I want to share two lessons I learned recently that will improve your future conference calls.  The night I learned them, it wasn’t a dark and stormy one.  Well, it was dark, being it was 9pm, but the sky was clear as I left my house and the stars shined down on my upcoming misfortune.

I had only driven a block when the car started steering funny, and at the stoplight I got out and saw my rear right tire was very low.  The air pumps at first gas station I went to were out of order.  So were the pumps at the second.  The third had working pumps, but somewhere between station two and three, the low tire blew out its walls.

Fortunately I had a full-sized spare.  With manly gusto I jacked up the car, removed the lug nuts, and tugged in vain on the flat tire for thirty minutes.  It was stuck on the axle or something, I don’t know.  At this time I was approached by a man with a shock-blonde mohawk-ish hairstyle, designer shirt and jeans, and retro-punk cowboy boots who asked if I needed help.  I didn’t even hesitate.  “Yes, please.”

We talked and our consensus was that there must be a locking mechanism somewhere.  Thirty greasy minutes later a distinguished looking gentleman--distinguished even in the shorts and “Margaritaville” t-shirt he was wearing--walked over and asked if we were having trouble.  Without a hint of sarcasm, I said, “Yes, sir.”

“Is that the 2001 model?” he asked.  I nodded--while wiping sweat off and grease on my brow.  “I had one of those,” he said.  “Only the lug nuts keep it on the axle, but I found my wheel had rusted onto the collar.  I just got underneath and hit the tire till it popped off.”  Satisfied with his contribution, he nodded and walked back to his car, confident we could take it from there.  My stylish friend and I exchanged glances, then quickly looked around for something to beat the tar out of my tire.

The distinguished man was right.  The tire popped off on my third frustration-venting hit from under the back of the car.  It went into the trunk, and the spare settled on nicely.  Our work done, my stylish friend shook my hand and abruptly left, off to go clubbing for the evening, or perhaps start a ska-punk band.  I wish I knew.

One of the two lessons here is that in any meeting of the minds, you can never predict where or from whom great ideas will come from.  The second lesson is that if you want to grab the attention of your conference call participants, start off with a good story illustrating your points.

Have you heard about IT? Have you seen IT?  Do you even know what IT is?  I came across the IT method at EffectiveMeetings.com.  IT is a simple checklist process that neatly summarizes a five-step process for planning and developing your presentation.  Here IT is in its simplicity:

1. Brain IT!
2. Group IT!
3. Trim IT!
4. Spice IT!
5. Do IT!

The first step, Brain IT, is a freeform brainstorming session—group or solo.  This is where you write down everything you think of, or may want to say.  And we do mean EVERYTHING.  Don’t edit the ideas or your thought process, just get it all out.  A particularly good suggestion they say is to use post-it notes to free yourself from the borders of a normal sheet of paper.

Next is Group IT where you put all the ideas into categories—this is where the post-it note idea really shines.  Naturally group your ideas; don’t try to artificially pigeonhole them.  If a category has more than ten ideas, it might actually be two categories.  Now order your groups by what will be delivered first, second, etc.  Three is a good number of groups to use, but just keep it simple.  Save the unused groups for support or Q&A.

Trim IT organizes the ideas in each group by importance or pertinence.  Remove extra or duplicate ideas and put them with the unused groups.  Again, in each group three ideas are ideal, but not mandatory.

When you Spice IT, you’re adding the stories, quotes, props, slides, audio, handouts, and whatever else will punch up your presentation.  Don’t leave out the beginning or ending!

The planning is done, all the words are there and in order, and the spicy extras are chosen.  All that’s left is to run it together seamlessly—and “edit, edit, edit!”  Now Do IT!

What do we remember most about a movie?  What is it that will make us recommend it to our friends or warn them about it?  The end is important, for a movie or conference call.  And it’s possible that a good or bad one will have a greater impact than any other part.

There’s some science behind this too.  I read in Anecdote.com about a recent TED talk by Daniel Kahneman, founder of behavioral economics and winner of the Nobel prize in Economics.  His conclusion was that the ending of a thing affects the “memory of the experience as a whole.”

Basically we could have a great, productive conference call, but if the last five to ten minutes are horrible we’ll remember the conference as being horrible.  No, it’s not fair, but that’s how we are.  So it’s more important than ever that we end our conferences on a good note.

We should then put some extra thought into ensuring a good end.  Maybe our summary needs punching up.  Perhaps we need to be more upbeat as we make our conclusion—maybe drink some coffee fifteen minutes before wrapping things up.

I think this also makes a good case for taking questions throughout the conference call.  It’s sheer torture going through a long Q&A at the end of a long conference, especially if the questions are inane, or the answers only affect one person, (in those cases, abundant use of “let’s talk after the conference” should be used).

On your next conference call, make an extra effort to have a stellar ending.  Did people like the entire conference better or the same?  Leave a comment here and tell us about it!