s POSITION: Managing Messages... 57 trategy 2 POSITION: Massaging Messages and Maneuvering Meetings "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." --Alan Kay, software inventor Creating the future you want, and for our purposes, get- ting what you want from others, means orchestrating infor- mation in a way that not only appeals to them, but motivates them to act. You've already probed your listener. You already know exactly to whom you're talking and how you need to approach them. Now it's time to learn how to position your message, and organize the information you need to deliver in a way that is not only desirable, but digestible. How you do this is the same for any size group whether it is an individual, an average-sized meeting, or a large presenta- tion. Positioning is basic and easy to master, as I'll show you in this chapter. As you plot your strategy, you must still keep in the back-- okay, the front--of your mind, that most people are oversatu- rated, overwhelmed, and overwrought in our plugged-in world. 57