Scott Adams, the brilliant creator of Dilbert, has written a lot about persuasion. One of the concepts he talks about quite a bit is that two different people can watch the exact same thing at the same time and draw opposite conclusions. Two movies on one screen. We see this […]
Stop at the end. Know when you’ve reached the conclusion of your story, and end it. Too much information at the end risks ruining the experience of the audience. Perhaps the story has been leading up to the city council vote to allow short-term rental. The twists and turns were […]
There are many writers throughout the country, with good educations, with clear brains, and with the ambition to see their work in print, who are failing merely because they are not familiar with the technique of the short story. -Leslie Quirk With the exception of tweets, your shortest stories will […]
Plunge us into the action of the story. Leave the qualifiers and background description for later. Getting to the point is timeless advice, more so in our era of flittering attention. Is the story about planning a new park? Start with the kids playing soccer at the edge of a […]
I’ve shared this quote before: If you want to learn about a culture, listen to their stories. If you want to change a culture, change the stories. Avoid the point-counterpoint stories. One way to change the stories is to get out of a defensive posture. Any boring politician or statistician […]
One of my favorite quotes is from a writer named Michael Margolis. He’s left-handed and color blind, so he basically has everything going against him. Anyway, here’s the quote: “If you want to learn about a culture, listen to their stories. If you want to change a culture, change the […]
You’ve got a plot idea for your blog post or lunch-and-learn presentation. Now you’ve got to decide how to tell the story. Every story has a method of narration. A project description for a procurement your office is issuing, a proposal for your firm to build a hydroelectric dam, an […]
Have you ever discovered a productivity tool that sped up your workflow so much that you wonder why everyone doesn’t put it to use? Canva gets a lot of press in design circles. Anyone with basic mouse skills on the computer can be transformed into a graphic designer. But for […]
Architects, planners, and engineers struggle with storytelling for so many reasons. One elephant in the room is that conversational speech is discouraged in college courses and mocked by supervisors. Business legend Seth Godin says: People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic. After 20+ years […]
Once we understand how people naturally react to scientific data, we’ll be much more effective storytellers. Data alone is virtually meaningless. Weave human experience into your delivery. Study marketing. Study psychology. Study World War II propaganda posters. Consider how a simple photograph or statement might connect with your audience. The […]
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