Emily Tromp, in the foreground, worked hard on her story during our Storytellers Abroad Multimedia Missions Workshop in Santiago, Chile. [NIKON Z 6, VR Zoom 24-105mm f/4G IF-ED, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 4500, 1/100, ƒ/5.6, (35mm = 28)]

Before the workshop starts for participants, some coaches go early to the country and lay the foundation for the workshop. We work on logistics that involve housing, food, and transportation for the workshop.

The core of this time is finding stories. We talk with the missionaries and found out what needs they have right now. These are things like a building, money for something, and people.

It is a list of wants and needs. The problem with this list is there is nothing emotionally engaging to it.

WHY?

We then ask the critical question, “Why do you need this?” They tell us what they can do if they get those resources. Often those answers are pretty generic. “We can help more people” is a standard answer.

Can you give us an example of a life changed by your ministry that you need more support for? This is when we start to find those stories.

The teacher/missionaries at the Santiago Christian Academy shared how throughout the school, they were doing evangelism of families. Some families need help with scholarships, and individuals like you and churches can also reach more people with the Gospel.

This is one of those stories.

Storyteller Emily Tromp

Storyteller Emily Tromp shares the story of Maria Paz Gonzalez, a single mother who lives with her daughter, Antonia, in Ñuñoa, Chile. Maria has dealt with a great deal of adversity regarding her health and has struggled with heart issues that have impacted her ability to work. Due to financial difficulties arising from her medical needs, she did not believe she could afford to send her daughter to Santiago Christian Academy. Still, thanks to the “SCA Student Fund,” the school has been able to cover the costs of Antonia’s education. Despite continued struggles with her health, Maria keeps a positive outlook on life and thanks God for everything he has given her.

To support the student fund, go to abwe.org/give and search for Santiago Christian Academy Student Fund.

Maybe you are a storyteller but have never done a mission story. We are planning workshops right now for next year. Go to the Storytellers Abroad Multimedia Missions Workshop website and start the process so we can alert you to the trips and dates for next year.

The workshop is designed for those with a working knowledge of photography and some basic writing skills. Many of the past workshop participants worked on their college newspapers, studied communications in college, or worked in the industry.

The workshop is designed around doing what a seasoned pro storyteller would do to tell stories for a missions agency. Our coaches have been working on missions for years. I grew up in missions and have professionally done mission storytelling since 1984.

Here are some of the things we address and this is not a complete list:

• Identifying the Audience
• Identifying the Client
• Navigating the politics of missions organizations
• Cross-cultural issues
• Difference between using logic and emotions to tell stories
• Why you need to know the story before hitting the record button
• Understanding how Human Voice, Words, Visuals, and Music can all tell a story more effectively
• Having a “REAL DEADLINE” and delivering a finished story to the client
• Coaches share their call to “Missions Storytelling.”
• Deep dive into a person’s life that you get to tell their story

“The debilitating interpersonal impairments experienced by individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder are assumed to result from a neurocognitive impairment in the basic motivation and ability to understand people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors – perhaps even their own.”

– Personality and Self-Insight in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder by: Roberta A. Schriber, Richard W. Robins, and Marjorie Solomon

I want to fit in and connect with people. This desire has led me to try and understand good communication skills and do a LOT of self-evaluation.

People with Autism and those struggling in storytelling have something in common. We can get a message delivered but are often perplexed about why the audience isn’t responding.

I am on the Autism Spectrum and considered to be high functioning. What is essential to understand for this blog post is, at its core, Autism is a disorder that has social impairment at its heart.

My wife, family, and friends have all gotten used to me. I will be deep in thoughts, and when something fascinating is in my mind, I often share this with those around me.

When I do share these thoughts, I am seldom taking the time to understand what is going on at the moment with them. I do a poor job of meeting people where they are in that split second and helping them make a transition to something I would like to share.

Guess what? When it comes to business and communications in general, this is a problem for everyone. When you have something to sell, you are like someone with Autism. You have a tough time meeting people where they are. People constantly are talking about everything they know about their product but do not understand where your audience is at the moment and about the product they are selling.

One important thing people in business and Autism have in common is often lacking an understanding of self.

We are so into our thoughts that we are not thinking about how we come across to others [AUDIENCE].

Two common themes I heard throughout my life are that first; I need to learn to meet people where they are in the moment. Secondly, almost everyone said that once people got to know me, they appreciated me much more.

You cannot survive very long with these characteristics when you are in communications or sales. You need to be seen as a person who cares for others. You need to be seen as someone interested in others and not just yourself.

The hardest part of storytelling is not knowing your subject or peeling the onion to get the best story. The hardest part of storytelling is meeting the audience where they are with the story.

Stanley Leary

It would help if you did as much research understanding your audience’s knowledge of the subject as you do about your story/product.

When it comes to storytelling for nonprofits, you will always have a “Call to Action” at the end of the story. Now that you have heard this story, you can get involved.

People take action to work with a nonprofit because of a few things.

• They have the skill the nonprofit needs.
• They have a heart for the nonprofit
• They have someone who is involved with the nonprofit that they care about [ie..family or friend who they want to support]

In narrative storytelling, the hero of the story, the subject, has a problem they cannot solve alone. They need some help. Either they have someone to help them, like a mentor or a resource that helps them overcome adversity and become better because of this process.

Many nonprofits are about providing education. They need teachers, administrators, and others to help run a school. When telling a story of someone they helped, this helps to describe what they do and invite others to help them continue doing this with even more people. If the audience has people who have worked in education in some way, they may see themselves wanting to be part of the organization. A teacher who just finished 30 years teaching and retired in their early 50s may want to go and teach in a nonprofit and give back.

The storyteller must know what the audience can do to be a part of the success of the future story of the organization.

Once you understand your audience, you now know how to meet them where they are and tell the story in a way that helps them to see how they are part of the solution.

Here are some questions to consider if you engage your audience as a storyteller.

• Have you had to change the story because of the audience?
• Have you asked questions that you wouldn’t have asked but the audience may ask when working on a story?
• Have you ever created a focus group of an audience and asked them what makes them want to participate in a nonprofit?
• Have you ever created a focus group of an audience and asked them what turns them off about nonprofits?
• Have you ever dropped a great story because it doesn’t help the organization?
• Have you had to talk a client out of doing a story because it doesn’t engage the audience?

Have you adjusted how you tell a story because of the audience?

Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

This past week I was in Santiago, Chile, helping Jeff Raymond, James Dockery, and Bill Bangham lead the Storytellers Abroad Multimedia Missions Workshop. We were working each day from getting up at 7:00 am until well after midnight each day.

Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

I believe we trained the storytellers to be the best witnesses to what they had seen and heard of each person they were assigned to capture.

The week started with each workshop participant [Storytellers] doing pre-interviews with their subjects to get the story they would later capture on camera/video.

I was teaching the class that you shouldn’t record the video interview until you had a pretty good idea of the storyline. The reason is then you would have a much longer discussion from which you had to transcribe all that content to dig for a story.

Friendships with the subjects we were telling their stories, and the translators and missionaries were being created throughout the week.

In my opinion, the best part of the week was the one-on-one or two-on-one coaching.

We also went on location with each workshop participant to give directions.

The weather in Santiago, Chile, was winter while we were there.

We spent much time in the field and even more sitting in front of the computers, organizing and editing the projects.

When we were trying to output some of the projects to make the final movie, we ran into problems with the software. I had not seen those particular errors before. This is when having one of the senior editors for ESPN, James Dockery, as part of the teaching team made a huge difference.

Please stay tuned for the final videos. I will share them here when we have finished making the final edits.

We believe that packing all we could into one week on the field is worth the effort. We believe “we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”