Story Trumps Technology

 

When Bill Clinton won his come-from-behind bid for president of the United States in 1992, his campaign manager, James Carville, kept the “Boy Governor” on message and on task with a banner that hung in Clinton’s Arkansas campaign headquarters. It read: “The Economy, Stupid.”

Carville was underscoring the importance of connecting with voters where they live. His slogan, in all of its cut-to-the-chase Carvillian glamour, recalled the time-honored rule of writing: “Keep it simple, stupid.” As new media proselytizers, I think we sometimes get so tangled up in the frenzied joy of the newest, sweetest technological gadgets and platforms, we forget that it is our job is to meet people where they live. We often pick our delivery method or technology just because it’s slick or new — even when it isn’t necessarily the best tool for the job.

Don’t get me wrong. I love technology. I own an iPhone and feel naked without it. I carry around my Flip Mino camcorder in the event I see something I want to capture. I post to YouTube, Tweet if you sneeze, and share my milestones on Facebook. Each time I stop to communicate, however, I have to keep reminding myself that, written on a metaphorical banner above my head, are the words “It’s the story, stupid.” Frankly, I believe story trumps technology.

All of the technology and lightening speed delivery platforms won’t save a piece of communication if it doesn’t have the pillars of good storytelling. And a good story will never be toppled just because it’s jumping off a television screen, or peeking from behind the cover of a hardback book, instead of showing off as the latest download on your Kindle.

I want to leverage all that I’ve learned in the MCDM program to create stories that touch people in a relevant way, and then deliver that story to wherever the audience may be. Sometimes that will be a fantastic video built for the web and found only online. Other times it will mean using audio, video, photos and plain old copy to deliver pieces of the same story on a blog just like this one. Occassionally, however, it may be a short story delivered via a magazine.

I do think that we are in the middle of a digital (r)evolution, but it is our mandate, as storytellers, to engage people wherever they are, in the way they want, and with the kind of relevent content that resonates with their everyday experiences as human beings. Is our audience migrating to online and devouring new media in numbers unimaginable a mere 20 years ago? Certainly.

But before we rush in to capitalize on that trend willy-nilly, we would be wise to remember why we’re creating, and what we’re hoping to accomplish. In letting those elements guide our work, we are bound to create compelling stories that are shared and amplified by people, just like us, who Tweet, post and upload, whenever a story has touched their lives in a significant way. In my book, or my future, nothing could be more rewarding.