The human side of stories often gets lost in this era of big data and analytics. However, those human-based stories are the ones we remember the most. And there’s a reason why, says Ira Glass, host of This American Life on National Public Radio.

“[In news] the serious and the funny are never allowed to collide,” he said during a keynote speech at the 2007 Gel Conference. “If they were allowed to touch, it would be like matter and anti-matter. They’re kept separate, and it’s such a failure of craft. There’s a fake gravitas that’s sold in the aesthetic of the news. Most broadcast journalism makes the world seem much smaller than it is. By making stories whose aesthetic is surprise, it’s reasserting the world to its proper size. The world is a place where surprise, pleasure, joy and humor exist. It makes things hopeful. The funny moment is often the most revealing.”

Glass says his program aims to portray people at exactly human scale, and that is what makes the stories good. 

“In its most basic form, a story is just a sequence of actions,” he said. “It’s not about logic. It’s not about argument. It’s about motion. It’s not about reason in any way. Narrative raises questions and answers them.”

Raising questions and answering them creates empathy, which is what stories are good for. 

“When a story gets inside of us, it makes us less crazy,” Glass said. “There has to be a person’s story that you hear where finally you get a picture in your head of this is what it would be like to be that person.”

By creating empathy, we become better humans, transforming our lives to include much more of the world than our narrow viewpoint. That is why stories matter. 

Below is the full video of Glass’ speech. I encourage you to listen to it for its inspiring and entertaining content. And please let us know in the comments how stories have transformed your life.

Glasses clink all around you, while whispers fade in and out like waves as you sit at a table in a dark room. Before you is an empty stage with a single microphone casting off reflections from an overhead light. Soon, the whispers lower in volume and a man walks on stage. From somewhere off in space, a deep voice says the man’s name, clapping comes and goes and then it begins.

“The story I want to tell you about tonight is a simple story.” 

It could start any various ways: “Once upon a time,” “In the beginning,” “In 1904, there was a barber living…” No matter how it starts, it’s a story, and it’s the one art form that every culture—and people of all ages—loves. Stories help us make sense of our lives. They help us learn. They entertain. And anyone can tell a story. 

The Moth is a place where professional and amateur storytellers appear before audiences eager to emphasize and be entertained by tales of love, woe and surprise. This month, our feature profile is Joan Firestone, executive director of The Moth, who says that stories reach you where you are. 

“The difference between theater and storytelling, in a way, is that you go into a theater with a somewhat critical eye,” she said. “You go into The Moth and you totally empathize. A storyteller may falter, cry or whatever; somebody has referred to it as ‘Like the whole audience holding hands under the table,’ because there’s a oneness to the [events].” 

The Moth hosts events all across the U.S., has its own radio show on more than 200 stations and offers several videos on its YouTube channel. 

Below is one of those videos. It features Adam Gopnik telling a funny and endearing story about a relationship with his teenage son, social media technology and misunderstanding what LOL means. 

Do you have a favorite Moth story? If so, please send us the link. We’re always in the mood for a good story.

Hooray, there's an actual research project underway to identify/make sense of the future of storytelling!

I love this idea, but part of me suspects due to how quickly the world of communications is evolving, by the time you finish reading phase one of the research, it'll all ready be dated.

"Immersion, interactivity, integration and impact" is how this first piece begins. As nice as it sounds, the info is, as suspected, most valuable as a refresher for would-be storytellers.

Stay tuned for phase two...

Image (CC) Local Studies NSW

"Everyone native to [these islands] descends from someone who survived a 2,500-mile canoe trip," the relaxed-but-on-point hirsute man in fine resort casual explained.

You pause, look around momentarily. You're on a beautiful beach with a bronzing sun. The trip to this land took you 6 hours. The logic centers of your mind begin deconstructing the tale...2,500 miles by sea...way back when...by canoe...an intense trip.

Ask Joe Rohde, senior vice president and creative executive for Walt Disney Imagineering, and he'll tell you that story is important; sense of place is important.

Head creative for the Animal Kingdom, Rohde has embedded story into the very DNA of Aulani-A Disney Resort--the property is infused with a holographic degree of detail: within each grain of sand, one can see/feel the essence of the place. The place reveals its own story.

"Human beings, all human beings, are wired for story," Rohde said. "It's one of the things that makes us human, it's what our brains do."

Image (CC) insidethemagic

Storytelling is a proven method by which to effectively share information. It sees apt implementation by professionals involved in designing events and all manner of communications, such as advertising and PR, natch. (Read the One+ value of storytelling feature, "Once Upon a Time...")

Kyoto, Japan, is now leveraging the power of storytelling combined with the popularity of mobile apps, reports The Asahi Shimbun. The Novel Navi iPhone app guides users to the real-life settings featured in a variety of stories. Prompted due to news stories of fans making pilgrimages to renowned novel and anime destination, a council to promote flower tourism worked with the Kyoto prefectural government, Ritsumeikan University and local businesses to create the app.

To paraphrase Walt Disney, it seems to me we have a lot of story about storytelling yet to tell. Stay tuned to One+ for more on storytelling at meetings and events.

We featured a story in June about taming social media chaos. In the article, we highlighted Storify, a publishing platform that lets users create stories by dragging and dropping elements from social networks such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube. We like the tool. And so do others, because Storify is this year’s US$10,000 Grand Prize winner in the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism.

“In Storify, we see a journalism tool that truly solves a newsroom problem and also inspires others to challenge the way they've been telling stories,” said Knight-Batten judge Amy Webb, speaking for the selection panel.

“Scarcely a year into its existence, Storify has become so essential the word 'storify' has become a verb,” said Jan Schaffer, director of J-Lab, which administers the awards.

The Knight-Batten Awards honor creative uses of new technologies to engage citizens in public issues and showcase compelling models for future newsgathering. They are funded by Knight Foundation and administered by J-Lab, a center of American University’s School of Communication.

Are you using Storify for any of your events? If so, we'd love to hear about it. Maybe even send us a link to your Storify. 

Best Western recently created a series of indie films showcasing the people who own and run their hotels. They're all well made, offering great personal insight and entertaining stories. It's always refreshing to see the people behind the brands. Below is one of the films. You can find the rest on their website.