Dec 10. 1 Day. 8 Steps to Better Communication Campaigns

The most rewarding part of my work with non-profits has been conducting workshops across the country on various topics that help organizations market themselves more effectively. They’ve been remarkably well received. And there’s nothing better (for me or the audience) than making progress in one short session.

But not every group can invest a whole morning on only one topic.

So over the last year, I’ve been pulling the best of these sessions into one day long agenda that will give executive directors, communication and development staff and even board members an intensive crash course in better communication skills.

This December, I’ll be launching NPACT (Non-Profit Advocate Communication Training), a one-day training curriculum designed to equip non-profit professionals and volunteer advocates with core communication skills and techniques. It is designed for anyone that leads their organization’s communication efforts or is responsible for telling the organization’s story.

Scroll down for details about the session.

NPACT is a communication boot camp. But it is not a predictable list of “Do’s and Don’ts” of the communication field. It is not a “press release training seminar” (anyone can find that on Google).

Instead, NPACT includes in-depth training about strategic communication – not just how to do things, but why we do them, how to align them with an organization’s goals and how to use communication to further an organization’s mission.

The session agenda and other details are below. If you’re responsible for telling your organization’s story (or you know someone who is) and will be in Austin on December 10, this might be just what you need to start 2010 off on the right foot.

I’m starting small and intimate, so please email me if you’re interested.

Session Agenda
The training is a combination of instruction and workshop that will address the following areas of focus:

1. Goal, Audience and Message Mapping: Identifying what your organization is trying to accomplish, the audiences who will determine your success or failure, and the messages that hit a responsive chord

2. Messenger Identification and Training: Identifying and nurturing your most effective spokespeople

3. Storytelling as a Communication Strategy: Injecting the most effective communication tactic in human history into your communication efforts

4. Perfecting Your Pitch: Crafting the 30 minute presentation that 90% of your audiences will use to judge your business or cause (Also known as “Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes”)

5. Money, Money, Money: Marrying development and communication strategy

6. Mastering The Media: The tools and techniques every PR effort can’t do without

7. Comm.com: Embarking on social and online media

8. Communication Toolbox: Identifying and designing the communication tools that your organization needs (and can afford)

Event Details

When: Thursday, December 10, 8:30 am to 5 pm

Where: LifeWorks, 3700 South 1st, Austin, 78704

Cost: $250 per person. Lunch, snacks and materials included. Attendees will receive materials from the day’s agenda, custom planning materials, recommended reading and resource lists and a book (“Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes”).

Reservations: Reservations are required. Click here to reserve a space. I’ll reply with payment details.

Thanks. I hope to see you there.

They're Just as Bad

Non-profits are used to being told they don’t communicate as well as businesses.

So days like yesterday make the do-gooder in me smile.

I attended the Clean Energy Venture Summit in Austin, where 400 people came to watch a dozen or so clean energy start-ups make their pitches to would-be investors. It was like speed dating for money.

The good news is that there are lots of interesting companies out there who might not just save the planet, but could very well make a ton of money in the process. The bad news is that bad communication hurts businesses as much as non-profits.

The ideas were great. The pitches were dreadful. The slides were (mostly) unattractive and bullet-laden. The speed-clicks caused whiplash. Many presenters seemed unaware that humility is an attractive quality. In a couple of cases, I simply couldn’t believe that “this guy” was the best pitchman the company could have sent to Austin.

In my training sessions on communication, I talk about the “Connecting Points” presenters have with an audience. Message, Material and Messenger are among the most important. Yesterday, none of the presentations I saw scored well on all of them. The best messengers didn’t have the best messages. The best messages were carried weak spokespeople. And don’t get me started on the death-by-PowerPoint curse that so painfully permeates corporate America.

Surely, these companies carry a lot of pressure when they present to investors. But it’s no different than the pressure non-profits carry when pitching their cause to major donors.

So – non-profiters of America – don't let your corporate friends mock you. We’re not any worse than the business world at pitching our cause to an audience. Of course, that doesn’t mean we’re any better.