“What Is Your Book About?”

“What is your book about?” seems like a simple question for an author. Last week I attended a panel discussion that hosted a group of authors. An audience member asked for advice on submitting proposals to publishers. 

One of the panellists answered and during her answer said that she found the most challenging part of writing proposals was writing a synopsis of her book.  (A synopsis is a brief outline or general view, as of a subject or written work; an abstract or a summary.) She said she’d spent years refining the book and found it difficult to summarize what the book is about.  

 

This shocked me.  I can understand the creative process and how an author may begin in one place and, as she works her creativity, a plot and characters further develop.  But it seems to me there must have been be a central theme, a lesson or a plot.  I can’t understand why it would be difficult to create a synopsis.

 

A Speech and a “Synopsis”

From time to time, I will run a workshop with developing speakers to help their creative process and to create content. The process is pretty simple. I ask the attendee to offer a general idea for their speech, a core idea, then use a flip chart to work with the attendee to capture all possible ideas and stories that will support the core idea. I believe it’s important to build confidence for the speaker that he has abundant content available and then move to content selection. I use the bubble technique to map all the possible content on the flip chart.

I use this technique personally and once I have a draft of all content, I like to set it aside for a day or so and then revisit later. I will always add more content.  It may not be better content, but there’s always more content available.

Once all, or enough, content is captured on the flip chart, I ask the attendee the key question, which can take several forms. It’s usually “what is the purpose of your speech,” or “what do you want your audience to take away from your speech?”

Sometimes I get a wide-eyed stare from the attendee because they haven’t considered their purpose, but usually a prospective speaker has a good idea of why they’ll choose to stand before an audience and speak.

Then, once purpose is declared, we work to select the content that supports the purpose and fits their speaking time allotment.  (Generally, any bubble element on the chart equates to 90-seconds to two-minutes of speech content). This exercise is effective as it enables the speaker to focus, and create a speech with a clear purpose, and clearly supporting content.  That should make it easy for the audience to follow along, and not try to connect the disparate components.

This technique of selection is valuable as well as it helps a speaker toss away interesting but irrelevant material, or better, to save that content for another speech on another day. 

Three Versions of Any Speech

I also encourage any speaker to have three versions of the speech, one that is 30-seconds long, one that is two minutes long, and then the final product. A speaker should be able to offer a synopsis of the larger speech in 30-seconds.

 

Conclusion

I’m still bewildered that an author would find it difficult to write a synopsis of her book. A great book, or a great speech, will have a clear purpose and all of the content will support that purpose.

 

PR, Marketing and Honey

As I write this in September 2026, my country of Canada and our long-time friend and ally the United States of America are engaged in a dumb with a ‘B’ trade war.  This will result in short term and long-term damage to well-established trading relationships, and the search and creation of new, more reliable trading relationships.  

Many businesses on both side of the border are scrambling to replace vulnerable revenues that may be disrupted. For the most part personal relationships remain strong, but this trade war does cause strain.  

 

Public Relations and Marketing

I discovered an article about a Canadian business severely impacted by the trade war (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/canada-us-tariff-manitoba-reaction-9.7316905)

I read the article, and then explored the company website a little further. Unexpectedly, my experience with the story offers a very good illustration on the functions of Public Relations and Marketing, and a PR success and Marketing fail.

Podolski Honey Farms in Manitoba received significant news coverage as a result of an additional 50% tariff applied by the U.S. administration against a slew of Canadian products, including honey. (I guess the U.S. is looking to quickly ramp up their production of honey). Podolski indicated that 90% of their product is exported to the U.S. and their business was at risk.  Here is their site https://www.podolskihoneyfarms.com/

 

The Role of Public Relations

It’s impressive that the company managed to receive this exceptional news coverage that could result in new business for them. One element of public relations is having someone other than you tell your story. While you control paid advertising and that message, PR is generally free, and can be very widespread, however you don’t have control of how the message is recounted. Someone other than you tells the story.  I believe in this case their story was told very well.

I do wonder if a reporter stumbled upon the story, or if this was some shrewd work by the company to promote their story to a reporter? If the latter, that’s an exceptional job of getting their issue recognized and published.

 

A Public Relations Model

A simple PR model operates like this;

1.   If people aren’t aware of your product, they won’t buy it

2.   If people lack knowledge of your product benefits, they won’t buy it

3.   If people are aware and have knowledge, they may have interest

4.   If people are aware and have knowledge, they may develop a desire for your product

5.   Finaly a prospect may take action to buy

 

Awareness. Knowledge. Interest. Desire. Action.

Podolski Farms quickly moved prospective customers sympathetic to their plight through each stage. We became aware, interested, and considered buying some product. Sometimes a progression is slow, sometimes very fast.

Now on to the marketing of the product.

 

The Marketing Model

There are several methods to describe the marketing approach.  I usually refer to the 6 P’s of marketing.

1.   Define the PRODUCT and PACKAGING  

2.   Set the PRICE

3.   Set the PROMOTION

4.   Establish PLACEMENT of the product

5.   Design the fulfilment PROCESS

6.   Train and support the PEOPLE

 

Podolski Farms have been in business since 1954, so clearly their model is well defined and has functioned well. The impacts of tariffs, and the effects of their PR success created new challenges, as I describe below, specifically to the PROCESS and fulfillment to customers.

 

My Experience

I was interested to learn a little more about Podolski. The story  made me angry that these randomly applied tariffs would affect a long-standing Canadian business. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in this. As it is, Canada imports more honey from the U.S. than we export to them.

I visited the Podolski website with no intention to purchase but as I progressed, I was inspired to buy $40 of honey and have it shipped to me. After I entered my name, address, and credit card details, I received a message indicating they don’t ship to my region.  In the province of New Brunswick, in the country of Canada.  Their website indicates they ship to Canada, the U.S., and the world.

I was unhappy. Their fulfillment failed. That’s a major marketing failure.

 

Grace

I will note that the next day I visited their website and a message indicated they were having trouble with their web vendor and were working to fix this. It appears that it is fixed, however I didn’t reinitiate my previous impulse purchase.  

 

The Lesson

This post is about public relations and marketing. Podolski had an unfortunate glitch and I hope they continue to prosper.

I had quickly moved through awareness, knowledge of the relatively simple product, interest, desire, and action, resulting in an imminent purchase.

While the marketing process appears well constructed, they failed at fulfillment, although it appears that they’ve fixed the problem. My spontaneous purchase is lost as I decided to visit a local vendor in the Saint John City Market and buy some local product.

 

Conclusion

Simple models help us understand the PR process and the marketing process.  My experience with this PR success illustrates well the functions or Public Relations and Marketing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GYCZ Preparing To Host A Panel Discussion

On Friday, August 21^st, 2026 I will host a three-person panel in Vancouver, British Columbia at the Toastmasters International conference, an event which is held annually in locations usually in North America, although August 2027 will be held in Paris, France.  

If you have not hosted a panel previously, the process can seem daunting. Careful planning and agreement on event parameters in advance are critical, and will enable you to manage any surprises as the event unrolls. Here is my planning approach in general, and in this instance.

 

 

 

Predetermined Parameters

I’ll note that for this event two excellent meeting planners from Toastmasters staff have provided the overall structure including setting start and end times, room selection and preparation, the selection of panelists, and planning for a full program of similar panels for the overall 4-day program. You may need to determine and negotiate most or all of these parameters. At our 4-day conference, there are several panel events, and I chair two occurrences of one of the panel events.

 

Team Planning and Communication

A successful event requires good communication amongst the host, the panelists, and the planners.  In this instance, we’ve held two Zoom meetings and had several strings of email.

 

Physical Comfort of the Panelists

During an initial planning meeting, one the panelists asked about the physical room layout, and specifically if they would be seated at a table, or in chairs. I was unaware, but the plan was to be seated on stools without backing at the front of the room.  So, this was a great question.

The panelists weren’t in favor of stools, and I supported them on this. I find a stool uncomfortable, and very awkward to sit on, especially in front of a room.  It’s not one of my competencies.  So, plans were changed to provide chairs.

 

Timing considerations

Our meeting planners from staff have allocated 60 minutes to our full program, and twelve minutes for each speaker, which will consume 36 of the 60 minutes. That leaves 24 minutes maximum for my introductory remarks, panelist introductions, any appropriate bridging or clarification between panelists, and management of a Q&A section.

Our meeting planners will provide timing signals to each speaker, using a Green-Yellow-Red pattern familiar to all members of Toastmasters. Additionally, I will stand when the speakers have only 45 seconds left to their time allocation. When you’re a speaker on a panel, finishing your work slightly short of your allocated time is welcome.

 

Panelist Material

I’ve seen that sometimes speakers will try to share all of their subject matter expertise while on stage, sometimes rushing through material and not spending enough time on the material most critical to the specific audience. I believe the better approach is to select the most pertinent material for the specific audience, and deliver that content. It’s better to leave an audience wanting more content, and perhaps addressing that in Q&A, rather than leaving an audience wishing there had been less content, but more focused content. Any speaker needs to do their best to assess the knowledge level of their audience, and deliver appropriately.

In the case of this event, the team and I have met twice and agreed on overall themes for each of them, and they have independence to develop the content to address each theme. In other cases, I might want to review the material with the panelists, but in this instance, I’m working with experienced speakers and trust their judgement.

Previously, I wrote about audience analysis here https://gycz.blogspot.com/2024/01/audience-analysis-wolf-of-wall-street.html

 

Introductions

All speakers should offer the host some material for introductions.  Some speakers desire that the introduction provided be read exactly as presented. Whether I’m presenting, or whether I’m introducing, I like a personal touch to introductions, perhaps only a brief, relevant comment on our previous interactions.

 

Selection of Panelists

I’m delighted with the panelists selected for this event. They’re experienced, don’t require any personal coaching, instead only some discussion and selection of their specific angle on the overall topic.

If you are required to select panelists, here are some guidelines;

1.   Identify some subject matter experts, and ideally their specific expertise and point of view. Some topics will require you to provide pro and con viewpoints.

2.   Assess their speaking ability, including clarity of message, possible distracting habits including overuse of ‘ums’,’ ahs,’ ‘likes,’ and “you know.” Overuse of such habits, such crutch words, can be distracting to audience members.

3.   If a panelist seems nervous as the event approaches, offer to listen to a trial run of their material and offer gentle, supportive guidance. Do understand that the practice session may proceed quite differently than their performance in front of the actual audience, and as chair adapt as required in the moment.

 

Conclusion

Hosting a panel discussion is a test for a speaker. Careful planning pays off, and attention to detail during the event will ensure a well received, successful experience for panelists and the audience.