Materials Presented at the Issue Forum

Find Sallie's Tale of Two Cities story here. A group called Paragraph —who's tagline is "Be Simple. Be Clear. Be Good."— helped her develop the wizardry evident in The Tale (and in The Tale of The Tale). You can find Paragraph here: www.paragraphinc.com.

Sallie Glickman, "The Tale of the Tale"

Mike Curran, "Telling the Story at NOVA." Find Mike's organization here.

Find Kristin's slides below.

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Stories From the Floor, Feburary 23, 2008

Question: How do we turn facts and figures into something new that tells a story?

Sally says, it ain't easy. Use the facts to inspire... help people believe that WD is a helpful investment in our community... Honing those skills takes practice and patience. For example, we have an arts program in Philly that has moved into the correctional facility, and examples like this offer an opportunity to create stories about design. People can repeat it if you tell it as a story. Amplify your data with a narrative.

Mike says, print media tackled with youtube style news creation. New medium creates need for new design. Challenges make our story something like, "Life in the rough draft?"

On the floor: Get to the heart to move the wheels in the head...

How does this relate to your work?

Texas has struggled to tell their stories, but it was worth the effort. We are in a symphony, non WIA-oriented: had to retell the story to engage business. Design? We need a common brand. "Workforce Solutions" seems a bit worn out. For example, we have used an annual event with a theme: "Workforce Idol" last year. People take home an agenda that tells this story.

A woman who recently relocated to Texas as a military spouse ("Go army!"), was told by the community that she should raise family or work in service-sector, because there were no other jobs for military spouses. She's happy to have the opportunity to change this story, which she finds more effective to do from within the community.

Tennessee tells stories with an annual report. ?Huh? Well, we create a calendar that tells a different story every month using photography. People getting degrees, finding support through one-stops, etc. Bean counters can reference the end of the document for data, but the community really appreciates the stories throughout.

Workforce system perceived as not too relevant by community. The language separates the profession from the larger community, but showing how we have an impact through telling a story may help us out of financial challenges.

We need pictures to tell a story, and we need to be in the pictures that we are creating in order to make ourselves more relevant.

Texas had evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, and then Rita hit the shore, but not the news. With $15 worth of business headed in, that is another storm. With the challenge of a growing workforce due to migrant workers, expanding businesses, etc. the issues we face require national collaboration.

How do we use play? As we work at transformation efforts, we dressed in space-age costumes for one of the launch meetings in order to relieve stress. Have fun and embrace humor.

Last Sunday's NYT's Mag had a cover, "Why do we play?" which was relevant to our discussion.

Staying caught up with our workload and building in time to play helps create room for innovation.

Where's the meaning? If WIA and WIBS closed up shop and went home, would anyone care? We need to articulate what we are about, otherwise we are simply "putting lipstick on a pig."

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