Session Flow · 20-45 minute message design activity

SUCCESs Model (Made to Stick)

Chip and Dan Heath's six traits of ideas that stick, from their book Made to Stick. It is a checklist for shaping one key message so an audience understands it, remembers it and acts on it.

When to use SUCCESs Model (Made to Stick)

Sharpening the key message of a talk, announcement or campaign; coaching speakers whose content is accurate but forgettable.

How SUCCESs Model (Made to Stick) works

Use it in the preparation block of a talk, or as a working activity to sharpen the key message of a presentation, campaign or announcement before the running order is fixed.

Phases of SUCCESs Model (Made to Stick)

  1. Simple: Strip the message to its core, the one thing the audience must remember.
  2. Unexpected: Break a pattern or open a curiosity gap so people pay attention.
  3. Concrete: Use images, examples and specifics people can picture, not abstractions.
  4. Credible: Give people a reason to believe: a vivid detail, a statistic made human, or a claim they can test.
  5. Emotional: Make them care by linking the idea to something they value.
  6. Stories: Wrap the idea in a story that shows people how to act on it.

Key principles

  • Find the core message
  • Surprise to gain attention
  • Make it concrete
  • Let people test the claim
  • Tell a story people can act on

Best for

  • Talk and keynote preparation
  • Change and strategy messages
  • Speaker coaching
  • Internal communication

Considerations

  • A checklist for a message, not a running order for a whole talk
  • Not every idea needs all six traits
  • Watch for the curse of knowledge: experts struggle to make their own message simple

Attribution & sources

Developed by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, 2007 (Made to Stick)

Primary source

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