In this short video I demonstrate an innovative, highly effective approach to engaging young people.

I’ve been testing The Single Sheet for several years with a variety of age groups and messages. I’ve also helped organizations implement this method to increase engagement with their own messages. I recently filmed one of my presentations to demonstrate The Single Sheet in action. This video features highlights from that presentation.

The Single Sheet process engages people at a deeper level with a wide range of important messages. During this presentation we discuss the prevention message, “Avoid the use of alcohol.”

Know that the students’ thoughtful, insightful comments you see here are spontaneous. I didn’t prompt them to say anything.

Post this link to your organization’s website and Facebook page and help broaden the conversation about the how we can better engage people.

I’m grateful to my friend, a courageous educator, Heather Johnson, for furnishing her classroom, and to the students who participated!

I was out running yesterday when I came upon an enormous oak tree that was actively dropping acorns. I gathered a few in my hand and noticed for the first time the enormous contrast between a single, simple acorn and an elaborate, ancient oak tree.

Simplifying the complex is a form of art that oak trees practice each year. In the course of a lifetime their ever-growing branches house generations of birds, squirrels, and tree forts. But each year they still produce simple, elegant acorns.

Too often the way we communicate about a topic mirrors the complexity of our knowledge of the topic. As our knowledge grows we need the discipline to refine the complexity of our knowledge into its essential, most defining elements.

This is how our knowledge grows more complex, according to George Loewenstein, behavioral economist at Carnegie Mellon University: we want to know more about what we already know. Through learning more about a topic we discover gaps in our knowledge. These gaps spike our curiosity and motivate us toward deeper understanding. In time, as we fill these gaps, our knowledge grows more elaborate and nuanced–like an oak tree.

The resulting depth and complexity makes us a resource to others. Your physician, for example, is a resource to the degree that she seeks to fill gaps in her knowledge base. But her inability to communicate her topic in relevant terms prevents her from engaging her patients, a shortcoming that renders her less of a resource.

The simplest, most refined presentation will draw people to your message and to you, the messenger. This discipline makes you and your message more accessible and engaging.

As you grow into a tree remember to ask yourself, “Am I still making acorns?”

I had a uniquely challenging experience recently while teaching a weekend class at the University of Oregon entitled, Personalized Prevention. I assumed the students would be professionals from the field of prevention and was looking forward to two days of high-energy interaction.*

But on arrival the students didn’t quite match my expectations. I discovered that most of the class was comprised of incoming freshman baseball players, students who had been in high school a mere 10 weeks prior. And why were they there? They just needed the credit.

You would struggle to find a group of people less interested in this topic. I had to completely remodel my approach if I had any hope for making this topic relevant.

I realized that though these students were not prevention specialists, they were experts on the prevention message in two respects. First, they had all heard a variety of prevention messages since middle school. Second, the entire class agreed that these messages were not very compelling or engaging. So I challenged them to craft the prevention message they wished they would have heard, one that might have made a bigger difference in their lives.

Something incredible happens when we extend to people the permission to draw from their personal experience and expertise. They engage at a deeper level. They’re more open to considering new concepts. I discovered once again how truly effective this method can be.

At the beginning of class they were ready for something forgettable. Together we crafted something memorable.

We can’t make a topic relevant to others. We can’t make them engage. As I did with this class, we can present messages in a way that others are able to engage with ease should they choose to do so.

Try this in your next presentation or meeting. Refer to The Single Sheet exercise in Own It if you want additional guidance.

Allow me to share some quotes I received from students through email:

Thank you again for all you did. That was by far one of the most interesting classes I’ve taken. You brought up many points that allowed other students and I think in ways we do not normally do. Techniques I feel that will be valuable for future learning.

I really enjoyed the class. It was very refreshing to do something different than just be lectured.

Thank you for a great class. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for the class, it really opened up my perspective.

Kindest regards,

Andrew