Story Week Monday: How did Obama do?

Some of you have been asking about Story Week. Well, our team of researchers have been combing the data and here are some initial results. You may remember Monday's story - as told by a little-known former junior senator from Illinois.

We got about 66 responses for to our questions for this story. Here are some early results. Here is a Wordle cloud made from the responses people gave to the question: "What was memorable about the story?" - note "little", "old" and "lady".

And here is the Wordle cloud of keywords that people added to the story (more words like "motivation" and "inspiration").

And here are the numerical results for each of the criteria.

Most people found it memorable and most seemed to like it - although a significant minority of people thought that it sounded manufactured or slow. How did Obama compare with the others? Well, you'll have to wait and see.

One noticeable difference in responses could be seen in the reactions of people by their country of origin.

Americans found it highly memorable - less so for the Brits and the Aussies. Some possible explanations (and bear in mind that this is a small sample size so it may just be chance):

• Americans are more familiar with Obama;
• Americans are more emotionally invested in Obama (and I suspect a bias towards liberals among Anecdote/Sparknow/EngineerswithoutFears blog readers);
• Obama's mode of storytelling is more appealing to Americans.
• Any other suggestions/speculations?

More to come soon.

storytelling (1): obama gets fired up

Shawn played a similar video to this at a conference I was at in Melbourne about a month ago. Barack Obama tells a story. The story he tells is very well known in the US but comparatively unseen here in Australia. He used it many times when he was campaigning for the presidency. I defy people to watch it and be untouched. This time he actually had Edith Childs there - but many times it was just him telling the story.

I think it's great example of the use of narrative in public speaking - so I'm just going to make a few notes about it:

• It's a story based on true events, not a fable or a fiction - altho there is some dispute by other participants as to details.
  
• It's told in the first person, Obama (our narrator) is a character in the story.
• It is slyly self-deprecating. He is tricked into doing something. He is crabby when he comes to the meeting. In other words, the narrator is a normal person.
• It is about an everyday event. It is not about an epic moment in American history - it is about something quite commonplace - a small act by someone that has a big effect on him. It is a situation that many of the audience members can relate to.
  
• The story is contained in time & space. It is not his life story, it is not the history of American civil rights. It is focused.
• The little details matter - for me it was the reference to Edith Childs' hats. Little details can convince us of the plausibility of a story.
  
• It ends with a call to action that is consonant with the story itself.
• It's also quite a long story (8 mins approx) and it takes place near the end of Obama's speech after he's built up some rapport with the audience.
• Obama has obviously spent some time in Church. His delivery is reminiscent of a pentecostal preacher.
  
• What do you see & hear? What have I missed?
  

Now one of the worst things you could do would be to think: "That kind of story for worked for Obama in that situation, I do the same thing in my next quarterly results presentation!!!" You & I are not Barack Obama.

But reflect on what touched you in the story. Where were you gripped? Where did it meander? Why?

Also there are other versions of Obama telling this story on the campaign trail - and each is a little different. If you're really keen, try finding those too and have a look.

obamayamamaslamangramagamadrama

This woman rocks. Can we all climb off the Obamdwagon now please because he really needs room to run the most powerful country on earth while its economy implodes*.

But this isn't bad either ( from the little I've been able to read online). I'll let you know my thoughts about it in more detail once the 25 Mb ****er downloads.

*Did I tell you how Obama became POTUS because of my advice? Well, I never actually spoke to him. Or anyone working with him. But he must of done -> it's the only logical conclusion to make!!!