Mark Bowden on Communicating Authenticity at Ungeeked Toronto

Starting day 2 at ungeeked and I have a splitting headache. Yep. Jetlag has given me something to remind me that I am in a different continent.

First up is Mark Bowden, CEO of Truth Plane & Author of Winning Body Language. A power dynamo, he hit the front of the room showing how he is actually appealing to our reptilian brain and indictating he is a friend:

• Open palms: no tools no weapons


• Open stomach: shows we can trust

So the discussion on natural impulse and communication has begun with his talk Communicating
Authenticity – Being Social is The New Body Language

When we first meet people, we categorize them into 4 categories:

• Friend


• Enemy


• Sexual Partner


• Indifferent

So how do we do this online?

It is very important to create something that people understand and relate to. The more certainty we have, our dopamine level increases. So the more it increases, the more the brain wants to go there. On the otherhand, the more you don’t understand something, you often resort to the negative and your dopamine levels decrease. In relation to that is the idea of framewalk. If you get a suspicious parcel, it won’t be opened but if you got it at Christmas, then you would because of the framework. So if people belong and understand the structure and framework of your site/ business, the more they’ll come back and engage.

Basically we’re looking for stuff that will make us live longer - the things that make us feel good from the people and places where we belong. Mark said “We don’t need logic for survival, we need friends who will feed us.” We have the instinct that if people look like your tribe and hold your beliefs, they will be more likely to help you. You want to have your status raised so if you ask questions and for the opinions of your followers or staff, you raise their status and they will be more likely to come back and engage.

What’s interesting is, the inverse to that, we can threaten

• autonamy


• status


• relatedness


• fairness

When we do this, people will retreat. If you are unfair to your followers, clients, customers, they’re out of there. This applies especially with social media when there is a lack of consistancy. We can relate it back to food. Company means to “eat bread together.” Companies are simple - it’s a dining table. If you take more bread than me, it’s unfair and I’m out of this company. Or if unconsistant, you can’t be trusted or relied upon as you may dissapear with my food so you lose that follower.

Our decisions are based on our values, beliefs, rituals and customs. So if you are looking to create rewards and recognition, they need to be correct for that group based on those. If you value something, you will work for it.

The last thing I took from this talk is that we’re way more the same then we’re different. You may not authentically join your customers or followers in all of their beliefs, but if you respect those values, beliefs and customs they hold, you can still have that connection. We are human after all. Humans all have feelings - and you have feelings about your feelings. We can all understand that.