Why Write Stories Down?

I've recently done some work for couples documenting "How we met" and "How we got engaged". They are fun stories and generally are short, quick reads. In the process I've asked numerous people if they know how their parents met and very few people can tell me those stories although they are all interested to know. Several have headed off to ask their parents that question. I usually ask wouldn't it be nice if along with a wedding album a story was included on "How we met". Everyone agrees.

Then usually someone says, but now it is so easy you can have it recorded and copied to DVD just like all the wedding videos. Yeah, not like the wedding videos because if you were married in the early 80's and have a VHS tape you probably can no longer watch the video. Even early DVD technology has been replaced and not all DVD's will play in all players. Of course we now have blu-ray making inroads. Will you once again have to pay to have your video updated or will you never again look at that video?

That is the beauty of the written word, it will still be here 50 years from now. Sure the language changes a bit and book pages may yellow but if taken care of books will last a long, long time. This thought was running around in my head when I received an e-newsletter from a videographer. He was lamenting the latest update to Apple's Final Cut Pro. Apparently he installed it and now "8 years worth of projects can no longer be imported into Final Cut Pro X."

How frustrating. Maybe it makes more sense to hire a story writer for your wedding than it does to hire a videographer. Chapter 1 How We Met......

Business Storytelling: What if you can't write?

I just finished reading a blog post by Marie-Claire Ross titled "Corporate Story-telling Improves Company Performance." Ms Ross makes gives some excellent examples of how stories are used in business but it left me thinking about how much writing needs to be done. Stories come in many forms, prose and oral amongst other choices but not everyone is comfortable with all formats.

If a company supports writing great customer service stories are some stories missed because writing is too laborious for some? It is possible that some people do not have the skill necessary to write and therefore stories go untold. Likewise there might be some people who are not willing to tell a story in front of a group so staff meetings may not be the best place to capture stories either.

A company that offers its employees several options for sharing narrative will capture more. Allow employees to write, tell, use a scribe, dictate, create a song, the list could go on but you get the idea. One method does not fit all and the more freedom one has to express oneself the more likely it is that untold stories will be shared to the benefit of all.