During a rapid-fire story session at a conference in Wenatchee, a board member shared a story about healing. In her first telling of the story, she talked about four characters: the…
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The other day I facilitated a board retreat with one of my favorite advocacy groups. During introductions, I asked each person to share something that would make their eyes roll during…
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Watch, then we klatch. Spoilers ahead…so this is a commercial for sweaters and now YOU WANT ONE FOR THE HOLIDAYS, RIIIIIGHTTTT? This is an ad. Consumers are usually the beneficiaries in…
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We watch and then we klatch. If you give your listener a cliffhanger, she can’t stop right there—er, she can’t let go. She HAS to hear the end of the story. This sequence…
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Sometimes it helps to see what not to do. Workshop participants often want examples of great stories but in a perfect world, they would have great and not so great examples…
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My kid saw an Elmo toothbrush at the grocery store the other day and insisted I buy it. He already had a toothbrush at home but it never fired him up…
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This ad is a good example of an organization showing how it can change your life without ever talking about the mechanics of what it does. Please watch this story and then go through…
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Oh, jargon. All dressed up and trying to get invited to every little shindig. That fancy institutional lingo, so cozy in your messaging, sucks the blood out of your stories. Jargon stamps…
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Are you allergic to cats? Babies? Do you like stories about ’em anyway? Then you oughtta know that during a recent webinar, organized by the wonderful organization Washington Nonprofits, I asked the participants to name a…
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How about this year we all commit to owning our awesomeness in our stories? I just read a mediocre story on a respected nonprofit’s site. A story that had so much potential but…