Hacking Storytelling, part 2
Stephen Welch
Director at Archetypical; Independent Consultant; part-time University Lecturer
In Hacking Storytelling, part 1, I talked about the 6Cs of storytelling: Context, Character, Challenge, Conflict, Conclusion and Connection. The ‘traditional’ model of stories is that we only need the middle 4Cs. But in business, you need to set the Context, and then make the Connection to ensure maximum impact.
Today, I am going to give you another tool to help your business stories. It’s what we call the AEIOU model.
Allegory
Good stories work because the get our brains thinking in a different way. Allegories are stories with a meaning or purpose. They encourage the reader or listener to think about their own behaviour. A journey is often involved, but this does not have to be the case. Lots of art is allegorical.
You need to make your allegory relevant, credible, and meaningful to your audience. This is about setting up your allegory and explaining to people why it is relevant. If you just launch into ….”I’m going to tell you a story” or show your audience some allegorical art, they will be puzzled and your story will lose impact. (This is the Context.)
Getting a good allegory is a good start. But what you really want is for something to happen. Which brings us to …
Episode
Something needs to happen. If nothing happens, there is no story.
Now you have set up your allegory, tell your audience what happens. Maybe it is a journey? Or maybe there is some tension or conflict? Is there a crisis? What is the action? Start the film.
On occasion, we just use allegory and metaphor to bring our work to life. This is fine, and better than nothing, but it is not a story.
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Imagery
You need images to bring your story to life. In part 1, I talked about adding details. Transport your audience into the story. If you are presenting you can literally put an image on the screen. But sometimes you have to paint a picture with words.
A tip. Rather than trying to paint the whole picture, pick 1-2 specific key elements and describe them in detail. Your audience will fill in the blanks from their own imagination. (See my Alcatraz story in the previous blog.)
Outcome
Tell us the (hopefully) positive outcome. Not all stories are positive, of course. But if the purpose of a business story is to motivate and inspire, then it is likely there will be a positive close or an inspiring call to action.
Sometimes negative stories are useful to help people realise the need for change. In that case, the positive close is even more important – you want your audience to go away with a sense of hope and bright future.
Understanding
Finally, you need to check understanding. Did you get your message across? Is your audience clear on what, if anything, is required of them? Action is not possible without understanding. Take it back to the allegory and remind us the purpose of your story. (This is the Connection element of the 6Cs.)
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The AEIOU model can be a useful template for building your stories. ?It differs from the 6Cs in use stronger use of allegory.? So if you want to inject some strong imagery, go for the vowels.