The Potentiality

John Horn's Website for Community Builders

Have Better Conversations

Three Tips for Engaging Elevator Conversations

Engaging Elevator Conversations Conversations in elevators can be some of the most uncomfortable and awkward examples of human communication. This article will provide you with three tips for engaging elevator conversations. Three months ago I joined the legions of human…

Five Tips for Engaging Online Communities

After a month of intense campaigning, The Potentiality earned the third most votes in CERIC’s National Career Challenge. Our submission, Career Swap, finished ahead of a university, several college career centres as well as a number of community-based organizations. Of…

How to Give an Awesome Compliment

People often tell me that I’m generous with praise. Hey, you’re doing an absolutely fantastic job of reading this blog post, by the way. See, I know how to give an awesome compliment! People’s assessment of my complimenting nature is…

Kick it Old School with Phone Calls, Not Email

We live in a world of emails and text messages. And frequently our electronic correspondence can ignite conflict due to misunderstanding or misinterpretation of linguistic and non-verbal signs that have evolved in cultures over thousands of years. It’s an issue…

What to Say When You Just Don’t Know

You’d be surprised by the number of people who show up to a meeting without reading the agenda, minutes or considering the possible topics of discussion.

Pitching a News Story: The Phone is Your Best Friend

In this email saturated world, it’s difficult to penetrate the din and connect with a journalist about your story idea. Granted, you probably have a great idea that includes many news elements or is a perfect fit for the media you’re pitching, but if you aren’t able to communicate it effectively to your targeted audience, your idea will sit by itself on your blog and/or be discussed amongst your colleagues around the water cooler.

Developing Successful Storytellers

This is a story about stories and storytelling. Its purpose is to inspire you to, first, give a copy of your favourite children’s book to a kid and, second, support A Good Book Drive if you live in Vancouver. Why? Because stories are the most powerful communications tool that we, as humans, have at our disposal.

Communicating to Different Media

There are many stories out there. Some are so important that every media outlet in your area, region or country will want to cover them. Other stories are of more limited interest to particular media groups. Identifying which stories will be attractive to which media will save you a great deal of time when it comes to communicating your idea. It can also significantly aid you in the development of your story pitch and allow you to be much more convincing when you are on the phone speaking with a journalist or producer. Here are some simple things to consider when you are deciding what, and for whom, is newsworthy.