The highlight of the Smithsonian portion of the conference for me was Annette Simmons, author of The Story Factor. Annette offers all kinds of great downloadable stuff on storytelling and her other areas of expertise at her Web site. These storytelling folks are all about giving away their knowledge — knowing that it makes us listeners even more likely to buy their books and such. Shades of Oprah, at the end of her presentation, Annette gave the whole audience a partially completed version of a CD she plans to sell in the fall. Her hope was that audience members would review it and give her suggestions.
I had communicated with Annette about my dissertation and quoted her in my proposal, and she was nothing like I imagined she would be based on “talking” by e-mail, reading her book, and checking out her Web site. She’s a fabulous speaker — funny, genuine, and just a pleasure to listen to.
Continuing the branding theme (see Part I about the conference), Annette, who had worked in advertising, divided her presentation into three parts: Key Response, Testing, and The Art Part:
Key Response is about getting the key response from the buyer and telling a story that allows listeners to come to their own conclusions.
One hundred percent influence equals 100 percent isolation, she said.
Values can’t be activated without story, and the story must contain enough sensory detail to activate the five senses. The idea is to institutionalize value and “who we are” through story.
Testing is about asking questions — What is the true story of this product or service?
I was immediately struck by the applicability of this testing concept to an aspect of my own work — informational interviewing in the job search. Just as marketers should ask questions of those they hope will buy their product or service, job-seekers should ask questions of those they hope will “buy” them, i.e., hire them. But they should not wait until they’re in job interviews before they ask but should embark on a “testing” campaign of informational interviewing — to research employers in the early stages of the job hunt.
The Art Part, says Simmons, has to do with the notion that the true story will always be better. People want faith that you mean what you say. Live the life of a truthteller/artist.
Facts don’t mean anything, she says, except from a particular point of view. All art is specific.
As if it weren’t enough of a treat to listen to Annette, she also talked about her greyhound, Larry. As a former greyhound owner, I know these are the most wonderful dogs — but they are not terribly bright. My partner and I just looked at each other knowingly as Annette told stories about Larry.