If you’ve watched any TV over the last 40+ years you’ve likely seen at least one episode of 60 Minutes, the Sunday night news magazine that always launched with the “tick tock” of the second hand on a stop watch. This show has outlasted Gunsmoke, Mash, Seinfeld, I Love Lucy and others to withstand the test of time. One of the reasons for this longevity is Don Hewitt, the creator of 60 Minutes, who died this past August. He was both a visionary and a taskmaster.
60 Minutes Logo
His rants and arguments with his reporters and producers are legendary in that he wanted the best from everyone. His mantra was “tell me a story” don’t just report on a pile of facts. To him, the story was the most meaningful thing 60 Minutes could do for the audience. The facts didn’t matter if you couldn’t explain what impact they had and how they touched lives or struggles.
This same approach of “tell me a story” works in virtually any situation. Here are a few examples:
- If you are teaching a class do students pay more attention to a series of facts or a story that uses the same facts to make a point?
- When producing a video for any topic what’s the goal? Tell a story the viewer will remember so your topic has longevity.
- What if you need to persuade your boss that more funds are needed to implement a new program or revitalize an existing program? If you stick with the facts and figures about the budget and results your presentation is no different than any other presentation. But what if, in addition to the the facts and figures, you also told a story or two about how the program has or will have an impact on students, or participants in the program? The stories will likely resonate more than the numbers. Why? Because stories are descriptive and have emotion and relevance and resonate with people.
Here’s an example of story telling in a recent project we participated in…we were selected by a very large medical company to design a solution to provide a video education solution for a dialysis clinic . Patients in this environment are in treatment for 3 or more hours several times per week. They are required to remain in a chair and hooked up to a machine with no opportunity to move around freely during their treatment time. Most clinics provided television but it is shared among all patients which could mean 10 to over 50 depending on the size of the clinic.
Our solution provided patients with personal touch screen TV’s with access to video on demand healthcare education, email, the Internet, games and traditional cable TV channels. This solution cost more than shared TV but provided significant benefits to the clinics and their patients. Multiple clinics were involved in live testing to prove out the concept and get patient and staff feedback before the company committed to a roll-out.
Some of the benefits included quieter clinics because each patient used a headset; better educated patients because they had access to very specific educational programs that were targeted to their needs; etc., etc. But what came out of the live testing was story after story about how the system enabled clinic patients and staff. One teacher found her productivity enhanced dramatically because she could use her treatment time to grade papers and projects and update her grade book because she could access the school district’s servers through her personal TV. This capability reduced her stress level significantly and made her a happier patient; or the 90 year old gentleman who had never seen a computer and taught himself how to surf and browse the Internet during his treatment time. This new activity meant his clinic visits where something to look forward too instead of dread. These two stories plus others of note enabled the project managers to create a very compelling presentation for their management and secure funding for the roll-out.
Think about what it is you need to accomplish with your next project and how the process can be enhanced by incorporating a few meaningful stories in your presentation.
