More conversation than conference, BIF-4 will bring together many of today’s most compelling innovators, business model renegades and true transformers to reveal the secrets of innovation success through personal storytelling.
October 15-16, 2008
Providence, RI
Registration fee: $1000 if by August 15th, $1,200 after
More information: BIF Website
“The Business Innovation Factory is a community of innovators collaborating to explore and test better ways to deliver value,” according to their website. And they might have struck gold in the form of storytelling.
The organization has launched the Innovation Story Studio, a forum where innovative and influential professionals get 15 minutes (but no compensation) to tell a story. The stories are then recorded for display on the BIF website.
Another site similar in nature, but not necessarily just for storytelling, is TED - Ideas Worth Spreading which shows interesting live speeches by interesting people.
Imagine that! Corporate culture is embracing personal storytelling. Public speaking and digital media mastery has become quite the skill for professionals.
Internet advertising began with giant blinking banner ads that quickly went out of style. Google whipped up AdWords and everyone fell in love with web advertising again—until people learned how to subconsciously shut off the text links that run up the sides of many websites. Do you know if there are adwords on your favorite website? I doubt it. We tune them out.
Next came viral marketing in the form of a small line of text at the bottom of every email. That graduated into cool videos that everyone just had to see and voluntarily forwarded. Later we found out they were created by an agency in Portland who grabbed the idea from some guy in New England. ***
Now the web’s next big thing is going to be hard-to-ignore online interactive infomercials called StoryAds. StoryAds at best are involved, episodic, and emotional. At worst, they’re annoying images with voices that attack us while we’re surfing websites.
Things are changing. Forget TV-style commercials on the web. Our heros and villains will soon gorge themselves on specifically placed products as they fight to carry out their plans, and we’ll have to decide with a click which brand they chose.
There are many of StoryAds on the web already and I’ll ad more in the future. In the meantime, check out these two and see what you think.
Get the Glass - Online game for Milk. One of the challenges is to keep the mother character from overheating into a fit of rage (she has PMS) due to lack of milk.
Seduction 101 - A love rectangle story. How many products can you spot in this one?
I’ve heard salespeople say that storytelling is a great way to make the sale by connecting with people.
Managers are saying that storytelling is great for team building.
Consultants are saying that storytelling is the secret language of leadership.
Some game designers say storytelling is key to a good video game.
And storytellers often say that storytelling is magic.
What is storytelling for you?
Seek greater freedom and transformation for yourself and your community through the power of words at this unique gathering of people who write, tell stories, perform, and do other language arts. Over 25 presentations by writers, storytellers, performers, community leaders, medical professionals, songwriters, healers, and social change artists include workshops on storytelling, creative writing, music, mythology, drama, poetry therapy, performance, social change, media literacy, culture, spirituality, sexuality, health, dance, right livelihood, diversity, oral traditions, and finding your calling. Organized by Goddard College’s Transformative Language Arts concentration, this conference features hands-on workshops, performances, talking circles, open readings & celebrations that fire up your life, work and community.
Speakers include:
Conference costs start at $210 for registration
For more information: Power of Words Conference Website
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