lights, camera, action!

We started class thinking about why story telling is so important.  Classmates gave examples of stories from companies where they had worked that resounded with employees and motivated firm culture.  Next up we examined the three key insights of good story-telling that stayed with us throughout the class:

1) Arcs: good stories move beyond just describing a situation.  There is a climax at which point the main character makes a crucial decision under pressure and moves to a point of no return.

2) Start wide & cull before cutting: keep asking what is superfluous to the story

3) To put it simply, know when to shut up!  There is power in not telling everything and letting your audience take steps in their minds to reach conclusions on their own.

When the class shared 6 word personal stories, we noticed some key differences amongst them.  Some had an air of mystery, making you curious to learn more.  Others sparked visceral reactions (often humor) which helped engage the audience.  We noted that the phrasing of the story was important to its overall feel – whether the story was a strand of words with no obvious connection with each other, or if it was one sentence that captured a specific feeling, or if it was multiple mini-phrases.  Beyond this, word choice was crucial (the feeling conveyed by “blizzard” vs. “snowed in”)

The examples that Oren and Justine shared in class really brought to life the concepts they were discussing.  When Oren quoted the preview for the new Star Trek movie, it was obvious how carefully crafted the phrases were, how they were drawing you in to want to learn more.  Also, he used the great example of Darth Vader saying “Luke, I am your father” to show how one moment can change everything the audience has previously experienced with a story (in this case, multiple Star Wars movies) and send them reeling emotionally back through time with reflections and forward with questions.

The takeaways that I found sticky from feedback on 1-minute stories were:

• Specificity always wins over generality — specifics can lead to general conclusions, but speaking in general always stays in the abstract.  That said, including the right specifics is a big challenge.
• Avoid anecdotal phrases that take your audience out of the moment.  Any doubt portrayed by the storyteller about an aspect of the story will be taken on by the audience.  In contrast, look to include turns of phrase that are evocative and relevant, which will stick with the audience
• The ending of a story is crucial: you don’t need to explain everything.  Leave your audience to figure out the conclusion on their own, but also try to leave them wanting more (e.g. open ended sentences)
• Emphasize the main character’s crucial decision
• Show instead of tell.  This concept can be applied in a couple of ways.  First, don’t tell people what your story is going to be about, just show them the story.  Second, the use of metaphors can be powerful (e.g. food as a metaphor for wealth)
• Know who you’re pitching to and make the pitch feel like a conversation

 

“How to Tell Your Story” Session

One overall insight from Prof. Aaker plus one from Justine, respectively, that jive well to frame the topic of branding and storytelling:

•  Marketing is an invitation to find out more
• Learn when to be quiet—don’t talk too much

 

I think we saw these reflected in the feedback on the personal stories we heard today. A good story doesn’t leave you completely full; it leaves you with a bit of hunger remaining, hunger to hear/see more. A good brand story does the same.

Key Reflections on Storytelling from Today’s Class

•  An arc, not a situation. Creating an arc means showing a character on both sides of a cusp of change. A situation might be a snapshot of points on one side or the other of a cusp—but not both—and therefore does not convey character transformation. Strive for the arc.
• Conciseness. Picasso said, “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” This holds true for a story.
• Don’t worry too much about chronology, as long as the story makes sense. The filmmaker Godard said, “A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end… but not necessarily in that order.”
• Twists & Reversals. Good stories often change course suddenly and unexpectedly, though some setup is always necessary to foster the perception of plausibility.

 Implications of storytelling techniques for branding and personal branding:

 The core of a branding story is the value proposition.

 The arc of the brand story might therefore be what you are with the product vs. what you are without the product. For example, if Microsoft’s value proposition is the ability to be more efficient, then the brand story might be centered on the super efficient person you are because you use Office versus the less efficient person you would be without it. The value prop should be concise and clear, like a story.

Value propositions can be functional, emotional, and self-expressive. Similarly, these could also be said to be the three dimensions on which stories engage audiences. I think we saw that in the personal stories people told today. For instance, the story about one student’s childhood experience with his parents tapped into the emotional dimension of storytelling. The story about the suit-wearing man following a young woman into the desert to propose marriage leveraged the self-expressive dimension because it engaged us by getting us to identify with its humorous voice. My own could arguably have been described as more functional.

Similarly, I think we could see how the 6-word stories could also be comprehensively described by these three approaches. Those that were direct descriptions were functional; the feeling-oriented strings of words emotional; and the distinctive or funny voices self-expressive.

In particular, I thought it was interesting that many people used their stories to call attention to part of their identity that seemed like it might not be part of their image. (The inverse pattern of a gap analysis?) Without singling people out (myself included!) it seemed like this might have been a common thread in many stories. 

And finally, a book I recommend that is often utilized by those writing for film and TV:

“The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters.”