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

Recognizing awesomeness

How do we share credit and praise work well done?

Here is a story of a boss who bought his employees cars and trips to Fiji...we can't do that...but are there other ways we can recognize awesome contributions?

What we can learn from climate change

Work in Energy Efficiency is showing that using social science can result in reducing energy use. Are there applications for public health?

Robert Cialdini(expert in persuasion) told David Roberts of Grist, social psychology is:

"the least capital-intensive way of making change…Technology costs a lot. Incentive programs cost a lot (and as soon as they are discontinued, the behavior flops back). Legislation, legal constraints, taxes, penalties of one sort or another–those are costly in terms of social capital, which organizations and governments are loathe to spend these days.

What you have with social psychology is a set of procedures that are essentially costless to enact, but product levels of change that are comparable to those other mechanisms." From Power of Peer Pressure

Opower, an organization that Cialdiniu advises found they could reduce energy use by mailing personalized energy use reports to people that showed their energy use compared to their neighbors and game them a smiley face when they used less energy.

Why it worked:
Relevant, personalized feedback
Made the data visible ( in a way people could understand fast)
Showed a comparison ( more meaningful, easier to understand)
Social influence/Social norms: I am influenced by my neighbors and I am motivated to compete with them ( keeping up with the Jones in reverse)

A comparison of ten energy saving programs that use social science found that these strategies work: Make energy use visible, set measurable goals, market relevant benefits, leverage social norms and networks, promote competitions and goal setting, and speak to non-economic motivations. For more information
Visible and Concrete Savings: Case Studies of Effective Behavioral Approaches to Improving Customer Energy Efficiency Nov 2010

Geekery

Love the name of the blog...interested in the content. Blog is called Nonprofit Geekery

This is post is about the SXSW conference which brings together geeks and non-profits. This post is Nick's 10 take aways.

1.Front and center..a reminder to use stories
3 is our less is more
4: what if we did think of our website as an approachable, friendly person..what would it look like?
6 We need to do this..who do we serve..and how can we target our communications strategies
7 We need to do this too: create an editorial calendar. What would be on it?
8 Who are the super advocates for tobacco control...and how can we best help them?
9 Experiment frequently: we are already talking about how to do this with short pilots using a few people
10. How can we help our partners create content that people want to talk about and are excited to share?