For me the highlight of Friday’s talk was Dan Heath who has written a book along with his brother Chip, the name of the book is Made to Stick, a very popular business book. This is something ANLA usually does very well. Bring in an Author or two who have a new/hot —business/motivation book out that applies to how we can improve our personal or business lives.
The title of his talk was: What Sticks? The 6 Hooks of Successful Ideas. It was a lively well-thought out, well-delivered presentation. Concerning the 6 Hooks/Principles are:
- Simple
- Unexpected
- Concrete
- Credible
- Emotional
- Stories
Dan went through these breaking them down, and giving good examples of how each of these principles applies in the real World. The audience was attentive, and interested with the possibilities of using these principles in their work. An aside . . . the talk later suggested he went over well, and the talk was actually about how to use what they had heard.
Here are a few tidbits that I pulled for his talk:
“If you say 10 things, you say nothing” on using the Simple principle.
“Have you forgotten what it’s like to be a beginner at your game”?
“The curse of knowledge”, referring to developed jargon shutting out the beginner/outsider.
“Make ideas stick . . . say something worth saying”.
“Identity is more powerful than narrow self-interest”.
I realize these quotes are not the play-by-play (you shoulda’ been there), my intent is to give a flavor of what went on, and as far as this Blog is concerned . . . what applies to me-the Landscape Designer. After all this Blog was started as an attempt by me to talk about the World of Landscape Design.
Back to Dan Heath, I enjoyed the talk, and I look forward to reading the book: Made to Stick. Here’s another tidbit just for my readers, the brothers have a Blog and it is some good reading.
The Whispering Crane Institute 