The Power of Social Networks

A Presentation to the Wisconsin State Asthma Coalition, May 6, 2011 in Green Bay

Power of Social Networks

View more presentations from Julie Swanson

Three Powerful Reasons to Use Social Networks

1. Content: Information is Power
Anyone can create and anyone can publish. You have content that can help others and others can help you improve your content. What can you share that adds value?

A great examples of publishing content that adds value is Beth Kantor's blog

2. Connections: Relationships are Power
Social capital may be our most powerful resource. People are influenced by people they are connected to and networks allow us to organize quickly and creatively.

If you want to leverage the power of connections you need to focus on building trusted relationships.

Example: The story of Sameer and Vinay from Dragonfly Effect.

3. Credibility: The Power of Authentic Voices

Social networks could limit us to connecting with people like us but they are more powerful if we use our networks to bridge to people who have different perspectives and experience. One of the most effective ways to share authentic voices and diverse wisdom is to share stories.

Mercy Corps is a great example of an organization that invests in storytelling.

Prevention Speaks, our newest project, is working with communities throughout the US, to tell stories about community change.


Resources
Beth Kantor's Blog

Connected Citizens

Networked Non Profit

Dragonfly Effect

CDC Social Media Tool Kit ( I use this resource when I am working with public sector employees.)

Working Wikily

Have resources to add to the list? Put them in the comments.

What's $40,000/hour look like?

This is Dan Heath from the opening keynote at NTC 2011. I know he costs that much because we tried to get him to come to the Prevention Conference in Wisconsin.

His session was , hands down, the best one I heard and saw today. Why?

1. He made change easy. He gave us three clear steps.
2. He showed us what success looks like. He shared relevant, inspiring examples, stories and images.
3. He made us laugh.

I've read both Heath brothers' books ( Made to Stick and Switch) but was not bored by the content. It was inspiring to see him summarize a book in an hour.

What's an Ignite presentation?

20 slides, 15 seconds, total of 5 minutes.

How much can you communicate in 5 minutes?

Turns out...a lot!

Imagine if a conference session gave you awesome content in the first 5 minutes...and you spent the rest of the time practicing and sharing application ideas.

I love the Ignite tagline : Enlighten us..but make it quick!

Here is the description of Ignite on wikipedia.

Want to see some examples? Take a look at Ignite Week 2011

Can a Great Leader be a Poor Presentor?

 Here are my take aways from Dan McCarthy's post on the Great Leadership blog

1. No, because great leaders have to be able to inspire people to take action...which takes great presentation skills.
2. Presentation skills can be learned ( but it takes some effort)
3. Number one technique to master?  Telling stories!   

 Read more at Can a Great Leader be a Poor Presenter?
 Photo credit: Animated Cennydd Originally uploaded by psd

And the winner is..

The best presentation so far was part of a panel this morning. Bill (AED)

He showed two video clips of public health "commercials". Both were engaging and high quality. One used a fear approach. The people in it ended up as losers. The second was what Bill called the “joy” approach. Everyone was a winner.

The audience was captivated by the videos. We got his main point in under 3 minutes. And best of all..we will remember it and talk about it.

Who wants to be a loser? We need to look for ways to make our audience winners.

Mike Rothschild ( from WI) deserves honorable mention for telling this story. In a small community in northern Il, they wanted to increase the number of teens who buckle up when they drive.

Imagine this: a police car is parked outside the highschool. The officer watches as teens get into cars and drive away. Within in minutes, the siren is on, he is pulling over a teen and giving her something….is it a ticket? No, it’s a $20 gift certificate for wearing her seatbelt.

The same thing happens the next day. After 3 days, with no posters or brochures, the number of teens wearing their seatbelts has increased dramatically.

I loved this example…teens got to be winners and the only promotion they needed was word of mouth. I bet audience members will remember this story too!

Bullet Points are Alive and Well

I had hoped that at a national conference on health communications the bar would be higher for quality of presentations. Of the 8 presentations I have seen..only one presentor used his slides to compliment what he was saying. Most are using their slides to show their outlines.

Most presentations are 20 minutes long. Three-4 presentations are grouped into one themed session. The presentations are OK....nothining inspiring yet. You can influence and inspire in 20 minutes..just watch TEDtalks.

A few more thoughts
It's not enough to know your content. You need to present it in a way that inspires. Show examples!

Room set up matters: in some of the rooms the presentor is in the middle and slides are shown on two screens to the far left and right.

As a participant I feel like I am watching a tennis match...have to choose between looking at the presentor and looking at the slides.