Presenting ideas and convincing folks to buy into them is no easy task. Although facts, figures, propositions, reasoning, and calls-to-action are logical presentation elements, their mere inclusion doesn’t guarantee success.

I’ve shown videos and ideas of Nancy’s here before, but this recorded webinar should provide a lot more than the usual bout of pithy, quick-ideas and inspiration candy that I’m coming to avoid (separate topic).

Nancy describes here how one can weave stories into presentations. One powerful technique is a chronological swaying between “What is” and “What could be”, as opposed to a single time block devoted to each question.

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By doing so, we’re encouraging the audience members to think like designers. Contrasting the two states at a comfortable pace allows people to easier see parallels and differences; comparative strengths and weaknesses. I’m also keen to believe that such an approach can encourage co-ownership of proposed ideas and thus be far more attractive. That is, if the creator’s vision balances suggestion with normative statements.

I think you’ll particularly enjoy Nancy’s dissection of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

A seamless approach to accepting mobile donations by billing users’ cell phone accounts is available through different providers. To donate, individuals type a specified keyword to a designated number. ALL providers charge a $500 setup fee that goes to the Mobile Giving Foundation, which covers processing and security. Application, account setup, and live keyword process takes about 3-4 weeks. Remittances to organizations’ bank accounts are made within 60-90 days from the Mobile Giving Foundation.

With some research, I’ve found two organizations with transparent plans and pricing:

Give by Cell
$974 = $500 (setup) + $474 ($79/mo. for 6 mo. term)
$0.48 per donation (flat fee)

mGive
$2888 = $500 (setup) + $2388 ($199/mo. for 12 mo. term)
$0.35 per donation + 3.5 % card processing fee

An alternative approach is to send people text messages with links to mobile webforms, which users fill out with their payment information. One such provider is Obopay. While such a process isn’t as seamless, and considering not everyone has smartphones, it does make mobile commerce easy for whatever the purpose.

One of the companies I had interviewed with was LF USA, the subsidiary of a billion-dollar Chinese conglomerate that you’ve likely never heard of. While the position seemed interesting, involving the development of an employee social network as the company is planning to rapidly expand in the coming years, it was their highly visible commitment to sustainability that caught my eye.

Considering their specialty in the end-to-end design, sourcing, production, and distribution of various merchandise in 30+ countries, it’s relatively easy to understand how a commitment to eco-efficiency can be important to the bottom line. However, based on my impressions from the wording of the various posters and web copy I found online, there was an ethical imperative underlying it all.

With my smartphone at hand and the opportunity to grab some coffee in the break room, and see the restroom, I just had to snap the following photographs to share what I found to be a fantastic example of bringing the sustainability message to employees without being too subjective.

Only thing missing from these goals is a expected completion date for the quantified ones (#2 – 5).

Neat series of interviews by my friend Christine Arena, for Saatchi S on game interactions and positive outcomes. Having recently attended the Games for Change conference and enjoyed playing a few, there’s nothing like experiencing a demo.

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Having met Donald at a recent BarCamp NYC unconference, I was intently listening to the presentation he gave and am delighted to be able to share his slides online.

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Another great brand communications video here, this time from New Balance running shoes. Here they’re talking about the customization options for their US574 shoe along with tidbits about their operations and history in the Northeast U.S.

I like combining brand identity along with product marketing. It gives the message a bit of depth for those audiences who see the video for information about the shoe itself, but won’t come across a dedicated story about brand. You can see a variety of other videos from the New Balance YouTube channel (including tennis lessons!).

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via Core77

Apart from a great business model with a healthy product offering, I really dig Naked Pizza’s extensive use of video for brand communications that combines journalism, storytelling, and inside views to their operations. Founder Jeff Leach writes on their LivNaked blog and in these two video clips, tells us why their dough balls are special, and some historical insights on the diversity of vegetables our ancestors ate.

Dough Balls – [Video Link for Email/Other Subscribers - 2.5min]

Dietary Advice from our Evolutionary Past – [Video Link for Email/Other Subscribers - 3min]

A couple months ago, I attended a neat panel discussion on how documentary films could reach larger audiences and hopefully have a positive impact or influence, based on the filmmaker’s intent. Here’s the official description:

“Documentary films unveil important truths, challenge assumptions, and often compel audiences to take action. Many of today’s filmmakers are faced with an additional challenge—how do they ensure their film will have a significant impact on the public and on the policies their story highlights? The collaboration of filmmakers with NGOs and community groups has created a new distribution model, and the measure of success now reaches beyond sales to changes in public perception and policy. Join filmmaker and activist Abigail Disney, Give Up Tomorrow director Michael Collins, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Impact Partners Dan Cogan, producer Cynthia Lowen of The Bully Project, Josh Baran of Baran Communications, and others for an insightful discussion on the new paths of distribution for nonfiction films and the ways filmmakers and their subjects are making their voices heard. Moderated by independent producer and Outreach Director of The Good Pitch, Sandi DuBowski.”

Josh spoke about “Race to Nowhere“, about education and kids stress. Distributed through schools and grassroots orgs, viewers paid $10, $5 of which went to the production company, and $5 to the school. Additionally, each school paid a nominal screening fee. Following the film, there was a discussion and action plan. Big organic publicity came after initial screenings.

“Gasland” was shown at Sundance Film Festival 2010, HBO picked it up, and it got 3.5 million viewers through their network. Compared to the 30k who saw it in theaters, that’s phenomenal. It was also shown through community and university screenings. CBS 60 minutes then did their own investigative story, followed by other news orgs around the country. Josh claims the flaming water faucet scenes were “gold”, and became the hook to draw people into the issue of fracking and water contamination.

Abigail spoke of how documentary filmmakers shouldn’t have to “beg for crumbs” and live poorly to make and distribute their production. There should be the option to somehow monetize it.

A big theme seemed to be how community screenings afforded people to stick around after the film and discuss it with others, compared to the big screen experience in which people leave their seats, and may talk about it within their little group on the way to the car.

Dan mentioned how “No Impact Man” had influenced 50k colleges to host voluntary “no-impact” weeks for students.

Abigail then talked about Lioness and the story of women combat fighting in Iraq. Though illegal, it was happening anyway. It started with women who could pat down Iraqi females, since male soldiers were severely chastised for doing so. These women never got combat pay and no healthcare treatment for PTSD or other ailments since they weren’t legally allowed to be fighting anyway. What ended up happening with enough exposure, is that it affected U.S. policy in the Senate, started discussions at Westpoint and the Defense Dept., and resulted in a commission’s recommendation to end the combat exclusion policy.

Cynthia spoke about “The Bully Project“, which premiered this Spring at Tribeca. They too are working on community screenings, 1st planned in Sept. in Philadelphia, with funding through foundations and nonprofits.

Personally, I really like the community screenings, but feel the option for distributing the film could be much wider through websites like Hulu, YouTube, and Netflix in addition to the cable networks. Depending on the situation (money/partners), I’d recommend creating a tiny program that downloads the movie and any additional media, through BitTorrent.

I say “Feast”, but with a wide variety of options in small serving sizes. After all, food is so much tastier in smaller bites and when it’s layered in such a way to maximize flavor. Oh yeah, the video below is another neat animated presentation I found. This time on agriculture and the future from the University of Minnesota. What I particularly liked were the straight up facts presented alongside graphic metaphors, open-ended questions, and proposed solutions that make adaptation and addressing future needs possible.

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This one addresses what biodiversity loss is costing us, and what can be done about it.

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So earlier this month, I attended the MFA Interaction Design Festival, which showcased Masters of Fine Arts student theses projects at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. In all, I was taken away by the high amount of humanistic ideas put forward by the students. This post covers the first of four themes: Discovery.

Orbit

Clint Beharry gave us Orbit, “an application for researchers to explore the universe of their data and discover new ideas. Most research apps today are built around boring spreadsheets and lists, with no engaging exploration of data, and no support for creative ideation. Theorizing beyond those constraints, Orbit renders an immersive 3D planetary system based on your research websites, videos, images, and documents. Exploring the planets of media reveals content similarities and differences, potentially sparking new ideas in your research.”

Visit the link to see how the solar system looked like. Neat thing was wearing these 3d glasses to see it all in action.

Postgeist

Kristin Gräfe explained her app as follows. “The large amount of digital data we leave behind can possibly exist for eternity, raising questions of curation, ownership and storage. With “Postgeist” the user is collecting a digital legacy to bequeath material and immaterial things to their family and close friends to create long-lasting memories. The heirs are encouraged to explore those pictures, thoughts and stories through objects, place and time. A digital legacy will be built and becomes a bridge to connect family generations over time.”

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Hobnobber

Angela Huang presented Hobnobber as “a service that encourages individuals who acknowledge shyness and social anxiety to practice social skills by experiencing face to face social situations. Individuals can choose from levels of social activities to complete on location, at events, or anywhere they feel comfortable. They will be notify by Hobnobber when practice opportunities arise. By self-reporting, individuals can also track their progress and receive rewards. Mostly, the system helps them with actionable goals and making small improvements on weekly bases. Upon accomplishing these activities, they may be more confident and comfortable in offline setting.”

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This one showed us the potential that therapy-oriented interactive mobile software can have. That market is freakin’ HUGE! Whether for substance abuse, couples therapy, or DSM (mental disorders), mobile applications that provide educational material, guidance, games, and more for personal use or in conjunction with a specialist, can be super beneficial and make a LOT of money for the publishers.

Story Forest

Gene Lu‘s application allows users to turn their city “into a forest of experiences by sharing and replaying your memories where they were made.” Features & benefits include: Record photos, text messages, and audio; Immersive, location-based storytelling; Tag your family and friends.

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