Tim_10_I

Simmons continues with her advice to use storytelling only for good. In this chapter she says to only tell positive stories. She points out that sometimes negative stories can still be influential. It is she says, the best story that will be remembered, good or bad. Her Hitler references were interesting. I supposed that goes along with the notion that those who don’t remember history, are doomed to repeat it.
Beyond the author’s preaching, there are some good points to this chapter. She talks about keeping stories alive, within a family, business or even a culture.
I wish I had taped my grandparents and even my parents to help preserve their stories. Sure I still tell some of them, but I can’t recall every one of them, only the more memorable ones. Hopefully my sons will be able to recall some of my memories for their children too.
Simmons provides more usefulness with her six ways to help generate story ideas. I am considering adapting that list to spark news story ideas for NewsLink Indiana.
Near the end, Simmons sounds like a prophet and storytelling is the religion. When she presents live, I wonder if there are people yelling “Hallelujahs” from the audience?

Vince_10_I

Getting down to the base of what she had tried to tell us, neither pushing for the '110 percent' nor giving the same 'sad story' all of the time only reduces the productivity in a company. Family oriented stories are what get people going as well as talk about free time.

Now, I have done my own share of negative talk. In fact, I have done this more than I can remember. I don't know if it is in the human condition like she mentioned once in the chapter, but I just have a tendency to look at life in a negative view. My father is also a very negative person, something I blame on his accident early on that gave him his disability. It is definitely no fault of his. All I know is that I should, as well as everyone, start looking at what we are saying and try to lift spirits instead of weighing them down with small, negative thoughts.

Group 7 (?) Update

Martin Ryder, Kyle Hufford, and Matt Graf

I'm not sure if we're Group 7, but I think we can all agree that we're pretty much awesome.

Anyways, we haven't been blogging our group updates (oops), so here goes nothing.

We're working with Yorktown because they have proven to be very accommodating. Mary Watkins is an angel sent from Heaven. She put us in touch with two people working two different water-related programs.

First, there is the PE teacher Sandy Lounsbury. Yorktown was in a little trouble because they have an old building and there aren't enough water fountains. They came up with a creative compromise: sell water and gatorade to students during PE. Then they put all the profits back into Wellness programs. They were able to use the profits to buy a climbing wall for the students. When we visit her on Tuesday morning, Sandy will be able to give us tons of information about the program and should be able to provide students, as well, with signed release forms!

Then there is the art teacher Marcy Mackey. She was having trouble with the after school art club meetings. They were getting all jacked up on caffeine and sugar and things were getting out of control. So she banned pop. Now they can only bring water, gatorade, or fruit juice to meetings. Everything is working out much better now. The school also implemented this policy for the after school Homework Help program. We'll be talking with Marcy on Thursday afternoon.

So we have two programs at Yorktown to focus on. Does that make us awesome students? Well, I hate to answer since my opinion might be perceived as biased, but, yes, that does make us awesome students. At the very least. We'll take our virtual bows now. Thank you.

Jeff_9_I

BANGO! Chesebro has a story with a point! You see... Digitial Storytelling is very "parwful" tools to use to tell your story. Digital Storytelling will go everywhere and it can make a difference and it can impacts to each person differently. It is like church... Pastor spread the messsage and hit the poeple... the people preach and hit the world... and the world can hit the universe in 2050?

I believe that storytelling is powerful and it can make a difference! You can guide them or remind them or be nothing...

Sarah_9_I

Simmons says not to scare people or make them feel guilty. She also says story is a tool of influence. Isn't fear and guilt the best way to influence people? We see it on the news and in advertising every day and, boy, do we buy into it.

Tonya_9_Q

This week I am stuck dealing with how in the world am I going to tie my thesis, creative project, and my cultural immersion together to create a linear story line that makes sense not only to me, but to my audience. Not only does it have to make sense, but for sanity purposes it must be entertaining. Right now it seems as if I am flying too close to the sun. Either I'm going to to have to can the entertainment for the storyline or or make it fun to watch and skimp on the content. I don't know? Right now, having to switch gears with my writing style seems to be my biggest challenge.

Matt_9_I

I, too, found the section in this chapter discussing children's stories to be interesting. I also agree that it takes a very talented person to create a good children's story. I can't help but think of Pixar, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, Sony Imageworks, and other animation studios that have managed to not only make stories that are effective for children, but for adults as well. I've always been impressed by films are able to do this. They are admittedly some of my favorite movies.

Martin_9_I

This chapter made me think about the various religious groups that come to campus.

The worst one was this guy who used to stand outside AJ during class changes with a big sign detailing the fiery pit in which we would all burn for eternity. The guy wasn't even trying to save anybody. His story was that we were all doomed because we weren't him and his friends. Not a very effective story. I don't think he's allowed back on campus.

On the other hand, there are the old guys who hand out the Old Testament and the Mormons. While they may seem a little annoying when you're in a hurry to get to class and they start bugging you, they're so much nicer than the hellfire guy. Have you ever stopped and chatted with them? They're really nice people. They are calm and lay out their story to you. Sure, they probably think that you're a terrible person who will burn in Hell, but they don't say it. That makes them much more effective.

Brian_9_Q

Chapter 9...I kinda feel like Bozwell on this one. She's jumped to a new level of superiority, imagine that.

I found the chapter to be pretty fair, nothing really ground breaking in any way. The Hitler reference was a good step back to reality and I'm looking forward to ch 10 where they go into more detail.

The idea of not boring your listeners was good and pertinent. Us grad students are rarely bored by anything...but others I'm sure would be. I didn't exactly agree with the just stop talking idea though. If I just stop talking then I'd probably forget what I was going on about and jump subjects. Fuerthmore, and as Tim would probably support, the silence would make the group uncomfortable until someone spoke up... I don't see the goal.

Finally, my question. Simmons sharply criticizes storytelling voice. Ok, fine, it's a way to talk down to people. But what the hell does it have to do with the rest of this chapter. It's a one paragraph little blurb that really doesn't fit the surrounding topics. Did anyone else find this little mention a bit out of line?

John B_Chpt 9_I

Simmons brings up some great points in this chapter and I totally agree with Chad, there is a lot of fluff also. I particularly liked the paragraph on hope. "People are afraid to hope. It opens up to dissapointment again." This is a very risky statement for Simmons. Thinking about it deeper though, I think I want to agree. People today are ultimately despaired. There is so many negative things happening around us, it's hard to have hope for anything. You can't even turn on the tv, or listen to the radio, or play a videogame without hearing or seeing some negative action.

On another note though, thinking about stories and media got me asking myself about stories running out. Will there be a time in the future when we have ultimately "heard it all", or is this impossible?

What kind of stories do have power to influence people? What kind of people like having power to influence people? Every story has its own special part to affect people. Novels? Fictions? Right! any kind of story must can influence some people. However, I think the most powerful stories that can influence people are news.

Wwe watch news not only from TV, but also from newspapers or internet every day. Sometimes, even a very ordinary news can be discussed for a long time. Every body like gossip and the news are the best topic to be talked. Therefore, how is the society like depends on how news be reported. If journalists always report good news, I believe that the society must full of love and concern. Contrary, if journalists report unpleasant news like, raping, robing or suicide, people who live in this kind of society must can't trust each other and love each other. Unfortunately, we are not the people who can control what kind of stories should be reported. Therefore, the people who caontrol the news reporting has become very powerful to decide how to affect people's thoughts. I think it is pretty sad.

Sarah_9_I

Simmons speaks in this chapter about the “storytelling voice” when reading to children. I identified with this immediately. My mom is an elementary school speech & language teacher. I’ve gone to school with her so many times & observed her in the classroom. Often when she goes into the kindergarten or first grade classrooms she does a “large language unit.” This usually starts out with her reading a story & then doing a related activity afterwards. When I say she reads a story, that is an understatement. She is SO LOUD and really gets into the story. If you are in the classroom, you understand why. Kindergarteners & first graders are squirmy, loud, impatient people. To truly get into the story you have to grab their attention right away & hold it until the very end. I really believe you have to be a certain type of person to be a teacher, especially elementary. Each time I go into my mom’s school, the chaos reminds me of a zoo. I think the teachers are like zoo-keepers, trying to keep track of the children. They do a fantastic job, and captivate the children each day.

Sam_9_I

Storyteller has a powerful tool.
Digital Storytelling even much powerful.

But if someone wants to tell good story and others want to tell bad story that is not something we can decide. Period.

Chad_9_Q

Simmons writes: "Guru-itis is very seductive. The danger of developing a cult of followers is that your success risks excluding the 'thinking' public."

American cults seem to attract followers that the "thinking" public regard as schmucks. Despite the violence of the Manson Family and the weirdness of Heaven's Gate, most people probably consider the typical cult follower and think, "Gee, you must be a schmuck on some level."

A cult leader demands a one-way channel of communication. He dictates, and the followers listen. Simmons suggests this is not true influence. Real influence, she writes, is a collaborative process.

Has anyone ever met a person who, if not the leader of a wacky-ass cult, demanded a one-way channel of communication?

This post is also late.

Chad_I_9

Once or twice in every chapter, Simmons offers a statement that is so irrevocably true I can't help but read it several times.

In Chapter 9, one of these statements was: "Your curiosity about whomever you wish to influence is the cornerstone of your ability to hold another's interest."

She's so right on. And for this reason I sometimes feel bothered while reading. If Simmons is so capable of making lucid statements, I think to myself, why doesn't she do it more often? Why must she pad each insight with pages of filler?

Then I wonder if she's not just pulling one over on all of us. This woman has the wherewithal not only to pilot herself through a successful career as a consultant; she's also published a book on the subject.

Maybe she believes that every story has the same construction outlined above: There is a kernel of truth surrounded by fluff, and it's up to the listener or reader to sort the treasure from the trash.

My literature professors used to tell me not to try getting inside the author's head. But in this case I have to wonder.

This post is late.

Joshua_9_I

For some reason the one thing that stood out of the many interesting points in this chapter was Simmons' comments on children's stories. On page 203 she begins, "They speak to people as if they are children in need of direction. Interesting, since I've noticed that even the most popular children's storytellers do not tell their stories for a position of superiority. Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who is read out loud from a position of equality. A good storyteller makes it clear that he is just as worried about that speck of dust called Whoville as the children listening." And she continues a little further.

I guess this got a lot of ideas going in the ol' noggin, for the sake of this post's length I'll discuss two. The first is that children's books have to be extremely difficult to write well. Think of how difficult it is to convey an abstract concept to a group of peers. Now try to imagine conveying the same idea to a bunch of imaginative second graders that are ready to move on to something more interesting if your story doesn't "do it" for them. A formidable task indeed.

The second is that interactive storytelling on the web is kind of like children's books. You don't have that much time to reach the viewer, you need to clearly explain your ideas, and it should be interesting enough to keep them engaged for the length of the story. Most importantly, you want the viewer to understand that you care about the story, not just the tech stuff that got it out there.

I know that Sarah has been reading a lot of children's series lately. Maybe we should all get on the bandwagon.

Kyle_9_I

I found most of this chapter to be common sense, however unfortunatly it may not be common sense for some. Simmons talks about some typical pitfalls of storytelling like talking too much about yourself, being superior, using a "storytelling voice". I think we all have see or heard these styles or done them ourselves. One of the issues is a storyteller that tells stories the way they write. Writting and public speaking share a unique relationship. You can write for public speaking, but you cannot speak the way you write. I have heard plenty of boring speakers because they read a script word for word, or spoke the way you would expect a written narrative to sound. The issue here is that as a speaker you need to react to an audience and use both your energy and your audiences energy to enhance your story.

Also I really liked the line at the end when she says, "Cynicism and apathy are simply defences against hope." This is so true and I have a co-woker who uses this almost everyday. It is interesting to me to use cynicism and to be fearfull of hope. Hope is what drive you, hope is what motivates, hope is a unique human emotion.

Iris chapter 9_ I

Hey guys...let's do an exercise: instead of Simmons don'ts let's find the matching dos and for Simmons dos lets find the matching don'ts....maybe we can find some interesting oppositions...Crawford for example (...I know that's a 634 insider...) said that the opposite of "anger" is "fear".....lets see what we can come up with!



(...and I don't care if some people think my efforts are pointless ;P!)

Erik_9_I

There are a lot of "don'ts" in here... like others have said, this gets almost authoratative to an arrogant level here. I think that perhaps her goals with this chapter could have been achieved with more 'do's" than "don'ts"...

Storytelling is inherently empowering... the storyteller is the one weaving the presentation. The listener is the one listening. Therefore the very act of storytelling is empowering. But I think that this empowerment can get to one's head... it appears as though Simmons may have taken this empowerment to a whole new level by claiming the exact ways one should tell a story.

Jessie_9_I&Q

"A healthy sense of curiosity is the best long-term strategy to ensure that your stories are interesting."

I really like the idea that keeping your audience interested in your stories isn't just dependent on their interest in what you're saying, but also on your interest everything else. The best example I can think of to illustrate the idea is a little kid telling a story or explaining something. I love listening to little kids go on and on about some idea they've gotten into their heads. There's something so amazing about listening to these little people who are figuring out how the world works for the very first time. They want to know everything about everything and they think it is all amazing and something to share with the rest of the world. You don't really meet many adults like that. Adults, for the most part, are sneaky and like to hide information away until there is something to be gained by sharing it. Maybe that's why most adults are really boring to listen to, because they are so stingy with their thoughts and discoveries.


I don't really know what happens to kids when they grow up that they stop expressing curiosity as freely. I do know that the most interesting adults to listen to are those who haven't lost that childlike sense of excitement over learning something new and are excited to tell you about it. There's nothing worse than getting all excited about learning something new just to have the person telling you about it act like it's no big deal. When that happens I tend to lose all interest in hearing anything else from that person. Many people loose all sense of wonder and excitement as they get older and they get to where they don't want to seem too interested in anything. Why is that? Are they afraid that people will think less of them if they find out they don't know everything? Does it have something to do with that ever present pursuit of "cool" that I keep hearing about? Or is it just a natural part of growing up? I really hope it isn't, the last thing this world needs is more boring people running around.

Brandon_9_Q

“Besides, approaching those we wish to influence from a position of pious superiority creates either resentment or dependence. Both are troublesome.”

I can easily imagine examples in which both reactions from an audience could occur.

But if you can’t appeal to your audience in a manner to make them dependent on you or your services, what is the tactic to be used to sell? Are all salesmen manipulators?

Of course, appealing to your audience by relating to them is necessary. It seems as though people have to be treated with “kid gloves” in order to sell them your product or service. Is this the best way for a salesman to manipulate someone into buying their product/service?

Making them feel dependent on my products/services seems as though it would be a more efficient way to gain business.

Any salesman who tells me that they don’t partake in either of those is lying to him/herself. “My cow just died, and I don’t want your bull.”

Ruthless business ethics?

Luke_9_I

Simmons does seem pretty preachy in this chapter. Her lessons transcend storytelling. I actually thought it kind of absurd that they were being applied to something as small (in the grand scheme of things) as storytelling. Be mindful of your humanity, be humble, don't be negative...
The things she lists that are specific to an audience don't seem out of place, but can easily be applied to something as large as life.

Brian_9_I

Okay, I was reading this chapter and my cynic meter was pegging deep in the red. ("Great Scott!" I was thinking, "She's gone from storytelling evangelist to storytelling deity!" (Thou shalt not tell a story to solicit thy neighbor's oxen.)

Just as I was about to lose my Chick-fil-a lunch I read something that I really respected.

"[The storyteller] may be interpreting the story on a metaphorical level but he is reading from a place of respectful equality that says, "this story speaks to me, too." He doesn't perform the story, he tells it."

That is a great point. Many people can sense an air of superiority.

Risky Business

Liz 9:I
“Playing it safe isn’t interesting. Being superficial isn’t interesting. Authenticity is interesting. Passion is interesting. Authentic human tragedy and comedy are interesting.” Annette states. I agree.
Age affords a new sense of boldness. You have hopefully learned by then that risk can pay off. So without spoiling my personal “just ask” stories to tell here is what can happen if you just ask. Ross Perot had two college students sitting before him at a desk. They had mustered the courage to ask him to donate $250,000 to their cause. Half of what they hoped to raise. Ross said very little as he listened. He then began to write a check and handed the happy young men a check for the full amount. The students were amazed and grateful. Then Ross spoke, “let that be a lesson to you”. They looked perplexed. He continued, “if you would have asked for the whole amount, I would have given it to you.”.
Let's risk more, sometimes it has a nice pay off.

Tim_9_I

I bet I’m not the only one who thought of Spiderman when reading chapter 9 of The Story Factor. It pretty much had the same message, “With power comes great responsibility.”
I felt almost like this chapter was put in by the lawyers. You know, so no one can sue if they get hurt. Simmons tends to get a little preachy, but has a good message. Use this power of influencing people through stories only for good, not evil. I am sure there are those out there abusing their power of influence, even outside of politics.
The rest of the chapter seemed like a catch-all of ideas left over from other chapters. But here they are categorized as the “rules” of proper narrative with “dos” and “don’ts” of storytelling. While I thought she had more don’ts than dos, they actually were pretty even. But it’s the negative ones that we tend to remember. Still several good ideas come through in the chapter, ones that as storytellers, we all can utilize.

Iris chapter 9

In this chapter Simmons is wrapping up a lot things mentioned in the earlier chapters:
Don't bore your listeners...intrigue and captivate them! Do connect at the level of humanity and leave them feeling hopeful! Don't act superior or scare them or make them feel guilty....

Concerning the last part there are even studies for decades about the so- called "Fear Appeals": In case you want to work with fear the stimulus has to be strong enough to create a certain "drive" (dissonance) that the recipient need to work to solve. If the stimulus is too strong the recipient acts with avoidance! I think we had a similar discussion last week in connection with Gore and Moore and their extremely bold way of portraying things....