This document discusses how context is important for content to be successful. It describes how a famous violinist, Joshua Bell, was largely ignored when he performed anonymously during rush hour at a Washington D.C. metro station, despite usually commanding $1,000 per minute for concerts. The document suggests content producers consider whether their content is truly exceptional and how it may fare in a noisy environment without the right context or audience. It provides ideas for how Bell could have gotten a better response, such as researching the audience beforehand, collaborating with local businesses, targeting a venue known for buskers, and inviting an audience. The key message is that context is crucial for content to survive and be appreciated.
Business Storytelling by Cynthia Hartwig of Two PensCynthia Hartwig
Anyone familiar with the Bible and Aesop’s fables already knows that stories are the oldest persuasive tool since the dawn of time. And now everybody from the The Wall Street Journal to LinkedIn is saying that storytelling will be the number one business skill needed in the next five years. That’s why you should run, don’t walk, to see the hands-on business storytelling workshop with Cynthia Hartwig, fiction writer and co-founder of Two Pens.
Over the course of her career in advertising and social media, Cynthia Hartwig has honed the act of telling stories into a fun and practical art. She’ll lead you in a series of practice-makes-perfect exercises that will help you to persuade, excite, sell and sway people to your point of view.
You’ll see how stories can be used in all kinds of business settings to communicate and connect with employees, customers, colleagues, partners, suppliers, and the media.
You’ll learn the mechanics of telling a story with a beginning that hooks you, to a middle that builds tension, to a satisfying end.
You’ll learn how to weave rich information (even numbers) with personal insights and emotional power and then experience the thrill of having an audience remember what you’ve said. Many writing exercises are included to help you tap into the mind’s unique hard-wiring that can create a story out of almost any experience.
Ever wonder how people like Ellen DeGeneres, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Tony Robbins are able to present so eloquently, personably, and easily?
We've picked out six master presenters and broken down their best presentations to solve the riddles of what makes their technique and style so masterful.
Technology has leveled the communications playing field. Brands no longer dominate mass media, because the masses are the media. Smart companies have evolved from promoters of stuff to publishers of meaningful content. And the really smart ones use the irresistibility of solid storytelling to be heard in our noisy world and move people to action. Isn’t it ironic that technological advancements have provided us all with a global voice, and yet it is the ancient and proven power of storytelling that still connects us to one another? So why aren’t more businesses using story to their advantage? You can, and I’ll show you how. Join Park Howell, host of the widely acclaimed Business of Story podcast and President & Founder at Park&Co in this interactive business storytelling workshop, to learn how to unleash the power of storytelling to drive results for your business.
The Pixel Lab 2015 | Designing the new narratives - Adam Sigel power to the pixel
In the rapidly changing landscape between technology, art and entertainment, storytellers must begin to apply new strategies to integrate their narratives across an increasingly complex system. This lecture will better define key areas in narrative design such as story engine, user engagement, socialisation and immersion. It will lay out basic principles and challenges in creating these new narrative experiences.
Here is a brief look at the work I have produced over the past two years at University. Ranging from assignments, to projects outside of university, including competitions. I have tried to condense each piece into around three slides - I hope you enjoy my work!
Please ask if you would like to see the full papers of each brief, I would be happy to share them with you.
Thanks for looking! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, too.
H :)
Storytelling for Startups - AIRBNB use case, the "king of storytelling"LoudStory
The Airbnb story and how each chapter, from 2007 to 2015, led the founders to create a really compelling brand for their guests and hosts.
Connect to www.loudstory.com for more content on storytelling for startups
My presentation for Shooting People and DCTV on distribution and engaging audiences. A new presentation with some mixed older materials and some very new stuff summarizing how to think about transmedia.
Business Storytelling by Cynthia Hartwig of Two PensCynthia Hartwig
Anyone familiar with the Bible and Aesop’s fables already knows that stories are the oldest persuasive tool since the dawn of time. And now everybody from the The Wall Street Journal to LinkedIn is saying that storytelling will be the number one business skill needed in the next five years. That’s why you should run, don’t walk, to see the hands-on business storytelling workshop with Cynthia Hartwig, fiction writer and co-founder of Two Pens.
Over the course of her career in advertising and social media, Cynthia Hartwig has honed the act of telling stories into a fun and practical art. She’ll lead you in a series of practice-makes-perfect exercises that will help you to persuade, excite, sell and sway people to your point of view.
You’ll see how stories can be used in all kinds of business settings to communicate and connect with employees, customers, colleagues, partners, suppliers, and the media.
You’ll learn the mechanics of telling a story with a beginning that hooks you, to a middle that builds tension, to a satisfying end.
You’ll learn how to weave rich information (even numbers) with personal insights and emotional power and then experience the thrill of having an audience remember what you’ve said. Many writing exercises are included to help you tap into the mind’s unique hard-wiring that can create a story out of almost any experience.
Ever wonder how people like Ellen DeGeneres, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Tony Robbins are able to present so eloquently, personably, and easily?
We've picked out six master presenters and broken down their best presentations to solve the riddles of what makes their technique and style so masterful.
Technology has leveled the communications playing field. Brands no longer dominate mass media, because the masses are the media. Smart companies have evolved from promoters of stuff to publishers of meaningful content. And the really smart ones use the irresistibility of solid storytelling to be heard in our noisy world and move people to action. Isn’t it ironic that technological advancements have provided us all with a global voice, and yet it is the ancient and proven power of storytelling that still connects us to one another? So why aren’t more businesses using story to their advantage? You can, and I’ll show you how. Join Park Howell, host of the widely acclaimed Business of Story podcast and President & Founder at Park&Co in this interactive business storytelling workshop, to learn how to unleash the power of storytelling to drive results for your business.
The Pixel Lab 2015 | Designing the new narratives - Adam Sigel power to the pixel
In the rapidly changing landscape between technology, art and entertainment, storytellers must begin to apply new strategies to integrate their narratives across an increasingly complex system. This lecture will better define key areas in narrative design such as story engine, user engagement, socialisation and immersion. It will lay out basic principles and challenges in creating these new narrative experiences.
Here is a brief look at the work I have produced over the past two years at University. Ranging from assignments, to projects outside of university, including competitions. I have tried to condense each piece into around three slides - I hope you enjoy my work!
Please ask if you would like to see the full papers of each brief, I would be happy to share them with you.
Thanks for looking! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, too.
H :)
Storytelling for Startups - AIRBNB use case, the "king of storytelling"LoudStory
The Airbnb story and how each chapter, from 2007 to 2015, led the founders to create a really compelling brand for their guests and hosts.
Connect to www.loudstory.com for more content on storytelling for startups
My presentation for Shooting People and DCTV on distribution and engaging audiences. A new presentation with some mixed older materials and some very new stuff summarizing how to think about transmedia.
Arts Marketing presented at Simmons College Arts Administration ClassNicholas Peterson
30 minute lecture given to a Senior Level Arts Administration Seminar at Simmons College on April 2, 2012. Topics included: Danny Newman's SUBSCRIBE NOW!, The Marketing Funnel (and how has been re-envisioned) by Brian Haven at Forrester Research, and Chris Sietsma's Content Strategy Post about Bricks & Feathers at ConvinceandConvert.com.
For those of us not ready to add hog butchering and pole dancing to our program calendars: make your library programming more successful by breaking free of perceived limitations in logistics and partnerships, instead of subject matter. Programs that are closely aligned with the library's core services can be wildly successful while building the library's brand and differentiating you from all other community programming.
A talk I gave in Glasgow for BAFTA Scotland at the CCA - for Scottish Students on Screen. The attendees were mainly students graduating from University. This presentation combines a few things from other presentations, but I always upload them so people can follow links, etc. The end of this one is pretty new.
Presentation in which I contributed and moderated discussions and additional audience ideas about marketing ideas that were both creative and got great results. Presenting with me were Julie LaRoche, David Henderson, Alexandra van der Zee, Corinna Graham and Mary Jane Dodge.
The second half of the Atlanta, PushPush weekend seminar was on audience engagement strategies. This includes everything from social media to transmedia and ended with a workshop on planning the distribution and outreach for six local films. I don't know why SlideShare duplicates the word distribution three times.....
Our shared human experiences are the true connection points between our art and our audiences. The opportunity for conversation lies in our willingness to share these stories with each other, utilising the digital tools that are enabling us to do so more easily and more widely than ever before.
In this thought-provoking and practical workshop session, Vicki Allpress Hill will facilitate a discussion about ways that we can invite, curate, create and distribute digital content in the form of text, images, video and audio in order to share our stories, and those of our audiences, opening the way for conversation as a result.
Vicki will draw on her current work in the area of content marketing with arts organisations here and internationally to present examples of the ways artists and arts organisations are now using digital content to generate audience engagement. As part of this session, you will participate in a creative brainstorming session with your peers to unearth the stories that exist within and around your own organisations.
If you are responsible for developing website, social media, video, email, media or publication content in your organisation, and/or your role is focused on audience development and engagement, this session will be of interest to you.
Presentation delivered on January 8, 2015 at the McKnight Foundation - a response and reflection upon the "Like, Link, Share" report authored by Sarah Lutman & commissioned by the Wynecote Foundation. Focus is on strategy, digital strategy, staffing, proactive planning, and the big questions that remain in the cultural heritage sector.
Delivered by Nonsense London's Creative Director Rob Mosley and James Barker, Digital Development Manager at the Elton John AIDS Foundation at the Institute of Funding's National Convention in London on July 7th 2014.
Arts Marketing presented at Simmons College Arts Administration ClassNicholas Peterson
30 minute lecture given to a Senior Level Arts Administration Seminar at Simmons College on April 2, 2012. Topics included: Danny Newman's SUBSCRIBE NOW!, The Marketing Funnel (and how has been re-envisioned) by Brian Haven at Forrester Research, and Chris Sietsma's Content Strategy Post about Bricks & Feathers at ConvinceandConvert.com.
For those of us not ready to add hog butchering and pole dancing to our program calendars: make your library programming more successful by breaking free of perceived limitations in logistics and partnerships, instead of subject matter. Programs that are closely aligned with the library's core services can be wildly successful while building the library's brand and differentiating you from all other community programming.
A talk I gave in Glasgow for BAFTA Scotland at the CCA - for Scottish Students on Screen. The attendees were mainly students graduating from University. This presentation combines a few things from other presentations, but I always upload them so people can follow links, etc. The end of this one is pretty new.
Presentation in which I contributed and moderated discussions and additional audience ideas about marketing ideas that were both creative and got great results. Presenting with me were Julie LaRoche, David Henderson, Alexandra van der Zee, Corinna Graham and Mary Jane Dodge.
The second half of the Atlanta, PushPush weekend seminar was on audience engagement strategies. This includes everything from social media to transmedia and ended with a workshop on planning the distribution and outreach for six local films. I don't know why SlideShare duplicates the word distribution three times.....
Our shared human experiences are the true connection points between our art and our audiences. The opportunity for conversation lies in our willingness to share these stories with each other, utilising the digital tools that are enabling us to do so more easily and more widely than ever before.
In this thought-provoking and practical workshop session, Vicki Allpress Hill will facilitate a discussion about ways that we can invite, curate, create and distribute digital content in the form of text, images, video and audio in order to share our stories, and those of our audiences, opening the way for conversation as a result.
Vicki will draw on her current work in the area of content marketing with arts organisations here and internationally to present examples of the ways artists and arts organisations are now using digital content to generate audience engagement. As part of this session, you will participate in a creative brainstorming session with your peers to unearth the stories that exist within and around your own organisations.
If you are responsible for developing website, social media, video, email, media or publication content in your organisation, and/or your role is focused on audience development and engagement, this session will be of interest to you.
Presentation delivered on January 8, 2015 at the McKnight Foundation - a response and reflection upon the "Like, Link, Share" report authored by Sarah Lutman & commissioned by the Wynecote Foundation. Focus is on strategy, digital strategy, staffing, proactive planning, and the big questions that remain in the cultural heritage sector.
Delivered by Nonsense London's Creative Director Rob Mosley and James Barker, Digital Development Manager at the Elton John AIDS Foundation at the Institute of Funding's National Convention in London on July 7th 2014.
4. Consider….
1. World-renowned. Sells out theatres.
2. Plays a multi-million dollar Stradivarius.
3. Concert tickets are $100 minimum.
Content demand = Proven.
5. Same violin. Same talent. Same artist.
In street clothes, on a DC Metro
platform, during rush hour…
8. "It was a strange feeling, that people were actually, ah . . .“
The word doesn't come easily.
". . . ignoring me.“
Joshua Bell is laughing. It's at himself.
"At a music hall, I'll get upset if someone coughs or if someone's
cellphone goes off. But here, my expectations quickly
diminished. I started to appreciate any acknowledgment, even a
slight glance up. I was oddly grateful when someone threw in a
dollar instead of change." This is from a man whose talents can
command $1,000 a minute.
Pearls Before Breakfast, Gene Weingarten, Washington Post, April 8, 2007
10. So, what could this mean for content
producers and strategists?
“Content isn't King, because it isn't scarce.
It's everywhere, it's overwhelming, and it's
gone from quality to noise.”
-Steve Rosenbaum of Magnify.net, in BusinessInsider
12. Question:
Is the content you’re promoting the equivalent
of a virtuoso performance?
If so, how would it perform in ‘the Metro’ (i.e, wrong
environment, a noisy channel, at a busy time?)
13. Question:
Is the content you’re promoting the equivalent
of a virtuoso performance?
And if it isn’t at that level, how do you expect it to fare
in any venue, let alone a noisy one?
19. Be smart: context is relative.
Learn from Joshua Bell’s example.
What could our virtuoso violinist have done to get a
different result in the same Metro environment?
21. 1. Research the audience beforehand.
What if, in advance, Joshua had asked
Metro riders what they would want
to hear, when would be a good time?
22. Application: Before you compose
your content, ask people what they
want to see, and hear, and notify
them when you’ve fulfilled their
wishes/needs.
23. 2. Collaborate
What if Josh asked local shops in the metro
about performing for their customers?
24. Application: Content partnerships– rather than
create content as a lone wolf, find a
collaboration team. They have a vested stake.
Their audiences can make the difference.
25. 3. Target
What if Bell had performed at a venue that was
known to gather busking crowds?
26. Application: Content targeting– don’t share
content that doesn’t fit the audience, create
content with one audience in mind (niche
targeting) and share it where they congregate.
27. 4. Invite an audience, before you
publish
• What if Bell had invited friends, family, and
colleagues, to join him at the Metro?
28. Application: Contact your professional network
prior to the content’s publication/dissemination,
and get an audience ready to receive it. Advance
notice also gives you feedback for improvement
and optimal timing.
29. An audience, the community, gives the
content a context.
• Ironically, it’s hard to build a community prior
to content: build incrementally.
• Know what your community needs. Provide it.
Grow organically.
• If you “busk,” be prepared for a distracted,
unready audience. Keep performing, but set
yourself up for success.