Part 3 of “The Courage to Think” Series
You’ve just delivered what you thought was a brilliant presentation. Your research was solid, your arguments compelling, your slides… well, packed with information. But as people file out, you overhear fragments: “What was that about again?” “I think she said something interesting, but…”
Your heart sinks. Another brilliant idea, lost in translation.
Here’s the brutal truth: Amazing ideas die in boring presentations every single day. Revolutionary insights get buried under academic jargon. Career-defining thoughts vanish because their creators never learned how human memory actually works.
Having a breakthrough is only half the battle. Making it unforgettable? That’s where most academics fail spectacularly.
The Forgettability Epidemic
Walk through any conference and witness the carnage: dense slides nobody reads, papers written for machines instead of humans, and ideas explained but never felt. It’s not that academics lack essential things to say; they’ve just forgotten how to say them memorably.
Your brain isn’t a filing cabinet. It’s a pattern-matching machine that remembers through:
- Stories over statistics (data informs, narratives transform)
- Pictures over text (visual processing happens 60,000x faster)
- Emotions over logic (feelings create memory-forming chemistry)
- Connections over isolation (new ideas stick when they link to existing knowledge)
The Stickiness Blueprint
Start Simple, Layer Deep
One core insight people can remember without notes. Then add complexity gradually. Einstein got this: “Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Your test: “What’s the one thing I need people to remember six months from now?”
Create Productive Surprise
Memorable ideas violate expectations in valuable ways. They make people think, “I never considered that” or “That changes everything.”
Your surprise audit: “What assumption does my idea challenge?”
Paint Mental Pictures
Abstract concepts slide off brains like water. Concrete details stick. Instead of “improved methodological approaches,” say “the research equivalent of switching from a magnifying glass to a telescope.”
Your visualisation test: “Could a twelve-year-old picture what I’m describing?”
Trigger Emotions
Ideas stick when they make people feel something: curiosity, excitement, concern, or hope. Purely intellectual presentations create purely temporary memories.
Your emotion check: “How do I want people to feel after this?”
The Three-Layer Strategy
Most academics start with complexity and wonder why nobody follows. Sticky communicators work backwards:
Layer 1: The Bumper Sticker (7 seconds)
“We’re teaching research like it’s still 1995” captures a complex methodological argument.
Layer 2: The Elevator Story (2 minutes)
Expand into problem, insight, and implications.
Layer 3: The Deep Dive (20+ minutes)
Only after capturing attention do you reveal the full complexity.
The Repetition Revolution
Sticky ideas need strategic repetition, not boring repetition. Same core message, different examples. Malcolm Gladwell doesn’t just say “small changes make big differences”—he shows it through dozens of stories that all illuminate the same truth.
Your Stickiness Challenge
Take your most important current insight and test it:
- Can you explain it in one sentence? If not, you’re not ready to share it.
- What story makes it tangible? Find concrete examples for abstract concepts.
- What emotion does it spark? If none, you have work to do.
- How does it connect to what people know? Build bridges from familiar to new.
- Why would someone share this? If you can’t answer, it’s not sticky yet.
The Multiplier Effect
Master sticky communication, and something magical happens: your ideas don’t just get remembered, they get shared. Other people become advocates for your thinking. Your insights spread beyond your immediate audience.
Your breakthrough deserves more than academic obscurity. It deserves to stick.
Ready to make your insights impossible to forget?
Connect with M&G Research:
Call: +27 31 065 1929 | Email: info@mgresearch.co.za | Visit: www.mgresearch.co.za
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