Robert Michael Murray: Power of Story Telling

The Power of Stories
Robert Michael Murray, Vice President Social Media
National Geographic; Washington DC, July 14, 2011

Friday, July 15, 2011

Stories stir our emotions, open our imagination
and may even inspire us to greatness. At its very
essence storytelling is simply the conveying of ideas
or events in words, images, and sounds. And
throughout the course of history stories, or
narratives, have been shared in every culture as a
means of entertainment, education, and cultural
preservation—in order to instill values and beliefs.


Father and son baseball batting lesson in the Cloisters Park, Morro Bay, CA by Mike Baird, Flickr


Father and son baseball batting lesson in the Cloisters Park, Morro Bay, CA by Mike Baird, Flickr
Nike, Hope Solo


121 MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE SUFFER
FROM DEPRESSION ** 2/3 OF THOSE
SUFFERING FROM DEPRESSION NEVER SEEK
TREATMENT ** UNTREATED DEPRESSION IS
THE NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF SUICIDE **
SUICIDE IS THE THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF
DEATH AMONG TEENAGERS


Jamie Tworkowski is the founder of a
non-proﬁt called To Write Love On
Her Arms (TWLOHA) aimed at
helping high risk young people
combat depression, self injury, and
addiction by meeting them where
they are, online.


TWLOHA founder
Jamie Tworkowski:
The Power of A Single Story.

http://vimeo.com/7348535

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/to-write-love-on-her-arms/images/10623484/title/twloha-3-photo


http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs29/f/2008/050/8/7/TWLOHA___tribute__by_MariJoanna.jpg


“That’s what keeps us going, and that’s what is
encouraging. We hear stories of people stepping
into counseling or stepping into treatment and people
calling a crisis hotline or suicide hotline or just people
getting into a community and beginning to feel less
alone because of it. There’s a certain stigma that
keeps people from taking those steps so we’re more
than anything just trying to encourage, invite and
challenge people to take that ﬁrst step.”
~ Jamie Tworkowski,
Tonic.com, March 31, 2011


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stories are
0000110001110001
meaningful
1111010101000011
1110001110011111
0010100110100010

The 10 Functions of Storytelling 6. Concisely communicate
1. Explain origins. complex history.
2. Deﬁne individual and group 7. Communicate moral and ethical
identity. positions and the transference
3. Communicate tradition and and preservation of values.
delineate taboo. 8. Illustrate relationships to, and
4. Simplify and provide with, authority.
perspective; reduce complex 9. Describe appropriate responses
problems to a series of easily to life or model behaviors.
digested principles. 10.Deﬁne reward and detail the
5. Illustrate the natural order of paths to salvation and
things. damnation.

The 10 Functions of Storytelling, Ryan Mathews What’s Your Story?


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stories are
1110011110001000
0001001000001110
enjoyable
0000110001110001
1111010101000011
1110001110011111
0010100110100010

“I don’t want to be coy or some type of jerk or be
withholding—it’s not a Machiavellian sort of thing—it’s
literally wanting people to have a good time and to
have a little bit of a surprising time,” [J.J. Abrams]
said. “So whenever I’m trying to keep things quiet, it is
100 percent an effort to make the experience of
actually seeing the movie or TV show more enjoyable
for the viewers.”

Are Box Ofﬁce Failures (Green Lantern, X-Men, Super 8) a Bad Sign for Cars 2?, Forbes, June 24, 2011


1100000011100000
1110011110001000
0001001000001110
0000110001110001
1111010101000011
stories are
1110001110011111
empowering
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“Good stories entertain: great stories allow people to
discover themselves or some hitherto hidden
aspect of themselves.”



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1110011110001000
0001001000001110
stories are
0000110001110001
sociable
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1110001110011111
0010100110100010

“In the end, storytelling comes down to two things:
connection and engagement. Whether it’s a shaman
relaying his vision around a sacred ﬁre, a tribal elder
handing down his people’s oral history, or a marketer
pushing his or her newest line extension or service, it all
comes down to these two fundamental elements.”



1100000011100000
1110011110001000
1. stories are meaningful
0001001000001110
2. stories are enjoyable
0000110001110001
3. stories are empowering
1111010101000011
1110001110011111
4. stories are sociable
0010100110100010

"I was surprised. The picture had a lot of signiﬁcance for me and my father,
but we didn't expect that the photo would touch so many other
people." [Chris Bray] added, "The moment has stayed with me since that day,
and is one of my fondest memories and childhood experiences."

"When we change the way we
communicate, we change society."
-- Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody:
The Power of Organizing Without Organizations


STORYTELLING RESOURCES

[1] Clark, Evelyn. Around the Corporate
Campﬁre. Reader's Digest: Asia.
September 2007.

[2] Simmons, Anne. The Story Factor:
Inspiration, Inﬂuence, and Persuasion
Through the Art of Storytelling. New York:
Basic Books, 2001/2006.

[3] Mathews, Ryan. What's You Story?
Storytelling to Move Markets, Audiences,
People, and Brands.

[4] TWLOHA founder Jamie Tworkowski:
The Power of A Single Story. http://
vimeo.com/7348535

[5] Michael Margolis, Brian Solis, Ed Shipul,
Elizabeth Sosnow, Alan Levine, Gregg
Morris, Kathy Hansen


Robert Michael Murray
facebook.com/robertmichaelmurray
linkedin.com/in/robertmichaelmurray
gowalla.com/robertmichaelmurray
plancast.com/robertmichaelmurray
robertmichaelmurray.com
twitter.com/rmmdc

Copyright 2011


Robert Michael Murray: Power of Story Telling

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