Realizing your ideas
What does storytelling have to do with realizing your ideas? Everything!
If you can properly convey your story, your ideas will appeal to potential consortium partners and you will be able to create commitment within your team. Even more important, with a good story you can grab the attention and persuade review boards.
Facts do appeal to the scientific mind, but the way we bring them, the way we tell them is of great importance. A well told idea connects to the people reading it. You give them an easy route to a new perspective: yours!
We know that the benefits at least encompass better understanding by non-experts, with an added boost of storytelling being naturally persuasive. Once you learn to tell a good story, you can easily reach your audience, which will help you build your consortium and convince the review board of the importance of your project.
We understand the limits imposed by scientific writing and fact finding, still we believe there's room, and maybe even a need, for storytelling. Both storytelling and visual storytelling are strong techniques to prepare a fundable project proposal and to facilitate your project communication & dissemination.
Storytelling
"It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a scientist in possession of a good idea, must be in want of funding".
A famous line being ripped from the socio-economic world of bachelorhood and made applicable to the world of grant application. Using a storytelling technique, the original immediately calls certain visions to the mind of the reader, reeling you in and keeping your mind on the story. We use the same techniques to make your idea’s relatable and stand out.
We all tell and listen to stories constantly. When you are aware of what it is that makes a story great, you can tell your stories in ways that captivate and compel. Connecting to your audience and choosing the right level of complexity and embedding your idea(s) in a clear and narrative structure is part of our approach. Applying this to your idea’s and proposals will make them stand out.
Visual storytelling
Humans have developed two distinct modes of communication, yet many professionals in their occupations tend to rely on text and underutilise graphics. Research on visual communication shows that pictures have a number of advantages over words.
Visual storytelling is a very powerful tool that helps to shape your idea, to mature your idea into a project plan and to share it with your stakeholders. Adding visual elements to your story makes it more directly relatable. It also has the ability to clarify in a single view, what can become convoluted in a myriad pages of text.
Workshop
- together with Jos Mitsunaga
Based on storytelling for film making, we designed a workshop grant writing for scientists.
For inspiration have a look at Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story