook, Experience, Coach, Send Them Back in the Game, and Celebrate. If you follow this template, you will make your message memorable and sticky – every time.
Let’s celebrate! Give yourself a fist bump.
