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Storytelling for conservation action

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    3. d. Designing your stories

    a. About this course1. b. The power of storytelling2. c. How to use the power of storytelling?3. d. Designing your stories4. e. Develop your own nature conservation story5. f. Join IUCN CEC’s campaign How to tell a love story
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  • Before you start: how can storytelling help you?
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Before you start: how can storytelling help you?

Stories are a crucial means to communicate messages about nature conservation. This course helps you to use stories for:

  • Getting attention and informing
  • Changing behavior for conservation action

You can use stories for many other purposes, just to name a few: building your brand, evaluation, fundraising and strengthening your organizational culture

Storytelling is most effective if you first truly understand your target audiences and have a clear picture of what you want to achieve. Investing time and energy in preparation will pay off in a later stage!

Who are you and why are you here?

Before you start, it’s best to first develop a core story about your organization and about yourself. Why? To be able to influence, people must first know you and trust you.

As Annette Simons explains in her book ‘The Story Factor’, people you first meet are unconsciously and automatically trying to answer the question: Who are you and why are you here? What’s your gain and what could be our loss of this interaction?

Humans are suspicious. We all have negative experiences of somebody trying to take advantage of us. When an unknown person approaches us with a request, the first natural reaction is defensive: What does this person want from me?

Trust is best built with experience. Working together on a shared goal is the perfect way to create faith in each other and in your project.

Sometimes you don’t have the time to build trust based on personal experience. In that case, you can tell a story illustrating your trustworthiness and showcasing the reliability of your organization. You need to initiate a relationship before you develop your communication strategy. You can also see building trust as the first step of your strategy. It is a prerequisite for successful cooperation.

Telling a ‘who am I and why am I here-story’ is far more effective then saying: ‘You can trust me. My organization is trustworthy because of fact number 1, fact number 2 and fact number 3.’ A story will take your audiences along so they experience for themselves what you are trying to say.

OUR STORY OF REZVIN: Her personal ‘Who am I and why am I here’ story
https://www.frogleaps.org/free-dating-sites-in-europe/In today’s hectic times, the alarm clock has become an important part of life. But when I was a child there was no need of it because I used to get up in the morning with bird calls. Our plum tree was the home of a flock of house sparrow birds. These small birds were a source of extraordinary pleasure for me so it didn’t take much time to make friendship with them which ultimately made my bond with nature. In my teenage years, a wildlife related television program was one of my favorites. Love for nature was always hidden in my heart but I didn’t think to take conservation as a career before going to university. While studying Zoology in university, my love for nature became revived, a door opened and I entered the conservation world. As I came closer to nature my bond with it also became deeper. Now serving nature is my passion, my aim of life. I am happy that I am working for Mother Nature where my childhood friends also exist.

Strategic elements of the story

Target audience: donors, target audiences and conservation professionals in partner organization.

Key point: my interest in conservation comes straight from my heart.

Conflict: modern times are hectic and before you know, you forget about the value of nature.

Hero: Rezvin.

Adversary: Today’s hectic times, preferring agenda’s and alarm clocks instead of enjoying and caring for nature.

Rezvin’s ‘Who am I and why am I here’ story builds trust

As you probably notice, this story touches you and makes you trust Rezvin. Her motives are trustworthy and believable. The story convinces that she is not driven by personal gain, looking for ways to exploit others. The story works better than saying: ‘I am trustworthy, I will look after your interests’.

Strategic elements of a story

What are strategic elements of a story?

> next topic:
Using Strategic elements to design your story
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