How to Craft A Memorable Special Appeal for Your Event

How to craft amemorable

Presenter: Shanon Doolittle, Founder & Principal, DoogooderTwitter: @sldoolittle | #storytellingnonprofit

Special appeal story

Question QuickieWhat event popped into

your mind when you signed up for this webinar?

reasons why most special appeals fail

Not identifying your audience

11

Not having a purpose in mind

12

An unprepared and nervous speaker

13

When it comes to events, we often make the mistake of spending too much time on logistics and not enough on programming.

A story can have an extremely powerful effect on an individual. And the most successful special appeals tell a compelling story.

YOUR STORY

STEP #1:

places to find great stories

Your clients and their families

11

Your donors12

Your staff and volunteers

13

Question QuickieHow do you collect stories

at your organization?

of storytelling

What makes a great story?

CHARACTER11

CONNECTION12

CONFLICT13

CONQUEST14

Find the story with the biggest, hairiest conflict. The bigger the conflict, the more engaged the audience will be.

YOUR SPEAKER

STEP #3:

traits to look for when finding a speaker

The speaker is scriptable.

11

The speaker is passionate.

12

The speaker is unpolished.

13

Do not dump raw emotion on the shoulders of the audience. A chin quivering is fine but bawling one’s eyes out is not.

YOUR SPEAKER

STEP #3:

Speaker Preparation TimelineActivity Week

Review event program run of show with speaker.Provide storytelling brainstorm questions.

1/20 (6 weeks from event)

Select speaker story. Review story structure with speaker. Request first draft by 2/7.

1/27 (5 weeks from event)

Check in with speaker and answer questions. 2/3 (4 weeks from event)

Review revised draft with event team. Provide feedback to speaker.Request revised draft by 2/14.

2/10 (3 weeks from event)

Rehearse ask with speaker. Suggest minor tweaks, if needed. Request final speech by 2/17.

2/17 (2 weeks from event)

Provide speaker agenda and logistics. Sends notes of gratitude and encouragement.

2/24 (1 week from event)

SAMPLE QUESTIONS:1. What do you remember about your experience with math

as a child? 2. If you were a number, what number would you be and

why? 3. As a teacher, why do you love most about our program? 4. How our program transformed the life of one of your

students?What was the struggle? The turnaround point? How was the student’s life changed for the better?

5. Why should someone donate to our program?

reasons why story structure matters

A framework helps to reduce rambling and information overload.

Different parts of a story balance each other. Too much of any one part can make your story tedious and confusing.

It organizes and optimizes the timing of the characters, events and details of the story.

Story Structure

Keep the story simple and limit details that don’t move the story forward. Fill the room with emotion, end end with a clear call to action.

Question QuickieWhat’s one nugget from

today’s webinar you’d like to put into action this year?

Q & A

Ping: shanon@dogoodeveryday.org

Tweet:@sldoolittle

Blog:www.dogoodeveryday.org

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