Overview: Today I conducted a Story 101 training (75 minutes) for the Health Strategies Management Team of the American Heart Association's Midwest Affiliate. There were 16 participants, all of whom were managers and not grassroots. I tailored the content slightly to include some fundraising tactics and then I created Melissa's video to model a heart-related story. We used her story as the sample to "pick apart" using the elements of story instead of a member of the group, which I thought was effective.
Time Cost Estimate: The entire AHA project (including video capture, editing, and travel) cost me approximately 26 hours. The break down is: 2 hours for intake and logistics; 1 hour tailoring content; 4 hours taping on Mon morning; 2 hours printing/video logistics on Tues afternoon; 3 hours driving on Tues afternoon; 6 hours editing on Tues eve; 8 hours training, driving, and reporting on Wed. This does not include follow-up activities.
Successes
1) Mark Peysakhovich, Senior Advocacy Director for the Illinois Heart Association:
- "We've had lots of storytelling trainings, but this was the most relevant."
- "Sometimes previous storytelling workshops have felt like grammar lessons... picking apart every word in a sentence. This was more like storytelling and less like an English class!"
2) Melissa's reaction to seeing her video story:
- "You did an amazing job with my video, I love it! You know when I watched it, 1. It was weird watching myself, but 2. It felt like I am part of something, like people will hear not only me, but us. I definitely feel lucky to be a part of it. Seriously, thank you for doing this project and for all that you are doing."
3) One of the goals of doing the training was to explore potential for non-government clients, and there was real interest - a few requests for additional training (and we'll see if there is real funding). One example is that the Vice President of Health Equity for AHA thinks additional trainings may help volunteers from communities experiencing heart disease disparities embolden their voices. So we'll see.
Challenges
1) I administered the story competency survey with everyone before the training (took almost 10 minutes, feels too long)... but about half needed to leave the presentation early (they didn't tell me in advance!) so I didn't get all the follow-up note cards. From those I did collect, the intended story uses ranged from Heart Walk appeals to presentations to legislative outreach.
2) I have trouble videotaping myself without help. The camera automatically shut off after 12 minutes of taping, not sure why.
3) I still feel odd that there is not enough time to do a story circle in Story 101, because I don't get to hear all the stories and then I don't collect them either. I also feel odd not collecting a post survey on-site. Mark just volunteered his feedback without prompt, but I am feeling a lack of feedback about how it went from participants. Maybe I just need to work on my patience until Suzanne can follow up.
Next Steps
I'll be outreaching to the participants who left early, as well as scheduling a debrief with Maureen Cassidy and a story use discussion with Melissa Horn.
Anyway, that's my Field Report.
wow..love the field report.
ReplyDeleteWhat was helpful for me:
-knowing the amount of prep you put in/time it took. This will help to figure out what it costs to do what we do.
- loved the quote...we have used quotes in marketing successfully. What do you collect on the follow up note cards?
-I'll be interested to see the competency survey
Question: why were you videotaping yourself? ( that would be beyond what I'd feel comfortable with)
Question related to story circle..is there time for pair practice?
Question about Melissa's video: in your opinion can this video be used again. It seems like it would save a lot of time to be able to use video we have on file to show at a training. Do you use the checklist you created and ask people to listen for those things?
Question on follow up: will there be a survey that goes out to participants later?
Thanks for sharing Kyle! ( I feel a little intimidated by the amount of detail you are able to collect when on your own...and challenged to do a better job of collecting this kind of information myself!)
Wow lots of questions, I'll tackle one at a time. @Julie Thanks for your request for me to track thme estimate, I think it's helpful too. One side of the notecard is name, address, email... second side is one way they plan to use their story. This is the card I database and then mail back to them at the 2 week mark to prompt action and ask for story use feedback. Suzanne created the competency survey, I'm sure she'll share.
ReplyDelete@Julie I'm recording for my own feedback, and maybe to share with others (you've asked for example). I've learned that if I'm in control of the video and what happens to it, I'm more comfortable. My discomfort comes when someone else takes the video and I don't have full trust/knowledge in how they're planning to use it. It's still a bit out of my comfort zone, but I'm doing it in the current spirit of us trainers expanding our comfort zone.
ReplyDelete@Julie I do include pair practice, but I don't get to hear those stories. Doing an abbreviated story circle (1-3 stories shared) instead doesn't give everyone practice, but let's me at least hear a few stories that are developed in the training. The question is if we sacrifice practice for hearing the stories, or if there is another way to hear them.
ReplyDelete@Julie Of course Melissa's story can be used again and again... that seems like the purpose of story banking so we have some options of tools to pick from in our presentations. I go through the checklist, we watch the video, and then they identify where/if they saw the story elements.
ReplyDelete@Julie The evaluation question is one for Suzanne. I believe her preference is to not do a post onsite, but to give them time to use story and follow up with a post. I don't know when or how, or if that's been done for Wood. But I database addresses and emails in case they're needed.
ReplyDeleteKyle, thanks for the detailed description.
ReplyDelete