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October 14, 2024 8 mins

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Storytelling with Integrity: Inspire, Don't Manipulate

Join Mary  as she delves into the true power of storytelling and the fine line between inspiration and manipulation. 

 Drawing from personal experiences and years in the nonprofit sector, Mary passionately advocates for authentic, inspiring narratives that motivate genuine action. 

With actionable tips and expert advice, this episode is a must-listen for authors, speakers, fundraisers, and anyone looking to harness the transformative power of stories without resorting to guilt or deceit

 

00:00 Introduction to StorySpire ™

00:20 Join the Story Spire Newsletter

00:57 The Power of Storytelling

02:07 Inspiration vs. Manipulation

04:35 Creating Impactful Stories

05:58 Avoiding Poverty Pornography

08:00 Final Thoughts and Encouragement


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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Storiespirepodcast.
I'm Mary R.
Snyder.
I am your host and storytellingstrategist.
I'm here with expert advice,actionable tips, and frameworks
to create the stories that willinspire hearts and minds because
stories change the world.
Let's get into it.

(00:20):
Hey, before we get started, Iwant to remind you of something.
Have you said yes to my email,my newsletter, the Story Spire
News?
It is a weekly newsletter with alink to one of the episodes, the
episode of the week, along witha storytelling tip, maybe
something fun, a resource Ifound, or an inspirational story

(00:45):
just to brighten up your emailbox.
And you can do that simply bygoing to storyspire.
com and clicking on Join Mary.
I'd love for you to join methere.
Let's get into it.
Let's talk about the power ofstorytelling, the power you have
as communicator.
Now I'm going to tell you whythis matters so much to me.

(01:07):
In the version of a story, I wasin an audience watching a
powerful communicator on thestage and it was moving.
And I mean, everything about it,you wanted to be involved with
this organization.
And then he said, if you don'tsponsor a child, they could die,

(01:32):
they will die.
And I'm like, well that's nottrue.
If I don't do it, then I'm gonnakill a child.
And that was what he made usbelieve.
Now was that true?
It absolutely wasn't.
It was manipulation.
It made me so mad.
Because the truth is, he heldthat audience in the palm of his

(01:54):
hand.
He didn't need to manipulate us,we were already inspired to take
action.
That happened a long, long timeago.
Between that day and today, alot of life has happened.
But one thing that has neverchanged, is that when I help you
tell stories, it's to inspireaction, not to manipulate, not

(02:17):
to guilt.
Because People will join you ifyou guilt them and manipulate
them.
Let me tell you a point ofreference.
When you hear Sarah McLaughlinsinging In the Arms of the Angel
on your television, I will racethrough the house to turn that
off because I know the imagesI'm going to see.

(02:38):
It's those little puppies thatare all forlorn and scarred up
and the kittens that look, sosad.
I know that manipulation isgoing to drive me to give a one
time donation.
Did you notice the one timedonation?
Because you see, I don't want tobe involved with someone who's
going to manipulate me.

(02:58):
I don't want to do life.
I don't want to buy your thing,buy your book, buy your course,
join your group, join yourorganization, donate to your
cause because you manipulatedme.
I might do it once.
But I won't do it again.
And as communicators, our job isto inspire people to join us on

(03:18):
this journey.
Now, if you're an author, apodcaster, a speaker, you want
to bring them into your sphereof influence, get them on your
email list, have them a part ofyour group of what you're
growing.
And if you're a fundraiser, youwant to bring them into that
sphere of influence, have themget on your email list, maybe

(03:39):
get that 25 donation to startwith that will grow and grow and
grow, but you don't do thatthrough manipulation.
You do that through inspiration.
We want to be with people whoinspire us, inspire us to be
more, to do more, to believemore, to know more, to trust
more, to love more.

(04:01):
Now as storytellers.
We have to be careful we walk afine line.
I can flip that and go over tomanipulation as easy as I can
fall back into the information.
Because between the informationand the manipulation is the
inspiration.
Enough information to inspireyou, but not, not so much that I

(04:24):
manipulate you.
Not a twisting of, if you don'tsponsor this child they will
die.
Because that's a twisting of theinformation.
That's not what we do here.
Over the last many years, I havebeen working with nonprofits and
speakers and I left thenonprofit sector to go out on my
own full time and to create thework I do with Impact with Story

(04:47):
all through the Mary R.
Snyder website.
One of the things I created wasStory Spire, and the reason I
created this framework, thisunique way of telling a story,
it was all around telling thestory, the journey to helping
people build the story from thestandpoint of understanding what

(05:09):
they want their audience tofeel, to know, and to do.
And that's why I created this.
But back to the manipulationover the inspiration or
inspiration over themanipulation, let's get it
right, inspiring people toaction makes them want to come
back again.
They want to hear the rest ofthe story.
They want to hear the nextstory.

(05:30):
When you think about SarahMcLaughlin, I don't want to hear
about any more puppies that aredying.
I don't want to hear thosestories..
I want to hear the story aboutthe dog that was saved when
somebody found it on the side ofthe road.
I want to read the story aboutthe dog who had everything going
against it, but this one personsaid, I'll take that one.

(05:55):
I want to hear the inspiringstories.
I don't want to see thepornography of poverty.
Yeah, you heard that rightpoverty pornography.
I know you didn't think you'dhear that on my podcast.
Did you well, let me tell youwhat that is.
That's when those pictures ofthose swollen bellies and flies

(06:17):
all over their face.
The children.
Do you remember those?
I don't remember theorganization, and I was very
young, but I think it was SallyStruthers that was their
spokesperson, their ambassador.
And those images would pop up onthe screen on television, and I
was so appalled by them.
I know it created a lot ofdonations, but did it create a

(06:39):
lot of donor relations?
Did it create long lastingimpact?
Engagement.
So as you build your stories,storyteller, understand the
power that you wield.
Understand that you canmanipulate, but don't.

(07:00):
Inspire.
It's a slower journey, butyou're still going to get there.
And not only would you getthere, But the people that join
you on that journey will staythere.
They will stay with you.
They will follow with you.
They will buy the books.
They will buy the courses.
You know, we've all probably,maybe just me, but we've all
seen the, hey, if you buy this,I can guarantee you'll get 10,

(07:23):
000 followers or you'll get 10,000 if you just invest 2, 000 in
this thing.
Now, I don't know if you've everfallen for any of that.
I have, but that's manipulationbecause the thing didn't return
the results.
So am I going to buy anotherthing from that person?
Am I going to buy a book?

(07:45):
Am I going to support a cause?
No, because you just manipulatedme.
Now, we probably don't go quitethat far, as storytellers, and
speakers.
Fundraisers, but you can, youshouldn't.
So this week I want you toreally think about your stories
and are you telling theinformation to inspire?

(08:08):
Are you telling the informationto inspire somebody to see how
they can live life differently,how they can make a difference,
how they can have greatermeaning because that's
inspiration.
That's not manipulation.
All right.
You have a great rest of yourday.
I look forward to seeing youback here next week.
Bye for now.
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