Page 263 - ConvinceThemFlip

the secrets of the great communicators
“I told you before how a great presentation is like a
shish kebab. But a shish kebab is just one of three tech-
niques to get people to act on your ideas. In fact, when I
say, ‘a great presentation is kind of like a shish kebab,’ I’m
actually using a second technique. I call that one I-KOLA.
I-KOLA is an acronym composed of the initial letters of
the words ‘is kind of like a.’ Need an example? How about,
‘Our new monitoring system is kind of like a palm tree. It
lets us . . . ’ Or ‘Martha deals with traffic jams kind of like a
cleaver deals with meat.’ It’s a way to represent a compli-
cated concept with a simple picture. An image of a shish
kebab is a lot easier to remember than several pages of
data. Remember, Nicko, facts and figures fade fast, but a
picture, or a story, lasts forever.”
“Like today,” I responded, “when you said, ‘Woman
magazine is kind of like Covent Garden Market.’ Colorful.
Fresh. Alive.”
“You have to use your imagination to capture their
imaginations.”
It occurred to me if I had to I-KOLA Muldoon, I’d cast
him as “kind of like a Christmas tree.” Bright, sparkling,
comforting, and full of surprises.
I-KOLAs in Action
A client of mine directed his staff of IT engineers and
salespeople to “evangelize” their new processing system
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