defgrade_assignment(params)# First of all, the most important piece of information is this assignment,# So let's start with that
assignment = Assignment.find(params[:id])
# Next, this function is supposed to be for grading.# Let's not bury that functionality when we don't need to
assignment.grade = params[:grade]
assignment.save!
# A side effect of this function is that a comment can be made.
comment = Comment.new(body: params[:body])
assignment.add_comment(comment)
comment.save!
end
This is the same functionality, except the story is more clear when you read it: We can easily see that we grade an assignment and comment on it as there are 2 distinct sections. This is a simple example, but it can be more complex.
Case Studies
Data
Case Studies
Data
Data is an amazing tool. We can take large amounts of information and boil all of that down into a number or a graph.
Case Studies
Data
Numbers are meaningless by themselves. They only become valuable in context. That context is a story.
Case Studies
Data
If I gave you "$15 Million", it likely means nothing to you
If I tell you this is "monthly recurring revenue (MRR)", then we get a bit of context.
We can give more context by saying "this is last month's MRR"
We can give more context by saying "this is up 5% from the previous month, and 15% from the same month last year"
We can provide you with a graph perhaps
And potentially overlay last years information on it
Case Studies
Data
As you can see, that single number had context added onto it. It became more useful.
However, for some people a graph overlayed with last years information is too much. You've made the story worse for them.
Case Studies
Data
Know your audience, what information do they want? How can I give them what they need to get the impact I want?
How do I get good at Storytelling?
How do I get good at Storytelling?
There is no single answer to this one, I believe. But passion could be a good starting point. I personally do find comics (really great material for storyboarding inspiration), award winning commercials (because they have a brief plot line and usually are witty), books, of course, and life situations exploration (trying to play a role of an anthropologist in daily situations) highly inspiring for a storytelling.
How do I get good at Storytelling?
I've hinted about this throughout the lecture, and now I'll bring it together for a nice conclusion.
There are a few pieces to telling a good story.
How do I get good at Storytelling?
1. Who is your audience?
How do I get good at Storytelling?
2. What impact do you want to have?
How do I get good at Storytelling?
3. What do you want your audience to take away?
How do I get good at Storytelling?
4. What is important to your audience?
How do I get good at Storytelling?
5. Is everything relevant? If not, cut it.
How do I get good at Storytelling?
6. Don’t throw in spoilers!
When telling a story, stick to the chronological order that things happened to you in real life. In other words, don’t give us details that you yourself didn’t know, until the part of your story where you discovered them.
How do I get good at Storytelling?
6. Don’t throw in spoilers!
By telling us what’s going to happen later, you lose the tension in your story. For example, if you were telling a story about a job interview, then said, “At this point, I didn’t realize that they’d already given the job to someone else” – we stop caring about what happens in that interview, because we know the outcome already.
How do I get good at Storytelling?
6. Don’t throw in spoilers!
This is important because, as Paul J. Zak’s studies found, tension is one of the key aspects of holding attention in stories. By throwing in “spoilers”, you lose this tension, which, Zak says, is essential to creating emotional resonance between the storyteller and the audience.