Want to make a difference? Tell stories.
Have you ever been in that situation where you’ve just delivered a presentation — a presentation on a topic you feel passionately about. You were met with a sea of nodding heads and a decent round of applause. You fielded some really good questions at the end. You basked in that glow of relief and satisfaction, knowing that you’d made your case well, presented all the facts, and addressed all the issues. All you have to do now is wait for people to start getting in touch, spreading the word, requesting to attend next week’s workshop. But they don’t. It’s as if they’ve walked out of the room and forgotten all about you.
Hopefully you can answer ‘No, never happened to me. I’m something of a superstar when it comes to presentations’. But if not, and your answer is something like ‘Yeah, actually that has happened and it is kinda frustrating’ then you’re like me and many, many others.
As part of our job here at the OU, where we are responsible for online learning systems, we do exactly these kind of presentations. We aim to get people to buy into our ideas of new things we could do, better ways we could do things, and the things that, frankly, we should stop doing. But although we’ve been confident in our reasoning and, we thought, clear in our messages and motivations, we didn’t always get massive support. We got agreement, sure. But not the active support we needed. Good feedback, but no followup.
We decided to look into what we could do to put this right. And do you know what conclusion we came to? Well, given that the title of this blog is ‘Want to make a difference? Tell stories’ I’m hoping you’re currently shouting ‘Stories, tell stories, that’ll do it!’ at your screen. But just in case you’re not, the answer is stories. We should tell stories.
And this isn’t just about presentations. Any situation where you’re trying to make an impact, be remembered, and influence a course of action can benefit from storytelling. It can help write a more persuasive business case, give added depth and relevance to data analysis, add some umph to a lightening talk and make your impromptu workshop pitches more effective. The list goes on, and isn’t just limited to the working environment.
Why storytelling?
There’s a reason stories have been around as long as we can remember. We enjoy them. They move us. We remember them.
Can the same be said about all of the presentations or events you have attended. I bet there are some that really stand out in your memory. Presentations that really captivated you. That made you want to get involved or try something out. Filled you with enthusiasm. Made you punch the fella beside you in the ear, burn your trousers and charge outside screaming ‘I AM the Eye of the Tiger!’. But I also bet there will have been be other talks that, despite seeming like they should be really interesting, haven’t actually been that enjoyable. They haven’t moved you. To be honest, you don’t really remember much about them.
Storytelling can help make your presentation one of the memorable ones. It can motivate people and gain buy in and support.
But how does it do this? Well, it’s all down to the magic of science.
The science bit.
A good story actually has a physical impact. It can trigger the release of drugs within the body that encourage the positive actions you hope to invoke.
Character driven stories can lead to the production of Oxytocin. That’s useful as it’s a drug that promotes connection and care and encourages people to feel empathy. As an illustration, people are more willing to give to charity after hearing an emotive story.
Scanning the brain with MRI machines has also shown that descriptive and figurative language can excite the neurological regions that incite action and movement.
Stories can quite literally move people.
What about powerful and emotional stories? Well, they can trigger the release of Dopamine. This is handy as it can help people remember experiences with greater clarity. And you obviously want people to remember how great you were and all the cool things you said.
So, time for a new thesaurus, right?
Not necessarily. Sometimes powerful stories need no words at all to trigger an emotional response. For example, take a look at this video from Fisher Price about the future of parenting.
Maybe I’m just a big, soft dad but that short video has had a far greater impact on me than any number of presentations I’ve seen about the potential for the internet of things and smart homes. It has certainly stayed in my memory far longer than most.
The same can be said about posters, events, physical spaces. All can play a part in helping push the narrative of a story — a story that brings support and generates action.
Can you learn to tell stories?
Well that’s what I wanted to find out so last year I took part in IDEOU’s Storytelling for Influence course.
IDEO are a hugely successful design and innovation consulting firm specialising in human-centred design. They’ve worked with major organisations in developing some fairly dramatic concepts. For example they worked with Ford where they were influential in shifting the emphasis of the organisation from being a motor company to being a mobility company. They also worked with IKEA to imagine the kitchen of the future.
IDEO realised that coming up with great and innovative designs and ideas was only part of what they needed to do. They also had to sell them to the stakeholders. Motivate them to act and implement these grand concepts.
Ford are now planning on having a fully automated fleet of self driving rideshare cars on the road by 2021 and IKEA are looking to develop kitchens like this…
IDEO have realised how fundamental storytelling is to what they are trying to achieve. It’s not just about ideas. It’s about gaining the right support to convert these ideas into reality.
Thankfully they also decided to set up this course to help people like me to understand some of the things that help make a story work. To take your story, the thing you’re passionate about, and give it some impact. To make it resonate with others. To give you influence.
Below, I’ve included some of the tips and ideas I picked up on the course. See what you think. Would they help you to tell your story?
Once upon a time…
So you’ve got a presentation coming up and you’re going to give it all you’ve got to be memorable and to drive action, and you’re going to use storytelling to do that. Where do you start?
You can start by ‘framing your challenge’. What it is you’re going to tell a story about and why are you telling that story. What outcome do you want?
You can express it using a simple template like this…
This is a template I used as the basis for a presentation I gave to the team. It was presentation about how storytelling was useful. Sound familiar? Yip, this is pretty much the template for this blog as well. It’s all a bit meta isn’t it?
Once you’ve what you’re going to talk about, and why, can move onto the next step…
The Blueprint.
You (hopefully) wouldn’t build a home without a plan. The same goes for a story. You need a brief. And there are two main parts to consider.
- The audience
- The big idea
The audience
It’s really important to understand who your audience are going to be. Who is going to experience your story. What is it you want them to do? And, very importantly…
What does your audience care about?
We’re really good at talking about the things we care about. We’ll take any opportunity tell people about those things we are passionate about. But to get buy in and cooperation, or to remove opposition, you need to understand what motivates your audience. You need to find that link between your passion and needs and theirs. Their motivation to act will come from their own needs being addressed, their own passions being stoked. Your enthusiasm can be a catalyst, but you need to find a way of keeping the fire burning inside them after you’ve gone.
You also need to decide what you want your audience to do after hearing your story. How do you want them to act? Do you want them to sign off on a budget? Do you want them to attend a workshop? Do you want them to start a revolution? What is the call to action?
Understand what they can realistically achieve? If you want budget for some work, but your audience aren’t budget holders, what do you want the audience to do to influence the actual budget holders or decision makers?
The big idea
Every good story has a big idea behind it. An idea that can be encapsulated in a snappy sentence. Just like you’ll find in TV listings like the one below…
Well, perhaps not quite like that. But you get the gist of it. What is the one sentence that encapsulates your story?
When your audience are winding their way home, what is the one thing you want them to remember? What is the one thing you want them to do?
When you’ve decided that, put it into a sentence. That’s your big idea. Build your story around that, and don’t stray too far from it.
Putting together your story
So you know why you’re telling the story. You know who you’re telling the story to. And you know what they care about and what you want them to do as a result of hearing your story. Now it’s time to put together your story.
<cop_out_mode>This bit’s up to you. You know your subject. You know what you want to say. Go for it!
</cop_out_mode>But, here are a few tips to bear in mind when preparing your story.
Design for IMPACT!
Remember — it’s not just what you say, but how you say it.
I’m sure we’ve all sat through presentations where it’s just slide after slide after slide, all based on the same template, all full of text, with each slide almost imperceptibly different to the last. You’re being killed with consistency.
On top of that we’ve listened as the presenter reads all of the text on all of the slides. And I mean all of the text. And it’s in business speak. Do people really talk like that? Do we really ‘optimise synergies’?
That sort of presentation can be tough going. Any initial interest you may have soon wanes and you rarely buy into what the presenter is selling. You just want it all to end. Please let it end. Please let this be the last slide. Please.
How can this be avoided?
- Get rid of the dry, stultifying business or academic speak for a start. Formal does not mean smarter. Talk naturally. Write naturally. Be yourself. And do it with passion.
- When presenting, cut down on the amount of text used on each screen. If the audience are reading the screen they’re not fully listening to you. Try to use compelling visuals instead. A well chosen picture can help the audience form a connection with what your saying and helps them remember the points you make. Not having masses of text on screen also removes the temptation to simply read from the screen. It encourages you to talk more naturally. Be a person, not simply a presenter.
- Use anecdotes and personal stories. This helps place people in situations to help understanding and empathy. This can change something from a statistic to an emotional connection. And don’t be afraid of emotions.
The above clip from the 1996 film ‘Brassed Off’ is a great example of a story told with passion, that makes a connection at a human level, and generates emotions. It’s also a nice example of ‘The Big Idea’, the short concept that encapsulates all you’re trying to achieve. Even if you haven’t seen the film, this short clip makes it clear the point the film was aiming to get across.
And the most important bit of all…
Include a call to action. You’re not going to be doing this to fill in some time on a Wednesday afternoon. Whether you’re writing a blog, giving a talk, putting together a proposal, make it clear what you want people to do as a result of hearing your story. What should they do next? Is there an action you want them to carry out. Do they need to remember something?
After hearing your story the audience should go away remembering the big idea, and feeling enthused and motivated to carry out the call to action.
But how can you tell if the story you’re putting together is going to have this sort of impact?
Prototype for feedback
Will your story be effective? Will the audience pick up on the big idea? Will they recognise the call to action you’re making? A good way of finding out is to prototype and test your ideas or drafts. Run versions of your story past others to get some feedback. You can start prototyping long before you’ve got a full text ready. Early prototyping is useful for getting ideas out of your head and onto paper, and it can provide some useful feedback before you’ve committed too much effort. Doing several prototypes helps hone the message even more.
But does that mean having to stand up and run through full presentations in front of a group of people multiple times? Oh no, no, no. Nobody would enjoy doing that. The idea is to get the main narrative of your story in front of people, in a way that you’re comfortable with.
These prototypes can be lo-fidelity — rough concepts. They get the idea out there easily with no pressure, and they get you some useful feedback in return. They also help you build up a familiarity and confidence in the content of your presentation. That can be great a great help in reducing nerves when it comes to delivering the presentation for real.
And what feedback do you want?
Basically, you want to know if you’re hitting the key points — getting the big idea across and making the call to action clear.
To find out if that’s happening, after you’ve run your prototype past your test audience, you can ask them questions like:
- What was, in their opinion, the most memorable aspect of the talk?
- What moved or motivated them?
- What was the big idea?
- Do they have any questions about what they’ve heard?
This feedback should help you refine or refocus your story and fill any gaps that appear to be there.
This Build > Share > Reflect model can be repeated several times to make sure you’re making your story as effective as possible.
So what’s the best way of getting this feedback, short of doing a full on presentation? Here are a few examples, and there will be many more. Choose something you’re comfortable with.
Hit record
This isn’t about producing a chart topping single — although that would be pretty cool, if a little excessive. It’s about recording a run through of your main points on a voice recorder, something that may well be on your phone. Listening to the recording can give you a better idea if you’ve hit the note you wanted. However, if, like all normal people, you’re a bit freaked out by the sound of your own voice when listening to recordings, you can get others to listen instead. This saves you having to give an actual presentation run through.
Post-it-palooza
This is a really simple one and quite useful at the very start of the process. Jot down the main points you want to include in your story on post-it notes. One point on each note. Then rearrange the notes to set up a story structure. How will you start? What will be the flow? How will it end? Gather some people round and talk it through. At this point it’s really easy to make changes to the structure before you’ve really committed to building out your story.
The Pub Test
This one is probably my favourite. Although it has got the potential to go a bit wrong if you enjoy it too much. Go with your team to a pub (or coffee shop) and talk through your story. We’re used to relaxing and talking in pubs and coffee shops so that should help talk through your story in a natural and informal way, much like a normal conversation. And, to some extent, that’s what your story should be, a conversation with your audience.
As you can see the main idea behind these quick test methods is that they’re pretty non-threatening. This is about getting the ideas out there in front of people, and getting their feedback, without you being distracted with the worry of doing a presentation.
So, that’s it
Hone in on your big idea. Understand your audience. Know what you want them to do. And then, through prototyping and testing, craft a story that hits home, makes a connection and drives action. Simple really.
Hopefully it’s become clear that my big idea was to sell the benefits of story telling for influence. And the call to action? Well, I’d love it if people started telling more stories. It would be great to see everyone’s brilliant ideas getting the support they need to turn them into reality more often.
Of course, a secondary call to action would be that, if you have found this blog useful, a quick share or a click on the little green heart might help spread this and encourage others to utilise storytelling. That way we might all be spared from disappointing presentations :)
January 2017
This blog was written by @Steve_p_uk a product manager in the Learning Systems team at the Open University.
