How to Find Good Stories
December 2005
Good stories are like diamonds: incredibly valuable but extremely difficult to find. The search goes faster, though, when you heed the advice of an experienced story miner.
Plus: Revisiting The New Dream (PDF format)
Revisiting the B-Word
November 2005
If talk of branding still makes you queasy, it’s worth considering the recent experience of New American Dream, a nonprofit whose rebranding has led to measurable improvements in performance.
Plus: How a Story Makes Bird Flu Even Scarier (PDF format)
How Bad Presentations Are Born
October 2005
Begin your preparations by asking, “What do I want to say?” and you have already made your first mistake.
Plus: Rare Revisited: More Storytelling, More Impact (PDF format)
Reports That Make Reporters Report
September 2005
Before releasing your organization’s next report, consider some advice based on 20+ years experience in the field.
Plus: Words That Work: Messaging for Economic Justice (PDF format)
Why “Back to Sleep” Went Back for Help
August 2005
When a nationwide campaign to reduce SIDS deaths failed to connect with African Americans, child health advocates learned first-hand how cultural differences can require changes in both message and messengers.
Plus: Foundation-Speak: The Game (PDF format)
The Sixth Annual Summer Reading List
July 2005
Drop that Da Vinci Code. Forget about Faulkner (no matter what Oprah may say.) The books you really need to read this summer are all inside.
Plus: Think You’re a Good Presenter? (Your Audience May Disagree.) (PDF format)
Once_upon_a_time.ppt
June 2005
How can PowerPoint, which usually turns presentations into a deadly spray of bullets, help you tell compelling stories? Cliff Atkinson has found a way.
Plus: Campaigns We Love – “Yo, Dawg! Neuter Your Dog!” (PDF format)
Click. Damn. Click. Damn. Click. Goodbye!
May 2005
Getting people to visit your web site is one thing. Keeping them there is another, and if they don’t find it easy to use, they’re gone — probably forever.
Plus: Smart Chart: A Cool Tool Gets Cooler (PDF format)
The People v. PowerPoint
March 2005
Another innocent audience has just been riddled with bullets, their attention and interest snuffed out by a deadly PowerPoint presentation. But is the ubiquitous slideware entirely to blame?
Plus: Where Charts and Graphs Learn to Sing (PDF format)
Know Your Tools
February 2005
The just-released Communications Toolkit can help nonprofit newbies, veterans, and anyone in between find the resources they need to wage more effective campaigns. And best of all: it’s free.
Plus: Telling Your Truth – Take Two (PDF format)
When Nice is Not Enough
January 2005
Caring seniors tutoring elementary school children is the stuff of Hallmark Cards, which is precisely the image Experience Corps is working to overcome.
Plus: End Boredom in Your Lifetime! (PDF format)