Storytelling is Serious Business: Building Up Communications Capacity for China’s NGOs

CHENGDU (May 13, 2016) – The ability to share the impact of one’s NGO in a compelling way is vital for captivating the news media, public, and potential donors. However, learning communication techniques, like storytelling, can be a time-consuming and difficult task.

With the help of GEI, Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum (WC CEF) and Ford Foundation, 35 participants from 16 different Chinese environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs) gained skills and support to hone their story-telling skills in the action-packed workshop, “Storytelling is Serious Business.”

Despite rainy weather, the fourth-floor conference room at a hotel near Sichuan University was alive with presentations, discussions and even roleplaying activities for these professionals who were led by the workshop host, Dr. Jennifer Turner (WC CEF). From her 16 years of experience, Dr. Turner emphasized that that storytelling is not simply a method for writing news reports, but it must be interwoven throughout an ENGO’s organizational culture.

Throughout the course, she recommended that participants practice presentations in front of colleagues and create an information sharing platform not only to develop stronger internal communication, but to foster stronger, long-term storytelling strategies.

Dr. Turner (WC CEF) led an enthusiastic and thorough workshop! – GEI 2016

The participants collectively represent Chinese ENGOs, universities, and government institutions and traveled from different cities throughout mainland China and Hong Kong to meet up with Ms. Turner and her colleagues from the United States. The workshop in Chengdu follows the first half of the workshop, which took place in Beijing from February 29-March 1.

Working hard and having fun! – GEI 2016

Lights! Camera! Action!

The first morning of the Chengdu workshop started early as participants practiced their on-camera interview skills. In a five-minute interview, each participant was asked to give a short and dynamic introduction to their organization and their current projects. They soon realized that practicing their elevator speeches would be key, because in the news media, one cannot ramble!

Mock interviews were a great chance to practice camera-ready answers. – GEI 2016

Present Your Story!

Most of the content from the first workshop in Beijing aimed to present participants with strategies to craft a memorable talk, report or blog post.

A primary strategy shared in the workshop was to follow the 6 keys for “SUCCESs” – an acronym for writing advice outlined in the book Made to Stick (Chip Heath and Dan Heath):

Simple — have a clear core idea in your message
Unexpected — grab your audience’s attention by surprising them/making them curious
Concrete — paint your idea clearly so it can be understood and remembered
Credible — demonstrate that the story/idea is believable
Emotional — help people care about your idea/message
Stories — inspire your audience with a story

During the first workshop, participants practiced integrating some of these traits in group exercises. During the second workshop, each trainee was challenged to incorporate many of the “SUCCESs” traits as possible in a 10-minute story presentation about a specific project at their ENGO.

Following each talk, presenters received helpful feedback on the content and their presentation skills.  Many participants received the feed back to “having snappier substance,” others were also encouraged to engage more with the audience. One highlight presentation came from Ms DU Ling from Shuguang Community Capacity Building Center; Ms Du proved to be a natural storyteller who opted not to use the microphone and instead walk out into the audience to share her stories with great enthusiasm.

Participants present their stories to an active crowd. – GEI 2016

Some takeaway tips:
-Focus your presentation on visual storytelling, rather than with text;
-Abide by the SUCCESs tips;
-Engage with your audience rather than only focusing on your slides;
-Even a presentation can be a story, and vice versa – it is important to find the narrative;
-Do not hide behind the PPT and consider not using any computer-projected images, just talk;
-Not every presentation needs to have a PowerPoint and alternatives such as Prezi, Axe Slide, PechaKucha can help speakers tell more compelling stories.

Perfecting Infographics

Infographics, most generally a combination of statistics and graphics to visualize data, are important tools that NGOs can use to help simplify complex information for audiences. At the workshop, participants created infographics that told a story about their ENGOs and shared them among group members for feedback. A number of participants found that creating a simple infographic for their presentation helped them figure out a logical outline for the stories they would tell.

Each infographic shared a different story in a unique way; participants practiced what they learned by critiquing each other’s infographic. – GEI 2016

Role-Playing a Story: Flint, Michigan (USA) Water Crisis

On Day 2 of the workshop, the PowerPoint presentation was abandoned as the audience problem solved around the room to create a more interactive story. This active session was led by The Wilson Center’s Citizen Science experts, Ms. Elizabeth Tyson and Ms. Anne Bowser, who set the stage by introducing the audience to the lead pollution water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

To help the participants understand the complexity of the problem and brainstorm solutions, they were divided into groups of relevant stakeholders—the local government, state government, community members, and university professors. Each group was tasked with telling the story that each felt described the problem and how they wanted it solved.

The lively discussion and the solutions proposed actually mirrored many solutions that have begun to be adopted in Flint—most notably the use of citizen science to help the community make a compelling case to policymakers that the problem was real and emergency action was needed.

 
Everyone loved Ms. Tyson and Ms. Bowser’s role-playing story-telling exercise! – GEI 2016

Reaching the Media

Recording and publishing project stories is a necessary step to reach a broader audience. Chengdu-based journalist and award-winning author, Mr. ZENG Ying, gave a candid and intriguing talk without a single slide, sharing his insights about how to hook the media with pitches, catchy titles and the most interesting slant on a story. The group also enjoyed his simplistic presentation style. Using just a notebook, Mr. Zeng relied on his well-prepared and well-delivered talk to demonstrate how to make information “stick.”

Journalist, Mr. ZENG (top left), gave an inspiring presentation and helpful tips for mastering media outreach. – GEI 2016

Learning from Experts

Throughout the workshop, participants had a chance to learn from journalists, photographers, and filmmakers— professional storytellers themselves—on how to integrate fascinating stories into their presentations.

These expert presentations left us intrigued and informed.

Left: Sichuan University’s Dr. ZHANG Xuehua (top); WC’s Ms. YANG Zhou (bottom) Center:  Ford Foundation’s Ms. LI Qiqiong (Top) and Ms. LIU Caixia (Bottom). Right: WC’s Ms. Anne Bowser and Ms. Elizabeth Tyson;

Ms. LI Qiqing and Ms. LIU Caixia from Ford Foundation expertly interwove the narrative of the Foundation’s new focus and the story of one particular woman experiencing the impacts of China’s booming urbanization. Besides their role-playing exercise, Ms. Bowser and Ms. Tyson from Wilson Center’s Common’s Lab shared the stage to present on different technical tools used by Citizen Science projects—demonstrating that storytelling can turn even a dry topic of technology tools into an exciting conversation. Dr. ZHANG Xuehua, the senior researcher at Sichuan University’s Low Carbon Institute, shared many stories of her work with Chengdu Urban Rivers Association to help a community protect waterways in Chengdu. In her talk on wildlife conservation, Ms. YANG Zhou from the China Environment Forum demonstrated how to use PechaKucha photo presentation—20 slides, 20 seconds each slide—can help one tell a fast and fun story.

From slide-free presentations to photo essays, these speakers offered unique storytelling styles while underscoring that regardless of the tool or style one needs to have simple stories that are compelling and memorable.