What a week it has been trying to learn how to become an effective story teller. In addition to readings from Presentation Zen and Digi Tales the course has us working with VoiceThread. Finally, an Internet site where I can begin to put together images, text and audio to tell a story! I experimented with VoiceThread and created a short story about a Wild Turkey I encountered during a morning walk. I uploaded 5 digital pictures that captured the event and added a voice commentary. If you want to hear my story just click here.
I have big ambitions and high hopes for digital story telling. In the software industry I could prepare and present a digital story about a customer request for new functionality. Instead of listing what we need to provide to customers, I could present it in the form of a customer story. At Pharmacy OneSource our customers are mainly pharmacists, so I might tell a digital story about a 'Day in the Life of a Pharmacist' which would add a personal, human element. At the Hoofer's Sailing Club I might create a digital story where I share what happened when I did not check my rigging on a windy day and what ensued.
In my readings from Presentation Zen and Digi Tales it was stressed over and over how important it is to storyboard and design a presentation before creating the final presentation product. Yes, this all made sense and who wouldn't do that? Well, I set about creating my class VoiceThread presentation on the Civil Rights Movement. I immediately parked myself in front of my computer, logged on to VoiceThread, started browsing and grabbing images for my presentation - then recorded the voice-overs for the slides. Mission Accomplished? Hardly!
Although I read the course materials, I had not devoted any time to going analog (offline with a pad of paper) to think through the core idea and supporting elements to craft a great presentation. I had gone computer geek first and focused on the presentation tools and then tried to kludge together a story after the fact. Ouch. I played the presentation back and I even I got a little lost trying to find the riveting moments or continuity that would have made it better. It didn't help that I could hear my own pauses as I tried to figure-out what would have made sense next. I deleted the whole thing and started over.
I have a ways to go to become a better story teller. It took the experience of playing back my own work and hearing how I told a story to realize that I need to plan-out, sketch-out and storyboard first. Story telling is such a powerful way to reach an audience and until I improve, all the free slideware presentations I create and even my Blogs will never convey meaning and respect to my audience.
Originally created for my M.E in Instructional Technology, I enjoy sharing a blog or two about life along the way.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it can be difficult to start any story on paper first these days. It is very tempting to just start on the computer and then experiment until you get it right. I think we use the computer to save time but in the end it doesn't really save any time at all.
I liked your idea about using it in that way in the real world. Clients would be pretty impressed to see that you are up on the most current technology.
Nice video! That was a nice looking turkey.
I did go analog and do a storyboard while putting together my voicethread but I still don't like it. I know I could do much better but am struggling a bit with this assignment. I am just not sure where to take it. I think my biggest problem was that I used his example of the Civil Rights Movement. I should have picked a subject that interested me a bit more and the result might have been better. I guess there is still time.
ReplyDeleteI like the challenge of putting together better presentations. Story telling might be hard with certain subjects, but probably even more effective. Real world would definitely benefit from this. If a client remembers your presentation, they are more likely to want your services.
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