An approach to presentation of ideas that seeks to invite listeners into a creative dialogue, clarify alternative interpretations and maximize the validity of the recommended interpretation.
Concept & technique
Tell a story of your interpretation or idea through three levels of expanding detail, in the following sequence, each level being conclusive:
- Verbal (less than one minute): Tell about the history & the effort of qualifying the idea.
- By sketch (less than 10 minutes): Make a sketch that describes the idea.
- By electronic devices (less than 20 minutes): Elaborate upon all the details of the preceding sketch, visualize it.
Emphasize surprise, breaches from normality and unanswered questions to invoke curiosity and enlist your audience in interpretation.
Show primary data that directly underpin your interpretation and/or that present areas of ambiguity and unanswered questions.
Provide at least one alternative interpretation along with your main conclusion.
Research foundation
Creativity results from the quality of a dialogue (Håkonsen, 2007). Narrative theory on creation of meaning postulates that dialogues are mediated by stories told and heard (Bruner, 1990). The stories that evoke the largest interest in listeners and enlist them into an interpretive process typically involve breaches from normality and areas of indeterminacy. This stands partly against the ideas of natural science logic where tight arguments and ‘proof’ of ‘one best interpretation’ are emphasized. The best presentations at MIT medial lab stories invite more than they convince (Schrage, 1994). Presentations are prototypes that invite creative dialogue (Kelley, 1999).
Readings
- Bruner, J. 1990. Acts of Meaning. Harvard University Press.
- Håkonsen, G. 2007. Making a difference. Creative dialogues, protopractice and the moral shaping of knowledge in a media company. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim
- Kelley, t. 2001. The Art of Innovation. Doubleday.
- Mortensen, T., Carlsen, A. & Gjersvik, R. 2007. Unplugged. Dialogue objects and imaginative space in creativity. Paper presented at the 23rd EGOS Colloquium in Vienna.
- Schrage, M. 2000. Serious Play. Harvard Business School Press.