Made to Stick

I attended Chip Heath’s presentation yesterday about Made to Stick. His presentation, as the book, focuses on the six components of a “sticky” idea: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Stories (SUCCES).

- Simple refers to the “occupational hazard” of knowing too much and needing to step back and explain your idea to others concisely.
- Unexpected refers to the fact that something out of the ordinary is more memorable than what is expected.
- Concrete is using language that is understandable (no jargon) and examples to illustrate your idea.
- Credible is believability.
- Emotional is getting people to care since recall is not enough.
- Stories allow listeners to create parallel stories in their head.

What struck me most was how his presentation reinforced the acronym “SUCCES”. First, his presentation was one of the simplest I have seen in PowerPoint: a black background with white, typewriter text, no logos, no graphics. The average word count per slide was about 5 words; no sentences, no bullets - he kept it simple. Second, he used many unexpected phrases to illustrate his points, such as the “tornado test” and “Sinatra test” – memorable ways to test your compliance with applying SUCCES. Third, he used concrete examples throughout the presentation. Although there were only a few words on each slide, he had at least one example of an organization applying that concept and many times he had multiple examples. Since the audience comprised mostly of representatives from nonprofit organizations, he often used at least one nonprofit example. Fourth, he is credible because he is a professor and also has worked with many organizations, including nonprofit organizations. Fifth, he appealed to the emotions of the audience members, relating why SUCCES was relevant to their organizations. Sixth, he used stories throughout his presentation. For example, he started the presentation and referred back often to the story of JFK articulating the goal of putting a man on the moon and how that was the rallying call for people across the country to work towards that goal. Not only is this a story most people are familiar with even if they were not alive during that time, but it was also a good way to connect with people from the Boston area and very fitting since the presentation was held at the Commonwealth Museum near the JFK Library.