Note – This blog was originally published on June 29, 2016 and has proven to be one of our most popular blogs. The points and message of this original blog remain true and we felt it was appropriate to share it again on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Communication was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s forte. He is known as one of America’s most influential speakers, even 52 years after he gave his iconic “I Have a Dream…” speech.

During this speech, King captivated his audience with poetic language and thought-provoking ideas. He painted a picture of how life could be instead of focusing on the negative aspects of how life was.

Today’s communicators can learn several public speaking lessons from King’s famous speech, including using positive language, narrowing your focus and using your words to create a visual description.

Using Positive Language Makes Your Communication Clear

Even though violence was common around the country, King advocated the positive outcomes of an equal society, gained through dignity and discipline.

He didn’t accuse others of committing wrongs or encourage people to act violently. King used positive language to make his point of the benefits of taking the high road. Positive language is powerful because it makes your message absolutely clear to your audience.

The Best Communication Has a Narrow Focus

King had one goal with his speech: to encourage public opinion in favor of creating an equal society for all races. Every sentence in his speech works toward this goal by examining positive outcomes of eliminating racism.

By narrowing the focus of a speech, you will stay on point and give your audience the most information about one specific topic.

Use Common Language in Your Communication to Relate to Your Audience

King’s speech was written for the average American, so he used plain language to deliver a clear message that was understood by everyone.

The lesson here is to tailor your speech to your audience.

If you’re presenting to high-level professionals, their common language is bigger, more complex words that are used in their careers. This language will make sense to them and help you gain credibility as a speaker.

However, if you’re presenting to an eighth-grade class, their everyday language is simple words that will be easily understood.

Depending on your audience, adjust your language to ensure your listeners get the most out of your speech.

Use Communication to Paint Pictures with Words

The reason King’s speech was so vivid is because he included colorful language and used his words to paint a picture in the minds of listeners. King used metaphors throughout the entire speech, bringing simple sentences to life. A few examples include:

A well-crafted comparison can liven up your presentation and help your audience understand the point you’re trying to make.

These are just a few of the communication lessons that Martin Luther King Jr. taught us through his memorable speech. Are there others you can think of?

If you’re interested in honing your public speaking skills when talking with the media, contact us.

The Risdall digital team attended DNN Summit, the largest DotNetNuke conference in the United States.  The conference offered sessions on the direction of the DNN platform, modern development practices, current themes in digital marketing and practical advice for running DNN websites across multiple verticals. Keynotes were delivered by Andy Tryba, the new CEO of DNN Software, and Shawn Walker, the creator of DNN.

DNN Summit on DNN Landing Page Optimization

Risdall team member Erik Hinds led a comprehensive session on creating high-converting landing pages in DNN. Erik addressed all aspects of landing page creation:

    1. Definition & goals
    2. Creating a workflow
    3. Audience definition
    4. Crafting an offer
    5. Tools for effectively building a page
  1. Best practices for landing page design
  2. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
  3. How to build landing pages in DNN

The bulk of the session focused on planning a proper conversion campaign by addressing the prospect’s needs, challenges, pain points and questions. Erik offered several strategies and tools to help identify those points and how your offer can help. Some of the tactics included:

As Erik said, “Landing pages are merely a conduit for creating multiple touch points in a marketing program. The effectiveness of the landing page is contingent on creating a very specific offer and presenting it to a segmented and qualified audience. Speaking in a transformational manner and presenting your solution in the right sequential order is much more effective than directing high volumes of traffic at a web page and hoping for the best.”

DNN landing page workflow

Best Practices for Building Landing Pages in DNN

 

Sample landing page layout

A fair amount of time was dedicated to covering best practices when designing and developing a DNN landing page. These best practices are universal across CMS platforms and addressed four key areas:

Testing CRO in DNN Landing Pages

Building a landing page is only the beginning of a successful landing page campaign. Erik discussed how to conduct optimization testing and some of the tools that can be leveraged.

As Erik noted, “Collecting quantitative and qualitative data is crucial to making smart decisions when determining whether the page is successful. There are a multitude of third party tools that can be easily integrated into DNN.”

Some of the types of testing and analysis Erik recommends are:

Erik finished up the presentation with an engaging Q&A session with audience members on some of the challenges they have faced when creating landing pages in DNN.

“It was a really great audience consisting of marketers and developers across multiple verticals. I loved how they engaged with thoughtful questions. I hope they received a lot of value from the presentation and Q&A.”

Communication was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s forte. He is known as one of America’s most influential speakers, even 52 years after he gave his iconic “I Have a Dream…” speech.

During this speech, King captivated his audience with poetic language and thought-provoking ideas. He painted a picture of how life could be instead of focusing on the negative aspects of how life was.

Today’s communicators can learn several public speaking lessons from King’s famous speech, including using positive language, narrowing your focus and using your words to create a visual description.

Using Positive Language Makes Your Communication Clear

Even though violence was common around the country, King advocated the positive outcomes of an equal society, gained through dignity and discipline.

He didn’t accuse others of committing wrongs or encourage people to act violently. King used positive language to make his point of the benefits of taking the high road. Positive language is powerful because it makes your message absolutely clear to your audience.

The Best Communication Has a Narrow Focus

King had one goal with his speech: to encourage public opinion in favor of creating an equal society for all races. Every sentence in his speech works toward this goal by examining positive outcomes of eliminating racism.

By narrowing the focus of a speech, you will stay on point and give your audience the most information about one specific topic.

Use Common Language in Your Communication to Relate to Your Audience

King’s speech was written for the average American, so he used plain language to deliver a clear message that was understood by everyone.

The lesson here is to tailor your speech to your audience.

If you’re presenting to high-level professionals, their common language is bigger, more complex words that are used in their careers. This language will make sense to them and help you gain credibility as a speaker.

However, if you’re presenting to an eighth-grade class, their everyday language is simple words that will be easily understood.

Depending on your audience, adjust your language to ensure your listeners get the most out of your speech.

Use Communication to Paint Pictures with Words

The reason King’s speech was so vivid is because he included colorful language and used his words to paint a picture in the minds of listeners. King used metaphors throughout the entire speech, bringing simple sentences to life. A few examples include:

A well-crafted comparison can liven up your presentation and help your audience understand the point you’re trying to make.

These are just a few of the communication lessons that Martin Luther King Jr. taught us through his memorable speech. Are there others you can think of?

If you’re interested in honing your public speaking skills when talking with the media, contact us.

Photo credit: caboindex