Persuasion Through Narrative

Greg Power has a firm understanding on the importance of good narrative as demonstrated in this power of stories keynote. From being a broadcast journalist with Radio Canada International and CBC Radio to a communications executive with Avon Canada, Greg Power indicates that his main objective is to build a bridge between message and audience. Once that connection has been made then attitudes and actions can be influenced through stories.

Stories are powerful, illusive, capricious and need to be handled with care. Politicians who are master story tellers can take what they would call “my story, make it your story in order to turn it into our story.” Even people who seem to have the right ideas and right experiences can fail to be elected because they couldn’t make it seem as if their story mattered to anyone else.

In order for a story to be good Greg Power says that it needs to be “irresistible, believable and unforgettable.” Stories bring viewers together, they connect with people in a fundamentally compelling way, making them an extremely powerful tool towards influencing other people’s attitudes.