connecting powerfully through storytelling · we’re all born storytellers. we may not all be...

Connecting Powerfully through Storytelling John Capecci

communications @CapecciCom #storyadvocacy

“Tell me a story from your experience that will help me understand why you do what you do.”

Agenda •  Story Advocacy: why, what, how •  When Stories Work: guiding principles •  Exploring Our Stories: exercises •  3 Best Practices of Story-valuing Cultures

•  Q/A

Connecting Powerfully through Storytelling

Personal my cause / mission

others

to explain to mobilize to bond to move

teach motivate inspire convince…

my lived experience

Story Advocacy

Story Advocacy

Sco$ Harrison founder, charity:water

Theresa Greenleaf son has severe allergies

Cycles for Change Interns lives changed by bicycling

Derek Co$on cancer surviver

FocusDriven.org distracted driving advocates

Sharing stories = •  humanizing •  connective •  familiar •  clarifying •  distinct form of communication •  not magic

Story Advocacy

Advocates = •  speaking on behalf of others •  roots: vocare, vox

Telling stories to do something = •  strategic, intentional •  requiring more than story alone

Story Advocacy


•  Q/A

Think about the times when someone has shared a story with you, hoping to cause you to act. When does the storytelling work

— and when doesn’t it?

When Stories Work

Type your responses in the Questions Box. Begin with either “Works= (comment)” or “Doesn’t work= (comment)”

move you engage you

fall flat

via the third-person, or removing herself from the story and reading it word for word, was a way of protecting herself emotionally. The result, however, might have come across to the audience as a distanced, recited, canned presentation—quite the opposite effect than for what she had hoped. After some discussion, she did decide to tell the story in the first-person and she gave a more heartfelt, if somewhat less polished, telling. There are ways to be both confident and extemporaneous.

Somewhere between the raw and canned extremes is the balance we strive for when sharing our personal stories as advocates: neither under- nor over-prepared, emotionally engaging, not fragile or distanced, media-ready not at a journalist’s mercy. The effective advocacy story is crafted, confident and flexible. It is authentic and focused on the audience and message, enabling listeners to empathize so they are not simply moved, but moved to act. And the well-told advocacy story is, with proper focus and preparation, within everyone’s reach.

I Want to Be Confident and in Control. Any type of public speaking can be a fretful activity; when you’re speaking a personal story, that only ups the anxiety and may cause you to either under-prepare (raw) or over-prepare (canned) for the task. We’ve all heard that public speaking is one of humankind’s greatest fears, with the cliché being that most fear it over death. Every year, it seems, another public opinion poll supports this attitude. Ask people to name their top fears, and public speaking ranks among the top five. A recent survey ranks public speaking alongside “terrorism” and “financial ruin.” In the 1980s, it was “nuclear destruction.” In the 1970s, “shark attack.” Regardless of what horrors we measure public speaking against, it’s commonly believed that putting ourselves in the spotlight can be an anxiety-ridden activity. (Without preparation and practice, that is.) People often feel the same about media interactions, fearing that all reporters are either “out to get them” or won’t understand the point. Actually, what reporters really want, too, is a good story, told well. The nervousness we feel going into any public presentation can keep us from adequately preparing. Ironically, nervousness can also lead to a canned presentation or interview. We once coached a woman preparing to speak her story for the first time at a fundraiser. It dealt, tragically, with her loss of two family members to drunk driving accidents. Preparing for a coaching session, she e-mailed us a script, saying, “This is what I plan to read.” What we noted immediately was that she had written her story in the third-person: “When she was 12, her mother died in a car crash, and the little girl couldn’t understand how this could happen.” In the final sentence, she revealed “I was that little girl.” While this may have been a creative and dramatic approach to her story, our conversations revealed the real reason she wrote it this way: she was nervous about speaking and terrified that she would not be able to control her emotions in the act of telling. Distancing herself

16 17

Living Proof: Telling Your Story to Make a Difference Personal Stories as Living Proof

THE RAW STORY

UnderpreparedEmotionally fragile

UnstructuredNervous

ImpromptuUnfocusedVulnerable

At mercy of the mediaFocused on speaker

UnrestrainedAudience feels bad for

THE EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY STORY

PreparedEmotionally engaging

CraftedPresent

ImprovisationalFlexible

AuthenticMedia-ready

Focused on audienceGenuine

Audience connects with

THE CANNED STORY

Over-preparedEmotionally distanced

Slick, polishedDetachedScripted

RigidDistanced

SensationalizedFocused on effect

InsincereAudience analyzes

LivingProofTextDesign1.indd 24-25 7/7/11 10:28 AM

When Stories Work

The Five Qualities of Effective Advocacy Stories

When Stories Work

1. Effective advocacy stories are focused.

The more tightly you link your story to goals and key messages, the more successful your advocacy.

Messages like: We transform the lives of people.

We are called to serve our neighbors.

When Stories Work

1. Effective advocacy stories are focused. “I was advocating for parents of kids with severe allergies. I was also advocating for my son, Jack. I needed other parents to know that the safety of all children is of paramount importance, that their cooperation is necessary and appreciated.”

Theresa Mom of son with severe allergies

When Stories Work

2. Effective advocacy stories are positively charged.

Advocacy stories point to a positive change that is needed and possible.

Question:

What is the positive change, the better world your story points toward?

When Stories Work

2. Effective advocacy stories are positively charged.

“How do I tell my story in a way that leaves the listener hearing a positive message of triumph rather than a story of victimization?” “Three years ago I was living in a van in a Walmart parking lot. And today I’m speaking at TED. Hope always, always, finds a way.”

Becky Advocate for the homeless

When Stories Work

3. Effective advocacy stories are crafted.

We’re all born storytellers. We may not all be practiced storytellers.

Fundamental Story Skills:

Editing. Telling facts and feelings. Evocative language.

When Stories Work

3. Effective advocacy stories are crafted.

“Jerry cans are the iPods of Africa. Every child has one.”

Scott Founder, charity:water

When Stories Work

4. Effective advocacy stories are framed.

Framing refers to the things you say that help your audience receive your story as you intend.

Question:

How do you want your story to be viewed? “This is a story about . . .”

When Stories Work

4. Effective advocacy stories are framed.

“This is not a plea for sympathy. It’s about what we can learn from this.”

Loren Advocate for distracted driving education

When Stories Work

5. Effective advocacy stories are practiced.

Being natural, genuine and confident takes practice. Give yourself time.

When Stories Work

5. Effective advocacy stories are practiced.

“I practice. I practice and practice ad nauseam. And the story will change a little bit and the messages will change depending upon the audience—but I’ve learned to go with the flow.”

Kathy Advocate for WomenHeart

When Stories Work

The Five Qualities of Effective Advocacy Stories

Effective advocacy stories are focused positively charged crafted framed practiced

When Stories Work


•  Q/A

So, what’s your story?

Exploring Our Stories

What’s your reason for: •  speaking out? telling others? •  committing your time and energy? •  standing up?

“Why are you an advocate for your organization?”

How would you answer . . . in just 6 words?

Exploring Our Stories: focusing

Use the 6-Word Reason exercise to: •  jumpstart story discussions •  stay focused on your motivation •  quickly introduce yourself •  headline an interview •  practice being concise


What do I want others to understand? What do I want others to do?

What are the key messages my story can deliver? What is important for this audience?

How can I clearly link my story and the message?


Story Mapping What’s my story?

Story Mapping Exploring Our Stories: focusing

Story Mapping

First Steps

Five important steps we encourageall advocates to take.

owever you enter Living Proof—whether reading from start to finish or by flipping to the most relevant sections—here are five

important steps we encourage all advocates to take as they prepare.

1. Complete The Story Map. The Story Map exercise (page x) provides a foundation to which we’ll return occasionally. It is particularly useful if you are just starting out and deciding what to tell. And if you’re already working as an advocate or spokesperson, this exercise can clarify, reveal new stories to explore, or provide a different way of approaching your stories. The Story Map allows you to spend as little or as much time with it as you’d like.

H

LivingProofTextDesign1.indd 22-23 7/2/11 3:44 PM

audience goal message


Kathy Lauren


Story Mapping

Use Story Mapping exercise to: •  decide what to tell / what not to tell •  make clear links to advocacy messages •  focus


wordle.net

Exploring Our Stories: Pin the Tale on the Mission Where do you enter with your story? What word or phrase resonates with you? Can you share a story that is proof of the importance?

Use the Pin the Tale exercise to: •  draw out less obvious stories •  uncover personal connections •  unify communities around causes



•  Q/A

1. Look for stories around—and within.

Best Practices: story-valuing cultures

your mission

There are big powerful stories. There are small powerful moments.

There’s a potential audience for every story.

Stories encourage stories.

Make opportunities a proactive part of your culture, not reactive.


Create environments that encourage stories.

2. Create a story-valuing culture.

Make specific invitations vs. “casting the net.”

Be clear in intent and respectful of storytellers.

safe valued relevant respected heard

Ask for the story you’d want to hear: •  What happened then? •  How did that feel?


3. Practice story-listening skills.

Listen strategically. •  Who should hear this story? •  What does that story demonstrate or

prove?


1.  Look for stories around—and within. 2.  Create a story-valuing culture. 3.  Practice story-listening skills.

Closing thoughts

“What goes on at the growing edges of life is seldom written down at the time. It is lived from day to day in talk. In scraps of comment on the margins of someone else’s manuscript, in words spoken on a street corner . . .” Margaret Mead

“…attack it in the beginning the way a puppy attacks an old shoe. Shake it, snarl at it, sneak up on it from various angles…”

Shirley Jackson

Additional resources

StoryCorps.org

Sixwordmemoirs.com

Ourstory.com Storybasedstrategy.org

Additional resources

•  Blog: www.LivingProofAdvocacy.com •  Facebook: LivingProof.TellingYourStory •  Twitter: @LivProof #storyadvocacy

LIVING PROOF Telling Your Story to Make a Difference Essential Skills for Advocates and Spokespersons

$21.95 $15.00

Contact: [email protected] Mention “LSA Webinar” to receive the discount.

Connecting Powerfully through Storytelling John Capecci

communications @CapecciCom #storyadvocacy

Contact: [email protected] Mention “LSA Webinar” to receive the discount.

connecting powerfully through storytelling · we’re all born storytellers. we may not all be...

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