I thought your q and a at bos Cambridge was brilliant. You asked the audience the questions
Ha! I was about to write about that tomorrow. ☺ — Derek

Don't audiences sometimes want someone to say something that fits and affirms their views?

Great advice! I'm about to deliver a speech at book club this weekend! Will take this valuable advice!

Keep it up. Loving this new frequency.

For Brian at #2, sure, you can start with what they already know, as a courteous way to show solidarity and membership, briefly, and then, once you have that sort of friendly credibility, move on. "Start with the known, go to the unknown." and "Start with what they know, go to what they don't know."

Stay friendly. Adults can handle upsetting information if they know that you care about their upset. People who don't care about us come off as cold, jaded, self-righteous or hopelessly caring only about their own peer group.

When I meet such polarized people I think, "If you don't care about me, then I don't care how much you know."

During America's Cold War the communist party was legal in Canada, but they didn't get many votes because they didn't seem to identify with, or like, average people. (let alone the rich) You could tell they were oblivious to regular people partly because, regarding our regular lives, they had no sense of humour.

Sean #5, I haven't heard that saying before! That makes sense. Thanks for sharing :)

Hey Brian, you're welcome.
A shorter version goes, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."

My own variation, as a warning I once gave to my new-age peers, goes, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you are like them."

Of course, this is no cause for concern. If you think about it—and you should think before a stage talk or written communication, looking for surprise and such—we are more alike than different. As a Doonesbury cartoon once put it, "Even revolutionaries like chocolate chip cookies!"

But when giving a talk, you are an expert on something - and familiar with everything.
What’s surprising to the audience is sometimes old hat to you.
Eg I give talks about books and most people still don’t know about print on demand :)
It’s surprising and amazing to them but very old news to me. So maybe it’s more about considering what might be surprising to the audience than to you.
Thanks, Derek!

Fantastic advice Derek. Right now I'm finishing up my book and this post have come just in time. Great reminder. Thanks!

I’m loving your daily notes Keep going!

I literally started writing a presentation for Summit today and then read this. Your posts always feel timely, which suggests that they're actually timeless.

Surprising are these daily reflections too.
Onward! (As LG would say)

For the past 7 years, I googled your name whenever I wanted to be surprised.
Now that you're writing regularly, I'm not surprised.
I'm BEWILDERED!

Brian #2 and Sean #5
Civil discourse in blog comments - SHOCKING - and refreshing.
Thank you.
Sean Crawford is awesome. ☺ — Derek

Well Jeff, and Derek and Brian too,
as Mark Twain (I think) said, "I can go all day on one compliment."

I say 'Brian too' because, by being courteous, he and I are complimenting each other on being gentlemen.

A civil world is the one I choose to live in.

Great post and if you listen to any news program, documentary, or attend a seminar its 99% filler with only 1% learning soemthing new....and I thouht I was the only one who thought this way! Its another reason I hate SEO, I say/write what needs to be said and dont care how Google ranks my blog, I see you do the same. Glad I found your blog via Nat's newsletter.

Fantastic! Thanks, Derek

I keep coming across your posts and so much has happened this week as a result of finding your email in an account I don’t check very often, and that email leading me to your podcast and website. Since this discovery, I have started my podcast and committed to regularly podcasting/blogging. I have also decided to dust off a course I’ve been wanting to offer, but putting to the back burner.

The past few days have felt transformational ... like a spark has ignited a fire. I have always wanted to write and to inspire people and I am at the age where what I’m doing needs to matter. I am also trying to live a more honest life. I’m rambling on here ... I just want to say ‘thank you’ for the inspiration!

I really love this idea! Is this something you discovered through your own experience or was there a research article or a book looking at the connection between learning and surprise you came across? I'd love to learn more.

p.s. I started keeping a surprise log and writing down the things I learn that totally blow my mind (:

Derek! I have shared this with my entire marketing team (writing headlines, marketing copy/emails, etc.) and a dozen of my most favorite friends.

Just thought I owed you a THANK YOU!!!

Hope you are well buddy.

-Darren

Zach, I like your idea of a surprise log. A journalist kept a log of his sixtieth year, called "Sixty." In one entry he said, "I have lost two decades, but I don't know which two."

To avoid such forgetting, I have been doing like in the Simplicity Journal (which comes with a loop for a pen) where in the top left corner there is room for something that touched your heart, something funny, lesson learned, and I forget what else.

I believe keeping a journal stamps my memories in, so that if I lost all my photographs the memories would still be there. Hence I merely have a pocket point-and-shoot because I don't take many photos. For example, when I met with Derek I couldn't be bothered photographing him, or us. Because hey, I have a life.

As I write this Russia is invading Ukraine, but the TV watching people back home think it is merely a "military operation" to remove some Nazi leaders. Hence headlines in Britain like "My city is being shelled but mum won't believe me."

How to surprise regular Russians, and get them to listen to alternate facts?

A master class in how to do so is given by former state of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Raised in Europe, he is the opposite of an American unkind "social justice warrior." In his nine minute social media address he doesn't shout or have contempt, instead he has soft spoken respect and affection. If I was an teacher of English or public speaking then I would show his video as a masterpiece.

Great point. I just wrote a post about how I learned swimming in a relatively short time, and I posted 5 tips, but actually only the last point is the core idea of the article. Don't really know how to handle this.

This kind of style fits a certain reader and probably mood. But I can see it working out.

I find the things I learned best I learn best through embarassment. Not a great way to learn but those things stick.