Message Matters - POGOe Matters.pdf · Think Strategically •What ... •It is urgent for this audience to act ... These medications may cause significant cognitive side effects

Message Matters

Making the case for geriatrics in the classroom, at

your institution, and in the wider world

Reynolds Foundation Meeting

St. Louis, MO

October 2012

1. Why we need you

2. Making your case: Thinking

strategically

3. Messaging: The Basics +

4. Honing your message

5. Discussion

Today’s Discussion

10/14/2012 2

Why We Need You… 1

3

4

Why We Need You… 1 Multi-faceted uses

Developing

your

thought

leadership

Why We Need You… 1

10/14/2012 5

Thought

leadership…

It’s a leap.

6

Making your case 2 Multi-faceted uses

In the

classroom

7


At your

institution

8


In your

health care

system

9


In the

media, the

community

10

Making Your Case 2 Think Strategically

• What does success look

like (objective)?

• Who needs to know

(audience)?

• What am I going to say

(message)?

• How do I reach my

audience/objectives

(strategy)?

11

Making Your Case 2 Multi-faceted uses

12


Get

SMART* • Specific

• Measurable

• Attainable

• Realistic

• Time-

bounded

*From “The Spitfire

Strategies Smart Chart

3.0,” Washington, DC.

www.spitfirestrategies.c

om

Making Your Case 2 Multi-faceted uses From Fuzzy to SMART

• Fuzzy Objective

– Get the word out about my

research

• SMART Objective

– By January 2013, engage five

bloggers to build awareness about

my research findings among other

clinician educators

14


Knowing your Audience(s)

Who are you trying to reach?

•Medical students, residents

•School administrators, curriculum

committee

•System administrators

− Responsible for residency

placements

•Policymakers (federal/state?)

•General public

– Patients, caregivers, exactly who?

15


Creating

Messages

16

Making Your Case 2 Multi-faceted uses Vehicle Pros Cons

E-mails to leaders, colleagues

Posters

Symposia

Society /industry newsletters, Web sites

Meetings, conferences

Committees, Guidelines efforts

Traditional media outreach

Op-eds, Letters to the Editor

Social media (FB, LinkedIn, Twitter)

Video

Blog (yours, others)

Web sites (yours, others)

Thinking

Proactively

Which tactics make the

most sense, given your

target audiences and

objectives?

Messaging: The Basics +

10/14/2012 17

3

Good Things

in Small Packages


10/14/2012 18

3 Condensed timeframes, Changing ground


10/14/2012 19

3

Distillation

If you don’t boil

it down,

someone else

will.


20

3

What is a message?

A message is a

clear, concise

statement or set of

statements that

describes a

position, opinion or

point of view.


21

3 Distillation/Translation: From Research to Release

From the research:

“The combination of a national kidney paired donation (KPD)

program and a mathematically optimized matching algorithm

yields more matches with lower HLA disparity. Optimized

matching affords patients the flexibility of customizing their

matching priorities and the security of knowing that the

greatest number of high-quality matches will be found and

distributed equitably.”

From Dorry Segev, MD

Messaging: The Basics + 3 Distillation/Translation: From Research to Release

From the release:

“A Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts Institute of Technology

collaboration has shown that a national matching program…

called paired kidney exchange ensures the best possible

kidney for the greatest number of recipients who have

incompatible donors.”


23

3 A good message*

completes the following four

statements:

• The one thing your audience needs to

know is…

• The reason this is important to this

audience is…

• What this audience should do is…

• It is urgent for this audience to act now

because…

*Courtesy of Valerie Denney, Denney Communications


24

3

My target audience is:

General practitioners

The One Thing this audience needs to know is:

Older patients, especially with cognitive impairment or an acute illness, may suffer adverse effects

from antihistamines, sleeping medications and other anti-cholinergics.

The reason this is important to this audience is:

As the number of older adults suffering from both cognitive impairment and multiple chronic

conditions increases, it is important to recognize the negative impact of certain medications on the

aging brain.

What this audience should do is:

Physicians should talk with their patients about the benefits and risks of these medications and

reduce their use where indicated clinically.

It is important (urgent) for this audience to act now because:

These medications may cause significant cognitive side effects in a functionally vulnerable

population.

Messaging In Practice – An Example

What’s your message? 3

Worksheet


26

3 Sticky Messages*

• Simple

• Unexpected

• Concrete

• Credible

• Emotionally resonant

• Story attached

* Heath, C and Heath D. Made to Stick: Why

Some Ideas Survive and Other Die. New

York: Random House, 2007.


27

3 Examples of sticky messages

Climate change is triggering

disease epidemics.

Or

A warmer world is a sicker

world.


28


GRACE is a tested, team

model for providing high

quality primary care.

Or

GRACE is better care all

together.


29


In studies of humans and other

animals, [scientists] have discovered

that sleep plays a critical role in

immune function, metabolism, memory,

learning, and other vital functions.*

or

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man

healthy, wealthy and wise.

*From the Division of Sleep Medicine at

Harvard Medical School


30


Guided Care provides coordinated

team care for the toughest

patients – older adults with

multiple chronic conditions.

Or

Guided Care is like having a nurse

in the family.


31


Thermoregulation

serves as an alternative

function of the sexually

dimorphic fiddler crab

claw.*

*Darrell and Mungia, The American Naturalist

173 (3) 419-28

Honing your message 4

• Review your worksheet

• Test with a colleague

• Can you make it sticky?

• Extra credit:

Can you write a 140-character

Tweet ?

Discussion 5

A Parting Thought 5

34

Put it before them briefly,

so they will read it, clearly

so they will appreciate it,

picturesquely so they will

remember it, and above all

accurately, so they will be

guided by its light.

Joseph Pulitzer

For more on messages visit:

www.BandwidthOnline.org

The online communications resource from the John A. Hartford Foundation

http://www.bandwidthonline.org/

Thank You!

John Beilenson

[email protected] 610.687.5495

www.aboutscp.com

Documents

Message Matters - POGOe Matters.pdf · Think Strategically •What ... •It is urgent for this audience to act ... These medications may cause significant cognitive side effects