A Press Release in 10 minutes (not 2-3 hours)
December 1, 2008
I recently conducted a number of Speed Thinking workshops with a major, international Public Relations firm. As a demonstration of the power of Speed Thinking we selected the task of writing a press release for their clients.
This activity would normally take this group of managers 2-3 hours but i suggested we could do it in 10 minutes with no drop in quality using a new way of thinking. I used my company as the client and the brief was to write a press release announcing the launch of a powerful new thinking system called Speed Thinking. The target audience was business leaders but in particular HR managers.
This is the process we went through:
Step 1. The 2 Minute Brief
I gave the group 2 minutes to ask me any question about me, my business, the benefits of speed thinking, client list, about me etc.
Step 2. Nine Headings in Two minutes
Working by themselves each team member had to write nine possible headlines in 2 minutes. The important point was to start and not to filter. I suggested to them that they should include a mixture of usual and radical headlines.
Step 3: Evaluate the best rational and emotional headlines
Working with a partner, the group then discussed each other’s headlines and agreed the best rational and emotional headline in a 2 minute period (I wanted the group to escape the left-brain, linear style of communication).
Step 4: Nine bullet points
Each pairing then selected their preferred emotional headline and were then asked to write the nine key support, bullet points under this heading (in 2 minutes).
Step 5: A workable draft
Each pairing were then given two minutes to convert these bullet points into a workable press release and then we read these out to the rest of the group. People were amazed at what they could do in such a short period of time.
An example of a press release from this process is given below:
‘A world first officially launches down under today, as Australian thought-leader, Dr Ken Hudson, introduces a brand new way of thinking to organisations across Australia, large and small.
The new home-grown speed thinking model has been endorsed by major leading global organisations whose productivity has noticeably increased since working with this thinking guru.
This will come as good news for Australian business as we enter a downturn, with clear business benefits which will come from a faster thinking workforce being very apparent.
Tipped as the new Malcolm Gladwell, next year Dr Ken also has plans to introduce his model to schools to embed this smart way of managing thinking time from the earliest age.’
Comments
One Response to “A Press Release in 10 minutes (not 2-3 hours)”
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What I’m reading implies what I’ve thought for a long time, it’s the perfection we seek; of the fear of doing it ‘wrong’ that gets in the way of doing it at all.
So if we aren’t careful we plow on trying to get it more and more right and as a consequence some of the important tasks just cannot be done as time runs out.
I love this concept.
Regards
Martin Haworth