The way we engage with our audience falls somewhere between two extreme poles: reports and stories. Supporting this is two polar opposite personnas: the investigator and the storyteller. Reports inform, while stories resonate. The structural difference between a report and a story is that a report organizes facts by topic, while a story organises scenes dramatically. Presentations fall in the middle and contain both information and story, so they are called explanations. So if a report primarily conveys information, then stories produce an experience. Blending the two creates a perfect world for your presentation where facts and stories can be layered like a cake. Navigating between fact, then story, then fact then story creates interest and a pulse. Mixing report material with story material makes information more digestible. It’s the sugar that helps the medicine go down. It’s more comfortable and less time consuming to present flat, data driven static reports, but that approach doesn’t connect people to ideas.
Creating desire in the audience and then showing how your ideas fill that desire moves people to adopt your perspective. This is the heart of a story.
Disruptive Storytelling has four modules:
• Personal
• Business
• Strategic
• Innovation
We follow a six-step process for each module (refer to the Innovation module above). It is important to note that the genesis of any corporate storytelling is knowing one self and the role you play in business, strategy and innovation pursuits.
Understanding the six steps will help you create galvanising moments that shape how your participants experience the journey and sustain their energy so you arrive at achieving your dream.
As a Storyteller you need to hone your ability to communicate in a way that galvanises hearst and minds at critical junctures, such as when they first launch an idea or celebrate its completion. But the real trick is to sustain the interest and commitment of the participants over the long haul with an ongoing stream of meaningful and timely communications.
To foster hope, you must articulate the nature of the journey, what you’re undertaking together, and your vision of the destination with as much clarity and certainty as possible to inspire your team to commit.
Typical Assignments:
• Building Corporate Stories
• Building Brand Stories
• Presentation Excellence (Proposals to board, leadership teams, customers)
• Brand Plans brought to life
• Embedding Business Storytelling
• Sales & Marketing Alignment