Aha-Effekt Archive - The Art of Communicating

Should Taylor Swift really perform at your product launch?

When you manage to get Taylor Swift to perform at your company press conference it will almost certainly get you a wow from your guests. But that’s no substitute for the resonance that your actual announcements do or do not create.

Tonight, Apple will stream their newest keynote. I found this piece by Alex Cranz interesting in which she observes:

No one else in the tech space has had the same success as Apple at getting people to treat their announcements as big events. Nearly every single major tech company has tried. Sony had Taylor Swift at a CES keynote, and Samsung marched out a member of BTS to applause at a Galaxy Unpacked event. Google had the Slo-Mo guys. Intel had dancers and acrobats festooned in LEDs. But something about an Apple event seems to resonate more with folks.

Here’s the thing: People don’t watch a tech announcement to see Taylor Swift. And there’s no aha effect in seeing dancers and acrobats perform. It might create attention and, thereby, “open the mind” of the viewers.

But it doesn’t change minds. It’s merely wow. But wow without aha is mostly harmless. Just look at all these hilarious ads. What was that ad about, again?

Apple understands its customers better than most. Their goal for the keynotes is not to wow them with random show acts. Apple wants to provide their fans with aha moments about the products they love.

These aha moments might not resonate with everyone, but that is precisely why Apple can strengthen their resonance with loyal fans. It’s an aha that’s not meant for everyone. But it’s an aha for their fans – often without any wow on top (I mean, how many of their latest keynotes were you blown away by? And yet, if you’re an Apple fan, you’re going to watch this one …).

If you feel like you need a star act to make your event appealing, perhaps it’s time to find the inherent value in your products … and the words that create strong resonance with the people who truly matter.

Open to change

Wow opens their mind. Aha changes their mind.

Both are better together.

Aha moments can’t happen when your audience doesn’t pay attention. Wow moments are great at getting you attention.

But wow moments get you only half way there. After all, what use is it when people cheer about what a great show it’s been when what you actually want them to cheer for is your idea?

When you’ve opened the door, walk through and take your audience all the way to a profound aha moment.

The duality of the aha effect

Clarity can show up in the form of a thought or in the form of a feeling.

The aha effect happens when both fall together … when your gut tells you that something feels right and your brain understands why it is right.

You’re missing out if you only look at one of those sides.

The day after

The keynote was a great success. Standing ovations.

“What a great presentation!”
“You’re a natural born presenter!”
“That was quite the roller-coaster ride! What a brilliant show!”

And yet, the day after, nothing happens.

Because it’s never about “What a great show!” but always about “What a great idea!”

The wow effect brings you the excitement in the moment. But that excitement always fades. Sometimes later, but mostly sooner.

That’s why you need to take your audience beyond the wow effect – all the way towards a profound aha effect.

Aha effects last much longer.

PS: Happy to help.

How is clarity to be achieved?

“And how is clarity to be achieved? Mainly by taking trouble and by writing to serve people rather than to impress them.” — F. L. Lucas

Wow effects are easy to achieve. When in doubt, throw money at the problem. Samsung, for example, has put entire orchestras on stage during their keynotes.

Wow effects rarely increase clarity, though. Also, you don’t even need clarity to achieve a wow effect.

Aha moments are different. You can’t buy an aha effect.

The aha effect requires effort. It requires you to do the work and think things through. You’ll have to see your audience to understand where they’re coming from and what matters to them. You’ll have to understand their language so that you can find the words that lead everyone in your audience to see what you see.

Aha effects require clarity. Clarity requires effort.

But it’s worth the effort. Because while wow effects usually fade quickly, aha effects often last.

The best way to think about wow effects is as a door opener to your audience’s connection. But once you’re in, lead them all the way to an aha moment.

This is the game you’re in

-> Passionate beats eloquent
-> Prominent beats competent
-> Relatable beats spectacular
-> Relevant beats fancy
-> Simple beats complex
-> Useful beats beautiful
-> Wow beats aha in the short run
-> Aha beats wow in the long run

Don’t persuade harder, resonate stronger!

The art of digging deep

TED has popularised the art of presenting big ideas. What gets easily overlooked is how another art is even more essential to a great TED talk: the art of digging deep.

This is the art of not only identifying the stones but actually picking them up and looking under. The art of scratching our heads and asking further. The art of looking for answers as opposed to stopping at the questions. So that we arrive at ideas that don’t just look big but actually are big.

For this, it’s not enough to copy the looks of a TED talk: the structure, the storytelling, the stage layout, the timing. That’s just the surface.

A big idea is not in how the idea looks.

A big idea is in what it inspires. What it changes. Such as a fundamental change of perspective.

More often than not, these ideas originate in the mud and dirt. By digging deep. And getting your fingers dirty.

People on the TED stage are standing there because they have an important story to tell. One that originates from doing the work. Sweating the details. Looking beyond the obvious. Asking the questions and looking for answers.

The problem with our world of inspirational TED-like speeches is that it’s copying the looks of a great TED speech while missing the work that precedes it. These people copy the TED part but not the digging deep part.

Yet, digging deep is the most reliable way of arriving at a big idea talk. Dig deep and do the work. And then, tell a true story about what you worked out.

This is how you light the path.

Applause is seductive

Getting applause for your talk and having an impact are two very different goals for a presentation.

A good round of applause feels great. That’s for sure. But the enthusiasm of the moment is no guarantee that your message will stick. Or that it changes a mind.

Even worse: applause is seductive. When you get some, you want more. When you get a lot, you want even more. And it’s quite possible that you do because once you get the hang of it, you’ll have a good sense of what makes your audience cheer for you. The temptation to strive for that applause is not a small one.

And yet, the talks that resonate the most are often the ones that cause the audience to become quiet. Pause. Reflect upon what they just heard.

Applause and impact are by no means mutually exclusive, but they also don’t necessarily come together. Faced with the choice, I’d always prefer the talk that makes a difference rather than the one that makes for a good round of applause.

But let’s look at it from a different perspective: If the audience is still resonating with our talk a month – or a year – after … because that talk made a profound difference in their life … now, that’s a reason to be really proud of.

First things first

How can I surprise my audience? How can I make my slides more punchy? How can my gestures reinforce what I’m saying? How can I involve the audience?

No doubt, these are all valid questions. But only after we have answered an even more important question: What change are we trying to make? Where does our audience come from and where are we leading them? What do they believe before the talk and what do they believe afterwards?

Because only the answers to these questions enable me to identify what kind of surprise will grab my audience’s attention. What kind of punch will hold their attention. What kind of involvement will incite action.

A wow effect is a means to achieve an aha effect. The better you understand what exactly the aha looks like from your audience’s perspective, the better you’ll be able to identify the kind of wow that leads them to that aha.

If your product changes things for the better

If your product truly changes things for the better then all you need to do is to speak the truth.

I’m amazed by how often people just don’t trust in that truth. They will look for all sorts of fluff and stuff to decorate the truth to make it look more appealing.

Fascinated by the breathtaking shows of the competition, people will go to great lengths to hunt down an even more breathtaking wow factor – looking for fancier titles, more bang in the visuals, and of course expensive tech equipment.

Don‘t get me wrong, all of this can be very useful. Make things sound and look as good as you can.

But in the end, it’s not about how great things look but how well they resonate. Audiences enjoy a great show, no doubt about that. But would you rather care about “what a great show” or about “what a great idea”?

If your product is actually amazing, then what you need most is clarity. And empathy. These two are the prerequisites for a great story.

Start there. Focus on the truth not the decoration. Work on making your story resonate as strong as possible. And when you’ve got that kind of aha, the wow will take care of itself.

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Should Taylor Swift really perform at your product launch?

Open to change

The duality of the aha effect

The day after

How is clarity to be achieved?

This is the game you’re in

The art of digging deep

Applause is seductive

First things first

If your product changes things for the better

Spread the Word

Dr. Michael Gerharz

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