[0.000 --> 11.720]  Good morning, good morning.
[11.720 --> 16.080]  I'm excited to be your first speaker of today.
[16.080 --> 22.000]  By a show of hands, how many of you have heard of the phrase, it's not what you say, it's
[22.000 --> 23.600]  how you say it.
[23.600 --> 27.680]  Do you remember the person who told that to you?
[27.680 --> 28.680]  How many times have you told them they lied?
[28.680 --> 36.200]  Repeat after me, what you say is just as important as how you say it, your turn.
[36.200 --> 41.120]  What you say is just as important as how you say it.
[41.120 --> 44.960]  And that is called strategic communications.
[44.960 --> 49.480]  And strategic communications is probably the very thing you've been needing this entire
[49.480 --> 53.760]  time to help you get what you need out of life.
[53.760 --> 58.640]  The most people stop going after the bigger things that they want in life simply because
[58.640 --> 61.200]  well, they're just not getting it.
[61.200 --> 66.360]  But what they don't realize is that they're causing some sort of resistance in the way
[66.360 --> 72.360]  that they're communicating that's helping them not get what they want out of life.
[72.360 --> 76.640]  How many of you have been in the situation where no matter how much you talk and talk and
[76.640 --> 80.840]  tell someone your viewpoint, they're just not getting it, right?
[80.840 --> 86.120]  But how much you change your approach and your delivery that's just not understanding
[86.120 --> 90.120]  your viewpoint, whether that's to a family member, whether that's to your spouse, whether
[90.120 --> 92.080]  that's to your boss, they're just not getting it.
[92.080 --> 95.560]  I think we've all experienced that type of frustration.
[95.560 --> 101.200]  Today, I'm going to give you the tools to strategically communicate through all of those
[101.200 --> 104.400]  issues and combat that resistance.
[104.400 --> 109.760]  And I'm going to do that first by taking you through two parallel situations.
[109.760 --> 117.480]  I have a very real situation to me, one personal and one professional, starting with professional.
[117.480 --> 121.720]  So I started my career in communications a few years ago, starting with news writing
[121.720 --> 127.800]  and reporting, then going on to advertising specialists, then landing a job as a communication
[127.800 --> 128.800]  specialist.
[128.800 --> 135.040]  In my communication specialist role, I was able to do things such as email marketing,
[135.040 --> 141.120]  mission driven partnerships, writing speeches for the CEO, things of that nature.
[141.120 --> 147.040]  On the first day of my communication specialist role, my boss said, I know this is a lot,
[147.040 --> 150.160]  it's your first day, it's supposed to be doing paperwork, things of that nature.
[150.160 --> 154.800]  But do you mind if you reach out to Google and see if they can land a partnership with
[154.800 --> 157.040]  our next event next month?
[157.040 --> 160.800]  And I'm like, you're right, that's a very big ass for the first day.
[160.800 --> 164.360]  I am supposed to be doing paperwork, where's HR?
[164.360 --> 166.880]  So, either way, it's my job, right?
[166.880 --> 170.360]  It's the first day, you want to make a big impression, I shoot my shot.
[170.360 --> 173.440]  That's Millennial Talk for it, just get it done.
[173.440 --> 178.760]  And so, I look up Google's mission, I figure out what they're interested in, the type of
[178.760 --> 183.000]  partnerships that they're interested in, then I think about my company's mission.
[183.000 --> 185.280]  What type of partnerships are we interested in?
[185.280 --> 186.280]  What is our mission?
[186.280 --> 187.800]  What are we trying to convey?
[187.800 --> 192.520]  I wrap that up into an email, I send it to their communications department, I express
[192.520 --> 196.480]  the need, send it on its way.
[196.480 --> 199.080]  Transition into my personal life.
[199.080 --> 203.640]  I get home and I'm scrolling on Instagram like us millennials do, and I get a DM from
[203.640 --> 209.520]  my friend Jessica, and she's like, oh my gosh, Kisha, the guy I like just DMed me.
[209.520 --> 215.120]  I'm like, okay, she's like, and he liked my picture on Instagram.
[215.120 --> 218.480]  Okay, so what do you want to do now?
[218.480 --> 223.560]  She's like, well, you're a communication specialist now, teach me how to communicate with him,
[223.560 --> 225.200]  as if that's what we did, right?
[225.200 --> 229.720]  Something like, okay, well, I'll go with it, what's the goal?
[229.720 --> 231.080]  What do you want him to do?
[231.080 --> 233.320]  What do you want to get out of the conversation?
[233.320 --> 238.160]  She says, well, I want him to be my boyfriend, again, it was a like on Instagram, right?
[238.160 --> 240.040]  How far are we going to take this?
[240.040 --> 245.520]  But, I let her keep going, and I'm like, okay, so what do you know about this man?
[245.520 --> 249.920]  She's like, well, I know that our values, they pretty much go together because on his
[249.920 --> 254.720]  Instagram, I see that he posts music and I like music, and he likes food and I like food,
[254.720 --> 260.000]  and he likes his mom, I like my mom, and I'm like, okay, sure, fine, okay.
[260.000 --> 267.040]  And I'm like, out of all the people on Instagram that he's engaging with, why you?
[267.040 --> 272.440]  And she goes on to tell me about how she thinks their missions of being successful in the
[272.440 --> 274.800]  entertainment industry will align.
[274.800 --> 278.720]  All right, so here's what I tell her to do.
[278.720 --> 284.640]  Slide him to his DM, that's Millennial Talk 4, a semi-private message.
[284.640 --> 289.040]  And just organically have a conversation like you normally would.
[289.040 --> 294.960]  Allow him to organically express his values, allow him to organically express his interests,
[294.960 --> 298.800]  and then you express yours and see how they mutually align.
[298.800 --> 304.080]  At the end of it, see if you guys can go out, hang out, grab a drink or something.
[304.560 --> 310.320]  Cool. Long story short, six months later, here they are.
[311.520 --> 313.600]  I played matchmaker, Kudos to me.
[314.880 --> 319.520]  Moving on into my professional life, I go back to work the next day, and my boss is like,
[319.520 --> 323.120]  Kisha, remember how I told you to email Google about that partnership?
[323.920 --> 331.280]  Yeah, less than 12 hours ago. She's like, well, they emailed us this morning and they said they
[331.280 --> 338.800]  actually want to partner on the event. And it was at that very moment that I realized I need a
[338.800 --> 346.640]  raise. But it was also at that moment that I realized I just strategically communicated
[347.280 --> 352.560]  into very different scenarios using the same exact method.
[353.680 --> 356.400]  And that method is what I'm going to share with you today.
[357.360 --> 363.040]  Now let's take a step back. What the strategic communications really mean?
[364.000 --> 369.600]  How many of you have taken a strategic communications class or communications course by a show of hands?
[370.640 --> 375.520]  Great. So what you probably learned is something along the lines of strategic communications,
[375.520 --> 379.760]  is communicating the best message through the right channels, measured against well-considered
[379.760 --> 385.280]  organizational communication specific goals. Great, right? But through my two scenarios,
[385.280 --> 392.080]  what you can probably see is that strategic communications is simply communicating with purpose
[392.720 --> 402.000]  while showcasing value in order to achieve a goal. And at the heart of it all, strategic communications
[402.000 --> 407.760]  helps you evoke specific responses out of your target audience, whether that be a spouse,
[407.760 --> 414.080]  a love interest, your boss. And in those responses, it helps you get what you want out of the situation
[414.080 --> 420.480]  as well. Now you can also be thinking, is she teaching us how to manipulate people?
[421.840 --> 430.480]  Maybe. But not really, because strategic communications creates mutually beneficial situations.
[430.480 --> 437.200]  Strategic communications allows both parties to feel like they're getting what they want out of the deal.
[437.280 --> 448.080]  So if you were paying attention, here's what I did in both scenarios to help them get what they
[448.080 --> 456.720]  want out of the situation. Number one, I identified the goal. In the professional situation,
[456.720 --> 462.240]  the goal was to land the partnership with Google. In the personal situation, the goal was to land
[462.240 --> 472.720]  the boyfriend. Step two, understand your audience. In the professional situation, I researched
[472.720 --> 477.120]  everything about Google to understand what type of partnerships they like to align with.
[478.880 --> 485.760]  In the personal situation, I was able to allow Jessica to go into his Instagram and say,
[485.760 --> 494.720]  what does he like to do? Understand what his values are. Step three, communicate the value.
[496.000 --> 500.640]  Communicating the value in the partnership with Google looked like helping them understand what
[500.640 --> 507.440]  they get out of a partnership with us. In the personal situation, she communicated what value
[507.520 --> 517.760]  their interests would have with one another. And step four, express the need. In both situations,
[517.760 --> 524.960]  I was able to use the value that they both share to express the need that they both want.
[528.800 --> 536.800]  And so by doing this and using this method, I'm able to combat the resistance commonly
[536.800 --> 545.520]  felt when people are communicating through challenges. Even like today, I was able to use
[545.520 --> 551.440]  strategic communication standing right here on this stage. And not because I was able to memorize
[551.440 --> 556.400]  my lines on hearing speech, and not because I was able to put together this presentation,
[556.400 --> 561.040]  but because I took you through those same four steps standing right here.
[562.000 --> 567.040]  Number one, I identified the goal, which was to get you guys to understand what
[567.040 --> 574.800]  communication strategic communication really was. Two, I took the time to understand my audience
[574.800 --> 578.800]  by asking you guys two questions to help me know who was in the room today.
[580.640 --> 586.000]  Step three, I communicated the value of what strategic communications can do in your life.
[586.960 --> 592.720]  And step four, I expressed the need for why you need strategic communications.
[594.480 --> 599.520]  And so usually, the reason why people are faced with a lot of resistance in the way that they're
[599.520 --> 604.400]  communicating is because they're skipping these four steps, or at least one of them.
[605.600 --> 611.680]  For example, if you don't identify the goal, you'll be speaking without purpose. You ever had
[611.680 --> 616.160]  those conversations where you realize it started off one way and ended another and you're trying
[616.160 --> 626.080]  to figure out how you even got there. Didn't identify the goal. Step two, I was able to step, I'm sorry,
[626.080 --> 632.320]  step three, I was able to communicate the value and then express the need here on this stage.
[632.880 --> 638.400]  Why do you need strategic communications? Why this is going to help you in your life,
[638.400 --> 643.040]  and how you can combat that resistance. So, at the heart of it all, realize,
[644.560 --> 656.080]  it's not what you say. What you say is just as important as how you say it. Thank you.