The Art of Story Design

Once upon a time… A couple of years ago… Did you hear that thing about… Let me tell you a tale… We live in a culture that lives and breathes stories, and we use and rely on them every day. Stories are part of the fabric of our lives.

As developers, we need to understand how our stories have an effect on others, how we can best tell stories to our audiences and how we can share stories about what we do.

This talk will explore the mechanics of storytelling and demonstrate the ways we can tell better stories. It will showcase several techniques and storytelling structures to help you craft more impactful talks, blog posts and conversations.

Transcript

1. STORY DESIGN Art The of MELINDA SECKINGTON @mseckington
2. STORY DESIGN Art The of
3. @mseckington
4. @mseckington
5. @mseckington
6. @mseckington STORIES EVERYWHERE ARE
7. @mseckington
8. @mseckington TALK DESIGN SLIDE DESIGN STORY DESIGN
9. @mseckington HOW TO DESIGN EFFECTIVE STORIES
10. Beginning @mseckington End Middle
11. What is @mseckington What could be Nancy Duarte - Resonate
12. Setup @mseckington Resolution Rising Action Three-act structure - Wikipedia
13. @mseckington Paul Smith - Lead With A Story Lead With A Story Paul Smith
14. Context @mseckington Result Action Paul Smith - Lead With A Story
15. Context @mseckington Result Action Paul Smith - Lead With A Story
16. Context @mseckington Result Action Paul Smith - Lead With A Story
17. ACTION RESULT CONTEXT @mseckington
18. @mseckington THE KICK THE RECAP THE GOAL THE HOOK THE JOURNEY THE PROTAGONIST THE CONFLICT
19. CONTEXT @mseckington
20. SET THE SCENE OF YOUR STORY @mseckington CONTEXT
21. THE HOOK @mseckington THE GOAL Grab their attention Convince them why they should listen CONTEXT
22. @mseckington 1 THE HOOK GRAB THEIR ATTENTION CONTEXT
23. If you don’t grab someone’s attention in the fi rst 30 seconds, you’ve lost them. @mseckington CONTEXT
24. MEMORABLE IMPACTFUL VISCERAL EMOTIONAL @mseckington CONTEXT
25. @mseckington STATEMENT METAPHOR QUESTION ANECDOTE /STORY QUOTE ? CONTEXT
26. STATEMENT METAPHOR QUESTION ANECDOTE /STORY QUOTE ? CONTEXT @mseckington By 2030 about 80% of all cats will be house cats.
27. STATEMENT METAPHOR QUESTION ANECDOTE /STORY QUOTE ? CONTEXT @mseckington I was 5 years old when my family got our rst cat. His name was Flu ff y and he was my fi rst friend.
28. STATEMENT METAPHOR QUESTION ANECDOTE /STORY QUOTE ? CONTEXT @mseckington Imagine the following: a room fi lled with 50 cats and a single dog.
29. STATEMENT METAPHOR QUESTION ANECDOTE /STORY QUOTE ? CONTEXT @mseckington The smallest feline is a masterpiece. 400 years later and Leonard Da Vinci is still right.
30. STATEMENT METAPHOR QUESTION ANECDOTE /STORY QUOTE ? CONTEXT @mseckington What would the world look like without cats?
31. @mseckington STATEMENT METAPHOR QUESTION ANECDOTE /STORY QUOTE ? CONTEXT
32. @mseckington CONTEXT MAKE IT RELEVANT
33. @mseckington 2 THE GOAL CONVINCE THEM TO LISTEN TO YOU CONTEXT
34. What is @mseckington What could be Nancy Duarte - Resonate CONTEXT
35. @mseckington CONTEXT WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO THEM? WHY SHOULD THEY LISTEN TO YOU? WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND/ CURRENT STATE?
36. CONTEXT @mseckington WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO THEM? WHY SHOULD THEY LISTEN TO YOU? WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND/ CURRENT STATE? Stories are everywhere. Everyone needs to tell stories on a daily basis. This is something I do already do. By the end of this talk I’ll have a better understanding of how to tell impactful stories. Her past talks were good and I haven’t heard of context, action & results applied this way.
37. SIGNAL POST WHAT YOU’ll BE TALKING ABOUT @mseckington CONTEXT
38. CONTEXT @mseckington
39. ACTION @mseckington
40. @mseckington ACTION WHAT DO WE MEAN WITH ACTION?
41. In the rising action, a series of events build toward the point of greatest interest. These events are generally the most important parts of the story since the entire plot depends on them to set up the climax and ultimately the satisfactory resolution of the story itself.” @mseckington Dramatic Structure - Wikipedia … ACTION “
42. @mseckington SETUP THE ENDING THE RIGHT EVENTS ACTION
43. @mseckington SETUP THE GOAL THE RIGHT CONTENT ACTION
44. @mseckington + + THE PROTAGONIST THE JOURNEY THE CONFLICT ACTION
45. @mseckington 3 THE PROTAGONIST DEFINE YOUR HERO ACTION
46. ALLOW THE AUDIENCE TO BE THE HERO IN THEIR OWN STORY @mseckington ACTION
47. You are not the hero who will save the audience; the audience is your hero.” @mseckington Nancy Duarte - Resonate ACTION “
48. TUNE THE STORY TO THE AUDIENCE @mseckington ACTION
49. @mseckington YOU ACTION
50. @mseckington ACTION
51. @mseckington ACTION TUNE THE STORY TO THE GOAL
52. @mseckington ACTION TUNE THE STORY TO THE AUDIENCE
53. @mseckington 4 THE JOURNEY DEFINE YOUR STRUCTURE ACTION
54. @mseckington Time Tension Setup Rising Action Resolution ACTION
55. @mseckington ACTION HOW MANY SECTIONS DOES YOUR STORY HAVE?
56. KEEP INFO TOGETHER THAT BELONGS TOGETHER @mseckington ACTION
57. @mseckington ACTION DEPTH VS BREADTH
58. @mseckington 50 min 30 min 30 min ACTION
59. @mseckington YOU CAN TELL THE SAME STORY IN DIFFERENT WAYS ACTION
60. @mseckington APPLY CONTEXT, ACTION & RESULT TO SECTIONS ACTION
61. @mseckington Time Tension Setup Rising Action Resolution ACTION Mini story
62. @mseckington ACTION PLAY AROUND WITH ORDER
63. @mseckington ACTION RESULT CONTEXT ACTION
64. @mseckington ACTION RESULT CONTEXT ACTION
65. @mseckington ACTION ACTION CONTEXT RESULT
66. @mseckington 5 THE CONFLICT HIGHLIGHT & ACKNOWLEDGE ACTION
67. @mseckington Time Tension Setup Rising Action Resolution ACTION
68. @mseckington Time Tension Setup Rising Action Resolution Con fl ict! ACTION Con fl ict! Con fl ict!
69. WHAT IS STOPPING PEOPLE GETTING FROM A TO B? @mseckington ACTION
70. What is @mseckington What could be Nancy Duarte - Resonate ACTION Why aren’t they there yet?
71. ACKNOWLEDGE AND MAKE IT PART OF THE NARRATIVE @mseckington ACTION
72. IF IT’S RELEVANT TO A PERSON, IT’S MORE IMPACTFUL & MEMORABLE @mseckington ACTION
73. @mseckington ACTION
74. RESULT @mseckington
75. PEOPLE REMEMBER THE END @mseckington RESULT
76. THE RECAP @mseckington THE KICK Remind them what they’ve learnt End with a bang RESULT
77. @mseckington 6 THE RECAP REMIND THEM WHAT THEY’VE LEARNT RESULT
78. CELEBRATE WHAT PEOPLE KNOW NOW @mseckington RESULT
79. @mseckington RESULT
80. @mseckington 7 THE KICK END WITH A BANG RESULT
81. MEMORABLE IMPACTFUL VISCERAL EMOTIONAL @mseckington RESULT
82. @mseckington STATEMENT METAPHOR QUESTION ANECDOTE /STORY QUOTE ? RESULT
83. @mseckington BRING IT FULL CIRCLE RESULT
84. STATEMENT METAPHOR QUESTION ANECDOTE /STORY QUOTE ? @mseckington RESULT
85. ACTION RESULT CONTEXT @mseckington
86. @mseckington THE KICK End with a bang THE RECAP Recap the main ideas THE GOAL Convince them to listen THE HOOK Grab their attention THE JOURNEY Define your structure THE PROTAGONIST Define your hero THE CONFLICT Highlight & acknowledge
87. @mseckington STORIES EVERYWHERE ARE
88. @mseckington OnceUpon A Time F F F
89. @mseckington THIS IS THE WAY THIS STORY ENDS. NOT WITH A WHIMPER BUT WITH A…
90. @mseckington BANG!
91. Thanks for listening… MELINDA SECKINGTON FUTURELEARN @mseckington @mseckington