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Blog - What's Your Story?

December 14, 2009

Are you a storyteller? Of course not. Very few are. I’m certainly not. But if you could tell a story, which one would you tell?

I recently had the opportunity to meet Greg Baldwin, the President of Volunteer Match. In his keynote speech, he talked about storytelling and whether or not we seriously consider which story we tell. There are all kinds of stories in our organizations. Do you have a storyteller?

Often we look for a “Communciations” person. Or a “Promotions” person. But what if we changed that job title to “Storyteller”? Would that change how we thought about the message we conveyed to the public? Imagine the stories we could tell!

But which story would you tell? What is the average person compelled to respond to? Will they respond to the story about the fantastic volunteer who contributes a thousand hours in a year? That’s a great way to recognize that volunteer, but what’s the message you’re giving to the public? Are they going to think you’re in good hands? Are they going to think “Holy smoke, there’s no way I can do that”?

What needs to happen is we need to tell the stories of our organizations. If you need to personalize it with a volunteer, that’s great. But share the successes of the work you do. Make it exciting and make it something that the next perfect volunteer reading the Sherwood Park News on Saturday morning thinks “Hey, I’d like to be part of this excitement!”

I don’t want to become the next perfect volunteer and hearing about one doesn’t make me inclined to get involved. But show me a program that works and how I can make a difference… I’ll seriously consider.

So the next time the media comes knocking, tell them about the amazing work you do. If you need to personalize it with a volunteer, that’s fine. But people will respond if you make the work compelling. Thanks to Greg, I’m convinced of that.

Posted by: Scott | In: IVC

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