Rory Stobo writes:
I get ants in my pants whenever I’m out of the UK. Without the English language I’m left with not much, I certainly can’t get by on my looks.
But here’s the thing: when I leave the warmth of my sceptred comfort zone, it’s by choice. Tens of millions of people around the world aren’t as lucky.
Sookio is partnered with Techfugees, an NGO who provide digital solutions to the growing global refugee crisis. As well as pitching in with communications support, it was my honour to be invited to their Global Summit in Paris to run a workshop on digital content.
Despite my phobia of the Paris Metro (what’s with those scrolly wheel things on the ticket machines?!) I had the time of my life. From climate change to the role of the private sector, no topic was out of bounds, with some incredible, energised speakers giving their perspective on issues driving migration and displacement.
Quite the tough act to follow. So how did my humble contribution measure up?
Give your audience some space
First and foremost, Techfugees is a network, a collective of volunteers contributing their tech skills to the cause.
That means enthusiasm and digital know-how abound, but time and resources can be scarce, especially when it comes to getting their story out there (a familiar tale to anyone who’s ever had to bootstrap a startup).
To combat this, my workshop was built around effective online storytelling, making the format and structure of web content work as hard as possible. To create effective content on a budget, I recommend taking the time to nail two things:
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Getting some distance from your audience
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Crafting a strong, distinctive tone of voice
Distance from your audience means bearing in mind that you are not them. Don’t fall into thinking everyone knows what you know and is interested in the same things as you. If you and your audience were on a total level pegging, there’d be no need to tell them anything.
Instead, design your content as a transaction. You have something they want; data, opinion, or a great project to get involved with. They have something you want; support or potentially even investment.
As communicators, it’s our job to make that transaction as mutually beneficial, as good a deal as possible.
Read the rest of Rory's top storytelling tips from the Techfugees Summit on the Sookio blog.