Slides for a workshop on applied storytelling, using writing exercises. Used as teaching aid for my course at http://www.mmm.unifi.it/ .
Follow me at @ppolsinelli for more.
These slides are from a 2 hour presentation called Design for Developers.
The goal of Design for Developers is to teach interface design as a set of rules: there are some good default values for a lot of design decisions that you should remember, there is a “scientific” way of approaching things like alignment, even though many designers will tell you it’s something you should “feel”.
Slides for the second part of a workshop on applied storytelling, using writing exercises.
First part is here:
http://www.slideshare.net/ppolsinelli/digital-storytelling-part-1-writing-12044990
Used as teaching aid for my course at http://www.mmm.unifi.it/ .
Follow me at @ppolsinelli for more.
These slides are from a 2 hour presentation called Design for Developers.
The goal of Design for Developers is to teach interface design as a set of rules: there are some good default values for a lot of design decisions that you should remember, there is a “scientific” way of approaching things like alignment, even though many designers will tell you it’s something you should “feel”.
Slides for the second part of a workshop on applied storytelling, using writing exercises.
First part is here:
http://www.slideshare.net/ppolsinelli/digital-storytelling-part-1-writing-12044990
Used as teaching aid for my course at http://www.mmm.unifi.it/ .
Follow me at @ppolsinelli for more.
Getting Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the App StoreTraci Lawson
Targeted at kids media content creators who want to produce iOS apps, but lack programming know-how and funding.
Presented to Women in Children's Media, on the campus of Teachers College, Columbia University, August 3rd, 2011
3 Insights for Consumerization of the Enterprisesaastr
Success in the Enterprise means ensuring consumerization is a part of your strategy. Scott Belsky, CPO, EVP of Creative Cloud at Adobe will explore key tactics to focusing on the user experience.
How To Sell Your UX Vision- UX Scotland 2015Jane Guthrie
So you have a killer idea and you are ready to sell through your UX vision. You've got various internal and external stakeholders that you need to get on board. They have varying levels of technical savvy and involvement.
In a world of cross-channel experiences, with an ever-growing number of touchpoints, communicating a vision can be a challenge. In this session, we'll cover the key ingredients you'll need to sell a UX vision. We'll examine ways to craft your UX deliverables so that they tell a story in a way that clearly communicates your vision.
In this presentation, you will learn:
- How to define a UX Vision in five steps
- Why it's crucial to consider and be savvy about politics as part of your process
- How to speak the language of your internal and external audiences
- How to make the best use of numbers and metrics to support your strategy
- The magic of structuring a persuasive presentation
- How and why to adjust the fidelity of your deliverables based on the needs and expectations of your audience
- Techniques and tools to make deliverables that are engaging and memorable
Pietro Polsinelli discusses a diverse set of applied game projects that he curated, focusing on common mistakes and solutions that are specific to the applied game process, in particular working with field experts that have no experience with games. The talks will consider the (no)estimation, concept, design and production phases/loops, providing tips, modelling and conceptual tools to improve the quality of the process and of the resulting game.
Getting Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the App StoreTraci Lawson
Targeted at kids media content creators who want to produce iOS apps, but lack programming know-how and funding.
Presented to Women in Children's Media, on the campus of Teachers College, Columbia University, August 3rd, 2011
3 Insights for Consumerization of the Enterprisesaastr
Success in the Enterprise means ensuring consumerization is a part of your strategy. Scott Belsky, CPO, EVP of Creative Cloud at Adobe will explore key tactics to focusing on the user experience.
How To Sell Your UX Vision- UX Scotland 2015Jane Guthrie
So you have a killer idea and you are ready to sell through your UX vision. You've got various internal and external stakeholders that you need to get on board. They have varying levels of technical savvy and involvement.
In a world of cross-channel experiences, with an ever-growing number of touchpoints, communicating a vision can be a challenge. In this session, we'll cover the key ingredients you'll need to sell a UX vision. We'll examine ways to craft your UX deliverables so that they tell a story in a way that clearly communicates your vision.
In this presentation, you will learn:
- How to define a UX Vision in five steps
- Why it's crucial to consider and be savvy about politics as part of your process
- How to speak the language of your internal and external audiences
- How to make the best use of numbers and metrics to support your strategy
- The magic of structuring a persuasive presentation
- How and why to adjust the fidelity of your deliverables based on the needs and expectations of your audience
- Techniques and tools to make deliverables that are engaging and memorable
Pietro Polsinelli discusses a diverse set of applied game projects that he curated, focusing on common mistakes and solutions that are specific to the applied game process, in particular working with field experts that have no experience with games. The talks will consider the (no)estimation, concept, design and production phases/loops, providing tips, modelling and conceptual tools to improve the quality of the process and of the resulting game.
Museums and Learning: An open dialogue through digital transformation.
These are the slides of the presentation by Alice Filipponi and Pietro Polsinelli at the Museum Digital Transformation 2018 conference, https://mdt-conference.com/.
In the context of a #fuckupnight in Florence at Impact HUB, I presented a half serious formula for reconstructing my spectacular crowd funding failure.
We review Autography design as an exemplary case of persuasive application. We immerse it in the context of applied and persuasive games built around gameful mechanics and interactive learning. We then contrast it with superficial gamification efforts. We propose some guidelines for an effective process of cooperative design and process for these complex media productions.
Working with a no longer minuscule set of customers on applied games of a really wide spectrum of themes I've noticed in the early phases some misunderstanding that recur. In order to help both parties (game designers and field experts) to reach a common ground, I've set the misunderstandings in extreme and simplified form so you may use them as vaccine :-)
The smartphone game People in Love is presented for the first time: the theme: urban design & happines, the problem about smart cities, and then also some game play screens.
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
The Metaverse and AI: how can decision-makers harness the Metaverse for their...Jen Stirrup
The Metaverse is popularized in science fiction, and now it is becoming closer to being a part of our daily lives through the use of social media and shopping companies. How can businesses survive in a world where Artificial Intelligence is becoming the present as well as the future of technology, and how does the Metaverse fit into business strategy when futurist ideas are developing into reality at accelerated rates? How do we do this when our data isn't up to scratch? How can we move towards success with our data so we are set up for the Metaverse when it arrives?
How can you help your company evolve, adapt, and succeed using Artificial Intelligence and the Metaverse to stay ahead of the competition? What are the potential issues, complications, and benefits that these technologies could bring to us and our organizations? In this session, Jen Stirrup will explain how to start thinking about these technologies as an organisation.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
Enhancing Performance with Globus and the Science DMZGlobus
ESnet has led the way in helping national facilities—and many other institutions in the research community—configure Science DMZs and troubleshoot network issues to maximize data transfer performance. In this talk we will present a summary of approaches and tips for getting the most out of your network infrastructure using Globus Connect Server.
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
zkStudyClub - Reef: Fast Succinct Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Regex ProofsAlex Pruden
This paper presents Reef, a system for generating publicly verifiable succinct non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs that a committed document matches or does not match a regular expression. We describe applications such as proving the strength of passwords, the provenance of email despite redactions, the validity of oblivious DNS queries, and the existence of mutations in DNA. Reef supports the Perl Compatible Regular Expression syntax, including wildcards, alternation, ranges, capture groups, Kleene star, negations, and lookarounds. Reef introduces a new type of automata, Skipping Alternating Finite Automata (SAFA), that skips irrelevant parts of a document when producing proofs without undermining soundness, and instantiates SAFA with a lookup argument. Our experimental evaluation confirms that Reef can generate proofs for documents with 32M characters; the proofs are small and cheap to verify (under a second).
Paper: https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1886
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
A tale of scale & speed: How the US Navy is enabling software delivery from l...sonjaschweigert1
Rapid and secure feature delivery is a goal across every application team and every branch of the DoD. The Navy’s DevSecOps platform, Party Barge, has achieved:
- Reduction in onboarding time from 5 weeks to 1 day
- Improved developer experience and productivity through actionable findings and reduction of false positives
- Maintenance of superior security standards and inherent policy enforcement with Authorization to Operate (ATO)
Development teams can ship efficiently and ensure applications are cyber ready for Navy Authorizing Officials (AOs). In this webinar, Sigma Defense and Anchore will give attendees a look behind the scenes and demo secure pipeline automation and security artifacts that speed up application ATO and time to production.
We will cover:
- How to remove silos in DevSecOps
- How to build efficient development pipeline roles and component templates
- How to deliver security artifacts that matter for ATO’s (SBOMs, vulnerability reports, and policy evidence)
- How to streamline operations with automated policy checks on container images
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Alt. GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using ...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
2. 2
Who am I
Pietro Polsinelli Twitter: @ppolsinelli
Blog: http://pietro.open-lab.com E-mail: ppolsinelli@open-lab.com
I’m applying storytelling to:
Web apps for team & personal productivity,
Videogame marketing
Videogame design
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
3. 3
Today’s workshop
Intro
Writing Exercises part 1
On writing
Writing Exercises part 2
Feedback
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
4. 4
Storytelling is so popular…
But what we do here is not actually “pure” storytelling,
its “storytelling for…”. That is, writing and telling
stories for ends which are not literary.
There are definite and precise techniques for
storytelling.
Narrative techniques can be acquired with a lot of
exercise, developing a specific sensitivity. Here you
can give it a first try.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
5. 5
Introduction: why digital storytell?
Many of your former colleagues
work (part or full time) is companies
that are “startups” in some sense. In
interactive educational tools,
videogames, music production
services, ... .
As a “jack of all trades” you will
need stories. Stories are presented
in many forms, but are mostly
created in written form.
Movies scripts, comic scripts, videogame scripts.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
6. 6
Here for…
Learn to detect / create / analyze / use / apply
storytelling.
Detect: not only ads
Create: exercises
Analyze: schemas
Use: used more widely than you may believe.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
7. 7
Ambiguity alert!
Applying storytelling can mean working on:
A product / service / company with a story at its heart,
that unfolds and guides work and developments.
Creating a short, sticky story that somehow “points” to
a product / service / company. Auto-conclusive story.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
8. 8
Storytelling gives…
A product / service / company with a story at its heart,
that unfolds and guides work and developments.
Storytelling gives coherence, sense. We have
stories in “continuity”.
Creating a short, sticky story that somehow “points” to
a product / service / company. Auto-conclusive story.
Storytelling can get and keep people’s
attention. We have auto-conclusive stories.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
9. 9
Acquiring storytelling sensitivity
helps in both cases
And in many kinds of
“stories”.
A soundtrack tells a
story.
A video.
A podcast.
A comic.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
10. 10
Learn to write
Its possible.
You learn by example,
practice, feedback.
Things are born interesting
or are made interesting?
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
11. 11
Books: this is just the beginning
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
12. 12
Exercises part 1
Write on paper what you will say if I’d ask you to
present yourself to this group.
3 Min.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
13. 13
Exercises part 1
Write on another paper your product / service idea –
how you would present it in a few sentences.
10 Min.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
14. 14
Concreteness in writing – part 1
1. Write down as many things white in color you may think of.
15 Secs.
Story Story tell(Software) product
tell your your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
15. 15
Concreteness in writing – part 2
Write down as many things white in color that may eventually end up in
your fridge you may think of.
1.15 Secs.
Story Story tell(Software) product
tell your your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
17. 17
The USP approach
I here give a first negative definition of my approach, by contrasting with
some existing marketing habits.
The Unique Selling Proposition (a.k.a. Unique Selling Point, or USP) is a
marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a
pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It
states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer
and that this convinced them to switch brands.
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unique_selling_proposition
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
18. 18
The USP approach
USP is like classical economics: assumes perfect information and
rational choices. Users are neither informed nor rational.
This fragmented approach does not help users in getting their insight.
Lacking a unified anthropological model of and for the user, this will not
work.
Marketing recipes draw a simplistic picture of the marketing project.
A USP tends to obscure your real motivations, your agenda. A purely
functional description will leave out what is most interesting.
This also shows that deep limitations of AdWords based approaches:
you story is missed, you can’t do a contextual presentation.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
19. 19
Rational choice models
A few years ago, we had a brief discussion about the power of ads. A
friend of mine was skeptic about that, he stubbornly held that ads had no
effect on him. This is an example of illuministic optimism which is
factually false.
How wrong this belief is is shown by data from many possible fields
(next slide).
What matters for us is that this kind of wrong modeling of human
behavior leads to wrong marketing models: models based on the rational
choice idea.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
20. 20
Learn more
The political mind, A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its
Politics , George Lakoff
Idea Framing, Metaphors, and Your Brain - George Lakoff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_CWBjyIERY
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
21. 21
Establish the context
You should not talk in terms of differences with the competition (this too
is a mistake which several marketing “experts” make). This is the
traditional mistake of political weak candidates. Your point is to tell a
completely different story.
Obama stopped saying “Bush is doing this and that” He started saying:
“This is MY story. This is a NEW story.”
Story mark: by telling a good story, its you establishing the context. this
way you can win in the most unlikely situations
By fighting on features, you are adapting to a context where its the
others setting the context -> you are going to lose.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
22. 22
The storytelling approach
You are bringing a ship across a hill in the jungle: your effort *deserves
to be told*.
You product is a free creation, shaped from the learnings you can get
from early shipping.
The basic point of this marketing technique is simply to tell the truth, and
bring it across in its subtlety and complexity. It’s useful if what you are
saying is not trivial, if there are ideas to be expressed. Articulating your
proposal in a story instead of a USP is much more conductive to express
it integrally.
The MBA typical idea of “competitive advantage” results empty for this
perspective. The union of story and execution is no single competitive
advantage.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
24. 24
Learning from “classical” storytelling
The first point is NOT saying
clearly (for you) what you
provide, and neither to talk
about users’ advantages.
The first point is getting
attention and start telling
YOUR STORY.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
25. 25
Unifying power of storytelling
Your aim is to create an opportunity for a “magic”
meeting of needs, tastes, choices. You are facilitating
it, but you are not the cause.
Unifying power of the storytelling approach: if you defined your story, this
gives unity to the expression of your idea in different media (see Licorize
in the examples). Once you have a story, it becomes easier and more
interesting to write articulated connections. And to write other, connected
stories touching other fields.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
26. 26
Unifying power of storytelling
You may articulate your idea through many media and means:
blog post
home page of your site
Podcast
Video
Mockumentary
Cards
e-book
ipad app
iphone app
generic mobile app
Tweets
facebook etc.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
27. 27
Marketing stories
“Potential customers cannot buy
what they cannot name”
Journalists cannot write about something that has no novelty: you’ve got
to serve them the concepts, the story, the novelty. A new feature is not a
novelty.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
28. 28
Marketing stories
“Most people resist selling but enjoy buying”.
If you manage to define the buy situation,
victory is in your hands.
We’ll get back to this later.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
29. 29
Unifying power of storytelling
USP get old fast: stories don’t.
Storytelling supports seriality: it is a wonderful way to put criticism and
failures to our use.
Like Balsamiq failed release -> visibility and positive remarks.
Berlusconi prostitutes -> that’s how I am -> hero’s flaw, adds to heroicity.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
30. 30
Coherence
Having a story gives you a sense of coherence, will
also make you stronger against the 2% of skeptics.
Alienating the 2%
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/11/alienating-the-2.html
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
31. 31
Simplicity
Warning: Sun exposure is
dangerous
To
Sun exposure: how to get old
prematurely
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
32. 32
How startups can learn to
pitch the press
http://pietro.open-lab.com/2011/04/08/how-startups-can-learn-to-pitch-
the-press/
Some mistakes Brad lists:
the 1000 word e-mail
lack of a story
pitching on Mondays
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
33. 33
The importance of a good ending
Imagine a coffee machine that when
the coffee is ready makes a bright
light.
People talk & remember endings.
http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahn
eman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_
memory.html
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
35. 35
Base schema for product narration
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
36. 36
Consumer’s fatal flaw
Reading and knowing your
audience fatal flaw is the first step
in building any marketing strategy.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
37. 37
Existential myths
The myth of “salvation”
Myth of “cure”
Myth of “evasion”
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
38. 38
Themes for the existential myths
Cure/protection rhetoric
Power/possession rhetoric
Exploration/curiosity rhetoric
Auto confirmation/self-celebration rhetoric
Negotiation/projectuality rhetoric
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
39. 39
Gossip stories are a GREAT way to
see the basic schemes in action
(read Barthes’ Mythologies)
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
41. 41
Balsamiq - http://balsamiq.com
The reason for success for a
long time escaped me - yes,
he told an interesting story of
the startup trip but that is not
the key.
What/where is the narrative?
Which is the fatal flaw?
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
42. 42
Balsamiq
Fatal flaw: prototyping is hard, and a great
source of conflict. More detailed it is, more
likely it is to generate conflict.
-> Smooth corners: a tool that is easy to use
as play, and does not go much beyond play
(though it is very useful).
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
43. 43
Balsamiq
Messages:
“We are not working, we
are playing”
“The prototype is not
definitive”
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
44. 44
Balsamiq
Messages:
“How can you not love this Winnie-
the-Pooh like mockup?”
The tone of communication is “back to
draw like when you were a child”. Gets
tons of tweet “loving this”. It is a
communication strategy built-in the
product.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
45. 45
Licorize: our stories
I've read I don't know how many times
this reaction to Licorize on Twitter:
"this is exactly the product I was
looking for!”
This anthropological fit is actually also
a construction, a construction of
Licorize' storytelling. The perfect fit is
felt because the story works, the
identification works. Of course just a
good story without a high quality
product and design would not make it.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
46. 46
Licorize: our stories
We did alienate the 2%: the very first reactions were very bad. Negative
review, lacking USP, unclear … . How I reacted? I did nothing. I changed
nothing.
But soon, very soon, the voice that really matters – people, many
people, appreciated it. The comfort of numbers, and the comfort of
competent reviewers.
The first 2% is not the real press.
The press: they don’t react using their Lizard Brain. They look carefully –
trust them.
We didn’t do permission marketing. We had a story and the press (which
today does not mean paper press) took it and talked about it.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
47. 47
Licorize: our stories
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
48. 48
Theme
Major:
Auto-confirmation
Myth its more “salvation” than “evasion”. But
introducing playfulness gives hope to work, seen
as oppressive – this is the fatal flaw.
Minor:
Design -> seduction
Exploration
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
49. 49
Did work: Licorize
Result: 50 positive reviews (by
meaningful sites) in 90 days,
thousands of tweets. And they both
keep coming.
Reviewers fell in love with the story –
which we had written for them.
Also a bit of luck helped – Delicious
crisis.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
50. Multiple entry points 50
Multiple stories and media:
Curation, GTD, e-books, info overflow
Video 1 minute
Instructional detailed videos
User guide 100 pages
Examples usage in the application
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
51. 51
What is the morale of the (story)
product?
Licorize: no bookmark is an island.
37'signals Basecamp: people have now an online life
and need very simple management.
Most products have no clear morale.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
52. 52
Licorize: other’ stories
http://licorize.com/projects/ppolsinelli/blogBookmarks/licorizeBuzz
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
54. 54
Base schema for product narration
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
55. 55
Exercise part 2
[Distribute schemas]
Write again about your product / service idea – how
you would present it in a few sentences.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
56. 56
Blind idea clinic – 1 minute after
Rewrite the beginning. It can be better.
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
58. 58
“Made to Stick” scorecard
Check Message 1 Message 2
Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Story
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012
59. More…
59
Some links:
http://licorize.com/projects/ppolsinelli/Storytelling-for-
software-marketing
Story tell your (Software) product Saturday, March 17, 2012