The following is a basic outline of the presentation on the value of your personal story and the stories of your organization. I use the accrostic POWER – Personality, Ownership, Write Is Might, Energy and Relevance – to show how a well crafted story can move people to action. These stories can be told using words, photos, video, or any other way of presenting narrative. This is an interactive presentation in which the audience will have the opportunity to get a good start on stories of importance to them.

Audience Engagement

• ONCE UPON A TIME- What stories can you think of that might start with “Once Upon a Time?” 
• What makes these stories so enduring? 
  • They’re simple. 
  • There’s an unexpected element. 
  • They tie into our emotions and that makes them relatable. 
• Once upon a time there was YOU and your organization, and you have a story that can: 
  • Communicate 
  • Touch your job candidates and persuade them to work with you 
  • Inspire your patients to seek care and healing 
  • Change people’s perspectives and maybe even change their lives 
• Use your POWER 
  • Personality (It’s all about the People) 
  • Ownership (You Own Your Story) 
  • Write Is Might (Simple but powerful writing tips) 
  • Energy (Get the power flowing!) 
  • Relevance (Your story connects with others) 

Personality 

• Remembering that people are what makes our organizations special 
• Telling stories that connect 
• Introduction to personas 
• Exercise – Write down the names of people who would make a good story 

Ownership 

• You need to own your story and not let anyone else tell if for you 
• Ownership means maintaining and improving the story for more impact 
• Finding the angle in a story to make it uniquely yours 
• Exercise – For each person written down in Exercise #1, write down something they own in their story, something that is uniquely theirs.  

Write Is Might  

• Make sure you explain the basics – “Who, What, Where, When, Why and How”.  
• Remember the P in POWER – Personality – Stories should focus on people 
• Writing for a reader who scans (in other words, all of us)  
• Use pictures and videos 
• Provide a call to action 
• Keep It Simple  
• Exercise #3 – Writing down the basics of your list of personalities and their stories 

Energy

• Infuse your stories with Passion, Life, Action, Zeal and more 
• Energy in your stories has two purposes: 
  • First energy encourages action 
  • Second, energy is refreshing 
• Making stories more energetic 
  • Include photos or videos 
  • Focus on the real people in the story 
  • Write an energetic headline 
  • Exclamation points are NOT energizing 
  • Exercise #4 – Take information you put together in Exercise 3 and find something that is energizing in that information.  

Relevance

• Making your story “sticky” – Lessons from “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath 
  • Simplicity  
  • Unexpected  
  • Concreteness  
  • Credibility  
  • Emotions  
  • Stories 
• Knowing Your Audience Is Key to Relevancy – More on Personas 
  • Developing persona details 
  • Communication channels 
• Ways to Increase Relevance 
  • Using images, photos, videos of people who connect with your audience 
  • Equip story tellers such as Community Health Workers with your stories 
  • Use appropriate language for your audience 
  • Refresh the stories often 
  • Maximize your Search Engine Optimization.  
• Exercise #5: Draw the person who will find your story relevant (use a stick person if you can’t draw. Around the drawing write: the life situation makes this person a target audience for your story; one visual image – photo, art, video – you can use to connect with your person; and one communication channel you can use