12 Questions to Sharpen Your Stories 1. What changes in the course

12 Questions to Sharpen Your Stories 1. What changes in the course of the story? What questions get answered? • Show us something or someone at the top that changes by the end and/or raise a question (or questions) that gets answered in the course of the story. 2. Who’s the protagonist? • Stories need someone – better an individual than a group -- to drive the action. • Provide description or background that presents a flesh and blood human being. 3. Have you created a world? • People instinctively want to know who, where, when, what, why. • Supply a little description up front fixing the story in time and space. 4. What’s the hook? • Open the story in a place or moment where the audience can identify with the situation or the protagonist’s goal. 5. What keeps it interesting? • Predictable stories are boring. If your story lacks obstacles, what can you do to make the straight-line pursuit more interesting?

6. Where’s the conflict? • There is no drama and little comedy without conflict. It helps to have clearly defined heroes and villains with different notions of how the story should end. 7. Do you have telling details? • A single telling detail can replace a paragraph of description by vividly and concisely painting a picture of the world you’re describing. 8. Have you created scenes to bring the characters and the story to life? • Ingredients: time, place, circumstances, characters, action, and dialogue 9. Are you tapping emotion? • An audience subconsciously enters into a contract with the storyteller: They want an emotional experience that makes the time worthwhile. 10. Is the meaning clear? • If not, how can you make it more explicit without “spoon-feeding” the audience? 11. Are you showing rather than telling? • Show what is happening. Don’t tell about it from a “safe distance.” • Don’t’ let important action happen “off-screen.” 12. Are you speaking in the language of the audience?

TERRENCE McNALLY

C:310-486-3691 / H: 310-476-4999 [email protected] / terrencemcnally.net

Resources for Further Learning Storytelling as Best Practice by Andy Goodman, available at agoodmanonline.com The Triumph of Narrative by Robert Fulford The Story Factor; Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with Power and Impact both by Annette Simmons Storytelling in Organizations by Yiannis Gabriel Storytelling For Grantseekers: The Guide to Creative Nonprofit Fundraising by Cheryl A. Clarke What's Your Story? Storytelling to Move Markets, Audiences, People, and Brands by Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker The Elements of Persuasion: Use Storytelling to Pitch Better, Sell Faster & Win More Business by Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World by Seth Godin Screenwriting Story: Substance, Structure, Style & Principles of Screenwriting By Robert McKee Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting; A step-by-step guide from concept to finished script by Syd Field Emphasis on (Slide) Presentations Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes by Andy Goodman Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire by Cliff Atkinson

TERRENCE McNALLY C:310-486-3691 / H: 310-476-4999

[email protected] / terrencemcnally.net

TIPS ON MESSAGE by Terrence McNally. McNally:Message Matters

Preparation Questions 1. Ask questions about your target audience • Who is your target audience? (can be one person or many) • What does your target audience believe that supports your objectives? • What does your target audience believe that creates barriers to your objectives? • Where does the target audience get information about your issue? • What – approach, style, examples, stories, data, metaphors, etc. -- will make your target audience most ready to help you attain your objectives? 2. Ask yourself questions about yourself -- about your purpose, your goals, your personal connection to your message and your call to action, etc. 3. Ask yourself any questions you think your audience might have – about you, your credibility, your motivation, about your organization, its capacity, etc. Your presentation should take these into account and answer them whenever possible. 4. Finally ask yourself questions about the elements of your presentation. What is your strongest information, most convincing data, most compelling stories, etc. Be Clear 1. Emphasize your most important ideas and messages. If you fail to define what you want your audience to know, they won't do it for you. 2. Minimize your secondary ideas and messages. You want your audience to recognize, retain, and respond to your key messages. You don't want to distract them with extraneous information. 3. Eliminate everything else. Anything that doesn’t explain or support your key messages tends to obscure them. Be Concise Your presentation (spoken or written) should be: 1. As long as necessary Long enough to communicate all the key ideas and messages you identified in preparation. 2. As short as possible All unnecessary words tend to reduce clarity. Be Relevant In your preparation and your presentation, address your audience’s experience and their needs.

http://aworldthatjustmightwork.com/

Be Specific, Strategic and Provocative Communicate your organization’s unique strengths and its capacity to make a difference. Communicate the urgency of your challenge as well as your need for support. Ask and answer questions that your audience might be thinking. Raising questions and answering them attracts the audience’s attention and can give your presentation a dynamic momentum. Be Personal Speak from your heart. Share ideas and messages that matter to you – and let us know why they do. In addition to ideas, facts, and data, whenever possible, populate your presentation with flesh and blood characters. Tell Compelling Stories Stories are a unique resource you can use to build credibility with new audiences, and to deepen engagement and trust with those already on board. Humans are hard-wired to respond to narrative. Until the invention of writing, story is how we remembered enough to survive. Anthropologists have found societies that have existed for millennia without the wheel, but they’ve never found a society that doesn’t tell stories. Share Convincing Data Data is crucial in presenting your challenges, tracking your accomplishments, and demonstrating your value. If you come up with a great piece of data, I recommend you find a compelling human story to illustrate it. And if you learn about a great story in one of your libraries or programs, I recommend you link that story to a great piece of data, to demonstrate that it’s not just an isolated “feel good” anecdote. Offer Clear Calls to Action Since you communicate in order to make things happen, whenever possible add a third element. Link a story and a piece of data to a call to action. When your purpose is advocacy, link story and data to a policy recommendation. When it’s fundraising, link story and data to your “ask.” Deliver Powerful “Story Packages.” Story Package: A compelling story plus a great piece of data plus a clear call to action – told so that the connections between them are clear and motivating. Write the Way You Speak Before writing your presentation – whether your will ultimately present it verbally or in writing – tell it to someone else. Connect with the authentic and natural ways you express yourself in conversation before putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. When possible, use words and images your audience can picture in their mind’s eyes.

TIPS ON PRESENTATION by Terrence McNally. McNally:Message Matters

You know what works. Recall the best presenters or presentations you’ve ever seen… When it works, why does it work? Can you put it into words? Can you put it into practice? Be Yourself. Be prepared. Be in the room and in your body. Breathe. Be in the present. Throw your attention off of yourself and onto your audience. Say what you need to say. Express your excitement, energy, and passion. Communicate who you are as well as what you have to say. Seeing Is Believing See the things around you…and they will help you avoid self-consciousness. See the things you talk about.... and your audience will see them with you. A Presentation is a Conversation. “Listen” to your audience (whether one person or many). Watch their faces, their eyes, their body language. Invite them to engage with you emotionally as well as intellectually. Practice. Prepare. Rehearse as much as you need to. Rehearse aloud. Rehearse in the mirror, on audio, on video. Rehearse in front of others. Feedback: Pay Attention to Others We’re freer to learn while watching others, than while watching ourselves. Ask yourself these questions when watching others present. • Do you interest me? • Do I believe you? • Do you entertain me? • Do I like how you make me feel? • Do I like you? • Do I trust you? • Do I value what you say? • Will I remember what you say? For each question…Once you’ve answered “yes” or “no”, then ask “Why? Why not?” In offering feedback, translate your experiences or feelings into information and examples the speaker can put into practice.

http://aworldthatjustmightwork.com/

Terrence McNally

McNally:MessageMatters

terrencemcnally.net

aworldthatjustmightwork.com

[email protected]

2580 Roscomare Rd LA CA 90077

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF STORYAND NARRATIVE

We Are Our Stories

City Managers oversee the operations and finances of cities, supervising the day-to-day operations of all city departments and staff.

They act as liaisons between the residents and the government,

meeting with citizens, and local businesses alike.

Share compelling stories.

Why is the work of cities and city managers important?

How can storytelling and narrative strengthen

your work?

Tell compelling stories.

Credibility

Engagement

Trust

Can you recall a time when you heard or read a story

that communicated the true value of a city’s operations

or a city manager?

Share convincing data.

Challenges

Value

Accomplishments

Story Package

Story

+ Data

+ Call to Action

Story Package

Powerful Story

+ Clear Call to Action

+ Great Piece of Data

Close Up

The ultimate purpose of every communication is to inspire a specific individual to take a specific action.

The ultimate goal is that the sum of specific individual actions adds up to great positive impact.

City managers have great stories to tell.

Your city and your team and staff play a vital role

in important stories.

Friends of the Children (Friends) is an intervention program for the most vulnerable children living in seriously high-risk

environments

• Avoid involvement in criminal justice system

• Avoid early parenting

• Graduate from high school with a plan for the future

Outcomes for children

• Most vulnerable children are selected based on research-based risk factors

• Children receive early intervention starting in kindergarten or first grade and long-term mentoring and support continuing through high school graduation

• Children spend one-on-one quality time with a “Friend” who is a full-time, carefully selected, and trained professional

• Children are offered comprehensive services to meet their academic, social, emotional, and physical needs

Service model

• Teachers, Firefighters, and Friends*—Friends will become part of the “social fabric”of our communities; helping our nation’s most vulnerable children develop the relationships, goals, and skills necessary to break the cycles of poverty, abuse, and violence and become contributing members of their community

Vision

Friends’ unique program is specifically designed to identify and support our nation’s most vulnerable children

Identify the most vulnerable children early…

• Proactive child selection process

–Research shows that early risk factors can identify young children most likely to fall victim to later serious negative outcomes

–Friends works with schools in high-poverty areas to select children based on risk factors and then conducts extensive outreach to families to enroll children

• Early intervention

–Children enter by the end of first grade

…and provide them with a supportive,

qualified adult

• Supportive, qualified adult

–Professional Friends

• Full time, paid employees

• College educated

• Are experience and talented working with high-risk youth

–Selected through rigorous hiring process

–Receive extensive initial and ongoing training

–Are highly supported and supervised by program staff

… and holistic services over a sustained period

of time

• Holistic approach

–Friends develop quality one-on-one relationship with child

• Meet with each child 8 times for 16 hours/month

• Develop and update individualized goal plan for child

• Engage in community service and other activities

–Friends and program staff work to support each child’s academic, physical, emotional, social, and mental health needs

92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02

1 1 12 2 2

3

5

9

11

0.0

2.5

5.0

7.5

10.0

12.5

Number of sites

Numberof childrenserved 24 124 137 153 168 232 253 304 523 644

Source: Friends of the Children

Portland opened

Washington DC opened

Chester opened

National office, Klamath Falls and Seattle opened

Cincinnati, New York City, San Francisco, Wilmington opened

Demonstrated potential of the unique service model sparked interest across the country and led to the creation of the national network

Oregon Initiative (Salem & Eugene) opened

To start the business planning process, Friends developed a comprehensive Theory of Change for the network

Helping our most vulnerable children living in seriously high-risk environments develop the relationships, goals, skills, and resources necessary to thrive.

4.…needed to successfully implement these strategies

5.…to produce these outcomes among children and youth

Qualified and Effective Personnelwith Expertise in: Management Business/strategy planning

Program Development and QualityAssurance Management of quality, including

database and reporting system Curriculum development for child

and adolescent programming Training of supervisors and child

serving staff Evaluation management Developing and maintaining

collaborative partnerships

Infrastructure/Operations Financial and HR systems, including

hiring practices IT

Financial Sustainability/Development Fundraising with national and local

major donors Developing/testing fundraising

strategies including new products Marketing and Public Relations Grant writing (government and

foundations) Government Relations (lobbying) Developing and maintaining

corporate Partnerships

Board Members with Commitment to Friends of the

Children National connections (corporate,

foundations, individuals) Expertise in a substantive area

(finance, law, public relations, national organizations)

Willingness to help with fundraising

Budget to support personnel

Program Development Lead efforts to refine the program Provide assistance in addressing ad

hoc program questions

Quality Assurance Establish standards and best

practices for chapters; Review outcome data for children

and assist chapters in using data to improve program

Assist chapters in selecting and retaining both children and Friends

Provide curriculum and training for Friends, supervisors, Executive Directors

Conduct site visits, provide coaching Assist chapters in identifying gaps;

suggest strategies for addressing gaps

Infrastructure/Operations Provide support for hiring qualified

and effective Executive Directors Establish standards for accounting,

HR, and insurance; provide templates and free/fee-based support for implementation

Assist in Board development (clarify roles, orientation, training, support)

Implement regular processes to share information/lessons learned through intranet, conference calls, meetings

Establish database system including forms, software, hardware;

Financial Sustainability/Development Coordinate donor prospects Provide marketing/PR strategy and

selected products, materials (like sponsorship); train chapters

Provide case statement, framework and assist chapters in developing strategic plans including growth and development plans; Board, ED training

National Evaluation Provide leadership in seeking funds

for and in managing program research, longitudinal evaluation study

Dissemination of evaluation results

High Quality Friends High quality Friends who remain in relationship for a

minimum of four years with a monthly minimum of 6-8 contacts of 16 hours with each child

Friends with an associates degree or more (preferred); a minimum of two years direct experience with children living in seriously high-risk environments; safe driving record

Friends who work with no more than 8 children

Selection of Vulnerable Children Living in High RiskEnvironments Children served by each chapter meet specified

screening criteria (see risk and protective factors chart)

Children identified by the end of the first grade

Children selected in collaboration with credible and supportive community organizations

A working relationship with child’s parents or guardians

High Quality Program Resources and Support, Directly

or through Partnerships A safe space for Friends and children Educational support services Physical, emotional and social services Caregiver support for basic needs and appropriate

interventions when necessary for child’s progress A strong working partnership with schools A commitment to program children through high

school and as they move within the service area

Financial Sustainability/Development Personnel with development expertise Engaged and effective board Sound and active development plan, including local

major donors Sound and active marketing and PR plan

Adherence to national branding standards Diversified funding base In-kind and volunteer resources

An enduring high-quality relationship

for each child with a professional paid) mentor (the Friend)• One-on-one long-term positive

relationship• Individualized plans for success

for each child• Review progress semi- annually

Friends who have the knowledge, experience, and ability to provide

skill building and/or resources for:• Social development• Emotional development, including

anger management• Academic development• Problem solving/making positive

choices• Appreciation of own culture and

cultures of others• Skills that build towards

independent living (i.e. hygiene, nutrition, time management, social courtesies, budgeting)

• Development of individual talents and interests

• Participation in meaningful and quality extracurricular activities and community service.

Program resources and support, directly or through partnerships, in the following areas of need:• Services for children, including

physical, emotional and educational support, community service activities, special talent opportunities

• Services for caregivers, including referral to social services

• A safe space for Friends and children to gather

IntermediateSocial and EmotionalDevelopment• Strong relationships with adults,

peers, and community• Improved mental and emotional

health

Making Good Choices• Reduced aggression and problem

behaviors• Avoidance of substance abuse

School Success• Academic performance and progress

(attendance, appropriate classroom behavior, progression in reading/math/ computer literacy and promotion)

Other• Improved health care (both physical

and mental including reproductive when appropriate)

• Plan and skills for the future (post high school)

Long-term• Avoid Involvement in the

Criminal Justice System • Avoid Early Parenting• Succeed in School with a

minimum of a high school diploma (1st choice) or GED

2…..to provide these activities and services

1. National Friends needs these resources

3….so that chapters have these elements


What You Do Is Important


Sharing What You Do Is Important

Think of a story.

• What is your purpose? What effect do you want to have?

• Bonus: What piece of data will you link it to?

• Where can a story help you accomplish a goal at work?

• Who is your target audience?

• Bonus: What call to action will you link it to?

Can you recall a time when you heard or read a story

that made a city or its management come to life?

Why is narrative so powerful?

How do you build a story culture?

What makes a good story?

What do you think…Why is story powerful?

"We are storytelling animals. We are the only creature on the earth that tells itself stories in order to understand… what its life means. Therefore the story is of unusual importance to us, whether we are writers or not. It is something unusually important to human nature.”

Salman Rushdie



A culture is the set of stories a group agrees on.

"We live in a sea of stories, and like the fish …will be the last to discover water.”

-- Jerome Bruner, The Culture of Education

CULTURE

“To be in a viable culture is to be bound in a set of connecting stories...”

-- Jerome Bruner, Acts of Meaning


We are the stories we tell to others and to ourselves.

IDENTITY

“We tell stories to describe ourselves not only so others can understand who we are but also so we can understand ourselves. Telling our stories allows us to compile our personal mythology, and the collection of stories we have compiled is to some extent who we are….”-- Roger Schank, Tell Me a Story: Narrative & Intelligence

“Stories are basic to human memory process. The mind establishes a story line, with the memory of one event triggering the memory of the next.”


MEMORY

Stories are how we remembered enough to survive.

“Facts don’t have the power to change someone’s story.

Your goal is to introduce a new story that will let your facts in.”


FRAMING

Can you think of another case where one side

has defined the frame to their advantage?

Doesn’t have to be politics. It can be used in all sorts of marketing.

Apple, perhaps?

HISTORY

“”the primate who tells stories…”-- Stephen Jay Gould


“The first sign that a baby is going to be a human being and not a noisy pet comes when he starts naming the world and demanding the stories that connect its parts.”

Scientific American • October 1994





GOAL

RESOLUTION


INCITING INCIDENT

OBSTACLE

OBSTACLE

OBSTACLE

ACT I ACT II ACT III

PROTAGONIST

Is this a good story?

Is there at least one flesh and blood character?

Are there scenes? …with dialogue?

Does something change? Does a question get answered?

Have you ever told a story that made your city’s

management come to life?

What happened?


Concise but colorful.

“A detail should be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched… [and] the detail must matter.” -- Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction

QUALITIES

Use telling details.


Readers experience action as if in real time.

We must stay until the end to learn what happens (and what it means.) The opposite of journalism.

QUALITIES

As we listen or read, we feel we are inside the scenes.

STORYTELLING

Journalism

Storytelling


Characters speak to each other – not to an unseen audience -- and talk like real people.

You’ll tell your best stories to different audiences. Tell them in the language of your audience.

LANGUAGE


“When you engage people's emotions, even just a little bit, you stand a better chance of them paying attention and remembering your point…”

– Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen

“People are not inspired to act by reason alone. …A much more powerful way to persuade people is by uniting an idea with an emotion. The best way to do that is by telling a compelling story”

-- Robert McKee in Harvard Business Review

EMOTION


“You can’t just have an anecdote. It’s got to mean something.”

-- Ira Glass, This American Life

MEANING

Your story should have a crystal clear moral, a lesson, a message, a call to action.

Stories connect.Stories invite us in.Stories express and

evoke emotion. Stories touch us -- both teller

and listener.Stories remind us of

our own stories.Stories build

relationships and trust.


Identify them.

Collect them.

Craft them.

Share them.

Make sure people know them by heart.

CORE STORIES


• The challenge we face story

• Our founding story

• Emblematic success/performance stories

• Lessons learned stories

• “What if…?” stories

CORE STORIES

What stories can you tell?


Story banks

“Share your story”

Story workshops

Story retreats

CORE STORIES

Collect them at public events.

Search your PR files.

Ask for them from your staff.

Ask for them from your citizens/clients/customers.

Possibly make alliances with media and schools.

Collecting Stories

FPL Story Bank - Frisco TXPhase 1:

At least one story per week from staff on her team.

For a limited time – April to August.

Symbolic incentives:one $5 gift card per week

Support. Time. Props.

FPL Story Bank - Frisco TX

Story Bank Library Exhibit

Gala up 45%

Rancho Golf Classic up 63%

Foundation holiday appeal up 133%


Story banks

“Share your story”

Story workshops

Story retreats

CORE STORIES

Michigan Healthy Schools Success Story Website




Hour 1

Presentation and Q&A

Hours 2 & 3

Write stories with one-on-one coaching

Hour 4

Participant storytelling with feedback

Storywriting Workshop



How else could you build a story culture??

Questions and Comments

What about when you can’t tell complete stories?

The point is not simply to tell stories. The point is to engage, inform, persuade, motivate, inspire, etc.

Go for engagement and vitality, not just with stories, but with everything you say.

What if you are removed from the stories?

Create story communication channels.

Incentivize and reward those who notice, share, collect, and deliver stories.

Demonstrate the value of stories by putting them to use.

All your individual stories should reinforce one

consistent larger narrative.

All your stories should communicate

an experience of who you are.

Taking story home with youPutting story to work

What are you going to take away?

What are you going to do yourself? By when?

What are you going to share with your staff? How?

Share among each other at your table.

I’m going to do this…

I’m going to share this…

If you remember and act on nothing else…

2. Story + Data + Call to Action =Ideal Communication for Impact.

1. Story and narrative are uniquely powerful tools for connection and engagement.

3. Proactively collect and develop a tapestryof customized stories within stories.

4. Actively use story and narrative in your work.

Terrence McNally

McNally:MessageMatters

terrencemcnally.net

aworldthatjustmightwork.com

[email protected]

2580 Roscomare Rd LA CA 90077

Sharing Stories

1. Choose a story (and, if possible, a piece of data, and a call to action).

2. Jot down a few key points.

3. Pick a partner.

4. Partner #1 share your story.

5. Partner #2 share your story.

6. Chat together a bit about your experience.

8 Questions to Guide Your Storytelling

1. Who’s the protagonist?

2. Have you created a world?

3. Where’s the conflict? What keeps it interesting?

4. Have you created scenes to bring the characters and the story to life?

5. Have you spoken in your audience’s language and included telling details?

6. What changes? What questions get answered?

7. Have you tapped emotion?

8. Is the meaning clear?

Documents

12 Questions to Sharpen Your Stories 1. What changes in the course