Bringing the Power of Movies to the Conference Room (With and Without Video)

Bringing the Power of Movies to the Conference Room (With and Without Video) When it comes to attracting, training, motivating, and unifying employees, more and more companies are using a powerful new tool. Its not a new technology. Rather, its a technique based on something we already know and love movies.Weve all experienced how powerful movies are. In seconds, they can make even the most distant planet feel real. Their heroes teach and inspire us. The moments they create move us, shape our opinions, and rally us together. Thats why companies are increasingly using videos and movie-style storytelling to harness that speed and power for internal communication and presentations. Here are just a few examples of how theyre doing itRecruitmentWhen youre courting new employees, a movie that positions your company as a strategic leader headed for bigger things can be especially attractive. It also doesnt hurt to show how fun your employees are. Even more persuasive is presenting your people as colleagues your prospects can look up to. A short movie can do that for you and bring out the true personality of your company to new prospects. Rallying New and Current Employees Around the MissionWhen departureing a new job, most employees are handed a stack of decks that leave them completely lost. What if, instead, you show new hires a dynamic five-minute movie telling the companys story, mission, and strategy? New hires will be excited, retain more, and start contributing right away. If you include stories of real customers and get the companys leaders on camera, your film can also breathe life into the companys mission in ways no written statement can achieve.PresentationsEven without video, the way movies tell stories is actually a surprisingly good fit for corporate execs.Movie storytelling is built on the saatkorn principles they are currently seeking in presentations being simple, quick, visual, and powerful.Using the Screenwriter Ap proach toSimplifyScreenwriters are able to write so quickly because they start with three key scenes, then build the rest of the movie around them. You can do the same thing Decide which three things in your presentation are most important to your stakeholders and emphasize those. Youll find this method makes it easier to write your presentation, and because youre emphasizing just three keys, youll be able to choose what people remember. Think about what would happen if you tried to evenly emphasize 10 different pointsUsing the Directors Approach to Make It Quick, Real, and RelevantEvery slide, even a data point or chart, is about something. That means it can be described as a scene, with characters, a setting, and action. Describing your slides in these terms will make it much easier for your stakeholders to grasp the main ideas because you will give them something to relate to.One good way to find the scene in your slide or chart is with two words you use all the time For example. Look at your data point, and then say, For example This will immediately put characters, a setting, and action in your head. Then, if you make it visual, youll make your point even more quickly and put everyone on the same page because they will all see it the same way.When You Really Need to Hit It Out of the Park, Make It PowerfulFor the everyday presentation, being simple and relevant is often enough. However, when the stakes are especially high, you can take it up a level and truly move your stakeholders with movies that start with an emotional arc.The emotional archolds us in our seats, makes us love and remember movies, and floods our brains with two amazing hormones cortisol, which makes us focus, and oxytocin, which opens us up to new ideas and inspires us.You can spark these two hormones with an arc Ive seen work time and time again in corporations establish urgency, build desirefor your idea, and finish by evoking confidence. That arc will take your stakeholders through an emotional journey of we need to do this, we want to do this, and we can do this all of which will build support for your insights and ideas.Those are just a few of the movie-style strategies companies are using today. There are many, many more. None of these strategies are all that difficult to implement, and they can all make a huge difference in your ability to connect, communicate, and inspire.Ted Frank is the author of Get to the Heart. As a story strategist at Backstories Studio, he uses movie-style storytelling to help people make their presentations quicker, more visual, and more emotionally effective.