Annette Simmons

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Episode #14 – Secrets from the MOTH!

Lea Thau
Lea Thau was creative director of TheMoth.org for a decade (2001-2010), developing the format and process that has become one of the most popular storytelling organizations in the world.  From the beginning, Lea favored the idea of sticking to true stories told in the first person – a critical decision that created what we know as “the Moth format.” If you haven’t subscribed to the Moth podcast do it now.  You will become a better storyteller simply by listening to the craft, detail and structure embedded in these wonderful stories.

Lea now has her own show called Strangers on KCRW – a podcast I also highly recommend. [Read more…]

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Episode #13 – "Every guitar has a story."

willie-nelson-triger-soundhole-630-80And most guitars have more than one story…

Guitars are known by the stories of those who loved them and the music they created.  When Ian opened his guitar shop, he didn’t so much sell guitars as tell their stories.

Ian Rhodes not only found his way back to his passion for playing guitar, he started blogging about it – way back when blogging meant you had to know how to code. [Read more…]

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Episode #11 – Jim Signorelli on Story Branding and Archetypes

Happy 2014!!  One of the best interviews yet!!

Jim Signorelli on Storybranding and Archetypes

jim-signorelliJim Signorelli approaches story using a tried and true process.

“We want to look for joiners rather than buyers.”

After gathering the back story and the facts, they conduct an archetypal analysis asking the team to individually choose the archetype that best represents their brand.

Jim asks each member of the senior management team to choose which archetypes and values best explain their brand. He offers the traditional twelve archetypes developed by Carol Pearson http://www.herowithin.com the warrior, rebel, explorer, magician etc. and asks individuals to choose the  archetype they think captures the brand.

Jim and his team look for overlap and inconsistencies and facilitate the group by letting them figure out: How do we resolve this? Who are we really?

Which Archetypes are the most popular?

websitepodcastgfxJim says the Provider archetype is very popular with insurance, banking, any service organization.  Also popular is the Explorer, for instance a restaurant that is all about finding new tastes and textures. He had a real estate company choose the Outlaw because they think other realtors charge too much and they rebelliously promote the idea that people should “Keep what’s yours.” Their brand included a lot of humor – a good trait of the truly rebellious.

How does he help a client find their Archetype?

Group dialogue and discussion helps the team refine and reconcile the different points of view, ultimately finding the one belief or value that expresses their brand.

Jim Signorelli describes his agency’s archetype as the “regular guy, straight shooter.” I think you will agree.

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Feed link: http://ia601006.us.archive.org/28/items/StoryFactorPodcast011/StoryFactorPodcast011.mp3

 

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Episode #9 – Jane Praeger: The Role of Personal Stories at Work

Episode 009 Personal Storytelling in Business

jane-praegerJane thinks there is definately a role for personal storytelling in business. The best application is when you can turn a case study into a case story by making it more personal…making it about the people. She teaches this with a NASA case story that you can request by contacting Jane on her website www.ovicinc.com.

Listen as she describes a Jetta car commercial as an example of the element of surprise in good storytelling technique.

websitepodcastgfxJane says the biggest obstacle convincing business people that stories work is the idea that taking the risk of sharing a piece of yourself will pay off instead of making you regret being vulnerable. The goal is to get comfortable with sharing something you might not be comfortable sharing. Revealing imperfection is a fast track to trust. No one is perfect so it isn’t as big of a risk as you might first assume.

We discuss various ways to pull a story out of others and ways to handle stage fright.

Jane says the best part about teaching business people how to use stories is when someone goes from “paper to people” and starts telling their stories without notes. She loves it when a client realized that not only is storytelling better, but it is easier as well.

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Feed link: http://archive.org/download/StoryfactorPodcast009/StoryfactorPodcast009.mp3

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Episode #8 – Jane Praeger: Story and Suspense for Business Presentations

Using Personal Stories and Adding Suspense to your Storytelling

jane-praegerJane Praeger’s thirteen years of documentary filmmaking helps her coach executives and improve their presentations. She says,

“I realized I could bring all I learned about narrative, theme, characters…to the business world… where it was missing.”

Initially Jane delivered media training. One day a client complained, “Everyone falls asleep when I speak.” He sent Jane a video but “he didn’t seem too bad.” Only after she read his speech did she understand the problem.

The content of his speech was painfully boring. He didn’t need presentation skills – he needed better content!

websitepodcastgfxRather than go into media training mode and film him speaking she spent the entire session helping this man rework his content, his thesis, and his point of view. Most importantly they added stories and made it suspenseful. She said they never got around to using the camera but told him “go try this out and call me in three weeks and we will do some camera work.” After he didn’t call she checked in. He told her “I don’t need media training anymore! Everyone is awake and I even get applause now!” Media training was targets delivery and performance but most of the time it is a content problem.

The best part for me is how Jane explains using suspense and surprise makes stories exciting.  Here is a clip from the end of one of Jane’s documentaries.  Heart stopping, suspenseful, and packs a punch.  Have a look:

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    episode directly.
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    manually into iTunes.

Feed link: http://ia801002.us.archive.org/26/items/StoryFactorPodcast008/StoryFactorPodcast008.mp3

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Episode #7 – Facilitating Story Search and Meaning

David-HutchinsAn interview with David Hutchens about capturing the wisdom of an organization.

“Stories are incredibly efficient containers of knowledge, mental models, assumptions, beliefs, emotions and key information.”

– David Hutchens [Read more…]