Titles To Titillate!

How to Use Creative Titles

Suppose you're attending a 3-day business meeting and you must choose 8 breakouts out of the 24 being presented. You look at the program guide and see these titles:

Session 101: "Automating Inventory Control and Tracking Antenna Installations for Satellite ISP Broadband Connectivity Throughout 39 Countries in Rural Latin America"

Session 102: "Speeding Supplemental Education Services to 70,000 Children Qualified by the No Child Left Behind Act"

Session 103: "New Methodology and Process Prioritization for Improving Compliance and Audit Controls"

OK, let's stop at just three, because the next 21 titles are just as boring! So what would you do if you were going to speak at this conference? How about creating a title that's going to:

Attract audience interest
Arouse curiosity
Make your message unique
Create a positive first impression
Separate you from the ordinary

This is what a title can do for you! So, decide now to use a title for every talk you give.

What kind of titles can you use? Let’s say it was a talk on Stamp Collecting. What if you used the title: "Why I Love Collecting Stamps"? No! Too ordinary and it's not focused on the audience! OK, how about: "Stamp Collecting Can Be For You"? No! Oh, you got a "you" focus, but who is sitting there thinking, "I've got so much spare time I've got to find a hobby to keep me busy"? No way!

So how about "Stick It, Don't Lick It" or "It Brings You Joy, Birth, Death & Taxes" or "A Tiny Piece of Paper That's Worth $2.3 Million." Could those titles get your audience thinking, “I wonder what this is about—it sounds interesting?”

That's your goal in creating a unique title, to be interesting! How about a talk on golf titled: "18 Chances To Drive You Crazy" or your talk on your Lake Powell vacation titled: "Dinosaurs Walked Where You Can Swim." Want to get us to never drink and drive? How about titling it: "43 Seconds Later She Was Dead." Stretch your mind!

Now you come up with some titles for golf, vacations and drunk drivers. How would you titillate your audience with your title?

*P.S. In case you're not sure, "titillate" means “to excite pleasantly, or to stimulate agreeably, or to tickle.” Hopefully you're titillated to titles!