Bastian's Blog

Thoughtful Ideas & Blissful Ruminations

21 Years and Counting!

So I just got back from doing a show with a client. Not so amazing, you say. Shows happen all the time. But here's the amazing part: WE'VE BEEN DOING THIS SHOW FOR 21 YEARS. 21! And what's even more amazing is that the SAME ACCOUNT MANAGER has been there for all 21 shows. How is that even possible?

At MB, it's not an anomaly. We've got clients we've been blessed to partner with for 4, 6, 10, 12, 15, 18 ... yes, even 21 years. And the company's just over 25 years old. Good track record!How do we do it? That's a good question, and one we ask ourselves a lot. Mostly, I think we do it by being nice people. Nice, competent, creative people who are good partners, fun to work with and pretty darn good at what we do. If you do good work, bring your clients in on the process, pay attention to the details, make life easy for everyone and pull off a great show, clients will stick around. At least that's what we've been banking on, and it seems to have paid off.

Sure, after 21 times around the block you have to push yourself to come up with new creative ideas, but that's all in a day's work for us. That's where great brainstorming sessions and talented partners come into play.

So thanks to all our clients for so many great years... we're running out of room on the anniversary cakes, but we don't mind!

Thanks, Pardner!

Thanks, Pardner!

I’m not sure this analogy is going to hold together, but stick with me for a minute. Compare and contrast the following two experiences:

You go through the drive-through at your favorite local fast food provider to pick up lunch for your best customers or co-workers or vendors. You place your order (“Do you want fries with that?”), pull around to the window, hand over your money and receive several saggy, bloated bags of food in return. You head back to the office with the food and a persistent odor that permeates your car for weeks to come.

Or … you plan a dinner for your co-workers (clients, vendors, dealers, take your pick) with the chef at a local restaurant. You work together to create the menu, you offer suggestions and ideas throughout the process, taste test all the items, and then sit back proudly on the night of the reception as your guests enjoy a meal that you helped to create.

Which experience is more satisfying for you and for the people eating the food? Which experience is more likely to be successful and produce a return on your investment?

I’d argue that the second scenario will be more successful, and I would further suggest that the degree of success is in direct proportion to the level of partnership between you and the people creating the meal.

Such is the nature of partnerships. They create better results.

But don’t take just my word for it. Here’s what Bob Moore, Chief Creative Officer of Publicis, USA, has to say on the topic of partnering with clients:

“All the best work I’ve done has happened when there was a very close relationship between agency and client. For example, with Nike, we’d spend weekends together, party with each other, run races together. And that was a great model for me in terms of seeing how good work happens. You’d walk into a room at Nike and it wasn’t like the agency arriving; it was a friend who understood the brand and cared about it. If you trust your clients and your clients trust you, amazing things can happen.” *

In our experience, the best shows and videos that we’ve produced are the ones where we had a tight partnership with our client … where we’ve worked hand-in-hand from original idea through execution … and where we completely shared the objectives and the outcome.

Working that way is not only more effective, it’s infinitely more fun.

Or, to tie things nicely back to the opening analogy, the meal you make together is always going to taste better than the fast-food you bought from a pimply teenager. ‘Cause who wants anything that’s saggy and bloated, anyway?

* Creativity, October 2007.

When Is a Talking Head Not Just a Talking Head?

Bastian’s Blog
August 30, 2007

I’m sure that most of us have seen more than our fair share of what one might call, for lack of a kinder term, Talking Head videos. And no, I don’t mean avant-garde concoctions from David Byrne. I mean those occasionally painful videos that consist solely of edited soundbites from very uncomfortable-looking people perched precariously in front of a disinterested video camera.

Videos like that are no fun to watch and – to let you in on a little insider secret – they’re not all that much fun to make, either.

But bad Talking Head videos can be avoided. And quite easily, to boot. Before you begin your next Talking Head video, consider the following:

Are you talking to the right people? Seems basic enough, but you’d be surprised how often people end up on the business side of a video camera who really don’t have much, if anything, to add to your message. This is not a numbers game. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.

In selecting people to put in the video, you want to make sure that they’re articulate – that’s a given. But you also should check to see if they really have anything relevant to add to the story you’re trying to tell. Two or three people with great stories will make a much stronger video than ten people with weak stories. So, what’s the best way to determine that you’re putting the right people on camera? Read on …

Talk before you talk
A short phone conversation with each of your intended subjects will give you a pretty good idea – and pretty quickly – if they’re the right person for the job. In this pre-interview you can get the details of their background, a sense of what story they’ll tell on camera, and a feel for how relaxed and knowledgeable they are on the topic.

And for those unlucky few who don’t sound like they’re going to produce what you need on camera, you can thank them for their time and move on, without creating hurt feelings and bad blood.

Now you’ve got the right people in front of the camera. Then what?
Want smart answers? Start with smart questions.
Well, we all know that you want to use “open ended questions,” which -- for those of you who missed that day at interview school -- just means that you shouldn’t ask questions that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”

But the best way to move forward is to actually work backwards. Think about what answers you want, and then craft your questions to elicit those answers. They say that in a courtroom a good attorney never asks a question that he or she doesn’t already know the answer to. You may not have the luxury of knowing the specific answers you want, but with a little research and planning you can craft questions that lead you into the right ballpark. And once you’ve got your subject in the right ballpark, they can start hitting verbal homeruns for you.

Just remember: It’s a conversation, not an interrogation.
Quotable Quotes
Finally, when it comes time to edit the gems you’ve mined from the interviews, you may find that when you cut out your off-camera questions, their on-camera answers lose some of their logic and punch. To keep the audience up to speed on what’s being discussed, we’ve found it helpful to punctuate the video clips with an occasional text screen that highlights a quote from the upcoming soundbite.
All you need is a sentence or a phrase from what they’re about to say (“… it was in 1941 that we really got focused on the war in Europe …”). Put that phrase on screen before they start their soundbite, and suddenly the audience has a context for what they’re saying and a sense of the key message before your subject has uttered word one.

Follow these simple steps next time you place people in front of the camera and you can be assured that your Talking Head video will be a video that people will be talking about for a long time to come. And if you can get David Byrne to compose the soundtrack, all the better.

Labels: Talking Head

What Is It We Do, Exactly?

Bastian’s Blog
June 13, 2007

What Is It We Do, Exactly?

We had the delightful experience the other day of sitting with some of our clients who wanted us to explain, in more detail, just exactly what it is that we do.

Mind you, we’ve worked with these clients for a few years and they know the business. But a small group of them had taken a couple days to go off-site and reexamine the way they do business. And they asked us to bat clean-up (this is the first and only sports metaphor you’ll find in this entry) by providing our two-cents worth at the end of the second day.

So, for about an hour of structured and not-so-structured time, we went into the nuts and bolts of our business: What happens during pre-production … why previews are a good thing … what drives the decision to go with a 4x3 or 16x9 screen format. And more.

And in the process of discussing what we do, it became clear that what we really do is one simple thing: We provide confidence.

Of course we do all the other things, but when you get to the heart of the matter, it’s all about providing clients with confidence. The confidence to know that their show will come off flawlessly. The confidence to know that we’re offering them the best and most appropriate technology for their event. The confidence to know that we can be left alone in a room with their top executives and that we’ll represent them quite well in their absence.

The presentation was followed by some wine and catered snacks (including some killer dessert bars), some great conversation, and what people in the business world call “networking.”

But the real value of the event was realizing, along with our clients, the important but intangible service we provide: The confidence that their event will be perfect. In that respect, we hit a home run (oops, I was wrong – there are two sports metaphors in this entry. My bad.).

May 7, 2007 "The Sky's the Limit"

The Sky’s the Limit!

You know, we work in a lot of ballrooms. A LOT of ballrooms. And ballrooms come with standard complaints – the ceiling’s too low, there are no good rig points, the carpet’s moldy and the AC is too cold.

So, we decided to find a space that had none of those problems. Plenty of room, good air circulation, no mold. Yup – we took it outside.

Outdoor venues are really a mixed blessing. On our last show, we couldn’t drum up a lot of sympathy from the other half of our crew who was shivering in a dark ballroom, since we were outside ... in the sun ...on the beach. Oh, and did I mention that we were in Hawaii?

Sounds perfect, right? But outdoor venues have a whole set of challenges of their own. For example, dark time. Dark time is when lighting designers get to write all their cues, the video crew checks and perfects all the images on-screen, and everything can come together and look like it will during the real show. In a ballroom, dark time happens every time you turn the lights off. Outside, dark time happens ....well, when it gets dark. Which means a lot of lighting cues are designed in the wee hours. On the plus side, though, how many lighting designers get to write a full moon into their cues?

The very public nature of an outdoor venue can be a challenge, too. Put a big staging rig out on the beach and you’re gonna attract some attention. Our crew got a little tired of answering the “What’s going on?” question all day, so they got creative. Rumors were flying that everyone from U2 to an Eagles Reunion was happening onstage.

Lighting is another challenge. Sometimes, in ballrooms, we have lights on “trees.” That’s when the lighting instruments are hung on stands instead of being rigged from the ceiling. Well, outside, our lights on trees were really on TREES.

And don’t get me started on the wind. My ballroom friends had the luxury of setting papers down wherever they pleased. But those of us beachside had to hang on to everything for dear life, or weigh our valuable paperwork down with flashlights, monitors, Coke cans or whatever we can find. And sometimes it was windy just before it rained ....

But in spite of all the challenges, at the end of the day, when the sun is setting behind the stage, the wind is blowing through the lit palm trees, music is floating from the speakers rigged in the trees and you’re sporting a light sunburn, you just can’t beat an outdoor venue. The sky is, indeed, the limit.

Shoot. A bird just scored a direct hit on my computer screen. Hey, which way to the ballroom?

Who Is That Guy?

Bastian’s Blog
April 6, 2007

Who Is That Guy?

Imagine you’re at a typical company meeting.

There’s a uplifting opening video … a welcome by the head of Communications … an address from the Vice President of Sales and Marketing … maybe an update about the United Way campaign by the Human Resources guy … perhaps a couple of awards … an outside speaker … and finally an uplifting address by the President and CEO. Then, if you’re lucky, a catered lunch.

Wait a second. Back up … back way, way up. An outside speaker?

Who is that guy?

Why would you violate the sanctity of your company meeting with an outside speaker? What could an outsider possibly add to your event?

Well, if you pick the right speaker, the answer is: Quite a bit. (Of course, the secret is to pick the right speaker, but I’m making the assumption you’ve done that.)

Bringing an external perspective to your decidedly internal event can provide your audience with another outlook on their world and their place in it. It can validate your current culture and give you a rare glimpse into other corporate cultures that you might not otherwise experience.

It can also shake things up a bit by getting your audience to question the way they do things and the “why” they do things as well.

You want examples? Sure, I’ve got examples.

Joe Calloway, a business speaker with credentials as long as your arm, has served in that role with Deluxe Financial Services at their events for a couple of years now. He brings them his outsider view of their industry, providing examples from other businesses he’s worked with … and then he’s helped Deluxe on internal issues and programs, which also benefited from his outsider perspective.

Dr. Terry Paulson, a psychologist and professional speaker, recently helped Boston Scientific at a series of product launches. He spent some of his time on stage interviewing customers about the new product … and then later motivated the sales force with a custom presentation on change in their industry and how to deal with it. In that speech, Dr. Paulson included examples from their meeting along with other business stories from his own experience, to create a custom presentation that spoke directly to the audience’s current issues.

The best outside speakers (the Joe Calloways and Terry Paulsons of the world) can be a fly on the wall at your event, assimilate your culture, listen to your speakers, and then provide your audience with a true outsider perspective on business and market issues.

And, as outsiders, these speakers can be used to ask (and answer) the hard questions that your executives may want to avoid, and do so with the gravitas of someone from the outside with no agenda to pursue or axe to grind.

Plus, when they’re really good, these speakers often move from being “outsiders” to becoming accepted and trusted “insiders” who can continue to offer their unique external perspective on your internal issues.

So, to return to our primary question: Who is that guy? The answer is (if you pick the right speaker), he’s the guy who can make a huge, positive impact on your next event.

Telling Stories

Bastian’s Blog
April 3, 2007

Telling Stories

Is it just me, or is there a storytelling renaissance going on today?

We see it more and more in the corporate world – a concerted attempt to fortify/strengthen/communicate a company’s culture by telling stories that reinforce what the company is all about.

Now, obviously, storytelling is nothing new. Since the days when we made hand shadows in front of the fire in our caves, mankind has always depended on the power of a story to move people to tears, action, or self-reflection.

Storytelling is still a big part of our lives; the methods may have changed a bit, but the basic concept is still intact. What is YouTube but a story around a fire … however, in this case, the fire is the Internet and the audience is in the millions.

Yes, it feels like we’re returning to stories en masse … and that return is reflected most powerfully in our popular culture. We’re seeking out stories that are longer and more complex. Why are millions tuning into Lost or Heroes or Desperate Housewives? Why do they turn out in droves for multi-part movies, like The Lord of the Rings? What is it about Harry Potter that has turned millions of kids into reading junkies?

The answer is: Compelling stories.

The better the story (more involving, more interesting, more memorable), the more likely your audience is to take action. To learn. To remember.

It’s an idea we all understand but often forget when it comes time to make our next training video or product intro video or CEO message video: What story are we telling and what can we do to make it more compelling? How can we emulate the best stories, by involving our audience, surprising them, and providing them with a satisfying conclusion to the story we’re telling?

The best corporate videos do that and that’s what makes them the best corporate videos.

So when you think about your next video, check to make sure that you’ve included a healthy heaping of the elements of a great story (humor, empathy, surprise, suspense, resolution) and remember that as sophisticated as we may think we are, we’re still basically sitting around a fire, waiting to be enthralled. Be sure your video has a story that will grab your audience and hold them tight until the words “The End” appear on the screen.

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