Tag Archives: storytelling tips

Story of the week: How to defeat willpower

By Steve | Published: January 28, 2010
WNYC’s Radiolab created the most intriguing audio science story I’ve ever heard. Aired this week on NPR’s Morning Edition, two narrators play off each other to lure you through the back story that sets up the report on an astonishing experiment. A marketing professor had a set of subjects memorize a 2-digit number and another [...]
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A book for resolve: Change or Die

By Steve | Published: January 1, 2010
Change or Die by Alan Deutschman was referred to me by a physician who is using its ideas to help her patients make life changes (thanks, Deb). It was an ideal read to usher in a new year, a new decade and a new phase in my career. Many of the change ideas were familiar to [...]
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Poet brings vision statement to life

By Steve | Published: December 23, 2009
Tears of pride welled up yesterday as I watched a corporate video. A corporate video! Diane Gage-Lofgren, our national VP of communications and PR, had asked a poet/performance artist  to bring life to our communication team’s new vision statement. A stroke of genius. I will forever have a visual and resonant image to add soul [...]
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Filmmaker’s advice for great business storytelling

By Steve | Published: December 18, 2009
Filmmaker Peter Guber (Rainman, Batman, The Color Purple) once used storytelling to win Fidel Castro’s support for filming in Havana Harbor. The official application form had been torpedoed, but El Presidente enthusiastically endorsed the project once he heard Guber tell of the harbor’s historic significance and Castro’s responsibility to the world to share that piece of [...]
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Video storytelling is a whole different game

By Steve | Published: December 6, 2009
I’ve been working for a couple of years on my video technical skills. In the past few months, I’ve concentrated more on the storytelling part. I have a long way to go, as my Vimeo portfolio will attest. Kai gives Granny a knitting lesson from Steve Krizman on Vimeo. What I’ve learned so far: Video [...]
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A five-man team in a six-man league

By Steve | Published: September 26, 2009
Driving to work Friday morning, I was pulled into a story that unfolded on Colorado Public Radio. Five Arickaree High School boys talked about the decision they had to make when the school’s tiny student body did not yield enough boys to field a six-man football team. They decided to stick together and play with [...]
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A story for parents whose chicks are leaving the nest

By Steve | Published: August 20, 2009
Frank Sanchez saw that there were many parents among the auditorium full of entering college freshmen. As the convocation for new students drew to a close, Frank, my university’s associate vice chancellor of student life, shared this story: The eagle gently coaxed her offspring toward the edge of the nest. Her heart quivered with conflicting [...]
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What I look for in cover letters

By Steve | Published: April 5, 2009
I just finished looking at more than 100 cover letters. Here are a few thoughts for those of you in the job market: 1. Make your first paragraph work. “I am thrilled to apply for ….” “Enclosed please find ….” “I noticed your posting ….” Will blend right in with about 95 percent of the [...]
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Tell ‘em what you did

By Steve | Published: April 2, 2009
While preparing this morning for a staff meeting, I delved into Google Analytics to see how many people had visited our new online magazine site. I was disappointed by the numbers. During the meeting, I decided to put the Analytics on the meeting room monitor and walk people through the steps I took to discover these [...]
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