Fall 2009 Jennifer Aaker, How to Tell a Story Week of Sept 14th (Monday-Friday): 1:30-4:30

HOW TO TELL A STORY

BIO: Jennifer Aaker is the General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Professor Aaker's area of expertise lies in the psychology of time, money and happiness. She also works on (a) psychology of giving, (b) global brand building, and (c) the role of emotions in health. Her research has been published in both marketing and psychology journals, and has been featured in various media outlets. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Consumer Psychology and the Journal of Marketing Research, and is the Associate Editor at the Journal of Consumer Research. She has received awards for her research on the peacefulness of mixed emotions, understanding culture and consumers, and the psychology of consumer-brand relationships. Professor Aaker received her B.A. in Psychology from University of California at Berkeley and her Ph.Ds in Marketing and Psychology from Stanford University. PREP BEFORE CLASS Decide what you personally want to get out of the class. (I realize this sounds ridiculously touchyfeely, but it will help define which story you want to work on in the class). Watch An Inconvenient Truth (the movie) and some TED talks (http://www.ted.com/). Pick out one TED talk where the visual story-telling was excellent, and email it to me by 9/14. Read How to Tell a Story, Stanford case M-323 (A) and (B). Do Exercises 1-2 in How to Tell a Story: Workbook (ppt). Also, take a peak at Exercise 3. Save at least 2 hours after class on Mon, Tues and Wed. On Monday after class, you will create four ppt slides to email to [email protected] by 11pm on Monday Sept 14th, so that Nancy Duarte can review them before Tuesdays session. On Tues after class, you will create your story (exercise 6 in workbook). On Wed after class, you will hone your story with a partner (before presenting your story to Oren and Justine Jacob for Thursdays session). On Thursday night, you will relax.

OVERVIEW Tell me the facts and Ill learn. Tell me the truth and Ill believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever. How do you tell a story? This question becomes important for leaders of companies, who often only need to act as an editor - shaping the stories told by employees and customers to align with shared vision. And it becomes important as you craft a marketing campaign. A good story is not enough. It must be well told. In this seminar, we will break down the basic elements of story-telling, elucidate the power of the verbal as well as the visual, and discuss how story-telling helps build brands and organizations. For the final project, you will create tell a story about (a) your organization, (b) your brand, or (c) you. By creating powerful stories and then communicating them in your own uniquely human way, you'll see how causes, careers and businesses can gain momentum.

GOALS Whatever you do - whether you become a private equity investor or run a social enterprise or nonprofit, storytelling is one of the most important skills of leadership. If you are investing, you need to be able to craft a compelling story for why to invest in a company that you present to the investment committee. If you are running my nonprofit, you need to be able to communicate with donors, investors, customers, beneficiaries, and you believe that stories is one of the most powerful ways. Thus, the goals for this class: (1) Understand what makes bad stories, OK stories, and great stories. Leave with a framework to break down the components of a great story and concrete tools for visual storytelling and verbal storytelling. (2) Learn how to tell a story. Gain practice in crafting and telling a compelling story. You will get feedback on what went well, went poorly, and how to take the story to level further. CONTENT Stories can be a powerful tool for advocacy, persuasion and leadership. But how can you reliably produce just the right story at the right time? One outcome of this class it to hone one of your personal stories for your Personal Story Bank (defined as a repository for stories that you may use over the course of your life and career; see Exericse 2 in How to Tell a Story Case B). By Monday night, you will have completed your Personal Story Bank, and identified which story you want to develop over the week. By Tuesday, you will have insight of the best ways to visually tell your story. By Wednesday, you will have insight on what makes a good story and how stories are used in business. By Thursday, you will be asked to: (a) set the scene/create the context for your story. Pleases dont bring ppt slides, but consider music, food, visuals, or props. (b) tell your 3-min story. Two filmmakers will be in class to provide constructively critical feedback. Because you may want to re-use this story in your career, please be strategic about which story you intend to polish between Monday and Thursday. THE SCOOP
Place 9/14 Mon 9/15 Tue Topic Importance of Storytelling Visual Storytelling Storytellers: Nancy Duarte, Jessica Jackley The Use of Stories in Business Storytellers: Jessica Jackley, Bill Meehan Storytelling in Practice Storytellers: Oren and Justine Jacob Course wrap-up Prep for Class Exercises 1-2 (from How to Tell a Story Workbook). Exercise 4. Email your 4 ppt slides to [email protected] by Monday 9/14 by 11PM. Nancy Duarte will select some of these slides for improvement and discussion. Exercise 5. Also bring at least 1 example of a company that tells stories well, and be ready to tell the story. Exercise 7. During Class Exercise 3 with partner

9/16 Wed 9/17 Thurs 9/18 Fri

Exercise 6 with partner

Nothing!

Final presentation. Tell your 3 min story in front of Oren & Justine. Active feedback session. Time for sharing, listening, feedback and reflection

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CLASS ECOSYSTEM The StoryTellers Nancy Duarte, CEO of Duarte Design, the largest design firm focused on visual presentations. For more than 20 years, she has helped the world's leading brands inform, persuade, and inspire audiences.. She is a TED Fellows committee member and a TED partner. Her firm worked with Al Gore to develop the presentation that became the Academy Award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. In 2008 she released slide:ologyThe Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations where her experience was distilled into best practices for visual business communicators. Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva and the spirit behind the organization. Jessica first saw the power and beauty of microfinance while working in rural Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda with Village Enterprise Fund and Project Baobab on impact evaluation and program development. Jessica has spoken widely on microfinance and social entrepreneurship, and has seen microfinance at work in a variety of communities in more than 30 countries. Jessica serves on a number of non-profit boards, and holds an MBA from the Stanford GSB and a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from Bucknell University. Justine Jacob, Producer/Director and independent filmmaker, who directed and produced two feature length documentaries: Paper or Plastic? (2008) and Runners High (2006); www.paperorplasticmovie.com, www.runnershighfilm.com. She was in the 2006 Sundance Producers Conference, served two years as President of the Bay Area Women in Film and Television, and is on Lunafest Board of Directors. She is working on a new project about commitment, passion and food and three individuals using chocolate to change the world: http://chocolatedocumentary.com/ Oren Jacob, CTO of Pixar and Executive Producer of the documentaries Paper or Plastic? (2008) and Runners High (2006) has been working in film for 18 years. He is currently the Director of the Studio Tools group at Pixar Animation Studios, where he is also a Chief Technical Officer. He was Supervising Technical Director of Finding Nemo (2003), as well as Effects Lead on Toy Story 2 (1999), and Technical Director on A Bugs Life (1998), and Toy Story (1995). Bill Meehan, Lecturer at Stanford University GSB. Bill Meehan's research, writing, and teaching interests focus on reshaping nonprofits and philanthropy to be more effective and efficient. His core discipline is strategy, but his interests range from the primacy of mission, governance and performance measurement, and evaluation. The types of nonprofits involved include universities and other educational institutions, performing arts organizations, social entrepreneurs, health care institutions, social services, NGO's, environmental organizations, and foundations. He also tells a great story. Dana Mauriello, Stanford BS Class of '04, MBA class of '09; Dana's blood runs Cardinal red. As an undergraduate, she designed her own major, Product Development, focusing on Product Design and Need Finding. Post graduation, she worked in NY for L'Oreal and Estee Lauder developing new product innovations in beauty. At the GSB, she focused on entrepreneurship and started DMarie Studios, a business in the beauty industry to discover and deliver unique international beauty brands to the US consumer. She's equally passionate about Stanford, entrepreneurship, lipstick, and weightlifting-- diversity keeps life interesting. She tells stories with the best of them.

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SUGGESTED BOOKS (ON RESERVE AT JACKSON) The Art of Storytelling: Easy Steps to Presenting an Unforgettable Story by John Walsh The Story Factor by Annette Simmons The Power of Personal Storytelling by Jack Maguire Leader's Guide to Storytelling by Stephen Denning Improving Your Storytelling by Doug Lipman Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte Storytelling as Best Practice by Andy Goodman Story by Robert McKee

STORY TELLING RESOURCES Great stock footage: http://www.panix.com/~footage/ (they have very cool stuff here) http://propvilledirectory.com/content.php (good resource for video, music, photographs) http://www.post-holes.com/ http://pro.corbis.com/ http://oddballfilm.com/ http://kachoozie.com/ Music for Storytelling http://www.apmmusic.com/main.php http://freeplaymusic.com/ Storytelling and Social Media * Tools and services for story-telling: Wordpress, twitter, feedburner, facebook, delicious, flickr * http://workbookproject.com/ The Power of Visuals in Storytelling * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZUaXDm4qik * HOME PROJECT documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU The Strategic Use of a Single Word or Phrase * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyGEEamz7ZM Formulas for Storytelling * http://www.cracked.com/blog/write-your-own-house-episode/ Telling a Business Story in 140 Characters * http://www.redf.org/ How to Figure Out When Your Story Isn't Working http://gelconference.com/videos/2007/ira_glass/ Nonprofits using Storytelling * http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/2009/04/07/mayo-clinic-music-fun/ * http://www.adventureecology.com/theplastiki * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deyOBA0Re-g&feature=related * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2eUzZv_KNA&feature=related

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