Invited talk presented at the Mid-America Association for Institutional Research's 2013 conference in Kansas City, Missouri. This talk focused upon using storytelling techniques as a means to present data and gain consensus among constituents.

1. Lighting the Path
to Action:
Realizing the
Power of
Storytelling
Matthew Hendrickson
November 7, 2013

2. “Begin at the beginning…and go on till
you come to the end: then stop.”
– Lewis Carroll

3. Make me care!
What is storytelling?
Can you be a storyteller?
How do you do storytelling?

4. Make me care!
What is storytelling?

13. Story
n.
A narrative,
commonly untrue.
–A. Bierce

14. Storytelling, relating to
a series of events
–E. Miller

15. Storytelling, relating to
a series of events
–E. Miller

18. Worldview
Value
Change
Frame
Template
Shortcuts
Story
Live
Authentic

19. “Stories are shortcuts we use because we’re too
overwhelmed by data to discover all the details.”
– S. Godin

20. “Curiosity is the intellectual need to answer
questions and close open patterns. Story plays
to this universal desire by doing the
opposite, posing questions and opening
situations.”
– R. McKee

21. “This is the role that stories play – putting
knowledge into a framework that is more
lifelike, more true to our day-to-day existence.”
– Heath & Heath

23. Rule #
“You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting
to you as an audience, not what’s fun to
do as a writer. They can be very different.”

24. Miller’s Framework
•
•
•
•
•
•
Characters
Place
Time
Storyline
Sensory Elements
Objects
• Character’s
Gestures/Attitudes
• Emotions
• Narrator’s POV
• Narrator’s Tone
• Theme

25. McKee’s Framework
• Character
•
Development
•
• Quest/Mission/Desire •
• Objectives
• Hook/Inciting
•
Incident
•
• Problem
•
Conflict
Set-up/Pay-off
Pivotal Event/Turning
Point
Reversals/Twists
Subplots
Ending

26. Storytelling Elements
• Quest / Hook /
Inciting Incident
• Conflict
• Progressive
Complications
•
•
•
•
•
Pivotal Event
Twists
Set-up
Pay-off
Ending

27. “The story will adapt to the environment.”
-S. McCloud

28. Storytelling is an art – not a set formula!

29. Make me care!
Can you be a storyteller?

35. Memorable & Engaging

40. Concreteness
Credibility
Unexpectedness
Emotions
Sticky
Ideas
Simplicity
Stories

43. CONVEY THE

44. Rule #
“Come up with your ending before you
figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings
are hard, get yours working up front.”

47. Value
≠ Object

48. Value
≠ Object
= Meaning of the object

49. “A good analogy is priceless – it helps us
understand the new by connecting it to
the familiar.”
–Z. Gemignani

50. Data Visualizations
Exploration
Analysis
Presentation

52. Make me care!
How do you do storytelling?

54. Your presentation is
NOT
your handout

55. Nobody cares about your

56. 2+2=4

57. 2+2≠4

61. “Stories are, of
course,
how numbers talk
to people.”
-T. Davenport

62. I have actually made this mistake…

64. Again…

66. And again…

68. And again …

70. Good, Ba
d, Ugly
Ugly, Ba
d, Good

71. Ugly

72. Better

73. Got it!

74. Leads
Prospects
Applicants
Admits
Enrolls
Retained
Conferred

75. “What is truer than true?
The Story.”
- Jewish Saying

76. “Those who tell the stories
rule the world.”
- Hopi American Indian Proverb

77. We control the scope

78. Storytelling is an art, not a science…
practice to get it right

79. Thank you
Lighting the Path to Action:
Realizing the Power of Storytelling
Matthew Hendrickson
Associate Director – Strategic Enrollment Research
Northeastern University – College of Professional Studies
m.hendrickson@neu.edu

80. •
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
References
Bierce, A. (2003). The Devil’s Dictionary.
Carroll, L. (1886). Alice in Wonderland.
Coats, E. (2012). Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling (via Twitter). http://imgur.com/a/fPLnM
Davenport, T.H. & Kim, J. (2013). Keeping up with the Quants. Harvard Business Review.
Gemignani, Z. (2012). Data Visualization as Storytelling: A Stretched Analogy. Juice Analytics.
http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/data-visualization-as-storytelling-a-stretched-analogy/
Gemignani, Z. (2013). Data Storytelling: The Ultimate Collection of Resources.
http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/the-ultimate-collection-of-data-storytelling-resources/
Godin, S. (2005). All Marketers are Liars.
Heath, C. & Heath D. (2007). Made to Stick.
Kosara, R. (2013). Paper: Storytelling, The Next Step for Visualization. http://eagereyes.org/papers/paperstorytelling-step-visualization
McCloud, S. (2005). The Visual Magic of Comics. TED Talk.
http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_mccloud_on_comics.html
McKee, R. (1997). Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting.
Miller, E. (2011). Theories of Story and Storytelling.
http://www.storytellingandvideoconferencing.com/67.pdf
Montague, T. (2013). If You Want to Raise Prices, Tell a Better Story. http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/07/want-toraise-prices-tell-a-be/
Stanton, A. (2012). The Clues to a Great Story. Ted Talk.
http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story.html
Warshaw, D. (2013). Nate Silver, Data, and Storytelling.
http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/07/24/nate-silver-data-and-storytelling/