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Debra Yearwood: if something tremendous happens in a particular program area where we’ve made a breakthrough we’ve reached the millionth person. I think that story is worth telling.
Patrick Villemaire: when it comes to donors as being a member of the audience have receiving these what makes them take action?
Patrick Villemaire:Deb, thanks for joining me today. So this is my series called how to Avoid the Annual Crisis of course the aim over, any report process of producing those nasty things. So yeah,…
Debra Yearwood: Yeah.
Patrick Villemaire: thanks for joining me Debra Yearwood. So if you want maybe you can give us two minute introduction overview of who is Debra.
Debra Yearwood: I’m Debra Yearwood. I have been a director of marketing and Communications external relations for about 20 years. I countless annual reports for associations not for profits Terro and now a terrible organization and unlike most people I actually like annual reports and I think that they’re grossly underutilized and so I have a slightly different perspective than most. I just think if you’re gonna put all that energy and effort into producing this document you need to use it as a Communications tool not just a here I’ve across the t’s and dotted the eyes on my reporting requirements.
Patrick Villemaire: That makes sense. in terms of your journey, so how did you get here today in terms of your position and kind of not that calm’s role. what was that Journey look like?
Debra Yearwood: So I started off in government relations. I was a political assistant for a number of years and then became a government relations consultant and then got into external relation Communications turned into marketing and I think because I’ve had to go through all of those iterations my perspective. On annuals and how they work is a little bit different because I’ve met different things to me at different times when I was a political assistant if you called and asked for a meeting with my minister or my Member of Parliament, the first thing I would do is go and look at your annual report. What were the things that you were celebrating? What was the financial status of the organization? Just it was an a look inside the window of the organization. So they were useful to me from a very practical purpose back then.
Debra Yearwood: And then over time as I got to the other side of the conversation where I was the person producing the annual reports. It was very much to me how do I show membership or how do I show? Donors the amazing work that we’re doing. I mean you do a lot of stuff over the course of the year. But what were the stories that stood out? What were the things that people loved? So that’s one of my explorations
Patrick Villemaire: And when you’re crayon, how do you balance the multitude of audiences that you have? So, you have the political side you have the donors you have, the prospects and leads you have the CEO the board. It’s like how do you create something that’s cohesive that tells the story has the financials that people want to navigate and don’t just come to and say this isn’t for me.
Debra Yearwood: well it’s emotion right? it tell the stories that people want to hear. So whether you’re a donor or you’re a civil servant looking at it. you want to read something that’s engaging you don’t want to be bored so a couple of things happen there which is just tell good stories start with things that people want to engage with and then you can go from there. So what’s a mode of what’s impactful? What are things that make you want to laugh? Tell those stories first? And I think also tell them from a perspective of understand that your readers have different kinds of time available to them. So a super busy MP is not going to read in depth necessarily every story you have to tell but we’ll read the headlines They’ll read extra large blocks of text. They’ll look at the pictures and I know that
Debra Yearwood: Sounds simplistic and it’s just busy people look at information in different ways. So try to make sure that the stories are hitting them at those different levels.
Patrick Villemaire: From your perspective what makes the best story what’s that magic formula?
Debra Yearwood: people so it’s a story about so give me some stats that are powerful and give something that captives my attention, but then tell me a story of how those stats matter. So how was an individual impacted? Don’t tell me that you served a 70 communities or that you served a million people in Canada. Yes, but also tell me the story about how Mary from a particular town that was having this struggle and how we helped resolve that struggle and then suddenly the stats have meaning because if I can imagine Mary if I can see her story then suddenly I can Look at how many Mary’s have been impacted millions of Mary’s in Canada. I’ve been impacted.
Patrick Villemaire: And when you’re crafting the story how important is the headline because I imagine that if you have a long article most people are going to say, scan go on. So how do you draw them into that story?
Debra Yearwood: That’s good. Absolutely. It’s about the headline. In fact, I have to say that we can often tell a story and then struggle forever with what’s the headline going to say? Because the headline can’t just be a summary of the story. It has to get the attention that has to hook you in or make you laugh or make you go wet what pause in some way. So no, we actually spend a fair bit of time. Usually with the writer of the story trying to figure out what’s the catch? What’s the thing that makes people stop and pay attention?
Patrick Villemaire: here’s the interesting question for you, What is that headline of the story of Debra?
Debra Yearwood: the headline of the story of Debra is Good question.
Debra Yearwood: What she doing here and I say that partially ingest, but partially I’m a black woman and I come from political background. So when I would walk into a room years ago as a political assistant or as a lobbyist providing advice to businesses the first typically looking at older white men and I’d walk into the room and they’d be like is she serving as coffee what’s going on here? and so I would say the story of Debra’s what she doing here for most of my career and I sometimes still have that effect.
Patrick Villemaire: and do you feel going I guess a bit on the personal side. Do you feel like that kind of challenge that you face has driven you to push farther in your career than maybe you would have if you didn’t have that experience?
Debra Yearwood: It certainly makes me pause and go if I’m having fun somewhere and I’m enjoying myself. I am going to stay and do it because I’ve spent so much of my career struggling to get to where I’m trying to be. And so when I finally get to a spit when I get to a space that I enjoy I like to sit there and flow for a while.
Patrick Villemaire: You enjoy it. So when it comes to the annual report,…
Debra Yearwood: Yeah.
Patrick Villemaire: what is the biggest challenge that you face?
Debra Yearwood: trying to convince everybody that I can’t tell everything all the time. So everybody in an organization wants their story told and not only do they want their story told they want every aspect of their story told so if they’re doing a million things they want to make sure that all of them are coming through.
Patrick Villemaire: And how do you kind of pick and choose? How do you have that Battle of what gets in what doesn’t get in? someone gives you a great story how do you say we’re going to take these ones enough these ones or we’re gonna cut this part out.
Debra Yearwood: In part,…
Patrick Villemaire: How do you handle that?
Debra Yearwood: it’s what do we twist story? Have we told in the past? So I don’t want to every annual report is telling the same stories over and over again, that’s problematic. So I try to versify it very the stories based on what I’ve told in the past. But also what happened that was really significant this year. So if something tremendous happens in a particular program area where we’ve made a breakthrough we’ve reached the millionth person. I think that story is worth telling right so I might pause in that so you got to sort of take a news and news anchor perspective on it. So if I was a journalist what story would I want to tell if I was going through a newspaper what stories we’re gonna make me pause and make me think. I didn’t know that that’s something new that I’d come across or all that just was captivating. So it’s really what are the interesting stories that are happening.
Patrick Villemaire: And do you prefer having a theme for each year, for last year with the theme was X and now it’s Y or…
Debra Yearwood: I do try…
Debra Yearwood: because first of all it gives us a different kind of way to emphasize how we tell stories which gives its own variation, but also it gives us a chance To see things from a different perspective, So if our theme this year is the one in the many I’m gonna look at my stories and I’m going to think How did the work that we do affect one individual in a very different way or how does it affect an individual working in a community and whereas if I’m looking at from the many how does it affect the system? How does it affect a large group of people? So those themes I think are really great at getting you to just take a different perspective on what can sometimes feel like repetitive content.
Patrick Villemaire: And so I know that you’re also like a board member, of an organization so from a board perspective. How does you know the aiming Report perspective change in your eyes? what are you looking for? and how do you see things differently from that standpoint?
Debra Yearwood: So it is strangely enough from a board member perspective. it reminds me a little bit of when I was back on Parliament Hill. I’m late. Although as a board member you’re hearing about things there’s always a certain amount of distance between what’s happening within the organization and what you’re actually taking a look at some ways. You have more information some in many ways you have less and the annual report is really an opportunity to say to get a crisp because you’re giving blood depends on if you’re giving financials you’re giving details about the work that was being done. But you’re also getting a big picture perspective on the organization and what it’s about and what its purpose is so I don’t know I find as a board member. I read much more carefully what the end report of the organizational borders then probably I do of any other annual report.
Patrick Villemaire: And how does it influence the way that you look at the CEO? Once you kind of read the report does this kind of give you that affirmation that things are going the right path or no, we need to, come up with, some ideas to make changes or
Debra Yearwood: As a board member you’re seeing the CEO all the time. So it’s not going to give me additional Insight. But as if I’m not a board member and I’m looking at an organization. Absolutely it gives me some insight into how does this organization being run? what are they accomplishing? What are their goals? What is Other values all of that I can pick up when I look at the annual report.
Patrick Villemaire: Awesome, and when it comes to donors as being a member of the audience have receiving these what makes them take action.
Debra Yearwood: the Annaual report if you’re working with it, If you’re working at the right way, you’re generating emotions. You’re making them feel engaged and excited and they want to feel like they’re accomplishing something with those dollars that they’re giving and that’s what you’re showing them. This is what we accomplish with your donation the resources that you’ve given us have allowed us to provide services. They’ve allowed us to make someone’s life better and it really is an affirmation of their contribution. They’re just their decision to invest.
Patrick Villemaire: That makes sense. And when it comes to the content creation piece, how do you handle the ongoing, throughout the year collecting all the information the stories that you’re not in the annual scramble right of okay, we got to turn this thing around in one month. where do we find all this information?
Debra Yearwood: So if you’re very clever, you’re collecting it and putting it into the annual report folder throughout the course of the year. But the truth is it’s only once you’ve decided. Okay we’re doing it in a report that you really decide which stories are you keeping? And which stories are you giving away and you sort of have to look at it. You look back on the year and you go what has resonance now. Right. So what stood out for me and those are the stories I’m going to tell or what’s really important to what we’re doing next. And so this is the back story. So to speak to the thing that we’re doing coming down the line. So if in many respects, it’s a work that happens over the course of the year and it’s work that happens in the moment of the creation of the annual report, but I do find that if you sort of keep a Lisa running tag on what’s going on, it makes life easier. tablet
Patrick Villemaire: That makes sense. in terms of design branding. So I always refer to the annual report as a powder room of the house, right, …
Debra Yearwood: Yes, yes.
Patrick Villemaire: push the boundaries a little bit more than you would within your branding right? So when it comes…
Patrick Villemaire: design branding, what’s your approach?
Debra Yearwood: So because we want our annual reports to have impact. It’s usually big emotional images. What are images that get your attention make you engage make you ask a question, are those but it has to live within the brand but you’re right it is the brand on pumped up. It’s the brand with it with a little more energy a little more. So if you’re brand is normally gonna be a button down suit, it’s gonna be a beautifully Taylor Made soup when it comes to your animal report.
Patrick Villemaire: That’s And from the content creation review process. what does a CEO care about and how do you handle them at the last minute sliding in saying? here’s something else we need to add in and everything’s already been lay down and designed. how does that
Debra Yearwood: It happens sometimes the CEO has you don’t also know what’s going on. So the CEO may have had a meeting with an external party. It could be anyone and came away and said, we really have to make sure that this is the general report. So then you have to scramble and make it happen. But what I try to do is engage the CEO right from the beginning so that what we’re doing we know what we’re engaging with. they know what we’re trying to manage and hopefully by doing that we reduce the likelihood of them being. Hey, I want this story to show but it happens anyway, usually for the CEO again, it’s big picture. They’re trying to give an impression. They’re trying to give a perspective in and they want it to be a good one. no CEO wants the thing or report to go out and tell the story of how they suck right? It has to be a positive story.
Patrick Villemaire: That makes sense. So I have this tradition in a tradition because I’ve done a couple times now. So what I’ve done is I’ve given chat GPT or Overlord. I’ve given it some prompts about, kind of your bio and what we’re talking about and so Chad GPT give me a list of questions and it has a really good one that I want to ask you.
Debra Yearwood: Okay.
Patrick Villemaire: Chat GPT says you specialize in relationship management. How do you leverage annual reports as a tool for strengthening stakeholder relationships? And what strategy have you found most effective?
Debra Yearwood: So how do I use it for strength? So what I try to do is whether we’re talking about our community of the folks who operate in our sector or were talking about. Governments, we’re trying to ensure that people understand that we’re delivering on our commitments that we are living up to our promises. And so what the annual report does for me is it says it has to tell the story of how we’re doing it it has to Showcase where we are walking the talk.
Debra Yearwood: So if we said that we were going to inspire that I’m going to make sure that one of the stories in there inspires me. Are we inquiring are we trying to figure out are we trying to solve a problem that I’m going to talk about some of the research that we did and how that research is having is making a difference. So I guess it’s a way of just showing up of how we’re living up to expectation.
Patrick Villemaire: Thank you so much. It was great having you on for a chat. And I’d love to follow up with you in the future and see what guys are up to because it sounds like you’re gonna have been great stories. And yeah, you kind of have that the formula figured out so I’m going to keep an eye on what you’re doing.
Debra Yearwood: Thanks very much. Patrick’s this was good fun. Hey.Patrick Villemaire: All right. Thanks Ded.