Using Storytelling in Learning, Part 4: Keeping it Real
“Is there such a thing as too much reality?
In my first post on this topic, I said this:
“So how do you apply some of the rules of storytelling to our training initiatives? The key is to focus on how the world works in real life.”
If storytelling is so powerful, why are so many market research presentations so dull?
“We are told that to get a message over in a business presentation, we need to tell a story. It is well documented that the story form can transform limp, dull, lifeless presentations into enthralling occasions. The future belongs to ‘high touch’ storytellers who can weave different concepts into a story and explain the big picture to senior decision-takers. But, if stories are so powerful, why are there still so many dull market research presentations? There are three main reasons:…”
“For years, I’ve been wanting to take my son to a storytelling festival. This year, finally got my act together, tracked one down, and got it on the calendar. Yesterday we headed up to El Sobrante for the Bay Area Storytelling Festival.
It was one of those days that you set up and hope for the best and then, as it plays out, you see it turn into everything you hoped for and more. How old is this art? How long have people been telling and listening to stories and feeling connections between the storyteller and the audience, between themselves and the person seated next to them? And how much does it matter what form we use to tell and share these stories–whether it’s through the spoken word in person or in an MP3 file, or the written word on paper or in an e-book?”
“Why Make Movies?” (A look at the role of narrative in theme)
“When the movie was over, I turned to my friend and asked that age-old post-movie question: “What’d ya think?”
Her response: “I liked it. But I just don’t know what I was supposed to get from it.”
She elaborated. The story, she said, was excellent. The characters were interesting and fully drawn. The situations were thoughtful and compelling, and the movie definitely made her feel…something. It made her think about practical life questions. But it didn’t convey any easily defined or digestible “message.”
“If you want to send a message, write an email.”
“Storytelling is something that isn’t just confined to dinner parties and bars, but is something that I think is a lost art in the world, as well as the search world.”
“What happened at the end of Lost is the betrayal of mystery. Storytelling requires a commitment of trust between author and audience. Lost squandered six years of that trust. None of the plot elements from the first two-thirds of the story had anything to do with its resolution. The end of the story came from out of left field, as if the Harry Potter series had ended with a cop shooting Voldemort dead.”
Another art of the storyteller
“Painted Songs & Stories: Contemporary Pardhan Gond Art From India,’’ a sparkling show at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College, marks the first American exhibition highlighting the art of the Gond peoples of central India. Vibrating with brilliantly patterned mythological imagery, the exhibit also touches on familiar questions about the commercialization of indigenous art.
Members of the Pardhan clan have been the storytellers, bards, and keepers of the mythology of the Gonds. Their tradition was an oral one. Indeed, the Gonds’ supreme deity is embodied by a musical instrument.”
“To help him win customer mind and wallet share, I suggested he tell a more compelling story for communicating the value of his services.
After tossing around a number of ideas with him, we decided on this story. The heat pump is like your heart. It pumps air throughout your house to keep you warm during the winter and cool during the summer. It circulates the air in your home. Circulation sustains life and activity.”
“A few days ago I was part of the web series industry podcast New Mediacracy discussing the future of storytelling..
We discussed the possibilities and limitations of storytelling on the web. While much of the conversation was aimed at the untapped potential of the medium, there was one advantage I personally feel very passionate about: the story and people behind the story. New media, more so than say TV or film, fosters both a greater look behind-the-scenes and a deeper relationship between creator and viewer.”
“The Sideways platform allows authors and those hungry for a medium as rich as their vision to make their work even more engrossing. Leveraging the uniquely intimate, tactile quality of the iPad and other mobile devices, we transform multi-media storytelling into an experience unlike anything seen before,” said Charles Stack, founder of Sideways. “Our goal is to give both publishers and authors the opportunity to make good stories even better while delivering to readers everything they already cherish about books and more.”
Pigeon Forge to Host Storytelling Festival
“The 19th-annual Smoky Mountains Storytelling Festival will take place June 10-12, 2010, at the Grand Majestic Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Some of the finest storytellers in the United States are scheduled to appear at the 2010 Smoky Mountains Storytelling Festival such as Willy Claflin, Mary Hamilton, Michael Reno Harrell, Lyn Ford, Elizabeth Rose, Larry Kelley, Rick Love and Mountain Man Bob Phillips. The award-winning Smoky Mountains Storytelling Festival will also feature educational workshops and the National Youth Storytelling Showcase.”
Five steps to building a believable character arc
“A commenter in my last article on crafting breakout stories asked for tips on how to demonstrate believable progress during the process of a character’s emotional growth.
In the real world, personal growth takes time and practice. We don’t usually just decide to be better in some way, and then presto, we’re better. For real people, it takes time. Fortunately, there’s a framework for personal growth you can use as a blueprint…”
How Hospitality Companies are Using Social Media for Real Results
“At the Roger Smith Hotel in New York, social media has become immersed within the hotel’s unique culture. At its core, the Roger Smith Hotel is about storytelling — with a focus on art and people — and social media has become the way in which the hotel can share these stories and create new ones.
In fact, Brian Simpson, the hotel’s director of hospitality, says that while the hotel certainly attempts to connect the dots between social media and sales, ROI is not the focus of the team’s social endeavors. “We’re less concerned about how many rooms are booked because of social media, and more focused on telling stories and connecting people … you can’t pay a marketing firm to make those connections.”
Steve Jobs and Applied Storytelling
“As Penguin and the Aids organisation (RED) launch a new set of classic novels, Henning Mankell, the creator of Wallander, considers the power of storytelling in Africa.”
Establish Trust With A Front Page Web Video
“And this leaves us with one more important take-away lesson. A front page video needn’t trouble itself with a description of company features and benefits. It simply needs to provide a relevant reason for the user to trust the owner / business. A short 1 to 2 minute story, passionately told by the owner saying that he established the family potato chip business 30 years ago because he wanted to provide people with a crispy chip that wouldn’t lose its favor in the package is a fine example that will win trust right away.”
How storytelling is saving hundreds of lives in Welsh hospitals
“I was back in the hospital having my dressing changed after an operation. I’d had a lot of stitches. The nurse arrived with a pen in her mouth. She took off my old dressing and ran the pen which had been in her mouth along my chest to check all the stitches. After changing my dressing she walked on to the next patient tapping the pen against her teeth.”
This is the kind of patient story that’s been used in re-training staff to be aware of ways in which hospital bugs are spread. Hearing a short account like this has proved effective in changing hospital staff’s ways of working.”
Trust and knowledge transfer with storytelling
“One of the ways, more fun and effective of tacit knowledge transfer, is storytelling. The emotional charge contained in the stories makes the meaning of the message to be integrated more quickly and more deeply.
The stories stimulate our senses in all directions which makes the establishment of a trust relationship between the meter and the receiver. The pure analysis of the facts does not provide the same level of confidence.”
