Rain Salesman

LISTEN TO THIS > THE MEMORY PALACE | Eps 69 Charlie: God of Rain

In God of Rain, Nate DiMeo tells the story about Charlie Hatfield who started as a sewing machine salesman and became a rain salesman. Hatfield never stated he could make it rain, but he did claim he could coax moisture out of clouds with his towers of chemicals. This riveting story climaxes with the disastrous San Diego flood of 1916 and an intriguing example of correlation versus causation, not to mention customer satisfaction.

Telling Stories for Growth and Profit

I'm thrilled to be presenting at Training 2013 Conference and Expo. Humans have been crafting and telling stories to share information and learnings since the first cave paintings and fables. Sometimes we get so bogged down by objectives, internal client requirements, and key metrics that we forget to make learning engaging and compelling. Whether classroom, self-directed, eLearning, mobile, informal or formal, learn how to make your next project more compelling by:

• Defining the conflict to build your plot around.
• Establishing the hero for participants to connect with and cheer for.
• Creating the “lean forward” moment where learners feel it in their gut and pay attention a bit more.
• Building momentum that pulls participants deeper into the content.
• Editing for pacing, scope, and attention span.

The Importance of a Volume of Work

Inspiring little clip taken from Ira Glass on Storytelling to encourage me to write and post and write and post and write and post some more. The process is the practice.  

Hat tip to Erin Feldman at A Word for Living Creatures