Storytelling in Business

Stories connect whether it is business, personal relationships, entertainment or the church. Here is another business example with storytelling tips from Salesforce's Marc Benioff on the power of storytelling in a business.

StoryChicago is now hiStory...

Hats off to Ben Arment and everyone who collaborated on StoryChicago, an event designed to challenge and inspire all of us to do a better job of telling a better story. Job well done! Click HERE for some great pics from the event.

Story was broken up into two days. Day one had keynotes speakers sharing about...story. Day two had workshops on...story.

Here are some notable quotes from the event.

"The church is a rescue community. And everyone wants to reach people until you start reaching people." Ed Young

"We need to listen to people's stories and then customize a spiritual formation plan for them." Dave Gibbons

"When we are transparent about our weakness, there is a release of the power of the Holy Spirit...we need to develop a theology of suffering." Dave Gibbons

"We need to tell the story of God so that the hearer will want to be a detective and desire more." Chris Seay

"We thrive when we are on mission but we wither when we sink into institutionalism." Chris Seay

"We have lost our sense of shalom (the way things are supposed to be)." Nancy Beach

"The Gospel needs to be rooted in comedy and tragedy and wrapped in transformation." Nancy Beach

"Movies are high budget parables." Stacy Spencer

"A story is a character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it." Donald Miller

"We have a relationship with the Bible that is strange. It is a collection of stories that we moralize. What if 5 minutes into a story we were telling on fishing someone asked 'what's in this story for me?' Or 'what does the fish represent?' People would hate us." Donald Miller

A story cannot be meaningful without conflict. But the average American sees 3000 ads a day telling us the opposite...and the church does the same thing. The reality is there was conflict in paradise. Before the fall, Adam was lonely. And God knew it and he still assigned him to name all of the animals. And it's not like Adam met her at a bar and just can't go out with her...she didn't exist!" Donald Miller

"The way we consume stories isn't books or movies, it's each other. You and I are setting the moral compass for each other. We are the story." Donald Miller

And that was just day one! There were many great speakers and interactions at the workshops on day two. Overall, this was a great first step in helping the church understand how to communicate and connect God's story and our. I am looking forward to how Story 2010 will . We need events like these to remind us that it is stories that will continue to shape us, move us and transform us all.

The Story of Sustainability

Interesting article by Reuters called The Story of Sustainability. It speaks to great storytelling and how our culture is losing human person to person contact and storytelling with it. Here's a taste...

According to Paige, the elements of a great story are imagination, believability and content...with the consolidation of the media and corporate forays into political and community affairs, our common story has been on auto-pilot like never before. All this is abetted by the technology that seems to be stripping away the very essence of person-to-person communication - and storytelling. When's the last time you heard a great story around a campfire? But then, again, this is another aspect of the status quo story many of us have accepted: So much to do, so little time.

Storytelling Sells

In a recent blog from Fast Company magazine titled Brand Storytelling: Connecting With Your Audience, author Melinda Partin reminds us of what we already know...stories sell. She writes,

At its very core, marketing is storytelling. The best advertising campaigns take us on an emotional journey--appealing to our wants, needs and desires--while at the same time telling us about a product or service.

Stories connect. Connection is everything in the new world. If you connect, you score. This goes for business, relationships, religion etc. etc.

Tell your story well.