Adventures in Storytelling: Good Things Come in Small Packages

(Reprinted with permission by the Wave One Group.)

Back in the Ice Age of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, I learned a couple of road rules as a newly minted TV news reporter: find the “people angle” in every story; and keep your stories focused and short.

The ‘people angle’ I got right away; brevity and focus were another matter. Countless times I would return from a 2-3 hour shoot, only be told by a show producer, “I need a minute-45 for the pack and the lead-in.’’ In English, this meant: write 15 seconds of copy for the anchor to introduce your story, then write a 90-second news story, which would include a couple of short interviews, voiceover narration and an on-camera transition. The tight deadlines of TV news meant I’d usually have an hour to write, narrate, and edit my story.

I often chafed at the 90-second story rule. Ninety-seconds isn’t nearly enough time to tell a strong story, I’d cry. I need more time! Sometimes my begging worked and I got an extra 30-45 seconds; usually I didn’t. But over time, I learned that with planning and focus, 90 seconds was plenty of time to tell a concise and meaningful visual TV news story.

It turns out 90 seconds also is enough time to tell a convincing and compelling visual story to broadcast over the Internet. While we continue to tell longer stories, many of our clients are benefitting from these shorter online versions.

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Taking the Pain Out of Publishing

Better to perish than publish? Giving birth to the quarterly magazine or an annual report can be a painful experience. Too often staffers for nonprofits and government agencies find publishing a chaotic and frustrating process, especially if everyone in the office is involved.

It doesn’t have to be. Use the publishing experience as a series of teachable moments about writing and print production. There’s more than one way to manage the project, but try these steps:

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Leverage, Don’t Waste, Your Anniversary

Don't make your anniversary celebration too small because not enough time was made for planning.It seems that too often celebrating, let alone the planning for, key anniversary dates is an afterthought. Don’t have angst over that key anniversary. Plan well in advance and leverage the milestone to maximize your organization’s key messages.

As much as some of us at CFM have a passion for history, we’ve learned not to celebrate history for the sake of remembering the past. Milestones – such as a group’s 50th anniversary or the 25th year since a market-leading product first appeared – should be used to drive home current messaging.

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Picks From CFM’s Bookshelf: The Brain and How We Use It

What’s on your bookshelf? Here are public affairs and marketing communications ideas from CFM.After all the talk about target audiences and key messages, the real secret of effective communications is getting an idea intact from your brain to someone else's brain.

Cresting interest in neuroscience and behavioral psychology provides some clues.

David Rock's "Your Brain at Work" offers practical personal strategies for overcoming distraction, regaining focus and working smarter. It also explores how to collaborate with others more effectively.

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