Strategic Narrative Underground Session 1

The first Strategic Narrative Underground session happened today. If you were on the call, I want to thank you for showing up with curiosity and benevolence. This time together led us to a great conversation about why strategic narratives matter now more than ever.

Talking points about strategic narrative:

• Narratives rule pretty much everything. Yet, they are misunderstood.
• We come up with new narratives to change something in the future.
• Narrative change is starting to be a recognized practice.
• Narratives are different than stories.
• You can share a good story with one person, but narratives are really about creating a sense of community.
• So, there is this very strong focus on a call to action.
• The goal of a new strategic narrative is to drive meaningful change, not to sell more stuff.

Talking points about the concept of pattern language:

• A pattern language is a structured method of documenting good design practices.
• It was invented in 1977 by Christopher Alexander
• After being offered to build a village in India, he realizes that life inside towns and buildings comes from patterns that people already know about architecture.
• The concept of a pattern language is especially influential in software engineering, using design patterns to document collective knowledge in the field.
• The Pattern Language for Strategic Narratives that I am creating follows the same structure and principles.

What is happening right now in the world that makes the topic of strategic narrative urgent for you to explore?

• More and more, we need to make people care about something important.
• Your emphasis on community, being an anchor for constructing a strategic narrative is really important, especially now for communicating research and communicating science. And we've seen numerous failures over the past year and a half where we haven't connected with communities.

Join the Next Strategic Narrative Underground Session

Discover The Pattern Language For Strategic Narratives during a free weekly 30-minute flash course with me on zoom.

For the next two months, I am inviting you every Thursday at 9:00 am Pacific to attend a presentation and participate in a conversation about one of the patterns included in the book that I started writing.

I talk for about 15 minutes, and then we discuss specific aspects of what you’ve learned. I answer your questions, and this is also a chance for me to gather your feedback.

At the end of the call, you will get access to the Google document with the manuscript of my book. Each time you join, you get access to a new pattern. You can join for free as many times as you want.

Join us next Thursday, May 6th, at 9:00 am Pacific. It's free.

Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvdemuqTsqG9VNmso2ZqPmiGXJP644gYfx

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

See you next Thursday!