Business communicators can learn from novelists and their storytelling techniques. I’ve always been partial to the Kurt Vonnegut advice: “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them – in order that the reader may see what they are made of.” It’s never easy for a …more
As a student of business writing, I don’t turn to obituaries for inspiration (probably a good thing). The typical obit adheres to a formula that goes something like this: He or she passed away Source of fame Key achievements Surviving family There’s a reason that newspapers assign the “obit beat” to newly hired college grads. …more
Your title might be PR manager, keeper of the blog, content developer or the classic copywriter. It doesn’t matter. All of us need to get the visual storytelling religion. The increasing amount of information accessed on mobile means shortened attention spans. And people want an entertainment dimension to their information, even in the business sphere …more
Conducting our storytelling workshops never gets old. It’s energizing to help the workshop participants connect the dots to a simple premise: Given a choice between “interesting” and “dull,” human beings pick “interesting” virtually every time. I have to use the adverb “virtually” allowing for the individual who sports a “math is fun” button. Similar to …more
When I started this blog almost 10 years ago, it was to be an industry resource, to offer perspectives on issues that those in the business of communications care about. Toward this end, I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid writing about the Agency. At last count, fewer than 10 percent of the posts addressed …more
It’s not enough that Warren Buffett has become one of the richest men in the world. He’s also a world-class storyteller. If it’s any consolation, he seems to struggle with this Twitter thing, flinging out nine missives since 2013. . Stumbling across Buffett’s Wikipedia profile, which happens to include a citation from one of …more
Business communicators can take lessons away from all forms of storytelling. One of my favorite go-to exercises for our storytelling workshop leans on the movie, “500 Days of Summer.” A voice with James Earl Jones-like command delivers a narration that sets the stage for the movie and what proved to be Zooey Deschanel’s coming out …more
Communicators have recognized for some time that people, otherwise known as the target audience, increasingly turn to mobile devices to access content. How has this phenomenon impacted the PR profession? In a word, notmuch. As long as our coveted media targets did their part to ensure their stories were mobile-friendly, we figured our bases were …more
After conducting our storytelling workshop over the years, a certain theme has emerged. By the close of the workshop, participants buy into the concepts. They then jump back into their jobs with renewed determination to communicate with conversational language and a show-don’t-tell attitude only to run into that visible force called stakeholder approval. We continually …more
