Consider changing your perspective
Why you should think about changing your perspective, learning to listen to your audience, a job vacancy as a leading science communicator, and a tuition-free journalism graduate program.
Today we’re going to talk about perspective - specifically the perspective from which you communicate your work, and why it can so dramatically alter and improve the way you and your organisation or company communicates.
In short, there are two ways that people and corporations usually tell stories about what they do. The common way. And the less-used, far better way.
To illustrate what we mean, watch the short film we’ve produced below. It lasts just a couple of minutes, and tells the same, hypothetical story from two different perspectives. As you watch, think about which approach impacted you more, and why.
As you’ve just seen, the video shows two versions of the same basic story, celebrating a new type of high-tech nuclear reactor, capable of transforming energy production.
Although the content is futuristic, and technological, it is representative of the work undertaken by many companies - which is often technical in nature, and detailed, or information heavy.
The story is first told using a conventional approach, mostly commonly employed by organisations. They tell the story of their work, from THEIR PERSPECTIVE.
So it is told as a factual story, an organisation highlighting the new, astounding capabilities of its technology. The story’s focus is on the technical advances made. The company is reporting news about what it does.
Telling the story from this perspective has strengths. By communicating extraordinary, new developments, the story has news value, and will naturally gain attention as a result. (See our Factual Storytelling Course lesson - Types of Engaging Introduction).
However, telling the story from this perspective has several weaknesses.
It’s a classic top down narrative, with the storyteller positioning themselves as the person in the community with the knowledge, insight and power that others must also know and subscribe to. Moreover, it follows a top down transmission model of communication, a common but also ineffective way to structure content.
Try to communicate the story from the perspective of your audience
Why? Because a narrative shaped this way doesn’t really ask anything of its audience.
It does one thing well. It has a wow factor. By presenting exciting, new information, it may grab the audience’s attention, and impress them. But that’s where the story’s journey ends; that the world may somehow change. But it offers no real information or insight about how.
And as we all know, when we get excited, the feeling quickly wears off. So, though the story of a futuristic technology may excite and impress its audience, that impact will be fleeting. The audience won’t remember the technical details. They won’t remember why this news matters, nor what it actually means for their lives and future.
The perspective used to tell this story also leaves important questions unanswered.
Who is the audience for this story? Is it people who like science, or technology? Is it people who like watching sci-fi movies? Is it people seeking news about the latest world-changing technological advances? All may apply, but it’s not obvious. It’s a story in search of an audience.
If the story finds these audiences, it then leaves open a following question. What does the organisation hope these audiences will do with the knowledge shared in the video? These audiences will likely acquire a raised awareness of the energy company’s brand, and capabilities. And they may feel excited. But only for a very short time. The story doesn’t ask the audience to feel much more, or aspire to do anything.
People recall stories far better than facts. People respond better to stories they can relate to personally. People respond better to stories that impact them emotionally. These are all crucial lessons we coach at the Factual Storytelling School.
By changing the perspective from which you tell a story, you can convert weaknesses in your storytelling into strengths, and dramatically improve the impact your story will have, on many levels.
In our video, the story is told again, this time from the perspective of the people the technology is actually designed to benefit. Of the two approaches to communicating the same technical advances, this is more memorable and impactful.
Why? Because telling the story from perspective of the end-user of the technology, the story is already defining its audience, and speaking directly to them.
This approach makes the story personal to those viewing it, as they can see how it will positively enhance their lives, every day. It also elicits an emotional response from the audience, communicating an uplifting, transformational message about how the technology can support people.
By communicating the technology’s benefits, rather than technical details, the content also conforms to one other fundamental rule of telling factual stories. Which is to focus on and tell ‘the real point of any work’. Its most meaningful aspect, which ultimately defines why the work was done in the first place.
For example, financial services companies work not to trade financial products, to administer funds, or be expert in financial planning. Yes, they do all those things as part of their day to day operations. But they do so to fulfil the ultimate point of their work, which is to make money and profit for their clients, and themselves. When communicating with prospective clients, they will better served by telling the story that they will make you money, not try to impress you with the technical details of the technology, talent or methods they use to do it.
The nuclear fusion story is more impactful when it communicates the technology’s fundamental raison d’etre, which is to generate near endless, renewable, cheap power for use by the people whose governments funded it.
Try to avoid communicating your work by taking the approach most organisations do, of telling a story from your own perspective; focussing on what you do, what is new about that, and how good your work is.
Instead, try to communicate the story from the perspective of your audience. Focus on how your work will benefit them, how it will change the way they feel and benefit their life in some small way.
Learning to listen to your audience
So important is this next point, it’s worth another reminder.
When communicating any factual content, try to see the world as your audience does, and respond accordingly. That means paying attention to your audience’s behaviour.
For example, if the majority of your audience enjoy consuming short-form content, there is little to gain from mainly publishing long-form.
If large sections of your audience change their consumption habits, change to meet their expectations. If internal staff prefer to hear company updates direct from their line-managers, there is little point publishing an internal newsletter no-one reads. If your readers now consume all their news on social media, consider moving your activity to where your audience is, and create a social publishing presence.
But you need to strike a balance. Because sometimes, you shouldn’t listen to your audience.
Audiences can also be fickle. They do not share your responsibilities as a storyteller. And the loudest voices are often not the most representative, or sage. The audience members that speak to you the most loudly, may perversely not be those you wish to listen to most.
Part of the art of factual storytelling, is learning when and how to respond to the people you are communicating with. Find out more by enrolling on the Factual Storytelling School course.
Leading science communicator job vacancy
There is an exciting opportunity to join the editorial staff of The Economist in London.
The internationally-renowned magazine is looking to hire a writer on science and technology, who will mainly be responsible for covering emerging technologies — topics such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology or space.
According to the job advertisement: “They will help shape The Economist’s thinking on new technologies and how they could affect society, business and economics.”
And “Experience in journalism is not essential, but the ability to write clearly and entertainingly is,” which are just the sort of skills we coach at the Factual Storytelling School.
We know some of the science team at The Economist. They are a talented bunch, and very much worth joining.
Find out more here. The closing date is 24th February 2024.
For prospective journalists in the US, other exciting news
The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY is going tuition-free, according to its namesake Craig Newmark and the school’s dean, Graciela Mochkofsky.
That will make it the first journalism graduate school to offer a tuition-free program, according to US News site Axios.com — a move intended to help widen opportunities for journalists from more diverse backgrounds.