Boring Titles Kill Even the Most Compelling Stories
Michael Resler, professor of German studies at Boston College, used a classic rainmaking technique to boost flagging enrollment in his “German Literature of the High Middle Ages” course. He renamed the course “Knights, Castles and Dragons” and immediately tripled enrollment. Similarly, Jessica Holmes, an economics professor at Middlebury College, has enjoyed considerable interest in her “Economics of Sin” course that examines the societal impact of gambling, prostitution, and the drug trade.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Prof. Resler observed that “we live in an age where everything has to be marketed in order to find a willing audience.” That means facts and good content alone cannot rule the day. Instead, the factual content needs to be woven through a compelling storyline that attracts attention and increases retention.
It’s an approach that works in the academic world, in the boardroom, at home, on the golf course, and in one-on-one meetings across the kitchen table.
If your words bore you, imagine their effect on your audience.