Monday, August 22, 2011

Storytelling Fit For a King: Celebrating I Have a Dream

The Martin Luther King Memorial officially opened to the public today! The monument will be officially dedicated on August 28th- marking the 48th anniversary since Dr. King delivered his I Have a Dream speech.

Simple lessons can be taken from King’s speech to help you the next time trying to motivate anyone- from a prospective donor to a new employee.

BLUF

In writing, this is known as bottom line up front. Give the main point away immediately. It need not be the first sentence, but it sure should be in the first two minutes of your talk. King gets to his BLUF in the first two minutes. “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free” King says. He goes on to provide powerful visuals (we’ll get to that) and then tells those gathered: “So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.”

Listen to Aristotle

In Poetics Aristotle tells us “A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end”. Easy enough. And yet, how often do we fail to frame a story along at least a loose timeline? King’s speech starts in the past- “five score years ago” but quickly moves the audience along to the present reason they are gathered: “but 100 years later, the Negro is still not free.” And for most of us in the nonprofit world, the end is our ask- what we want the other person to do or believe, etc… For King that end begins (and lives on) with a few simple words: “I have a dream…” 

Imagery

Storytelling in causes and nonprofits is just another word for the combination of imagination and kinship. A good story has visuals that allow the person on the other end to imagine the picture painted, and feel a connection with the people in the story. A great visual example building along “the table of brotherhood” King alludes to can be seen in this ad created by Spike Lee.



Listen

Clarence Jones, who helped write the famous speech wrote in his book Behind the Dream that the most famous part of the speech was not ever written out.

“Martin's favorite gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, who had performed earlier in the day, called to him from nearby: "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin, tell 'em about the dream!"

Martin clutched the speaker's lectern and seemed to reset. I watched him push the text of his prepared remarks to one side…I have a dream . . . In front of all those people, cameras, and microphones, Martin winged it. But then, no one I've ever met could improvise better.”

Final Thoughts

Muriel Barbery writes that "In order for consciousness to be aroused, it must have a name." Storytelling for good is simply putting a name (and hopefully a face) to what you do and why it matters. Too many nonprofits fail not for lack of good work, but an inability to tell the story of why what they do matters. Give people a reason for why their consciousness ought to care about what it is you do.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Heard It Elsewhere...

Some of my favorite links I stumbled upon this week.

Kiva is trying to spread the word- lending money to aspiring entrepreneurs is cool. And for a short time, trying it out is free. Sign up for a Kiva account here and get $25 to lend for free.

For anyone who's ever had to raise some cash for their nonprofit- a visual approach to Sasha Dichter's blog post about making the big ask.

Let's reinvent the toilet. As perhaps only the marketers at the Gates Foundation can do- a blog and a video about, well, poop. Check out the innovative sanitation ideas here.

Old school vs. new school. Challenging the traditional mindset we have on grouping organizations as for profit or nonprofit.

Managing yourself by managing your network. My friends in The New Leaders Council passed along this Harvard Business Review article about networking done well. Hint:

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Going to Grad School After July 1st, 2012? It Just Got More Expensive.

Thanks to the recently passed debt ceiling legislation, it just became more expensive to attend graduate school if you'll be taking out loans. Graduate students applying for a loan after July 1, 2012 will no longer be eligible to receive subsidized Stafford loans. The $8,500 subsidized loan will instead be converted to unsubsidized funding.

What does this mean for graduate students? For anyone who gets a loan after July 1, 2012- interest will accrue on those loans while they are still in school. Before, the government had paid the interest on the loan for the length of time a student was in school. The legislation also eliminates a rebate students get when they make loan repayments on time for 12 consecutive months.

The change will save the federal government an estimated $26 billion over 10 years. To put that in perspective: consider three months of operation in Afghanistan costs roughly that.

Is there any upside for students? For those pursuing their undergraduate degree, yes. Part of the savings from the student loan cuts will help keep funding for federal Pell Grants. These grants are traditionally awarded to the most financially needy students. Republicans slashed summer Pell grants earlier in the year and many have been attempting to eliminate the Pell grant program altogether.

For a more in depth reading on the Stafford student loan issue, check out CNN Money.