Impact Storytelling: Techniques to Break Down Complexity
Impact Storytelling: Techniques to Break Down Complexity
One of the most challenging and interesting elements of the work that we get to do here is to help organisations tell the story of the impact they make. Too often we invest months of effort and a lot of money into analysis and report writing, only to produce reports that very few people will actually read.
Sound familiar?
Here at SVA we’re keen to help organisations maximise their impact, and this includes maximising the impact of communications. One way to do this is to employ some creative storytelling techniques! We’re not saying not to write the long report, you probably need to do that as well. But how else could you get creative to tell the story of impact you’re creating?
Here’s a few examples that we’ve seen over the past few years:
Video
Check out the below video from Te Putea Whakatipu, the funder of Te Kete Aronui, a literacy and numeracy program for Māori children. We love the way they’ve taken the key insights from their evaluation and made them accessible for a wide audience!
Infographics
Infographics can be a GREAT way of visually displaying complex information in a very accessible, clear way. Check out the work Stats NZ has done in this area, communicating key findings of our census into easy, simple infographics
Online tools
In the post-Covid world, online engagement tools have taken off in popularity. And for good reason! We’re blessed with a huge range of powerful, often free tools to help us engage with, understand, and share information with communities and stakeholders. Some we’ve found helpful include:
- Miro: great for mapping ideas and making visual strategies and logic flows. Imagine a digital whiteboard, except it’s way better than you could imagine!
- Canva: if you’ve somehow missed the canva explosion, then you’re welcome! Canva is a hugely popular tool for making everything from powerpoints to board reports to social media graphics.
- Mentimeter: another great tool for both gathering and displaying information, mentimeter is a top tool for live online engagement
You can find out more and see a workshop template we’ve set up on this topic here.
What techniques do you use to tell the story of your impact? We’d love to hear more creative ideas from our community, let us know in the comments.