Expanding AIM

To deepen its impact on communicators

There’s likely no framework for effective communication that has made more of an impact on me and my work than AIM developed by Lynn Russell and Mary Munter in their 2001 Book, Guide to Presentations. When I first began teaching at NYU in 2003, I embraced the model and have taught it thousands of times in my 20-year career as an educator, speaker, trainer, and coach. I am forever in their debt for the clarity and elegance of the AIM model. 

Source: Russell and Munter, Guide to Presentations

Many communication gurus argue to focus on your audience, but the AIM model simplifies the process for communicators. As I understand the history, Lynn Russell developed and used this in other works; when she and Mary Munter teamed up to write Guide to Presentations the pair decided to include it. While they used it to teach people how to create a strategy for presentations, I argue it can be used for anything you need to write or speak. Let me explain each element.

First and foremost, begin with your audience. Who are they? What delights them? What annoys them? What will drive them to act? What will give them pause? The more fully you know your audience, the more likely you are to succeed in your communication. LinkedIn and Google have expanded our ability to research far beyond what was possible in 2001. Yet, sometimes the most effective way to research an audience is to simply ask directly. I often start my workshops with the question “What do you most hope to gain today?” That’s a simple way to diagnose my audience and tailor (or sometimes even jettison) content to meet their needs.

Next, establish your intent. What do you want your audience to think, say, or (most importantly) do as a result of your communication? Sometimes your intent may be pretty straightforward—you want them to register to vote. So you distribute registration cards and in the end, you can count how many completed them. Yet often our intent may be more nuanced. You want them to buy your product, but it’s an 18-month sales cycle, so perhaps your intent is simply to have them agree to a demo or set up a pilot effort. The key distinction here: what is the action you want the audience to take if you are successful? Often several small steps will add up to the specific action you’re seeking.

Finally, you can begin to craft your message. Message is third in the AIM model for a reason…you will be more successful with your message if you first clarify your intent and specify your audience. The biggest mistake leaders make is pushing out the message they want to share without stopping to consider who needs to hear/see it and what action they’re seeking. 

Some of the greatest satisfaction I experience is working with a client to hone and shape a message they want to share. I relish sitting in a room with a whiteboard and playing with different themes, images, and analogies to build the message that will help drive this audience to take this action. (Shout out to the many grooms over the years whom I’ve helped craft their proposals to get their prospective spouse to say yes, most notably congrats Ben & Gillian!) 

Source: Russell and Munter, Guide to Presentations

Without question, I’m impressed with the AIM model, so I’m a bit hesitant to suggest that I’ve expanded it. After using this for over two decades, my colleague Burt Alper suggested we move the M to the top of the triangle. (No, we didn’t rename this the AMI model, that would be foolish.) Burt correctly identified that our work on audience and intent forms the base upon which the message is built. Shortly after making this move, I realized the AIM triangle now resembled an iceberg. So, yes, that squiggly line represents the water line and is indeed my humble expansion of Russell and Munter’s time-tested model. The work we do on Audience and Intent, and even early versions of Message all exist below the surface; nobody may ever see the early drafts of an email, or the slides cut from the deck. But if we do a good job in our preparation, what rises above the surface will be compelling and successful.

This week I invite you to pause before you speak or type and check yourself with the Russell-Munter AIM model. Are you addressing the right audience, with a clear intent to form a compelling message? If so, proceed. If not, you’ve got some more work to do before that message is ready to be shared.

As always, let me know what you discover. 

JD’s Recommendations: what I’m reading, hearing, and seeing:

• Reading: I enjoy most anything NYU prof Scott Galloway puts out, but his medium post, “Tell Me A Story,” is one of his best recent posts. Enjoy.

• Hearing: This podcast, Meetings Done Right, has just recently come into my orbit, but it’s great. I’ve ordered Table XI’s Inclusion Meeting Cards to use with my own meetings.

• Seeing: treat yourself to this moving and humorous TEDx talk, Autism Un-Masked by Kate Zarbatany. Her firsthand journey enlightens all about the unique challenges and hidden rewards of autism.

Thanks for enjoying my newsletter, if you have suggestions for items I should read, hear, or see and then endorse drop me an email.

As always, jds

PS: Thanks to everybody who wrote last week thinking the typo in my headline was an intentional demonstration of imperfection to support the newsletter. Alas, sometimes a typo is simply that, an error we all missed before hitting submit.