It was day 2 of the ci2011 Global Conference in Melbourne. We had just presented our masterclass on storytelling the day before with some pretty positive feedback.
I was excited about what the next 2 days had in store for us with some of Australia’s and the worlds leading experts in their field.
One of the opening speakers was Professor Allan Fels AO and his words were music to my ears.
Professor Fels started talking about the power of storytelling and that “as humans we are hardwired to tell stories and hardwired to listen to stories”.
He said “70% of what we learn is through stories” and that “storytelling is essential for innovation“. I withheld my urge to run up on stage and kiss the man …JUST!
But let’s look at Professor Fels two statements and why they ring so true.
“70% of what we learn is through stories”- Think of the last presentation you went to, or conference. Was it the stories you remember? Stories are how we make sense of the world, it is how we learn and it is what we remember. Stories have the ability to not only help people understand what we are saying but they also allow people to remember what we have said and retell others without losing its meaning. These are the three universal challenges as leaders, as teachers, as presenters and even as parents.
Do they understand what I am saying?
Will they remember what I am saying?
Can they share what I have said with others?
Stories will help you achieve traction on all those three challenges.
“Storytelling is essentional for innovation” – During the conference we heard many views on what is essential for innovation, such as diversity, collaboration and culture of risk taking …and these are all important. But once we have that culture of risk taking and once we have brought together a diverse group of minds in a collaborative environment it is the stories that are shared that will generate real innovation. Why? Because stories of what is possible sparks other stories of what is possible. When people hear stories, they suspend judgement and stories when done right provide a glimpse of future possibilities and opportunities.
So thank you Professor Allan Fels for showing us the power of storytelling so succinctly.
9 Comments »
Great article, I’m so pleased that others get to go to events that we can’t make and bring back such wonderful snippets of wisdom.
Its also worth remembering those 3 universal challenges ring true for everything that we write or say in our professional and personal lives as a story or otherwise.
And even this story that you have brought back from the conference has inspired me with ideas for some future innovations and possibilities in my business.
Thank you
Helen Dean
Thanks Helen so much for your wonderful comments and feedback. We so often write posts thinking they are interesting to us and hoping others find them of value …but you never know. So thank you for letting us know and we have a few more posts from the ci2011 conference offering our insights and learnings, that we will publish over the next couple of weeks.
And you are so right, regardless of whether you are using a story or not or regardless of who you are trying to deliver your message to (your kids, your students, employees or customers). Those three challenges of the do they understand it, will they remember it and can they retell it, ring true.
Gabrielle
42% of all statistics is made up. Without a link to a research this post is simply a ‘reference to authority’ manipulation. Excitement of the author was not enough to find the paper professor Fels was referring to?
Thanks Alex and yes your right statistics are often incorrect and quoted to suit the purpose. I guess my main point is that regardless if the number is 70% or 50% or less or more, stories are a significant way that humans learn, so it is important to use them. I will however contact Alan Fels and try and see if I can track down any papers he has on where the statistics were quoted.
Gabrielle
Like so many articles on organisational storytelling or storytelling in business, I am being told that storytelling works. As a storyteller, I have no doubts about that; however, is it not possible to show how storytelling works in an organisational or business context. I realise you probably show this in a workshop, but for those of us who live halfway around the world and cannot attend, is it not possible to show me how organisational storytelling works in a real-life scenario. Even the Ericsson Case Study tells more than it shows.
Michael,
Thanks for your comment and yes the Ericsson case study is there to show the results of storytelling in organisations as opposed to the actual stories. The best place to look for examples of how stories are used in organisations is our Blog section under Examples of Stories.
For example, this one about a business leader used a story about hating Brussels sprouts as a kid to increase sales http://www.onethousandandone.com.au/latest-posts/what-is-business-storytelling-the-results/
Or this one about a leader who related a Bruce Springsteen concert to help improve customer service http://www.onethousandandone.com.au/latest-posts/bruce-springsteen-and-customer-service/
For more follow this link.
http://www.onethousandandone.com.au/blog/case-studies/
Hope this helps.
Gabrielle
I found you through scoop.it, and this was the story that was highlighted. I wish I could go to things like this, I often go to conferences for work and storytelling has been the format of most if not all presenters I’ve come across. It is a wonderful medium that connects to everyone. It is like he says, essential for innovation – innovation of the mind, which is where everything in our world is rooted. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Jojo for the feedback we really appreciate it. Would you be able to advise of the scoop it link. I cant find the reference.
It’s great to be reminded about using stories for presentations.
I used your storytelling and presentation techniques during a recent speaking engagement in Sydney (eLearning Congress) and was surprised with the feedback. Engagement was high and the audience did not feel lost in the process. In a way they felt our stories matched either where they are, where they were and where they were going or want to be heading as a company.
There was another presenter who made himself memorable with his story about his lost Canon camera and how he found it through social networking.
I also used it to overhaul how we deliver training especially online. Instead of throwing in ‘information’ and ‘data’, I would take the participants on a journey of their day-to-day work activity and incorporate where data should go. In a way it is a journey, a story of themselves. Once again feedback through our survey of participants showed that it was a step in the right direction with training.
Stats and research is one thing when presenting cases but there is no measure to successfully engaging an audience and getting the point across.
Thank you Gabrielle and Yamini.
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