How to be interesting

Let’s start this week’s Tip with a Disney Quiz.

1. Who is the only Disney title character that can’t speak?
2. Who is the only Disney princess based on a real person?
3. Which of the seven dwarfs didn’t have a beard?
4. When you put the seven dwarfs in alphabetical order, which is the middle one?

The answers:

1. Dumbo
2. Pocahontas
3. Dopey
4. Grumpy (the alphabetical list is Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy)

How did you get on?

And why on earth am I asking you this stuff?

Well, I’ve found that most people like quizzes. I’ve also found that, with communication, most people like:

• Humour
• Interesting trivia
• Learning new things 
• Nice surprises
• Interaction
• Content tailored exactly to them 
• Analogies
• Anecdotes
• Passion
• Interesting quotations
• An engaging start
• A clear call to action
• Etc

And since most people find most of these things interesting …

… when you communicate, if you want to be interesting, you’ll have to do some of these ‘interesting things’.

So, in your next communication, include some. Like:

• Ask good questions, so it’s interactive
• Do things differently to last week, so it’s varied
• Use an analogy to make your point
• Tell them an anecdote
• Speak with passion

This theory is obvious – if you want to be interesting, do interesting things.

But in practice, most communications aren’t interesting. In fact, most are downright dull. Because people don’t include interesting things.

You can change that – really quickly…

Action Point

In your next communication – be interesting!

Use one of these ‘interesting things’ – or one of your own – to help them (and therefore you) enjoy it more.