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Creative Communications
Day School Services Include:
Strategic Development &
PR Plans
News Releases
E-Letters
E-Zines
Newsletters
Brochures
Recruitment & Retention Campaigns
Board & Lay
Leadership Development
Grant Research
& Writing
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& Maintenance
Ghostwriting
Cost-effective Mentoring
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Should you have any questions about any of my day school services, please call me at
(516) 569-8070 or send me an email.
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Feel free to share the storytelling ideas in this issue with your
friends and colleagues.
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Greetings!
I've been thinking a lot about storytelling since last week
when a story inspired me to outsource a job that I am not only capable of
performing well but that I actually enjoy! Now, I'm a big believer in
outsourcing tasks to professionals who can accomplish them more efficiently
than I. (All because I know how to compile a data-base, does not mean that I
should!) But this was an exceptional case. Here's my story:
First, I received a direct mail piece followed by a
face-to-face solicitation. Ok, I found a handwritten flyer in my mailbox
proclaiming:
Later, three young entrepreneurs (ok three children aged
six, ten, and twelve) knocked on my door to conduct their due diligence. They
asked if I had a dog they could walk. Well, I have a dog that provides not only
unqualified love but also guarantees my minimal exercise. Why, then, did
Chelsea the dog and I suddenly earn a page in the trio's notebook, which
includes a chart recording the designated walker for each of their charges?
Well, if their entrepreneurial spirit, penciled chart, and
absolute cuteness factor did not suffice, their story captivated me. Apparently
Grandma, without parental permission, gave them a dog. To their utter
devastation, Mom promptly gave it away. Ten-year-old Eric sat on the floor
stroking Chelsea's tummy, explaining that he simply loves dogs and decided to
walk dogs as a way to spend time with them. I was hooked.
That's my story - what's
yours?
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 | Six Steps to Storytelling Stardom
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If you don't have a few handy stories ready to use to
captivate and convince your audience, I suggest that you spend some quiet time
this month stocking up on stellar stories!
Reflect upon your memories, dust off old stories, and
solicit new ones from staff, parents, and students.
Andy Goodman, author of the books Why Bad Ads Happen to Good
Causes and Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes, suggests that effective
stories should be:
1. Concise, but colorful.
A written story should be no longer than 750 words, a spoken
one no longer than three minutes. Every word must count.
2. Told in the audience's language.
Stay away from jargon; use familiar vocabulary. Be sure to
translate Hebrew phrases.
3. Not predictable.
Hold out for that a-ha moment. Don't put the payoff of the
story too soon.
4. Emotionally engaging.
Touch their hearts, first. The rest will follow.
Stories, claims Goodman, should also:
5. Include a moment of truth.
At a fundamental level, says Goodman, stories "tell us
something about how the world works."
6. Show, rather than tell.
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| Further Suggestions:
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Turn
your team into storytellers.
Share storytelling techniques with your
teachers, board
members, and other parent ambassadors.
Think about ways your stories can address parents'
concerns.
Let's say I just
discovered that my seven-year-old son, who
spent all of first grade struggling with writing, has a learning
disability. I
am sitting in your office wondering if he will be able to handle a dual
curriculum. You could hand me a manual, two recent research reports
about
intervention strategies, and instruct me to meet with the learning
disabilities
specialist to discuss an IEP. Or, in 750 words or less you could tell me
about
a mom who sat in the same chair six years ago. You could tell me about
her
son's success in fourth grade Hebrew reading, his struggles with fifth
grade Math,
and ultimately about his Aliyah and his (and his mom's) giant smile as
he
danced a Hora surrounded by friends at his Bar Mitzvah last week. (And
then you
could hand me that manual, etc.)
Use stories in your written material.
Incorporate stories into
newsletters, weekly emails, brochures, and other written material.
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Should you have any questions about applying storytelling to your recruitment, retention, or development efforts please call me at (516) 569-8070 or send me an email.
Until the next issue, Kol Tuv!
Sincerely,
Candace Plotsker-Herman
Creative Communications
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