Clydesdales. Hummus. Paintings. Music.
RTi’s Chief Meaning Officer, David Intrator, touched on all of these (and did some singing, too) in his talk “YOU’RE BORING ME | How Story Structure Keeps People From Tuning Out” at 2019’s Insights Association CRC conference in Orlando, Florida.
It’s really no surprise that there was a line of people waiting to talk to David after the presentation – he didn’t bore them.
In and of itself, the presentation was a prime example of the power of a cohesive story to capture an audience’s attention and deliver a message with staying power. From start to finish, the talk was built around the importance of starting with a unifying idea and then building a structure around that idea (and its supporting elements) to move the story forward in a compelling, memorable way. In short, we learned that it is story structure that keeps us “tuned in” and attentive. David espoused that story structure is critical (and can be achieved) regardless of whether the medium is a book, a movie, a song, a speech…or a market research presentation.
Avoiding a data dump and turning data into something truly meaningful; something that is easy to understand and that can be actioned requires careful consideration of how the data is being presented and attention to developing a clear, unified theme. Story structure is the key to delivering insights in a manner that resonates.
Don’t bore your audience.
Make sure your story has a unifying idea and a cohesive structure and you’ll have them lining up to hear more.
To learn more about story structure, check out our online storytelling course From Data To Meaning | Storytelling For Market Research.