Most groups tell crappy stories

This was my last session of the day.

Non profit organization have stories that touch peoples hearts. We work on important issues that people care about yet we lead with data? Worse...when we do tell stories "we tell crappy stories" ( that is a quote from Mark Rovner at Sea Change)

Mark did go on to share his top four tips for better stories:
1. Relatable protagonist…(as in someone you can relate to)
2. Conflict or tension (the more the better)
3. Bad guy ( if at all possible)
4. Kitchen sink details..(make it visual ...this is the show don't tell tip)

Mark referenced McKee's work and this article in Harvard Business Review

Storyteller's Toolkit

If you are interested in this title..you are not alone...this session drew a packed room crowd this afternoon at NTC ...but ( in my opinion) did not deliver the goods.

The first speaker said if you only take one thing away from this session I hope it is "Show don't tell" and then spent most of his time telling us about how to collect stories.

It was interesting that he is a Senior writer at Mercy Corps and his full time job is collecting stories (maybe he writes better than he presents?) He also shared that they routinely train staff to collect stories...it is a three day training including writing, taking photos, field work and one on one coaching.

What's $40,000/hour look like?

This is Dan Heath from the opening keynote at NTC 2011. I know he costs that much because we tried to get him to come to the Prevention Conference in Wisconsin.

His session was , hands down, the best one I heard and saw today. Why?

1. He made change easy. He gave us three clear steps.
2. He showed us what success looks like. He shared relevant, inspiring examples, stories and images.
3. He made us laugh.

I've read both Heath brothers' books ( Made to Stick and Switch) but was not bored by the content. It was inspiring to see him summarize a book in an hour.

What's an Ignite presentation?

20 slides, 15 seconds, total of 5 minutes.

How much can you communicate in 5 minutes?

Turns out...a lot!

Imagine if a conference session gave you awesome content in the first 5 minutes...and you spent the rest of the time practicing and sharing application ideas.

I love the Ignite tagline : Enlighten us..but make it quick!

Here is the description of Ignite on wikipedia.

Want to see some examples? Take a look at Ignite Week 2011