Research on how to pitch ideas
This is informal research, but it sure raises some good questions (Why isn’t there a business school or psych dept. doing this sort of thing?).
My friend Konrad over at uber Seattle design studio Artefact put together a mini-study on the effects of different pitches for the same idea. The surprising result? Well I can’t tell you, only that it has something to do with mad-libs.
Go here for the full article (with charts!):How an idea is presented impacts its appeal.
Related post: the ever popular essay: How to pitch an idea. A topic I explored in the University of Washington course I taught on Creative Thinking (Syllabus in PDF).
Scott,
Apart from work done by the Heath boys (Made to Stick), there’s some interesting work done out of Santa Cruz by the NLP founders (Bandler and Grinder) on how people access information. Robert Cialdini’s work on influence is also of relevance.
I’d suggest that pitching an idea is one part how the idea gets presented (visual, audio, etc.), one part stickiness (Heath and Heath) and one part call to action (Cialdini).
Interesting subject – and thanks for keeping up your good work.
Best,
J. Mike
J.: Thanks for the refs. I like your 3 part thing. I think there’s also a 4th part: how good the idea itself is. You can have well presented, sticky, ideas with a call to action, that are still lousy ideas (say, recruiting for war, dealing drugs to kids, etc.). I’m familiar with Cialdini’s book Persuasion, but haven’t read anything else by him.
I just wonder about when creative programs like design entrepreneurial schools will teach this stuff as a required course. It’s half the story.
Hi
An interesting workshop that I teach is Corporate Visions'”Power Messaging”.
It combines NLP, Cialdini’s work and lots of other tips and techniques.
As for lousy ideas, one of the principles of the PM workshop is to pitch your strengths to your customer’s point of view.
Cheers
Bill