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By: Shiraz Cohen Grad

Imagine a parallel universe, where there are no time limits; people are able to make decisions in their own carefree environment; they can think and understand each possible alternative without negative implications. While this would be a much better world, but it is not reality. Time is ever shrinking and we need to make many decisions in moments of uncertainty. This is where our brains come to the rescue and give us a mental short cut to aid us in decision-making processes. This short cut is called “heuristics,” meaning that our brain compensates the inability to process infinite information in the given time frame to make a decision, or the lack of information. Therefore, heuristics are a set of techniques (there are several types) that come from the world of irrational decision-making.

These thinking patterns are used to complement an argument, and they usually don’t stand alone. An example of using heuristics would be if you wish to convey the message that you’re an expert in a certain field, so that your CEO or customer will eventually adopt your recommendation. You can show research, tell them that you’ve completed a PhD in the field, or… you can put on a white lab coat and give that impression in a split second.

We need short cuts like these to persuade and influence our target audiences, whomever they are. Remember, a call for action can come in many ways and we can have little helpers like these to shorten the distance!

Fear Heuristics

The movie “Duck and Cover” was produced by the American Federal Civil Defense Administration and was introduced in 1951. It then became the symbol of protection against the nuclear threat during the Cold War. The film showed a method of physical gestures for personal protection against the effects of nuclear explosion. Now, let’s understand what lead up to this realization – the United States’ monopoly on nuclear weapons was broken by the Soviet Union in 1949 when it tested its first nuclear explosion, and with this, many US citizens perceived the nation as more vulnerable than it had ever been before. So the formula is introducing an alarming situation but supplying a solution to cope with it. That short cut in decision-making is irrational and it is a heuristic, the fear heuristic. There are many ways to call people, and target specific audiences, to action. One of the ways involves a fear response that’s met by a concrete solution. How motivated would you feel to act if you were told that without effective persuasion techniques, you will fail as a speaker and no one will listen or be impacted by your messages? What if just by adding a series of techniques, tips, and tricks to help the persuasion process, you could convey your messages in an effective way? The second version, offering a solution, has a deeper effect that leads to a decision. Scaring people can cause a sort of paralysis effect or indifference, simply because we block the traumatic information and go on with our safe, certain routine. If you wish to break that routine, make sure you offer a way to cope with it.

Expert Heuristics

During my latest business trip, I walked through the airport cosmetics stands, looking for a certain product. One of the stands, a familiar brand, caught my eye – all of their beauty consultants were wearing white coats. I was drawn to that stand and listened to what the consultant had to say, which resulted in buying what I was looking for from that brand, rather than what I usually buy. I tagged that lady as an expert, although I have no knowledge of her education, how long she had been working for that company, or if she ever used those products on herself. She was the expert, and my brain decided it was enough to trust her. This was expert heuristics, the short cut our brain applies in the decision-making process to spare valuable cognitive resources.

Advertisements use this all the time, most commonly in health related subjects or even home and lifestyle. Think of the iconic toothpaste commercial where an actor, posing as a dentist recommends a product. We all know he’s as far away from a medical degree as possible, in fact there’s a sentence clarifying he’s not an actual doctor in fine print. Yet, our eye catches that expert positioning that can be as simple as a white coat, a stethoscope, or any other signal that we associate with some kind of expertise, and we are inclined to trust that presenter as an expert in his field. We can all be experts in something – housewives are experts in the best fabric softeners, mothers in what calms their baby, and the list goes on. The important thing is to have a signal, verbal or non-verbal, that identifies you as the expert. The more you’ll be perceived as an expert, the more reliable and accepted your message will be. So use your titles and uniforms, and don’t hesitate to refer to the latest conference or forum you attended. It’s not bragging, it’s establishing your status.

Scientific Heuristics

90% of any message or speech you deliver in front of any target audience will be forgotten about 60 minutes after you’ve finished. That means, only 10% will be remembered over time. I’m sure that piece of information is surprising or at the very least, interesting. What would happen if I shared the same insight, but phrased it different, and just said that most of your message will be forgotten a short while after you convey it. Both ways of presenting share the same principle but the first one sounds more credible and will probably motivate you to contemplate the flow of your next presentation. By knowing the exact percentages and time frame, you would want to calculate which 10% you wish to emphasize and make sure your audience remembers. The usage of numbers, statistics, or research is scientific heuristics and it’s meant to short cut our decision-making process and lead whoever is listening to the conclusion that you’re a credible speaker and influence them in your direction. Just have a quick look at commercials, in print or on television, and see how many incorporate statistics, graphs or just the statement “scientifically tested” (whatever that means). The point is, if a message has been scientifically proven, it must be true. The important thing to remember as the speaker is to make sure you double-check your numbers and supply credible information. As an audience, make sure you look for the fine print and ask challenging questions; just because someone throws a graph in your face it doesn’t make it bulletproof. Numbers can lie or be manipulated, so it works both ways. In the words of Mark Twain: “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Motive Heuristics

We would all like to live in a world where everyone is honest, there are no ulterior motives, and sales people only sold you what you absolutely need at the best price. Sadly, reality doesn’t work that way and we must all look for signals that help us figure out if something is worthwhile, genuine, or honest. When we need to make a decision, we are often influenced by certain mental short cuts, which make the decision-making process, in fact, irrational.  One of these short cuts is motive heuristics. The less it appears that someone has a reason to sell me something, the more I’ll want to buy it. I will be less inclined to be persuaded into doing something if I know the person trying to persuade me has something to gain from this act. Since we all live in profit-driven world, there ways to get around it: you should highlight the weaknesses or downsides of your agenda so it sounds more credible; you can present the pros and cons to appear more objective; or you can connect your agenda to the shared goals you and your target audience share. Since it’s a cynical world we live in our sensors are constantly looking for you to prove to us we made a good deal, we trusted the right person. Lucky for us conveying the message or selling the product, there are ways to do it.

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[/fusion_text][fusion_text]A presentation does not take off like an airplane does

By: Ariel Halevi

Take off take time.  The plane starts by moving slowly, and gradually picks up speed, until it can actually lift off the ground.  Sadly, presentations that try to take off this way are likely to leave a weak impression on the audience, with many of them “checking out” early on, even as their bodies remain in the seats in front of you.

What do I mean by “slow takeoff”?

How many times have you heard a presentation begin with:  “Good afternoon everybody.  It’s a pleasure to be here… blah blah blah”.  It gets even worse in ultra-formal settings where the speaker begins by acknowledging a long list of VIP guests in the audience.  Yawwwnnnn.

A meeting between a presenter and her audience is very much like any other meeting between two people who are meeting for the first time.  The first impression counts.  A lot!

People are busy.  You’ve asked them for one of their most valuable and scarce resources:  their time.  They need to know, as quickly as possible if this is going to be another one of the many boring and valueless presentations they’ve suffered through over the years, or if THIS ONE will be worthwhile – perhaps like one of the few TED talks they’ve seen 7 times.

This is why having a powerful opening, what we call a “Grace Period”, is ever so important.  It allows you to capture your audience’s attention – and more importantly, their curiosity – as quickly as within the first 3 seconds!  A well structured and delivered Grace Period can stretch as long as several minutes.

When a Grace Period is structured and delivered well, it has a powerful impact on the speaker-audience-dynamic, or relationship if you will.  You see, in the first moments of a presentation (unless you are already well known as a great speaker) there is a sense of dependency by the speaker on his audience.  “I wish they would listen to me…” or “I hope they will listen to me“).

But after a powerful Grace Period (one that carries a promise of a presentation that is packed with highly desired value and delivered in a highly engaging manor) the speaker-audience-dynamic is reversed.  It’s now: “I hope she keeps on speaking…”.  A powerful opening will shift the power dynamics from “I need them” to “They need me”.

You’d think this would be good enough right?  What more can a presenter ask for?

Well, as they love to say in Infomercials:  “That’s not all folks!”.[/fusion_text][imageframe lightbox=”no” style_type=”none” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”none” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””] [/imageframe][fusion_text]

You see, a powerful Grace Period does more than capture your audience’s attention right from the start.  Once the audience establishes a positive impression of you, they are more likely to forgive any slip-ups that may occur throughout the presentation.  Sometimes, the impression is so positive that they may not even register a slip-up.  This is due to the power of Cognitive Dissonance.

It goes like this:  imagine getting up on stage and slipping on a banana peel.  What are some audience members likely to think?  “What a klutz!”.

However, if this little mishap does not happen as you get on stage, but rather as you get off stage – following an amazing presentation. What are people in the audience most likely to think now?  “Who left that there?!  Is she ok?!”.

You see, it’s a basic principle in decision making and persuasion:  people don’t generally like to change their minds.  If they believe something and are confronted with new information that contradicts this belief, they are much more likely to disregard the new information, rather than adapt their perception outlook.  Therefore, if – using a great Grace Period – a positive impression is set right at the start of the presentation.  Now, any new information that is provided throughout the presentation and which contradicts this positive first impression is likely to be disregarded or discounted.  There is of course a limit to this effect and it should not be a reason for you to invest only in a powerful opening but not in the rest of your presentation.

Finally, a powerful opening can dramatically lower stress levels related to public speaking and stage fright.  How?  It’s so simple, you’ll be surprised!

Positive feedback from the audience can be one of the most calming stimulations for speakers.  Since stage fright is very much about the fear of an audience’s disapproval, receiving approval signals right from the start, and from multiple audience members, quickly diminishes this fear and instills confidence.

Now that you understand WHY you should invest in using powerful openings in presentations (and meetings!), you’re ready to move onto the HOW to actually do it well.[/fusion_text][fusion_text]

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[/fusion_text][fusion_text]By: Ariel Halevi

Your very first moments with your audience set the tone for the entire presentation. These are the moments during which your audience members try and figure out if they’re in for an interesting and worthwhile presentation or yet another boring, life draining presentation.

That’s why we call these first moments your “Grace Period”.

Think about it like you would about a first impression with a person – only this time, it’s with an audience.

Use these moments wisely and you’ll have their undivided attention from the very start + they will be much more likely to remember you in a positive way long after the presentation is over. That’s why powerful openings are so important.

Now there are several methods of constructing a winning Grace Period:

1. One way is through story telling – usually a personal story you share with your audience that establishes your credibility while also laying the ground work for you presentation’s key messages.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be a personal story. You can also start with an engaging and inspiring anecdote relating to a well-known figure.  Whichever option you chose, make sure you can clearly link it to the main topic of your presentation.

2. Another way to kick off with a powerful opening is with an impressive statistic. Just get up and present it, dramatically – even before you say “Good evening” or introduce yourself.  As before, make sure this statistic clearly related to the heart of the topic you will be discussing.

3. You can also start with an impactful and inspiring quote. If you chose this option, take care to focus not only on the content of the quote, but also on the relevance of the person you are quoting.  Be sure you can link the quote clearly to your topic and key messages.

There are certainly more ways to kick off a presentation powerfully and in a way that captures the audience’s attention (and imagination) right from the start.  But these are a great start if you haven’t been doing so until now.

Now, before you run off to build your next presentation’s Grace Period, keep in mind that although your Grace Period is the first thing you open your presentation with, it is actually the last component of your presentation that you should build.  Be sure to complete the formulation of your presentations core content before you start working on your Grace Period – that way you can be sure that whichever way to choose to kick off your presentation, it’s closely and clearly linked to the core essence of your presentation.[/fusion_text][fusion_text]

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VAYOMAR launched its innovation program at Medtronic Jerusalem in an amazing kick-off event – “InnoPulse”.

The event, which took place in Mini-Israel, included of a time tunnel leading to the future of Medtronic, different stations representing innovation in medicine, sports, food and even the bible, a guest lecture about innovation in the era of social media and a creative desert making competition between employees.

VAYOMAR visited the staff of Tebeka- Advocacy for Equality and Justice for Ethiopian Israelis and gave a lecture about communication as a means to promote social causes. We hope Tebeka will benefit from the tools we provided in their very important work.

We were excited to take part in Merage Foundation’s 45+ Entrepreneurs’ Competition, which was held yesterday in Tel Aviv. The competition was aimed to encourage and support entrepreneurs over the age of 45 to develop unique ideas/projects/ventures/technologies into a promising successful business. The winner was awarded with initial financing in the amount of $100,000, and further professional mentoring and guidance to take their idea to the next step.

Together with VAYOMAR, the competition provided the entrepreneurs an initial supportive framework for the preparation of a business plan, and development of presentation skills.

By: Shiraz Cohen Grad

When Amy Cuddy was teaching at the Harvard Business School, she noticed a disturbing pattern; her female students were continuously scoring lower grades than her male students. Being an acclaimed social psychologist, she suspected something other than objective cognitive or verbal abilities were causing this gender academic gap. The final grade in her class was determined by 2 factors: test score and participation. There was no difference in the average test scores between the male or female students, but the male students got a higher grade for participating in the classroom. The root cause for this difference stems from none other than body language. Male students sit and raise their hands in a more confident, noticeable way which is called a power position. A person demonstrates power when his body is expanded and stretched out. Now, think of the way powerful, dominant people sit, stand, and use hand gestures. The female students generally sit with crossed arms and legs and raise their fingers to participate in a smaller, almost shrinking gesture. Because of these tendencies, they are less noticeable, take a smaller part in discussions, and score lower grades.

Reading about this unbelievable example reminded me of a line from Madonna’s song “what it feels like for a girl”. The line says: “could you be a little less”, and these 6 words depict both the body language and the unfulfilled potential that women have to adopt many times.

The realization we must come to is that we all have a perceived status, a reputation that enters the room and opens its mouth long before we do. For some people, that status comes from the fact that they are senior managers, belong to a certain culture or any other title. For women, our gender comes with various biases and perceptions that people attribute to our performance, abilities etc. The danger is in the fact that we might believe and implement these perceptions and limit ourselves. Once we become aware of that bias, we can look it in the eye and untangle those ties – first by identifying our goals, and second by acting, speaking out and thinking without constraints.

Empowerment isn’t about doing everything men do; it’s about having the right to choose whatever you want and having an equal chance to get it. So let’s set our goals, as big or as little as we please, and let’s pay attention to our body language; to the way we manifest ourselves in a given space. Let’s stop shrinking, physically and metaphorically. We CAN be (a little) more. Hopefully, someone will write a song about that.

You wouldn’t dream about going on a blind date without preparing yourself, wouldn’t you? You’ll get information from every available social network, and if possible from your contact person, and finally, you’ll get dressed and make sure you look effortlessly perfect. And yet, what seems so obvious when it’s meant to attract potential relationships in our personal lives is many times overlooked and underprepared when it comes to our professional lives.

Every meeting, presentation or random interaction, in front of every audience, is a relationship in different contexts. It needs the same amount of preparation and awareness since it falls under the same category of first impression and its implications.

A lot of us rely on our ability to communicate and establish a good dynamic with our audience, whether it’s a single person or a crowd of 80 people at a convention, once we feel comfortable and confident. The bad news is it usually takes a few minutes for our strengths to shine and for us to establish our confidence. We can’t rely on our ability to save the day; at the end of a session, most people will lose interest and attention, leaving you with slim chances of influencing them or motivating them into action. Your first impression is your window of opportunity to create an impact in a way that will engage whoever is in front of you, but will also send a strong signal about who you are.

From the second people lay their eyes on you, all you have is a few short minutes (30 seconds – 4 minutes) to make an impression that serves your targets from this interaction in the best way. The trick about first impression is knowing that what will serve you best has to be in correlation with your audience’s agenda. That means that if you’re going to a job interview, a meeting with an investor or you have to deliver a presentation in front of management and you wish to get the job, the investment or get them on board, you need to know your audience and how to approach them from the beginning in an effective way.

What does that mean and how do you prepare to make an effective first impression? Let’s divide this into 2 sections:

The first one is your non-verbal messages, your body language. People will figure out everything about you and whether they will cooperate with you long before you open your mouth. That’s why you need to prepare in terms of appearance: what should you wear that looks professional in a way that best suits the occasion and the audience, but also helps you feel on top of your game? There’s a lot of power for posture, you should always enter any given space and stand with your shoulders drawn back – it’s all about how you carry yourself in a way that shows confidence and sometimes even ownership. A big part of non-verbal is the tone of your voice and eye contact. Your ability to sound clear and energetic will send a covert signal about your passion, knowledge and confidence.

The second aspect is content, which focuses on the very few sentences that come out of your mouth when you start speaking. Your opening should always be powerful, whether it’s a formal presentation or a sales meeting, always prepare an opening that will grab the audience’s attention and send a signal that you’re worthwhile listening to.

There are many different ways to get the results you want out of diverse situations. What they all have in common is the way people perceive you at the first moments. That takes preparation and sometimes practice, but once you master the art of first impression your chances of getting those results increase dramatically.

Now that we’ve established what Business Storytelling is and why it can benefit your business, it’s time to focus on the how: how do I effectively tell my story?

3 models for building a business story

Not all people naturally tell a story like the brothers Grimm, and not all audiences are reachable through only a story. Think of storytelling as a spectrum ranging from the incorporation of anecdotes in a presentation, through the building of a main theme that is present throughout, to turning the whole presentation into a story.

1. Incorporating anecdotes in the presentation: The idea is to embed short stories in the presentation as routine breakers. It’s just like cooking rice; without salt and pepper, it would still be edible and nourishing – but tasty? Probably not. What makes rice taste good are the added spices; it changes completely if we choose one spice or another, and the same goes for our message. If we spice it up with anecdotes, scattered proportionately over dry data and facts, we can boost audience attention and create a positive stimulation towards us and our message. From here on out, our chances of engaging and persuading our audience are much higher.

Our stories must:

• Be short
• Be relevant directly or indirectly to our message
• Have a surprising, exciting or moving punch line
• End with a concluding sentence which connects to our message

How do we know where to incorporate the stories?

• There are 2 critical, essential points: beginning and end
• According to the audience’s attention positions
• Based on our familiarity with the message and its complexity
• Based on our familiarity with the audience

 2. Our story as a main theme: The first thing we need to do is find a main simile, metaphor or analogy that serves the main value at the basis of our message and encompasses the entire idea. This means interweaving elements such as anecdotes, pictures and videos throughout the presentation, all taken from the same metaphorical world, and making the audience link symbiotically between our message and the chosen metaphor. Finding the main theme allows the audience to understand your message from a different, less conventional point of view, and intensifies its sense of identification. When the message is presented as a main theme, it is perceived as more creative, more innovative and especially more unique and memorable.

 3. The whole presentation as a story: You start by creating a complete, yet short, story around your business – your product, project or idea. This story should describe how your business was born, by whom it was founded, what hardships it encountered, how it almost collapsed, what eventually saved it and so on… the goal is to tell the story of your business instead of the banal “who we are, what we do, who are our clients”. Give your audience a sneak peek behind the scenes; who pulls the strings, how it all began. This model is based upon the literary element of personification, while giving your business/product/idea/ a life of its own and in effect turning it into an admirable protagonist, the real star of your story. Some sales experts claim this to be the most effective formula for conveying a promotional message, and they predict that in the near future this model will replace the elevator pitch.

In fact, every business has more than one story: who they are, how they got there, what made them successful, their brand’s story, their employees’ story and more. Alongside these stories, there are those of the consumers: what the consumer really needs and what you can do for them that no other business can.

The most common business stories are:

• The company story
• The product story
• The “who I am” story
• The strategy & vision story
• The employees story
• The customers story

Watch this video to get a better idea of how a business story should be told:

“Follow the Frog” – The customers story

5 Elements to building a good story:

1. Setting: Putting the story within a certain context, including a time and place.
2. Characterization: The process of crowning the story’s hero, which must include a full name, role and a personal / professional trait.
3. Plot: A sequence of events, which demonstrate progress or change throughout the story.
4. Conflict: Every story has to have a conflict or problem, whether internal or external, in order to create interest. Often, the story touches pain or difficulty familiar to the audience.
5. Relevance: A short link between the story and the current circumstances – the reason we chose to tell it. Usually, this reasoning is also the resolution to the conflict – and it has to be relevant to our presentation and audience.

Put the WOW factor in your story:

1. Atmosphere: the process of creating emotion, closeness and affinity between the listeners and your story. We create atmosphere by using:

• The non-verbal level: tone of voice, body gestures, face expressions etc.
• Descriptions: this helps the listener visualize the story and sympathize with the characters. It is important not to overdue this; descriptions are wrapping paper, not the actual present. How do we know the right amount of descriptions? We’ll make sure every sentence we say somehow advances the plot or reveals one of the characters.

These two elements are easier to convey when recalling the situation and experiencing it again while telling about it.

2. Point of view: It is important to create focus and cohesion by choosing to narrate it as either first or third person, and by using names in order to mention a change of perspective.

3. Connecting with the characters (depending on audience): give the listeners at least one character with whom they can identify, someone similar to them who is facing the same challenges, someone they will root for. You know that feeling, when a friend tells you a story and two weeks later you tell him the same story as if it was your own? This is not only normal, but also one of the most powerful ways to sway people with your ideas and thoughts. According to Professor Uri Hasson of Princeton University, storytelling is the only way to activate the parts in our brain that make us absorb the story as if we actually experienced it. So the next time you’re struggling to get people to join your project or embrace your ideas just tell them a story – and make sure that story leads your listeners to an understanding of your message.