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Storytelling

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What is your passion? How do you find the zone?



The creative zone can sometimes be so hard to find. It does not matter when we need to create, but if inspiration has not eclipsed to the point of transferring the epiphany to our actionable finger tips, then we have not crossed the creative chasm.

The other day, I was speaking to my class about writing passionately. It is hard to grasp this idea…to write passionately. To sit down and bring theatre to the fingertips…orchestrating what is singing in our heads as true articulation.  We have a hard time jumping over that creative chasm…finding the happy place, the place where we call the zone. That is why so many creatives have writer’s block or dead periods. We sometimes take days to begin a project…mainly because it has not come to full understanding in our heads…in our hearts. We have to believe passionately about the message, the project. We have to feel it to articulate it verbally, contextually, visually, audibly .

How do we find the passion…well we have to look within ourselves and decide what makes us tick. What makes us peek up from the normal hustle and bustle of life? We have to focus in on the things that take us away from the status-quo and invigorate the juices in our heart, the passion inside us. What makes us smell the breathe of life?

How do we communicate our passion? We have to find a way to focus the energy…and be able to articualte it so others can see it through our eyes. Some of us write, some of us take pictures, some of us draw. What ever the medium may be…we have to allow it to connect with our inner thoughts as an instrument to translate, so others can see our point-of-view. The other day I watched a very successful entrepreneur articulate a vision, not through words, not through a powerpoint, but by drawing a graph, his medium…he crossed the creative chasm. No other way made sense, until he found a piece of white paper and a Sharpe.

What is the one place where you can go…the one place you know you can find the zone. You know, when you are fully in-touch with your passion? Athletes have it when they get on a hot streak, hit the next 5 three pointers back, to back, to back…without even hesitating. That is the zone…the happy place. The place where we are fully in-touch with our abilities to articulate our passion for others to see. Mine is when I am driving with the windows down and the music blasting. I go to my creative place, the place where I am in-touch with my ability to see things clearly.

Where is this place for you? Where is the zone? How do you find it to release your inner passion for others to clearly see the world through your senses…that is when we tell our story. It helps us lead!

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Cramming too much into a story?



Sometimes we just want to tell too much! We do…we want to cram so much into one little story. If we have to create a 30 second video/tv spot, we cram as many words into the voice over as possible. Why…because we do not know how to keep it simple and put in terms of the audience. We are so worried we are not going to say everything we need to say, and our audience is going to miss the point. Oh yeah…maybe we are missing the point?

Storytelling is a craft…it is an art…it is stepping inside of the audience’s mind and seeing their perceptions and realities.

Let’s take a resume for just a quick second. How long is your resume? Is it one, two…three, five pages? We cram every little accolade, honor, and simple nothings that do not mean a hill of beans…except we can beat our chest and feel a little more closer to our ego. What is a resume? I think it is just a guide, and reference tool. I have yet to get a job based on my resume…seriously!  You know why, because every resume looks just a like. Hell, there are people inflating that resume just a bit….pushing the limits to make ourselves seem special.

That resume is really a document that allows us to organize our thoughts and prepare us for an interview. It is a conversation piece, a study guide for the interview. Heck, it really is just a reference document when filling out a job application. But, why do we cram it full of stuff that means nothing.

We have a chance to tell a story…a real story.

Let’s take this little video from Apple. The new MacBook Air. By the way, my wife is dying to get one!

After watching this tv spot just one time, she understood everything she needed to know to make a purchasing decision. It is thin, sleek, and powerful. Did you see Apple craming a bunch of information about this little computer into 30 seconds? NO! They could have told you the dimensions, the processing power, the fact it has a solid state hard drive, or even abut that Intel processor inside. Nope…just a happy little tune and these two fingers pinching it and holding it up in the air. Enough said. Apple told a story…well actually a teaser. They told us enough to make the wife and I to get into the car, drive 40 miles to the Apple store so we could see if it was real.

It is not about cramming all the information into one piece of communication…it is about telling a story that engages the audience to see the message through your eyes. My students always ask me…how long should my paper be for this assignment? I tell them…it is not about length, it is about you telling me your story in way that I can see the whole argument (beginning, middle, and end) through your eyes. Whether it is one paragraph or a hundred paragraphs, as long as you tell the story.

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organize this digital life…the digital divide


Hi my name is Bobby and according to my wife, I am gadget freak. Yes, I have an iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, PS3, AppleTV and on and on and on. I love gadgets. I love the accessories that go with these gadgets.

I love bags. No…I am not a guy with tons on man bags. I have tons of camera equipment, lighting equipment, cords, gizmos, and gadgets to do my job. Oh yeah…I have other bags for my laptop, iPad, books, etc. So I love the idea of finding the best bag possible to organize these things and make them  quickly assessable.  My life…my entrepreneurial life…my small business life…quickly assessable.

Digital Dependancy
Everyday, I use these things that we depend on so much in this new digital life. Google Calendar, Google Docs, MS Word, iCal, BaseCamp, Quickbooks, Mobile Me, iMail, etc, etc, etc. I use these everyday to organize and execute my life to serve my clients. OK…are you annoyed? Yes…I am. My head is spinning.

Think about your day. If you are a technology person or live in this Corporate Americano…we are influenced to use so many digital tools. We check our email, update our calendar, take notes, use the CRM, pull out the iPad, take notes on paper, save our contacts in three places…we try so hard. This is a true digital divide…dividing us between all the devices/software and efficiency.

Have you tallied up your communication and online communication costs?  How about the time invested in creating the best tool from a piece of open source code? Oh yeah, how much time do you spend sifting through emails or even multiple email accounts? How many newsletters are you getting each day? How many different passwords do you have to remember for each login between all of those technologies?

So…I put my foot down.
I spent more time stressing out about what I am doing next and where to find what I am doing next. Notice the last sentence was in past tense! Yes…I have an assistant, but using the “digital” to find the “digital” is creating a huge digital dependancy. Why do think we text, Tweet, and consistently review our digital device while driving…because we can and we hope we can stay in-tune with our information. We do not have a clear plan.

So I went old school!
Yep…I did it and I have a planner again. Yes, you know that organizer that is a day timer? Yep, it is about the size of my graduate school classical rhetoric book. Guess…what, it is WORKING. Also…It has me thinking about all this digital dependancy.

WHY DO WE DO IT?
Because if you are surrounded by the crowd I am around (offline and online), then you are always hearing about the next big tool, next big CRM, next gadget, next organizational “do-dad”…and we try it. We are entrepreneurs, small business owners, and we want the edge…the edge to get ahead. We live technology and we are conditioned to believe that killing trees is not the answer…just a better gadget.

Back to basics.
Yes…I have moved to the planner full of paper, a calendar, organizational tools, place to take notes, place to journal. Oh, I still use my iPhone and iPad with the calendar so my assistant can keep up with what I am doing. I am getting rid of all the stupid newsletters and blog posts delivered. I am also using my hand to write. It is amazing how much this helps me clear my head and articulate my thoughts. Plus…if I can add 30 minutes of time back to my life each day, then that is more time with the things I love…my family.

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Sometimes we creatives are not good leaders? Are we?

We are visionaries!
We are creative and we are strategic. We have passion and willingness to work infinite amount of hours to execute an idea. But sometimes, it is hard to lead. Seriously! This is by means no admission that I have not tried or will try again to successfully lead a group with a common mission/goal. It is a self-reflection that I realize that I was not pre-disposed to be a natural born leader. I think? We just believe in tomorrow’s human capital!

We generate great ideas!
We live in a world that beats to many different drums. We feel our path and not objectively understand how to get to the final resting place. But we understand that the path is so much fun. Our ideas do not come to us during a planning session, they happen in the middle of the night when we least expect. They happen in the shower or when we are screaming down the road at 85 mph with the windows down. But the logical side of our brain knows and understands that we must capitalize on that very moment of true epiphany. We must implement the creative thought right when it pops in our brain. You will find us running through the house stark naked to jot down the idea, draw that vision, create that master piece. We will cut across five lanes of traffic under creative transcendental inspiration, just to get to the side of the interstate to jot it down. We are passionate about our ideas.

We need implementors!
We need help. We see the vision and can articulate the vision, but we rely on those who have the expertise to help us implement the vision. The vision is clear in our head…so clear we can almost reach out and touch it. But, we need those who can decipher our vision into a palatable final product. Yes, we can be technicians of our trade, but as practitioners we understand to rely on those have the technical expertise to make the final product shine!

We like living within our creative freedom!
We know when to turn on that perfect song to get us into a creative rhythm. We like to spread our wings and let the emotion of the story influence the direction. We get so in-tune with our creative thoughts that those looking in have a hard time communicating with us during the moments of inspiration. We can see the lips flapping, but the words just do not register. We are in the zone. We are in the place where we so connected with our big “T” truth, that it only makes sense to us. It feeds our ego and separates us from others. We love our passion.

Structure is a necessary evil!
We understand that organization is the one thing that still keeps us human. It is that calendar or the to-do list that brings us back to reality. It is that assistant that is so OCD about keeping structure, that we knew when we hired them…it was necessary for not only our mental sanity but to ensure we kept our business thriving. We find value in the other side of the brain, just sometimes it is hard to make it happen.

Our minds rationalize differently!
We articulate our thoughts verbally so that we when hear ourselves say it out loud, we can then find the holes in the idea. We speak in tangents and outliers that ultimately have meaning to the bigger story, but we have to rationalize it in our own brains just to get to the final point. We chose to take the road less traveled because sometimes we do not like to feel mainstreamed. We like the opposing argument, just to argue that position with out any pre-disposition…because we can! We like a-typical. We want to be in the minds of those we are trying to influence, so we can understand how to truly create and influential piece of creative. We are flat out manic!

We do not create on a timeline!
What is a timeline…oh, that thing that keeps us on task. We just cannot force our inspiration…it just happens at 3am when the dog happened to lick our face and that is the one little thing that made it all click. We procrastinate because we work better under pressure, knowing we have to deliver the best thing since sliced bread in the next few hours. It is like a drug…the ability to create a masterpiece in a tight timeframe knowing inspiration will hit us at that an unknown moment. Then we deliver and sleep like no tomorrow.

We lead by example!
We lead from our hearts, our passions, and our past experiences. We want to create a community of ideas, bring people together with a common vision, and allow them to create more pieces of fine art. We have been down that road before. Living the dream with bad bosses, bad corporate structure…and it is our hope to make it a little better for those that will lead us to the next millennium. Why, because we believe in our future. We believe we must give back because those we are trying to inspire will be the ones who decide how our legacy(s) will live for the next millennium.

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Collaborative Editing – A Lesson in Listening


Collaborative writing…well that can be tough, but collaborative video editing? This can be difficult, exhausting, time consuming, etc….but maybe not? Collaborative storytelling is the way I like to look at it. Five months ago, I was asked to work with the Call Me MISTER program to help create a 10 year anniversary video project for their big summit. The goal was to interview many of the “MISTER’s” and supporters of the program, allowing them to talk about the program through their eyes.

It was a team of us traveling all over North and South Carolina to interview each of the 20 individuals, our guide was just a few questions. What we found…a lot of stories to be told, each with a different viewpoint of the Call Me MISTER program.

The Call Me MISTER program is an initiative to place black males as elementary teachers in the class room. That is it…you can look beyond the initiative and derive more underlying themes, but there is a need especially here in South Carolina to change the face of our educational system. What a better way to do so than to place educated, black males as role models, as educators. Not football players, not rappers, not drug dealers…but teachers, leaders, educators. This initiative is based at Clemson University with many black colleges in South Carolina with this program in place.

We interviewed many of the “MISTERS,” the graduates of this program. We interview the presidents of each of the South Carolina institutions (Clemson, Benedict, Claflin, and Morris). We interviewed those who support the program including Wachovia, Doris Buffet (Sunshine Lady Foundation), Mott Foundation, DuPont, and the Self Foundation. We found so many stories, so much passion, so much that needed to be conveyed.

So when all the interviews were complete, this team worked together in a room and took close to five hours worth of video interviews, and collaboratively constructed four final video messages. We collaboratively decided beginning, middle, and end. We created criteria which helped us clarify what was to be cut and what was to be included; to support the mission and the audience’s needs.

Each one of us had our own predispositions, our own viewpoints, and we learned to identify what comment was purposeful and what did not add value to the mission. We all had a deciding factor in the construction of the storyline, all four of us. We listened to the stories and to each other; and we let the MISTER movement dictate the message.

What a great way to tell a story, a collaborative way to find the story within the story. We listened.

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Bridging the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots”

For about six months, my wife and I did not have health insurance. Yes…no health insurance. This was probably the first time in my life that I walked around, drove a car, existed without health insurance. At the end of 2009, my wife and I decided it was best for me to un-invest in a company in which I was part owner. This company was my last health insurance provider before becoming self-employed. For years, I have worked for major companies, all of which offered major health coverage. But when December 1, 2009 rolled around…Sarah and I were un-insured. You never think about it until the first time you fall, get sick, or even have that one moment in the car when you think you were close to an accident.

Carrying health insurance is more than just something that is a luxury, in the world of small business…it is a line item. It is that one thing that is tough to justify, especially when building a business…trying to decide whether to pay yourself (which pays the mortgage) or have health insurance. We set benchmarks for the business, and when we felt the revenue reached a certain goal, investing in health insurance became a reality. That is why we invest in an HSA Program through Blue Cross Blue Shield of SC.

So, on August 6, 2010…I worked with South Carolina Hospital Association to find and document stories of the un-insured. AccessHealth’s SC Mission 2010 put together a free medical clinic in Greenville, SC at the Carolina First Center. Over 2000 people came from all over the Southeast, some as far as Virginia. Each one, seeking medical care.

I met a nice lady named Judy. Judy was a sassy lady, but one with tremendous conviction. She was determined to be seen and determined to seek help with her medications. She was so determined to be seen by a physician, she arrived a day early and spent the night outside the front doors of the Carolina First Center. I do not mean she slept in her car, she propped a chair against the front door and maintained her spot in line, overnight, outside, during a huge thunderstorm. She was determined to be seen the moment the doors opened. You never know what it is like to go without health insurance, until one day…you do not have that opportunity.

So many Americans today are without basic health insurance, access to care. They have no primary physician. This lack of insurance takes them to the Emergency Departments across America. Our Emergency Departments are today’s primary physician for most un-insured. Hospitals everyday write-off services because those who seek care come without insurance and the inability to pay the inflated costs dictated by insurance providers. Hospitals are struggling, trying to find the balance between providing quality care and declining reimbursements for the un-insured.

I met Sid at the Carolina First Center while waiting to have his eyes checked. Sid told me about a time he had to go to the hospital and the final bill was $13,000.00. He said, ” $13,000…I will never see $13,000.” This statement is the epitome of today’s un-insured population. America is slowly spreading the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots.” No wonder the idea of providing basic medical attention and simple health insurance is a promise of care for today’s struggling population. Imagine not having insurance, falling and breaking a bone, and then no idea what to do! So many small business survive everyday with this basic fear, the fear of the unknown.

AccessHealth’s SC Mission 2010 was just one event, bridging the gap just a little more between the “haves” and the “have nots.”

Read more about the day at SCHA.org by CLICKING HERE.

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Sometimes storytellers need to step aside!

There is nothing better than a good story. But a story that is told through the eyes of the people that lived the story…there is nothing better. This is a story of connection, of young and old, and of how fate can help us through tough decisions. But this story is better told by the people that lived this story…that is why you should watch the video above.

Storytellers like myself can sometimes get in the way of the story. Our lens has so many pre-dispositions. We have a way to cloud the bigger picture. We sometimes get so engrained in how we perceive the story should be told…or even how we think the audience should receive the message; we loose sight of the real message.

Outside The Lines (OTL), an ESPN Production, told this story through the eyes, ears, and experiences of the people directly involved in this story. As you watch, you will notice they all look straight at the camera…as if they are telling the story to “us” the audience. They are not looking slightly off camera as if they are taking part in an interview. No…they are looking at us, their eyes are staring at straight us…looking into our souls.

Hats off to OTL and Ben Hobbs of ESPN, thanks for reminding us that sometimes it is better to let those tell their own story! Yes, we know OTL edited the video together in a seamless storyline, but it was still a purest approach to reveal the true, inner story.

CLICK HERE to read the whole story on ESPN.com.

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Stepping into the audiences’ mind…Audience-Centric

I was hanging out on Twitter the other day chatting with a few friends, and the conversation kept towards audience. Well, trying to fully get into the mind(s) of the audience(s), to fully understand their view-point. Why do we do this as communicators, so we  can clearly communicate our message. I do this mainly because I cannot produce any piece of creative for a “client” until I fully understand the audience.

I look at the communication relationship with the audience like ballroom dancing. You know, you will have people watching your every move, so you have to be in complete rhythm  with your dancing partner. You have to know the next steps, the next twist, the next move and you have to do this completely anticipating your partners movements. In-order to do so…it takes practice, communication, and trust. To eloquently dance across the floor with complete fluid movement, you have to know the person you are dancing with…it is a relationship.

When I create a presentation, a video, a graphic, or any piece of creative…I have to know my audience. I have to completely feel that I am seeing their respective view-point. This has to be done in-order to create a message that is effective and efficient. I have to know what makes them tick, what makes them look away, what engages, and what distracts. It is more than demographics and hard numbers, it is the subjective pieces of information the defines the passion behind their inner being.

This takes time and research. Many times (to begin the dance), I just get out an ole piece of paper and draw a simple triangle…a perfect triangle. You know, a triangle that has equal lengths on all three sides thus creating equal angles. At each point I write three different words: Audience, Purpose, and Delivery. In the center of the triangle, I write Context. I do this each time I begin a project. I define the audience(s), the purpose behind the project, and the method(s) the message will be delivered.  From this, I write a mission statement that yields context. By defining the purpose and delivery of each piece of communication, it takes us closer to understanding the audience and how/why we are communicating the message.

Each piece of communication is delivered on some platform whether via print, web, video, email, radio, etc. But this is the theatre for our performance. Our audience(s) are sitting in the seats. The goal is to engage the audience with the piece of communication. We want them to dance with us! We want them to forget their peripheral vision and interact with the message.

Before we can dance with our audience, engage them with the message, we must know them! We must be able to look through their eyes, hear with their ears, feel their tendencies, and understand their pre-dispositions.

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Communicating beyond the boundaries…true friendship!

Steve Hartman is probably one of the most gifted storytellers on the planet. He not only has a way with words but has the incredible ability to seek out the stories with layers, ones that are the most relevant.

I do not need to write anything about this video other than, these are the types of stories that define the very fabric of our natural being, What it means to cross all boundaries and find true friendship. Here are two creatures different in so many ways: size, type, and even communication. But they find a way connect…WOW!

We should only hope to achieve.

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The Interview – Documentary Approach to Storytelling!

No I do not mean a job interview, but this can be loosely applied. I am thinking about what it means to conduct an on-camera interview for a story using video. Once, again…a story. One of the most profound ways to tell a video story is through the eyes, ears, experience, and perceptions of others. Writing a story for the news, for video, or however you want to display the information can be done in so many ways. But one way is through interviews. We can write the best copy, but interviews provide that red-string that binds a compelling story together.

This post is dedicated just to the interview…not to the implementation of the interview into a story. One fundamental ideal I always carry with me comes from a long time journalist and NBC Corespondent Bob Dotson. I remember the first time I ever listened him to speak to a group of journalists (photojournalists) at the NPPA week long boot-camp in Norman, Oklahoma. The best way to conduct an interview is through a series of questions and statements; but what ever you do, ask the question and stare…make the interviewee fill the void. When you get back to listen to the tape, you do not want to listen to answers with your “Uhh Haa”, “Really”, or “Wow”. You want to have the interviewee’s audio as the only audio in the interview.

Conducting an interview is like telling a story…the interview needs to have a beginning, middle, and end. You want to create a conversation between you and the interview subject. Also…you want your interview subject to forget that the microphone and the camera are surrounding them!

When I conduct an interview for a story…I first think of how to make the technology go unnoticed. The first thing that needs to happen is that the wireless microphone needs to be put on the subject FIRST. It needs to be put on in a way so that it is hidden from the view of the camera and thus the final audience. I like to have the transmitter placed behind the subject, maybe of the pants waste-band, then the microphone and wiring under the shirt, blouse, or sweatshirt. The end of the microphone near the neckline of the shirt to pick up the audio of the subject. Then, the camera needs to positioned in a place that the subject is not focusing on the camera. It can be placed in the adjacent room where the lens can zoom to shoot through the doorway.

Once the camera is rolling, I like to start off with what I consider throw-away questions and answers. I ask a series of questions that have nothing to do with the subject matter at hand but merely to learn more about the person to gain trust. This is to build the conversation so that when the real questions are asked, the answers come naturally.

As I move into the questions that are the purpose for the interview, I am building up to the main questions, the main purpose of this interview. I always have notes of topics that I want to cover on a notepad, but in topic form so that I do not use the piece of paper to recite the question. I use the interview as an opportunity to explore the subject’s expertise, gaining knowledge not only for me as the storyteller but for the audience.

As I move through the questions…I always have a few questions that are the most important, the ones that require the best response. I place these appropriately in the line of questioning that makes sense and come out naturally. I build the interview to these questions where each question leads to the next response that ultimately leads to the questions that matter to the interview.

The Interview is merely the process of telling a story. Allowing the interview subjects to provide supplementary information that supports that main object of the story. The interview provides context and allows their “expertise” to bring credibility to the story and context to the audiences minds.

Conducting an interview is just a conversation, an exploration…learning more about their experiences and expertise. The video camera is merely a device to help us relay this story to the intended audience.