Let’s Talk Success.
Laura Fitton
Pistachio Consulting Inc.
www.PistachioConsulting.com
Laura@PistachioConsulting.com 800-747-1941

Vivas
What are you afraid of?

Confidence
Isn’t in knowing you’re right…
It’s not being afraid to be wrong.

Audience + Results
= Content.

The “Ah-ha” Moment
Aka, What’s the Point?
• Get to it
• Show,
don’t tell
• WIIFM
You have 30
seconds!

Communication,
defined:
SENT
message
message RECEIVED
message ACTED UPON

Happy Audience
“It’s not
about you.”

Happy Audience
“It’s not about you.”
Always Be
• Relevant
• Concise
• Engaging

Empathy!?
• Customer Service.
• Customer Service.
• Customer Service.
• Put stakeholder (client) first
• Client has “pain” you can fix
– But you won’t get the chance until the
client believes you can

Let’s Be Brutal…
Your Audience Needs to
Understand
• Why should I care?
• What’s in it for me?
• How is this going to make my
life better?
• Can you solve a problem for
me?

Try This at Home
You will need:
•Your mobile

Strategy 101
Develop ANY Message
• WHO is it for?
• WHY should they care?
• WHAT should they do?
• HOW can you show what you mean
• WHICH examples or illustrations are most
effective? (convincing)

Strategy 201
Use a “Marketing Plan”
• Objective. core business goal
• Perception. how should they see you?
• Target Audience. who must you
influence?
• Key Message. what should they tell
others?
• Call to Action. what should audience do?

Audience + Results
= Content.

Remember, Be Brutal…
Why should I care?
What’s in it for me?
How does it make my
life better?

Develop your Content
• WHO is it for
• WHY do they care?
• WHAT do you want them to do?
• HOW can show what you mean
• WHICH examples, stories or
illustrations are most convincing or
interesting or helpful?

What to Include?
• What you know: • What they need to:
– –
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– –
–
–
–
–
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Evaluate
According to the CODE:
• Concise
• Organized
• Direct
• Effective
SIMPLIFY

Think About
Your Next Professor Interaction
• Audience. (Who will get the message?)
• Results. (What needs to happen?)
• Contents. (direct, connection between
audience & desired results)

What to Include?
• What you know: • What they need to:
– –
– –
– –
–
–
–
–
–

Note to Self
• I will seek more
information on…
• 3 valuable things I learned
today…
• 1 thing I will DO…

Successful
Communicators
are Successful
People
• Audience + results = content
• CODE: Concise, Organized, Direct, Effective
• SIMPLIFY

About this Deck
Laura Fitton is a consultant and speaker
who owns Pistachio Consulting, Inc.
Follow her at www.Twitter.com/Pistachio.
This deck supported a “lecture” on
presentations & communications at the
BNCA Women’s College of Architecture in
Pune, India, Nov. 17, 2007.
Some slides intentionally repeated.