Forget “gabbing”—focus on striking up conversations, then listening up

By Matt Baron

I’d heard the phrase many times before, but two years ago, it grated on me when a young lady uttered the words: “I don’t have the gift of gab.”

An aspiring communications professional—she wasn’t sure what realm yet—she had just spewed the verbal version of nails on a chalkboard. I nearly leapt through the phone as I admonished her never to repeat the phrase.

“Even if you think it’s true,” I cautioned, “don’t say it.”

Besides, if she ever wanted to get “the gift,” then it would come only after she stopped treating it as some special possession that descends from the heavens at birth.

The truth is that the “gift of gab” is not a gift at all. It’s a series of choices, and the biggest one is to choose to put your focus on others rather than yourself.

Professional, ethical, effective journalists cannot write with long gazes into their navels. Yet I have observed, too often, fellow reporters who don’t go beyond the bare minimum when it comes to seeking input from sources. They speak too little to too few of them, and what results are stories too limited in their context, accuracy and overall scope.

So what’s holding some reporters back? Much of the answer boils down to fear. Fear of the unknown and fear of rejection are two biggies.

Those are self-absorbed ills. All of the focus is on your little self, and worst-case scenarios of what could happen to you. Besides that, they are statistically remote illusions, a fervent faith in negative results that hardly ever materialize.


Consider what you can gain by practicing the discipline of focusing on others, of speaking very little and listening very much.

In his account of how he first met W. Mark Felt, the man who would later become his pivotal Deep Throat source, Bob Woodward experienced the powerful impact of looking beyond himself and stepping out of his comfort zone.


In 1970, while he was in the U.S. Navy, Woodward was in the White House waiting to deliver documents to the chief of naval operations. Felt sat down near him. After several minutes of silence, Woodward introduced himself.

For many of us, saying anything to a stranger can push us out of our comfort zone—especially when we are in the company of someone whose stature may intimidate us. (Woodward recalled Felt as “very distinguished looking” with “a studied air of confidence.”)

Woodward went on to share more about himself with Felt. Though the older gentleman initially did not reciprocate, he became more engaged when Woodward hit on common ground. Woodward was taking graduate courses at George Washington University, and Felt replied that he had gone to night law school there before he joined the FBI.


Bingo, a key fact emerges. >From there, the two found more common ground and spoke at length as Woodward continued to push through any comfort zones he may have had.

“I peppered him with questions about his job and his world, and as I think back on this accidental but crucial encounter--one of the most important in my life--I see that my patter probably verged on the adolescent. Since he wasn’t saying much about himself, I turned it into a career counseling session.

I asked Felt for his phone number and he gave me the direct line to his office. He was going to be one of the people I consulted in depth about my future.”


Woodward is being overly modest. This was no “accidental” meeting, for the simple fact that Woodward’s boldness and persistence transformed what could have been a routine, superficial mutual head-nodding moment into an historical turning point.

Think about your moments, minutes, hours and days ahead.

It’s not a gift; it’s your choice.

What’s the worst that can happen if you say “hello” to someone on the elevator? How uncomfortable is it, really, to introduce yourself to someone in the crowd at the city council meeting? Why don’t you make that contact you’ve been putting off for days?

Better yet, ask this question: What’s the best that can happen?

So strike up a conversation. More than likely, you’ll be amazed by what you learn.

BARON BIT: Develop the discipline of remembering folks’ names, and spelling them correctly. Being able to recall a name is the gateway to subsequent conversations. Conversely, don’t assume somebody has remembered your name—reintroduce yourself to spare the person any potential embarrassment or awkwardness.

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A freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Matt delivers seminars for corporations and associations. You can reach him at matt@mattbaron.com or 888-713-6589. His web site is at www.mattbaron.com.

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Make your ads believable and specific

By John Foust
Raleigh, NC

The headline is the most important part of an ad. Research shows that eight out of ten readers do not read past the headline of any given ad. You know from experience that, if a headline doesn't arouse interest, you simply turn the page.

Print is an information medium. That's why the best print ads – and their headlines – provide information to readers. It's as simple as that.

I recently ran across an ad in my files that provides a classic example of what not to do. The headline shouts, "Unbelievable Opportunity" in big bold type. Does this headline provide information? No. Does it establish credibility for the advertiser? No. Does it communicate anything of value? No. To understand why, let's take a closer look:

"Unbelievable." When something is exceptionally good – or exceptionally bad – it is often labeled as being unbelievable. As a sports fan, I've heard countless touchdowns, home runs, and birdie putts described as "unbelievable." While "unbelievable" may be harmless in sports broadcasts, this word creates more trouble than it's worth in advertising.

What does "unbelievable" really mean? Technically speaking, "un" means "against" or "the opposite of." That means that advertisers who use the word "unbelievable" are actually saying, "Don't believe this ad. It's filled with lies." Obviously, that's not the message they want to send; but that's the real meaning.

The first lesson here is to be believable. If you want your advertising to have the clear ring of authenticity – if you want it to convey information – start by eliminating baseless claims and exaggerations.

"Opportunity." The second lesson is to be specific. In the context of this advertiser's two-word headline, "opportunity" means nothing at all. To what kind of opportunity are they referring? We don't know, because they don't say.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, once said, "Don’t become a wandering generality. Be a meaningful specific." The same can be said of advertising. Legendary copywriter Claude Hopkins wrote, "The weight of an argument may often be multiplied by making it specific." To prove his point, he compared two advertising statements: (1) "Our prices have been reduced, and (2) "Our prices have been reduced by 25 percent." It's obvious that the second headline has more impact – because it is specific.

The only way to make "opportunity" work is to use it as an idea generator – and not in a headline. The first step might be to ask, "Opportunity for whom?" or "Opportunity to do what?" First, identify a specific target audience. Then figure out how that group can benefit from buying that advertiser's product or service.

Once a specific benefit is identified, the word "opportunity" can be dropped. For example, an ad for lakeside homes might evolve from "Unbelievable opportunity" to "Here's your opportunity to live by the lake"…to "Live by the lake."

If you're looking for a guideline to create better advertising, consider the opposite of what is represented by the words "unbelievable" and "opportunity." Be believable, and be specific.

Do this, and your ads will be more effective.

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Copyright 2007 by John Foust. All rights reserved.

E-mail John Foust for information about his training videos for ad departments: jfoust@mindspring.com

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The one-armed paper-hanger editor-designer (Part 2)

Ed Hinninger

Many small-newspaper editors are one-armed paper-hangers.

They’re so busy doing so many tasks that it’s a wonder the paper ever gets to press on deadline. Somehow, they muddle through—and most do it well.

But there are day-to-day and deadline-to-deadline practices every editor can adopt so he or she no longer is frantic. With these, the editor is free to spend time on design that excels.

Here are some suggestions:

Plan your day. Over time, you’ll develop a sense for how long it usually takes you to chat with reporters. How long to edit and design the usual number of pages. How long to answer phone calls. How long to deal with that late ad. Work these tasks into a schedule. Once you do, you’ll know at any time if you’re running behind—or if you’ve got extra time to spend on a design that you want to give some extra attention.

Plan your coverage. You can’t know when the Northern & Western train that rumbles through your town is going to derail. But you can know when Christmas is coming. Or Thanksgiving. Or Mother’s Day. Or… Work on coverage and design ideas for these stories months ahead of time. That will give you scads of time to decide, define and design those special packages.

Delegate. There’s no reason for you to spend valuable editing time inputting a list of honor roll students. You’ve been hired to be an editor, not a typist. And when you have a particularly important story (when that train derails?), be ready to hand off some work to others. Any sports page designer, for example, shouldn’t have too much trouble putting together the obits page on a very busy evening.

Create priorities. If you’re on deadline, it’s probably more important for you to finish up the design of page 1 than to handle a phone call from someone who didn’t like your coverage of last night’s county supervisors meeting. Earlier in your day, it’s probably more important to chat with reporters about their stories for the evening than it is to try to fix the newsroom copy machine yourself.

Lock in meetings. Make it clear to your reporters and editors that you expect them to be at the weekly long-term planning meeting. With each person missing, there’s one less valuable contributor to your overall effort.

Start—and end—meetings on time. If someone comes in late, don’t spend your time catching them up. Place that responsibility on their shoulders—having to repeat yourself takes valuable time from you and from others who came on time. One valuable trick: set a timer for the length of time you want the meeting to run. Place it where all can see how much time is left. When the timer goes off, get up and leave. After a few such departures, all those involved will get the idea that meetings are sessions where time is valuable and idle chit-chat just doesn’t have a place.

Expect the unexpected. Build extra time into your day to allow for the extra-long phone call, the visit from the upset basketball coach who wants you to fire your young sports editor, the ad rep who wants to talk with you about an idea for a special section. If you know it really only takes you two hours to edit and design your daily batch of pages, why not allow yourself closer to three hours? And if the unexpected doesn’t occur, you have that extra hour to spend on making the design of those pages even better.

Rid yourself of the stuff that doesn’t matter. Remember that it’s not your job to fix the copy machine. Or to take I-didn’t-get-my-paper calls. Or to take high school basketball scores.

It’s your job to give your readers a newspaper that’s well-written, well-edited and well-designed.

Set yourself free to do so.

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ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper consultant and the Director of Henninger Consulting. Offering comprehensive newspaper design services including redesigns, workshops, training and evaluations. E-mail: edh@henningerconsulting.com. On the web: www.henningerconsulting.com. Phone: 803-327-3322.

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