The Contribution of Neuroscience to the Art of Storytelling:
5 Lessons to Become Better Communicators
Luca Penati, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide BLUEMiND v San Francisco
June 2nd 2011
Great storytelling has unique power to change opinions and behavior
I need something to change your mind…
“Emotion, feeling, and biological regulation all play a role in human reason…
We are not thinking machines. We are feeling machines that think.”
I need something to change your mind…
Confirmation Bias
Charles Lord
The End of Reason
Appealing to logic with cold facts is not effective. In fact, it can harden opinions.
The Giving Story
Thomas Schelling Paul Slovic Deborah Small
SHOW…
…don’t TELL
1
2 Provide Evocative Scenic Detail
3 Keep it simple. Avoid complication.
“For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.”
-Hemingway
Mind-Numbing Words to Ban
Synergistic
Value-added
Innovation
Paradigm
Out-of-the-box
Shareholder value
End-to-end solution
4
The Caring Story
On January 23 2009 More than 50 sperm whales beached themselves on a sand bar on Perkins Island,Tasmania." Credit: Tim Alexander/Marine Photobank
• Sonic waves can retain an intensity of 140 decibels, 100 times more intense than the level known to alter the behavior of large whales
• Sonar systems operate at more than 235 decibels, producing sound waves that can travel across tens of miles of ocean
• Navy estimates that increased sonar training will significantly harm marine mammals more than 10 million times during the next five years off the U.S. coast alone
Left Brain Right Brain
5
On the Same Wavelength
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