Uploaded byMichael Powers
Telling Stories at Scale
The document discusses the importance of storytelling in building a university's brand, emphasizing that each school has a multitude of smaller stories that collectively shape the larger narrative. It outlines the need for a structured approach to assess, choose, and shape stories effectively, highlighting the role of audience engagement and key messaging pillars. The document also introduces a creative workflow for story development and the use of formulas to enhance the storytelling process.
![A whole new_min_dpp_org-1[1]](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/awholenewmindpporg-11-100504202859-phpapp02-thumbnail.jpg?width=640&height=640&fit=bounds)
![Section 3Story[Stories] are the currency of human contac.docx](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/section3storystoriesarethecurrencyofhumancontac-221128191636-af8c3b93-thumbnail.jpg?width=640&height=640&fit=bounds)
![Section 3Story[Stories] are the currency of human contac.docx](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/section3storystoriesarethecurrencyofhumancontac-230125133447-2b4bafd3-thumbnail.jpg?width=640&height=640&fit=bounds)
Telling Stories at Scale
- 1.
- 2.
- 3. ‣ Ensure asteady pipeline of stories for use across all our channels ‣ Find and choose stories ‣ Shape stories ‣ Promote stories
- 4. WHY STORIES? TELLING STORIESAT SCALE
- 5. EVERY SCHOOL HAS THOUSANDSOF STORIES
- 6. AND ONE BIGONE EVERY SCHOOL HAS THOUSANDS OF STORIES
- 7. WHY STORIES? THOUSANDS OFSTORIES ALL AROUND YOU ▸Successful students ▸Athletic stories ▸Research projects, publications, and grants ▸Lives and communities changed ▸Alumni giving back
- 8. WHY STORIES? THE ONEBIG ONE ▸ This is what everyone “already knows” about your school ▸ Great academics ▸ Individual attention to students ▸ Great values/principles ▸ Creates leaders ▸ A great value ▸ Makes the community better ▸ Lots of research, distant professors ▸ Party school ▸ Really hard to get into ▸ Not diverse ▸ Mostly about sports ▸ Super expensive
- 9. WHY STORIES? THE ONEBIG ONE ▸ This is what everyone “already knows” about your school ▸ Great academics ▸ Individual attention to students ▸ Great values/principles ▸ Creates leaders ▸ A great value ▸ Makes the community better ▸ Lots of research, distant professors ▸ Party school ▸ Really hard to get into ▸ Not diverse ▸ Mostly about sports ▸ Super expensive
- 10. Your school’s bigstory is your brand. Not your logo. Not your messaging pillars. It’s this story.
- 11. HOW DO YOUCHANGE THAT BIG STORY?
- 12. HOW DO YOUCHANGE THAT BIG STORY? VERY SLOWLY
- 13. HOW DO YOUCHANGE THAT BIG STORY? VERY SLOWLY WITH LOTS OF LITTLE STORIES
- 14. WHAT’S A STORY,ANYWAY? TELLING STORIES AT SCALE
- 15. WHAT’S A STORY,ANYWAY? LOTS OF THINGS ARE CALLED STORIES Items in a newspaper or news program The facts of a situation Fictional stories Alibis
- 17. COLLEGE USED TOBE AFFORDABLE
- 18. COLLEGE USED TOBE AFFORDABLE BUT STATE FUNDING HAS DROPPED
- 19. COLLEGE USED TOBE AFFORDABLE BUT STATE FUNDING HAS DROPPED NOW COLLEGE GRADS ARE SADDLED WITH TOO MUCH DEBT
- 20. COLLEGE USED TOBE AFFORDABLE BUT STATE FUNDING HAS DROPPED NOW COLLEGE GRADS ARE SADDLED WITH TOO MUCH DEBT BUT COLLEGES ARE POORLY MANAGED
- 22. SHELBY’S LIFE HASBEEN A MESS
- 23. SHELBY’S LIFE HASBEEN A MESS BUT SHE’S HAD SOME NEW INSIGHTS
- 24. SHELBY’S LIFE HASBEEN A MESS BUT SHE’S HAD SOME NEW INSIGHTS AND NOW EVERYTHING’S GOING TO BE OK FOR HER
- 25. SHELBY’S LIFE HASBEEN A MESS BUT SHE’S HAD SOME NEW INSIGHTS AND NOW EVERYTHING’S GOING TO BE OK FOR HER AND NOW SHE’S FOOLING HERSELF ABOUT IT
- 26. SHELBY’S LIFE HASBEEN A MESS BUT SHE’S HAD SOME NEW INSIGHTS AND NOW SHE’S FOOLING HERSELF ABOUT IT AND NOTHING WILL CHANGE
- 27. The stories wetell that make us who we are, are usually narratives.
- 28. A narrative hasa beginning, middle and end. Rising action, a con fl ict, and a resolution. The con fl ict makes the narrative.
- 29. For sale: babyshoes, never worn.
- 30. brand story = narrativestory designed to bolster the university’s brand
- 31. WHAT’S A STORY,ANYWAY? STORIES AREN’T JUST TEXT! ▸Yes, text, but also ▸Videos ▸Photos ▸Social posts ▸Multimedia
- 37. Narratives are thestories that have a chance of sticking.
- 38. ASSESSING YOUR CURRENTSTORIES TELLING STORIES AT SCALE
- 39. You’re probably alreadyputting out lots of stories. Or, at least, lots of information.
- 40. UNIVERSITIES HAVE ALWAYSBEEN CONTENT FACTORIES
- 41. But what’s thee ff ect of all that content?
- 42. THE EFFECT WE’REREALLY LOOKING FOR HAPPENS INSIDE THE AUDIENCES’ HEADS.
- 43. THE EFFECT OFONE STORY CAN BE LIKE THE EFFECT OF ONE DROP IN A RAINSTORM.
- 44. ASSESSING YOUR CURRENTSTORIES PROXIES FOR STORY SUCCESS Quantitative ▸ Views of stories ▸ Percent of story watched or read ▸ Engagement on social: likes, comments, shares ▸ Sentiment tracking ▸ Readability levels Qualitative ▸ Does the story show o ff brand characteristics? ▸ Strong narrative present? ▸ Nature of comments on the story ▸ Other factors
- 46. ASSESSING YOUR CURRENTSTORIES WHAT WORKS? Videos tend to get the most (page)views Star power can matter Fewer words means more of a story gets read The topic of a story may matter the most.
- 47. You’ll use thesame measures to assess future stories.
- 48. CHOOSING STORIES TELLING STORIESAT SCALE
- 49. THERE ARE THOUSANDSOF STORIES AT YOUR SCHOOL. WHICH DO YOU TELL?
- 50. CONSIDER BOTH RESOURCESAND TOPICS
- 51. We decided todo one brand story per week. That leaves a lot of untold stories.
- 52. CHOOSING STORIES NOT EVERYTHINGHAS TO BE A STORY You’re still going to have lots of announcements to make. Just don’t mistake them for (brand) stories.
- 53. CHOOSING STORIES WHAT WILLSHAPE THE BIG STORY? What stories do you need to shape the big story?
- 54. CHOOSING STORIES WHAT FITSYOUR BRAND? What stories do you have that speak to your brand?KEY MESSAGING PILLARS When thinking about our audiences, we always ask, “Why should they believe us?” The answer lies in these four key statements that begin to break down who we are as a university and what makes us tick. Look to these statements to help guide and bolster your messaging. Who we are: Self-actualization providers What we do: The hard work of transformation How we do it: Personalized belonging Why we do it: Diversifying opportunity Equipping students with a level of support that produces critically thinking, confident individuals. We expand the realm of attainability by taking our sense of belonging and growing it in academic rigor. We serve students who desire rigor but need direction by pairing intimate experiences with robust academic opportunities. An IUP education ensures your adaptability in ever-changing times.
- 55. CHOOSING STORIES QUARTERLY THEMESPROVIDE FOCUS Choosing narrower brand themes each quarter helps stories work together
- 56. CHOOSING STORIES WHAT RESONATESWITH YOUR AUDIENCES? Stories no one reads don’t help. But not everything that’s popular will help change your big story.
- 57. SHAPING STORIES TELLING STORIESAT SCALE
- 58. You’ve got alead. But what’s the story?
- 59. SHAPING STORIES VERSION ONE Adonor just gave us a lot of money.
- 60. SHAPING STORIES VERSION TWO Astudent who started in the steel mills… Had his life transformed at our school. Now he’s giving back.
- 61. SHAPING STORIES FOCUS MATTERS We’renot disinterested storytellers. Even when the story is about somebody else, it’s also about us.
- 62.
- 63.
- 64.
- 65. WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS TELLING STORIES AT SCALE
- 66. You need aprocess
- 67. WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS CREATIVE PROCESS
- 68. FINDING STORIES WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS CREATIVE PROCESS
- 69. LEADS FINDING STORIES WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS CREATIVE PROCESS
- 70. LEADS FINDING STORIES WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS CREATIVE PROCESS Not a story yet
- 71. DISCOVERY LEADS FINDING STORIES WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS CREATIVE PROCESS
- 72. DISCOVERY LEADS FINDING STORIES WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS CREATIVE PROCESS Is there a story there?
- 73. STORY ANGLE DISCOVERY LEADS FINDING STORIES WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS CREATIVE PROCESS
- 74. STORY ANGLE DISCOVERY LEADS FINDING STORIES WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS CREATIVE PROCESS What’s our focus?
- 75. CREATING/ WRITING STORY ANGLE DISCOVERY LEADS FINDING STORIES WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS CREATIVE PROCESS
- 76. WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS TECHNICAL PROCESS We use Asana to track the story’s development Then GatherContent to collect all the things we need
- 77. WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS ASANA SETUP
- 78. WORKFLOW AND CONTENTOPERATIONS GATHERCONTENT SETUP
- 82. FORMULAS FOR STORYTELLING TELLINGSTORIES AT SCALE
- 83. Why have formulasfor creative products?
- 84. FORMULAS FOR STORYTELLING FORMULASMAKE PRODUCTION EASIER
- 85. Formulas can alsoprovide useful constraints
- 86. According to thestudies we reviewed, when there are no constraints on the creative process, complacency sets in, and people follow what psychologists call the path-of-least- resistance—they go for the most intuitive idea that comes to mind rather than investing in the development of better ideas. “Why Constraints Are Good for Innovation” Oguz A. Acar, Murat Tarakci, and Daan van Knippenberg, Harvard Business Review FORMULAS FOR STORYTELLING
- 90. Video series: TheInnovators
- 91.
- 92.
- 93. Of course, formulasdon’t always work!
- 94.
- 95. TELLING STORIES ATSCALE A WORK IN PROGRESS ▸New email newsletter ▸New website
- 96. TELLING STORIES ATSCALE WHAT WE COVERED ▸ Why stories? ▸ What’s a story, anyway? ▸ Assessing your current stories ▸ Choosing stories ▸ Shaping stories ▸ Formulas for stories