creating a story to carry your message margaret enloe communications director chesapeake bay program...
TRANSCRIPT
Creating A Story to Carry Your
Message
Margaret Enloe Communications DirectorChesapeake Bay ProgramAlliance for the Chesapeake Bay
www.Chesapeakebay.net
Bay Commission
NY DC VA MD PA DE WV
Federal govt
A vast partnership of all the major players in the Chesapeake region, working collaboratively on science, policy and
restoration efforts
Why Story?
To reach someone through the heart is other than reaching themthrough words.
Besides words, allusions and argumentsThe heart knows a hundred thousand ways to speak.
Rumi – 13c. Persian poet
Why stories ?
Stories are: Primal , timeless Provide order/connection Help us make
meaning Understand
selves & others How we persuade An invitation
VIDEO: What Makes a Hero?
Why Story: Vehicle To Connect
An engaging story builds a bridge.
The main “story” in your work gives your audience
a familiar way in, an
invitation to connect to you
and your message
The Soup Story
Components
PassionProtagonistAntagonist
This is what you’re protagonist is up against – not necessarily a person or group!
Awareness – the ‘aha!’ momentTransformation – what’s changed
Why storytelling in our work
VALUES When organizations, causes, brands or
individuals identify and develop a core story, they:
Create and display authentic meaning and purpose that: others can believe in, participate with, and share.
VIDEO: Power of Words
To begin: Listen. Learn.
Who is your main audience?
What do they care about?
What level of info do they already have? Are they already on the team, not on or
prospective?PRO PERSUADABLE CON
To begin: Listen, Learn
AnagramsListen = SilentConversation = Voices rant on
Immediately = My ideal time
Messages: Clarity
What is the story in what you have to say or tell about your work?
What do you want your audience to do or understand?
How are you going to express it in a way that engages them?
What do you want to convey?
Meaning: Speaking to your audience Craft your story to hit your target
audience as close to home as possible Make it meaningful
Me = center of target = personal/local Mine = next layer =
family/community/region Ours = outer layer = region/state/nation
The closer you are to the center (or “me” or “local”), the closer you are to relevant
Guidance for our stories
Create a ‘vision’ for your audience Be brief – 1 or 2 core ideas (at
most!!) Picture is worth 1000 words Specific, concrete, local (relevant) Statistics – be careful Validation
Style: Simplicity
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."
- Albert Einstein
VIDEO: TEDEd – The Power of Simple Words
QUESTIONS?
Or not . . .
Your Soup Story
Tell us a story about why you became a
watershed steward?
Examples:
CBP stories – www.chesapeakebay.net
Video: Linking Land and Water in Brook Trout Restoration
Fewer incentives, Higher Commodity Prices Mean Decline in Forest Buffer Restoration
Restoration Spotlight: Restaurants Recycle Oyster Shells to Bring Bivalve Back
How do you know if you have a good message and story?
IF written, read it aloud Can you cut words or simplify them? Use legibility score (in Word) – if you’re above gr. 12, your
probably too complex
IF verbal, write it – keeping only relevant parts
Get someone outside your work to read it, listen and critique
Imagine reading /saying it to a 10 or 90 year old
Resources: Readability tool in Word
Resources on language & storytelling
TED Talks – www.ted.com Jay O’Callahan: The Power of
Storytelling - http://vimeo.com/14806071
www.chesapeakebay.net