“Think about something you have recently purchased, and turn to the person next to you and tell them features about it,” is how Anne Banta starts off her meeting with a group of Intel engineers.
The ability to tell a memorable story and not recite a list of 27 features, is how you will get someone to invest in you when applying for a job, selling a product, and getting backed by a venture capitalist or angel investor, mentions Banta.
Banta, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing, found that most participants would only share about four major features. She does this exercise to show engineers how effective communication will sell the most important aspect of their product.
She is sent in, usually by a venture capitalist or approached by an entrepreneur, to identify a marketing plan, fill positions, work with executives on how they speak about the company externally and internally, manage advertising and public relations, help with trade shows and public events, website design and product launches.
“They’re so in love with [the product], they just sort of roll their eyes and say ‘of course it's going to sell,’ ‘why is someone sending someone in to tell us how to market it?’” said Banta.
A company can say a hundred times over, that its product can change the world, but so can the next one. It’s the way a company tells its story of how the world will change because of its product, is what will differentiate them.
“The most challenging [aspect] is to find a connection with the group and to educate them as to why the communications part is necessary,” said Banta.
This is where the benefit of a Liberal Arts education comes in handy, because it forces you to be able to concise the information in a way that is user-friendly and informative.
“I realized that what makes a story work is that you are providing a way for a person to be engaged, you're pulling them in and you’re not pushing the message,” said Banta.
She goes on: “The worst thing that most people do in advertising, public relations and communications and marketing is that you push.”
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM] can “push” all the solutions, but to “pull” consumers in there must be communicators such as journalists, “in essence, get it down to two headlines,” said Banta.
The ability to tell a memorable story and not recite a list of 27 features, is how you will get someone to invest in you when applying for a job, selling a product, and getting backed by a venture capitalist or angel investor, mentions Banta.
Banta, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing, found that most participants would only share about four major features. She does this exercise to show engineers how effective communication will sell the most important aspect of their product.
She is sent in, usually by a venture capitalist or approached by an entrepreneur, to identify a marketing plan, fill positions, work with executives on how they speak about the company externally and internally, manage advertising and public relations, help with trade shows and public events, website design and product launches.
“They’re so in love with [the product], they just sort of roll their eyes and say ‘of course it's going to sell,’ ‘why is someone sending someone in to tell us how to market it?’” said Banta.
A company can say a hundred times over, that its product can change the world, but so can the next one. It’s the way a company tells its story of how the world will change because of its product, is what will differentiate them.
“The most challenging [aspect] is to find a connection with the group and to educate them as to why the communications part is necessary,” said Banta.
This is where the benefit of a Liberal Arts education comes in handy, because it forces you to be able to concise the information in a way that is user-friendly and informative.
“I realized that what makes a story work is that you are providing a way for a person to be engaged, you're pulling them in and you’re not pushing the message,” said Banta.
She goes on: “The worst thing that most people do in advertising, public relations and communications and marketing is that you push.”
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM] can “push” all the solutions, but to “pull” consumers in there must be communicators such as journalists, “in essence, get it down to two headlines,” said Banta.
"Without science and engineering to ground us, we would
still have people believing the world is flat"
She compares this to being an elementary school teacher, and the process of parent-teacher conferences that go over a list of checkmarks about each child.
On a scale of one to 10, parents generally look for a five and below, she explains, then the: “conversation turns negative and I always thought that the best thing I could do was communicate to them a story about their child.”
This skill was something she took away from her undergraduate education in journalism. “Journalists have an opportunity to really do something important and say something important,” said Banta, who received a Bachelor's degree from University of Wisconsin in Elementary Education with a minor in Journalism.
Turning the conversation back to companies she said: “good communication people take their job seriously, and find a way to help the culture be a healthy one.”
They do this by thinking: “historically I see a trend here, I see that people don't normally go in the cafeteria, or a sociologist will look at the way people interact.”
Those educated in the Humanities, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences: “spend their whole life thinking why do things happen? Engineers ask the same fun whys, why does this work the way it does?” said Banta.
She feels the fusion between the two groups is “fabulous.”
“Without science and engineering to ground us, we would still have people believing the world is flat. I think there would be magical thinking that would take over the world, and we already have a world that is fighting on ideologies and it is terrifying,” said Banta.
She thinks that if people: “formulate philosophical opinions, political decisions, write historical perspectives, etc, without sound data … people would go amuck in the Liberal Arts field, because then it's all about your heart.”
What she admires about STEM is the ability to put aside emotions and look at data, information and how things work, to have information the population can trust.
Political debates with no meat underneath it, is a bunch of empty words thrown around a room. If there was no one to just look at the facts, Banta explains: “for example, in our legislature it's banned to do any research on guns, but there are some independent groups who are doing it, but nobody knows really if having a gun in a home adds to more suicides, because no one is collecting the data.”
On a scale of one to 10, parents generally look for a five and below, she explains, then the: “conversation turns negative and I always thought that the best thing I could do was communicate to them a story about their child.”
This skill was something she took away from her undergraduate education in journalism. “Journalists have an opportunity to really do something important and say something important,” said Banta, who received a Bachelor's degree from University of Wisconsin in Elementary Education with a minor in Journalism.
Turning the conversation back to companies she said: “good communication people take their job seriously, and find a way to help the culture be a healthy one.”
They do this by thinking: “historically I see a trend here, I see that people don't normally go in the cafeteria, or a sociologist will look at the way people interact.”
Those educated in the Humanities, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences: “spend their whole life thinking why do things happen? Engineers ask the same fun whys, why does this work the way it does?” said Banta.
She feels the fusion between the two groups is “fabulous.”
“Without science and engineering to ground us, we would still have people believing the world is flat. I think there would be magical thinking that would take over the world, and we already have a world that is fighting on ideologies and it is terrifying,” said Banta.
She thinks that if people: “formulate philosophical opinions, political decisions, write historical perspectives, etc, without sound data … people would go amuck in the Liberal Arts field, because then it's all about your heart.”
What she admires about STEM is the ability to put aside emotions and look at data, information and how things work, to have information the population can trust.
Political debates with no meat underneath it, is a bunch of empty words thrown around a room. If there was no one to just look at the facts, Banta explains: “for example, in our legislature it's banned to do any research on guns, but there are some independent groups who are doing it, but nobody knows really if having a gun in a home adds to more suicides, because no one is collecting the data.”
“This was forcing [the engineers] to think like
business people for the first time”
Journalists are typically the ones researching these controversies: “because politically it's not being allowed, there's a few investigative journalists left who cross both worlds,” said Banta.
She references the Panama Papers, and how the journalists involved: “actually acted like science people.”
“The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca … The documents show the myriad ways in which the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. Twelve national leaders are among 143 politicians, their families and close associates from around the world known to have been using offshore tax havens,” according to The Guardian.
When Banta has the engineers ask certain questions like: how do you make something memorable, how can it change the way people do things, what is the ultimate benefit, advantages and how does this fit in line with the company's vision; all of this is done to have them understand their ideas from a different perspective.
“This was forcing [the engineers] to think like business people for the first time,” said Banta. “They didn’t know how to talk about a product other than in isolation.”
When the engineers are asked to think of abstract questions digging into more than just research, they tell her that it’s her “soft” side, but she changes the meaning and explains: “no it's my contemplative side that's letting me form an opinion or an idea, based on what you just instructed me.”
She thanks them for giving her a foundation, and then helps them recognize: “that every person is a human being first and foremost with an emotional side and lets take your facts and find a way to connect to humans.”
This is a perfect example of why universities need to break away from a one-dimensional education. Learning how to conduct proper research and how to properly communicate findings in a user-friendly way, is what will set the next generation of graduates apart.
Banta mentions: “there is no way I could do what I do without them teaching me.”
The bottom line Banta wants a company to understand: “is they have to know why the product will sell to the consumer. For a direct audience, it’s fine to be technical when you go in to talk to the laptop manufacturers,” but for the common person, less is more.
If someone who is a staple in the workforce for more than 25 years acknowledges the lack of infusion between communication and technology, there needs to be a re-evaluation of the way graduates are educated.
She references the Panama Papers, and how the journalists involved: “actually acted like science people.”
“The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca … The documents show the myriad ways in which the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. Twelve national leaders are among 143 politicians, their families and close associates from around the world known to have been using offshore tax havens,” according to The Guardian.
When Banta has the engineers ask certain questions like: how do you make something memorable, how can it change the way people do things, what is the ultimate benefit, advantages and how does this fit in line with the company's vision; all of this is done to have them understand their ideas from a different perspective.
“This was forcing [the engineers] to think like business people for the first time,” said Banta. “They didn’t know how to talk about a product other than in isolation.”
When the engineers are asked to think of abstract questions digging into more than just research, they tell her that it’s her “soft” side, but she changes the meaning and explains: “no it's my contemplative side that's letting me form an opinion or an idea, based on what you just instructed me.”
She thanks them for giving her a foundation, and then helps them recognize: “that every person is a human being first and foremost with an emotional side and lets take your facts and find a way to connect to humans.”
This is a perfect example of why universities need to break away from a one-dimensional education. Learning how to conduct proper research and how to properly communicate findings in a user-friendly way, is what will set the next generation of graduates apart.
Banta mentions: “there is no way I could do what I do without them teaching me.”
The bottom line Banta wants a company to understand: “is they have to know why the product will sell to the consumer. For a direct audience, it’s fine to be technical when you go in to talk to the laptop manufacturers,” but for the common person, less is more.
If someone who is a staple in the workforce for more than 25 years acknowledges the lack of infusion between communication and technology, there needs to be a re-evaluation of the way graduates are educated.