Why stories make us care when numbers don’t | Anthony Tasgal | TEDxNewcastle

Summary

スクリプトの精髓を簡潔に提供する魅力的な要約で、ユーザーの興味を引き、関心を喚起する。

Takeaways

• 🧠 私たちは物語を通じて情報をより良く記憶し、感情を共有する生物学的欲求を持っている。
• 📈 効果的なコミュニケーションは、物語を通じて情報を伝えることを重視し、データやメトリックに頼りすぎないことが重要です。
• 🎭 物語は共感を引き出す「共感エンジン」であり、聴衆を話の内容に共感させ、話す人に対しても共感をもたらします。
• 📚 古典的な物語や諺は、シンプルな言葉で深い意味を伝え、聴衆に印象を与えます。
• 🤝 人々に物語を通じてつながれる感覚を与えることで、コミュニケーションの質が向上します。
• 🚀 Abram Gamesの「最大の意味を最小の手段で」というモットーは、コミュニケーションの力を示しています。
• 🧩 物語は「黄金の糸」を通じて論点や仮説をまとめ、聴衆に一貫したメッセージを伝えます。
• 🎨 ストーリーボードは、物語のロジックを視覚的に表現し、効果的なコミュニケーションに役立ちます。
• 🐱 物語の魅力は、シンプルな言葉に隠された紛争や対立から生じる緊張感や予期しない展開にあります。
• 🌟 物語を通じて伝えられる感情や共感は、聴衆の幸せにつながる可能性があるため、コミュニケーションにおいて重要です。
• 🔍 教育や政治など、様々な分野で物語を適用することで、コミュニケーションの改善が期待できます。

Q & A

どのようにして多くのプレゼンテーションが無駄に感じられるのですか？

スピーカーは自分が経験したプレゼンテーションの中で実際に印象に残ったものが非常に少ないと述べています。彼はその比率が一般的であると考え、多くのコンテンツが乾燥し、贫血的で忘れられる原因は物語の芸術を忘れているからだと指摘しています。

物語の芸術がコミュニケーションにどのように役立つのでしょうか？

物語は人間の脳にとって自然にあり、エモーションを共有する素晴らしい方法です。它能媒として機能し、聴衆を話者の視点や状況に共感させ、情報をより強力に伝えることができます。

Abram Gamesの強力なモットーは何ですか？

Abram Gamesは「良いコミュニケーションは最大の意味を最小の手段で伝えること」というモットーを提唱しています。これは説得力のあるコミュニケーションの真髄を簡潔に表現しています。

Brexitのコミュニケーションが成功した理由は何でしたか？

Brexitのコミュニケーションは3つの理由で成功したとされています。まず、コントロールの感覚を与えること。次に、何かを奪われ、不満を持たせる点。最後に、緊急性と行動を促す「命令形」の動詞を使用したことです。

教育において「edu-babble」という言葉は何を指すのでしょうか？

「edu-babble」とは、教育界で使われている難解な専門用語や不明瞭な表現のことを指します。このような言葉は物語の力を奪い、情報を伝える際の意味を失わせます。

数字や測定への執着がどのようにコミュニケーションに影響を与えるのですか？

数字や測定への過度な執着は、コミュニケーションを効率化と効果の神聖化に導きますが、物語の力や人間の感情を無視することで、伝えるべき意味やエモーションを失わせます。

oxytocinという物質はコミュニケーションにどのような影響を与えるのですか？

oxytocinは、人間の血中に存在する物質で、ケア、つながり、信頼に関連しています。物語を聞くことや話すことでoxytocinがリリースされ、聴衆は話者や物語の他の人々に信頼を抱く傾向があります。

物語が記憶にどのように役立つのでしょうか？

物語を通じて情報を伝えることで、記憶の品質が大幅に向上します。例えば、物語に組み込まれた単語のリストを記憶する場合、記憶率は約90%に上昇します。

物語の黄金の糸とは何ですか？

物語の黄金の糸とは、物語の主題や論点、仮説を保持する線です。これは事実やデータの羅列を避け、聴衆が物語を追いかけ、興味を持続けるようにするものです。

コミュニケーションにおいて「empathy」はどのように重要ですか？

empathyは他人の感情や立場を理解し、共感する能力です。コミュニケーションにおいては、storiesを通じて聴衆が話者や伝えられる情報に共感し、関心を持ち、情報をより深く理解するよう促すことができます。

スプレートーンの使用によるコミュニケーションの改善についてどう考えていますか？

スプレートーンはシンプルなビジュアルツールで、物語の黄金の糸を視覚的に表現し、ロジックやストーリーの流れを整理するのに役立ちます。事実や数字なしでストーリーボードを作成することで、より効果的なコミュニケーションが可能です。

コミュニケーションにおいて「conflict」の役割は何ですか？

「conflict」は物語の中心的な要素であり、物語の張力や興味深さを高める役割があります。聴衆がストーリーに引き込まれ、話者の情報やメッセージに注目し続けることができます。

Outlines

00:00

📖 忘れられた物語の芸術

この段落では、多くのプレゼンテーションが無駄になってしまう現実と、その理由として物語の芸術を失ったことに着目しています。話者は、自分が経験したプレゼンテーションの中で実際に印象に残ったものとその数が非常に少ないと述べ、物语の重要性について語ります。また、言葉の起源に興味を持ち、アブラム・ゲームズという人物の「最大の意味を最小の手段で伝えること」というモットーを紹介しています。

05:02

🎭 伝える力：数字と感情

この段落では、数字と物語の伝える力について議論しています。話者は、数字に対する過度な依存と、それが持つ限界について指摘し、物語がどのようにして人々の感情を引き出すか、そして記憶や信頼を形成するかについて説明しています。さらに、実験を通じて物語が脳内でどのように機能するかを示し、物語の普遍性和自然なプロセスであることを強調しています。

10:03

🌟 物語の力：共感と黄金の糸

最後の段落では、物語を通じて共感を促進し、効果的なコミュニケーションを行う3つのヒントが提供されています。話者は、共感の重要性と、物語がどのようにして共感を創造するかについて語ります。また、物語を構築するための「黄金の糸」やストーリーボードの使用方法について説明し、物語の要素である紛争と緊張を作り出す方法を提案しています。最終的に、物語は私たちをより効率的で効果的なコミュニケーターにし、幸せにすることができると結び付けています。

Keywords

💡Storytelling

Storytellingは、物語を通して情報を伝える芸術です。このビデオでは、物語が人々に影響を与える力を持つと強調され、コミュニケーションにおいての重要性が説明されています。例えば、話者が自らの経験を通じて、多くのプレゼンテーションが忘れられるものであり、物語を通じて伝えられた少数のプレゼンテーションだけが記憶に残るという点を触れています。

💡Impact

Impactは、変化や影響を指す言葉です。この文脈では、話者が過去のプレゼンテーションのどのいくつかが実際に彼に影響を与えたかを考慮する際に使用されます。このビデオの主題は、物語を通じてコミュニケーションがどのように効果的かつ感動的になるかを探求することに焦点を当てています。

💡Authority

Authorityは、権限や信頼性を持つ人や事柄を指します。このビデオでは、話者が過去のオーソルや物語を伝える人たちへの敬意を表す際に使用されます。彼らは、世界について教え、私たちが誰であるかを説明する役割を持っています。例えば、話者はエチオロジーの重要性について言及し、言葉の起源に興味を持ち、それが权威的な語りを強化する理由を説明しています。

💡Communication

Communicationは、情報や感情を共有するプロセスを指します。このビデオの中心的なテーマは、物語を通じてコミュニケーションを向上させる方法です。話者は、コミュニケーションにおける物語の力について説明し、政治、教育、企業世界などの異なる分野でそれがどのように機能するかを探求します。

💡Brexit

Brexitは、イギリスがヨーロッパ連合から離脱することを指します。このビデオでは、Brexitのコミュニケーション戦略が成功した理由として挙げられています。話者は、コントロールの感覚、奪還の概念、そして命令形の使用が重要な要素であると説明します。これは、物語を通じて情報を効果的に伝える力に関する例です。

💡Edu Babble

Edu Babbleは、教育分野で使用される難解な専門用語や不明瞭な表現を指します。このビデオでは、教育における物語の欠如が問題となり、edu babbleが物語を阻害し、子供たちが学校から持ち帰る情報の質を低下させると指摘されています。

💡Lean and Agile

Lean and Agileは、効率的かつ柔軟なビジネスやプロジェクト管理のアプローチを指します。このビデオでは、話者がこのフレーズが誤用されることが多く、その使用を避けるよう勧めています。これは、専門用語やjargonが物語を妨げ、意味を奪うことがあるという更大な主張の一部です。

💡Oxytocin

Oxytocinは、人の信頼や共感を促進するホルモンです。このビデオでは、物語を聞くことや話すことがoxytocinの放出を引き起こし、人々に物語を通じてつながるのを助けると説明されています。これは、物語がコミュニケーションにおいてどのように役立つかを理解するための重要な概念です。

💡Memory

Memoryは、情報を保持し、必要な時に取り出す能力を指します。このビデオでは、物語を通じて情報を記憶することがどれだけ効果的であるかが強調されています。例えば、話者は人々が物語を通じて情報を覚える際に、記憶率が大幅に向上するという実験から引用しています。

💡Empathy

Empathyは、他人の感情や立場を理解し、共感する能力です。このビデオでは、物語が共感を促進する「共感エンジン」と描述され、コミュニケーションにおいて人々が他人の状況を想像し、関心を持つことを促すと言及されています。例えば、話者はコミュニケーションにおいて共感を創造することが重要であると強調しています。

💡Golden Thread

Golden Threadは、物語や論議を通じて維持される中心的なテーマや論点を指します。このビデオでは、話者が物語を効果的に伝えるための「黄金の糸」の重要性を説明し、それは聴衆を物語の始まりから終わりまで引き込んだり、情報を整理したりする役割を果たすと述べています。

💡Conflict

Conflictは、対立や競争を指す言葉です。このビデオでは、物語の力が対立を通じて张力や興味を引き起こすことを強調されています。例えば、話者は「猫が犬のマットに座る」というシンプルな文を通じて、対立がどのように物語を興味深くするための要素となるかを説明しています。

Highlights

The speaker reflects on the number of presentations they've experienced and how few have left a lasting impact, highlighting the importance of memorable storytelling.

The Art of Storytelling is believed to have been lost, leading to dry and forgettable content.

The speaker's background as a lapsed classicist and etymologist influences their perspective on the power of language and storytelling.

Abram Games' motto 'good communication is maximum meaning minimum means' is shared as a powerful summary of effective communication.

The speaker wants to explore how storytelling can improve communication across various sectors, starting with the public sector and politics.

The Brexit campaign is analyzed as a successful piece of communication due to its control over narrative, emotional appeal, and the use of imperatives.

The speaker criticizes the use of jargon in education, dubbing it 'edu-babble', and emphasizes the need to eliminate jargon for better storytelling.

The negative impact of the repetitive and trivial nature of certain communications, likened to torture, is discussed.

The speaker introduces the term 'arithmocracy' to describe the obsession with numbers and measurement in modern communication.

Storytelling is shown to release oxytocin, promoting care, connection, and trust, and can also help release cortisol, focusing attention.

An experiment demonstrates that memory retention increases significantly when information is embedded in a story.

Storytelling is universal across all demographics, races, and cultures, unlike tools like PowerPoint or Excel.

The natural human tendency to see the world through stories is emphasized, and an experiment from the 1940s is referenced to illustrate this point.

Three tips for effective storytelling are introduced: empathy, a golden thread (a central narrative), and the use of conflict.

The importance of empathy in communication is stressed, as stories act as 'empathy engines'.

The concept of a 'golden thread' is explained as a narrative structure that holds a story together and avoids a disjointed presentation of facts.

The speaker suggests using storyboarding as a tool to visualize the logic of a story's thread without getting bogged down in facts and figures.

The power of conflict in storytelling is emphasized, as it creates tension, anticipation, and suspense.

Storytelling is positioned not only as a means to improve communication but also as a potential source of happiness through the experience of 'flow'.

Transcripts

let me tell you a

story few years ago um I was on a train

idling the time away and I got to

wondering I wonder how many

presentations I've written I've created

and how many I've actually witnessed

stroke endured and on the back of an

envelope I'm allowing a bit for

inflation yeah it's quite a big number

and then I got to thinking I wonder how

many of them I remember how many of them

have had an impact on me and that number

was vanishingly small it's probably like

6 to

10 and I got to thinking I didn't think

that ratio is that

atypical and how have we ended up in

that situation where we've created so

much content which is dry and anemic and

forgettable why because I think we've

lost we've forgotten The Art of

Storytelling

now just something about me uh I am a

lapsed classicist which means I spend a

lot of time with Homer Virgil and

Nero and apart from that it gives me a

rather unhealthy obsession with

etymology where words come

from the word Authority we've forgotten

what's behind that

word we are designed to give credibility

to give meaning to look up to authors or

storytellers because they tell us about

the world they tell us about who we

are now one such Storyteller somebody

who's not given I don't think enough

recognition there's a man called Abram

games he was a a poster designer in the

second world war worked with church

ups and amongst other things he had what

I consider to be an extraordinarily

powerful

motto good communication he said was

maximum meaning minimum means and in my

many Decades of working in the

communications world I've yet to see a

pithier more eloquent summary of The Art

of persuasion of influence of

communication than those

words so I want to look at a number of

different Arenas the public sector

politics education the corporate world

because I want to see how we can improve

our communication by applying

storytelling so my first example is

going to take us back to if we can go

back that far to the era of brexit yes

I'm sorry I want to make purely

Communications points here by the way

not politics just to be clear why do I

think that was such a successful piece

of communication three

reasons firstly control who doesn't want

to sense that they are in control that

they can influence the world around

them secondly it's not just about taking

control it's taking back

implying something has been taken away

we've lost something there's a sense of

grievance very emotional psychological

truth behind

it and thirdly it uses the form of the

verb called the imperative take it back

in the communications world this is

sometimes called the the call to action

do it do it now a sense of immediacy and

urgency and the other side the remainers

well I'm afraid they had just a series

of incoherent facts and details that

didn't really hold

together I want to move on now to

education which is also now prey to what

I call edu

Babble I'm going to hear about scalable

rubric based

assessment me neither or children

talking about where six or seven coming

home to their parents what did you do

today well we started off with the

non-negotiables

what now someone once said about history

history is just one damn fact after

another and I think that's the problem

with an Offa of our communication just

the Mindless and endless repetition of

facts and figures and details and

information by the way just talking

about jargon please I know it's hard but

let's try and eliminate as much jargon

as we

can jargon is the enemy of Storytelling

it is the thief of meaning

just one example please in my company if

you ever meet me or come to see the book

signing afterwards please do not use the

Expression lean and

agile the only people who should use the

term lean and agile are people who

describe

gymnasts and my last example is I don't

know how many of you are familiar with

Barney the purple dinosaur yes a few

parents there I want you to keep that

image in your head but also G Tano Bay

yeah interesting J position because this

came out a while ago the Americans were

using various forms of mental and

physical torture to try and elicit

information

from the detainees at grantan Mo Bay so

they were using like death metal but

they also played the Barney

song yes I love you you love me we're a

happy family on a permanent 24-hour Loop

to inflict the maxim possible mental

torture on people at guantan moay

parents are nodding

here but that for me is again an analogy

with what's happening to too much of our

communication the Mindless and endless

repetition of things however trivial or

meaningless after a while it becomes a

form of

torture how have we ended up in this

situation and then more importantly how

do we get out of it we've created a

system that I call arithm mraay an

obsession with numbers and measurement

the belief that there are some most

Divine

infallibility in numbers we deify

data we've created a class who owe much

of their influence to their ability to

control these numbers these metrics

these kpis key performance indicators be

it in health or policing or in

education but let's look back and what

and see what storytelling can actually

do it's been shown again some science

it's been shown that when people listen

to or even tell

stories a molecule in the blood called

oxytocin is released an oxytocin is

associated with care and connection and

Trust we literally chemically designed

to trust people who tell us

stories also can help release cortisol

which focuses attention

these things are not accidental they

seem to be part of our biology our

chemistry and there are many many other

ways in which storytelling can benefit

us here's an experiment about memory

when people are asked just to remember a

list of various words they can only

remember about 133% of them but if you

give it embedded in a

story that figure Rises to like

90% there are so many reasons why

storytelling is

underappreciated but also it's Universal

there is no demographic group no race no

culture on Earth that doesn't have

storytelling the same however cannot be

said of PowerPoint or

Exel

anthropologists have delved deep into

the Amazon

jungle and discovered a tribe that

doesn't use

spreadsheets sorry

David um but also storytelling is

brilliant because it identifies and

amplifies emotions now this is the

Phoenix Cinema in North London the

oldest continued running Cinema in the

country I was a trustee of it for many

years again going back to what it was

like during covid when we couldn't go to

the cinema or the theater or see a gig

what was it we

missed we missed sharing

emotions laughing and crying together at

a Richard Curtis

romcom squeezing up next to someone when

there's a scary

movie or coming out of a Wes Anderson

film and agreeing that was the most Wes

Anderson film he's ever

made but there's one other thing I want

to talk about which is that we do this

naturally I don't really have to teach

people about story because it's

something our brain naturally does it

sees the world in form in the form of

Storytelling now I'm going to show you a

very old clip now from an experiment

carried out by some German psychologists

in the 1940s called haer and siml and

they showed their subjects this film and

just asked them to describe what was

going on and I'm going to get you to do

that now so you're going to see some

things in a minute and I just want you

to sort of look at what's

happening

yeah now if you like the subjects in

this experiment your brain is just

looking at these

shapes but you're doing more than than

that your brain is spinning a story it's

saying actually the big triangle and the

Little Triangle are fighting and maybe

they're fighting for the affections of

the circle and the circle

is because you don't just see a story in

there you construct it you construct

characters with motivations with

drives your brain naturally thinks in

the form of a story and in particular

conflict which I'll come back to later

so how do we

thwart the evil empire of the arithm

mrac let me give you three tips I

mentioned Take Back Control but three is

everywhere in storytelling b v

liberality fraternity three wise men

Three Blind Mice the number of times

you're a

lady I'm surprising amount of commodore

fans in

tonight note that for next time uh my

first tip is empathy for me empathy and

caring has become one of the major

casualties of our industrialized and

commoditized

communication and that's what stories

are they are empathy engines we go into

a world we imagine what it's like to be

in the head on the world of another

person their fears their hopes their

challenges their

hurdles and surely empathy is what we

want to create in our

communication not just to browbeat

people and bludgeon them with bullet

points but to get them to care

about what it is that we're saying and

maybe even who's saying

it let me tell you another story so a

few years ago I was working with an ad

agency and they had a problem their

creative Department were not getting on

well with their planners the strategists

so they asked each interview the

creative people and one of the senior

art directors she said here's the way I

Define a good planner and a bad planner

she said a good planner is like a

radiator they radiate light or heat or

insight but a bad planner is like a

drain when they come into the room all

of your life force and all of your

energy drains away yeah you know so many

one know drains in their lives okay

don't have to name them you can see me

later and again I think that's what

storytelling is good at doing by the way

the worst thing you can be is a drain

who thinks they're a

radiator my second tip takes us back

again to my classical background thesis

and the minor Ari Adney gave thesis a

golden thread to help him find his way

into and then safely out of the

labyrinth where the minor was a good

story has a thread that holds things

together it can be a point of view an

argument a hypothesis or what if but you

need that to avoid the possibility of

just giving people one damn fact after

another and I'll give you a tip here's a

great tip about

using storytelling and Golden Threads

storyboard it creative will do all all

the time Post-it notes no facts no

numbers but just storyboard the logic of

your

thread I did one recently for a client

where I said to them look the problem

you have is if you don't listen to Our

advice your brand will be dead in five

years that was the

thread and talking about threads and

again going back to my favorite topic of

etimology it's amazing how much that

language appears everywhere we talk

about weaving a tail or spinning a young

yarn or fabricating a

story but there's also another word

which is Hune from the same eological

cloth which is everywhere we go but

we've forgotten where it comes from the

word

text comes from the word textile it

means what has been woven

together so empathy the golden

thread and as they say about PowerPoint

you never have more than five slides

away from a cat so I want to tell a

story actually about John lar the famous

spy writer who was asked how do you

define how do you begin how do you

construct the story and this is his his

tale he said the cat sat on the mat is

not the beginning of a

story but the cat sat on the dog's mat

is isn't that great cat sat on the mat

your brain goes well that's what happens

cats all not notorious Matt

sitters but you hear the cats out on the

dogs Matt there's going to be blood

conflict yeah a lot of pet owners in

today too much of our communication is

the cat sat on the mat nothing to see

here we need to make more which is the

cat sat and the dog's mat to build that

tension anticipation

suspense so I like to say that numbers

numbers but stories stir us I'd like us

whether we're talking to our citizens

our colleagues our clients our children

to worry a bit less about prove but a

lot more about move

because there's evidence that

storytelling can put us in that moment

of flow and flow can contribute to

happiness so maybe storytelling won't

just make us more efficient and

effective as

communicators it might even make us a

tad

happier and that I think is something of

which Abram games would

approve thank

you