Tanya McGinnity

Many thanks to the fine folks at Studio XX and the National Film Board for collaborating to deliver a top-notch series of speakers as part of their First Person Digital program. I was fortunate to have captured two of the sessions and felt compelled to post about the last one in the series which featured a virtual presentation by Free Range Studio’s Executive Producer Erica Priggen on the topic of “Creating Content For Change”.

Free Range Studios, are an award-winning creative agency that builds campaigns for social change, many which I’m sure you’re quite familar with such as The Meatrix series and The Story of Stuff. I can’t emphasize enough how they are living my dream of encouraging social change and action via creative efforts. Do check out the “Resources” section on their website for valuable information related to online promotion for social change.

I get chills. Chills from excitement. Excitement at seeing a group be able to elicit positive actions in society.

Erica gave a spirited presentation which hinged on the power of storytelling to encourage social change. She recounted that “We don’t see the world, we see stories. This is our filter.”

I think my main takeaway from the session was that rather than use the traditional fear-based method of screaming “The Sky is Falling and we’re all $%$%-ed” so take action on issue XYZ, she suggested taking a more humorous approach featuring archetypes such as the hero, villain, nemesis and so on. Erica recommended that it’s worth “showing the world you want to see.” It’s much easier to identify with what is presented to us than statistics and hornblowing. She made the point that “it’s hard to motivate people to take action on what they can’t directly perceive.”

Erica noted that it’s important to evaluate the moving issues and values to get people excited about and examine what meaningful action you are seeking to encourage. At the end of each story, consider what the catalyst for action is. This is the core of edutainment and the narrowcast model that the internet presents us with in that we are all co-creators.

Mention was made to how to make stories viral and Erica took the group through the DIY process around storytelling and the manner in which they spread the word about the successful “The Story of Stuff” campaign. I’d say it’s successful in that it’s become a movement for change, rather than just another viral campaign that slipped into obscurity.

It’s heartening to be able to hear the stories of those who are leading the charge and as Free Range Studio’s tagline asserts “Creativity with a Conscience.” These are the stories often overlooked in our society but they are essential to our very survival.

Whoa. I got a bit heavy on you there. Here’s some levity, with a message.

I was once deathly terrified of public speaking.

The first time I recall being freaked the frak out was back in grade school and I was to recite “In Flanders Fields’. The night before my presentation, I was beside myself. My mom wasn’t able to console me and I sobbed, barfed, shook and gasped my way through the night, with visions of failure, mass-laughter and my untimely death rattling around my head like gunshot. Morning came. I stood in front of the school, delivered a pitch-perfect recitation of the poem and then rushed off the stage to gulp mouthfuls of metallic-tasting water from the larger than life water fountain. And it was over.

It was hardly worth the amount of torture I put myself through and I remember my mom trying to soothe me by saying ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen?’ For a child’s imagination, that opened up a whole treasure trove of possibilities involving rabid rogue muppets and a front row of Bic-sponsored peashooters.

I’ve grown better with public speaking, but that doesn’t mean that I’m a pro by any stretch of the imagination. I think I’ll always be that self-conscious kid who fears the worst and thinks that they could always do better. To get me primed, I picked up Scott Berkun’s book “Confessions of a Public Speaker”. I’m already a ‘Berkun-fangirl’ due to my love of his book “The Art of Project Management” which was my bible during my digital web project management days.

Here’s a video that summarizes why Scott wrote the book, why he’s qualified to give advice on this topic and his wish for how folks will use the information that he provides.

I’ll be posting a review of the book shortly but suffice to say, I’m already loving it. Oh and this fangirl let out a squee when she received this Tweet yesterday…

Rock on Scott!