AWNM : Story!

Story time!
Yay!

It doesn't surprise me at all that more and more companies are turning to stories and narrative to convey information. I think that the whole idea of narrative can be simplified to the idea that people need to be talked to, not talked at.

Information can be hard to process; People don't retain information when they're bored, or can't see a use for the information later. You have to make people interested in what you're trying to tell/teach them, or at least THINK they're interested in it. If people feel that they're being talked to, involved, respected, etc., then they'll be much more awake and perceptive, and will retain much more of what they need to know. It's much easier to pay attention to a conversation when you fell that you're a part of it, rather then just a bystander. Its easier to listen to a lecture when you can relate to the content.

I think that the ideas behind the concept of "story" might be one of the reasons some people enjoyed my presentation about "Improv Everywhere." I have public speaking experience (museum tour guide), and I tried to do my presentation like a conversation more then a lecture. Sometimes small things like tone of voice, intonation, and tone can make a big difference. (If AWNM is all about right-brain activities, then tone, intonation, etc. should be very important, since those would all be right-brain ideas (they're interpretation of whats said, a function of the right half of the brain.)