ABT Framework Student Resource Page Round 40- Emory
Contents
Sign up to host your Working Circle here (separate page)
Sign up to participate in Working Circles here (separate page)
Session 2 Resources – Outer Circle and Singular Narrative
Session 3 Resources – cABT and Abstract Analysis
Session 4 Resources – And Frequency
If you’re new to Working Circles, start by watching this:
Working Circle Half Hour Schedule – Use this to guide you through how to host your half hour Working Circle.
The Scribe Document – Your designated Scribe should have a copy of this shared on the screen and use for note taking.
To complete the class, you must sign up to host 1 Working Circle and sign up to participate in 2 Working Circles.
Sign up to host a Working Circle
- Pick an available half hour time slot on this page.
- Fill in your first name, last name, and a short title for your Working Circle based on your ABT.
Host responsibilities
- Email your participants your ABT before the Working Circle so they have time to review it – we’ll send you the list of your participants’ email addresses 3-5 days ahead of time.
- You can send your participants a revised ABT of what you originally submitted to class or use a brand new ABT all together.
- During the Working Circle, use the ABT Blue Card and follow the half hour schedule.
- You’re the moderator of the discussion, so do your best to make sure everyone gets a chance to speak and provide input.
- We’ll send you and your participants a Zoom link for your Working Circle 3-5 days before you’re scheduled to host, so no need to worry about that.
Participant responsibilities
- Sign up to participate in a minimum of 2 Working Circles. Sign up here.
- Review the ABT that the host sent you ahead of time and come up with your version of the 5 Word Problem (this will be discussed in class) for the host’s ABT before the Working Circle starts.
- One participant should volunteer to be the notetaking Scribe. The Scribe will share their screen so that everyone can view it and have a Word document up to take notes. You can find a premade Scribe document in Word here.
- (Optional) Participants can rewrite the host’s ABT and present the rewritten ABT to the host during the Working Circle. This approach is for participants who want a little extra practice and to give the host more options and ideas for rewriting their ABT. So far we’ve had reports back that hosts are incredibly grateful when participants do this.
- Be prepared to use the ABT Blue Card and all the tools you’ve learned in class to help the host clarify their narrative.
Zoom Sessions:
- Thursdays @ 2:00 pm Eastern Time
- Start Date: 8/29
- End Date: 11/21
Sign up to host a Working Circle (see above)
Download the ABT Blue Card – Have it open or printed out and ready for each class.
How to Create a Powerful 90 Second Project Summary Using the ABT Framework
Download the ABT Blue Card – This is our 3 step model for revising an ABT to make it more effective.
Optional Exercise #1 – “This is a story of…” – Change
This is an exercise that would be handy to have done before your in class ABT Build with Randy because Randy asks this question for roughly 99% of ABT Builds.
For this exercise, tell us what your ABT is about by finishing this sentence and using only 3 additional words “This is a story of____.”
It seems simple, but this exercise is tricky because participants tend to focus on the subject. But stories need more than a subject, they need change. Look at your ABT and see what major change you want to occur. Your story starts at point A and ends at point B – what’s the change that you want to get us to point B?
Examples of changes in past ABTs:
- Protecting a species
- Strategizing building restoration
- Managing conservation efforts
- Restoring wildlife
- Adapting to change
- Educating our stakeholders
- Understanding a disease
Look at this example ABT:
Congressional funding is a key requirement for the continuation of important avian research, and we know that our research allows us to be better able to manage our wildlife habitats and protect endangered species. But program managers don’t feel confident about securing future funding because some research areas are not receiving enough attention. Therefore, we need to effectively promote the proven success in these research areas to secure future funding.
When asked to complete the sentence “This is a story of____,” a possibility is “This is a story of avian research.” But this is just the subject and it doesn’t tell us what change is taking place in this story.
Instead of the subject (avian research), focus on the change. If you wanted the change for the broader story, then you might say “secure,” since ultimately the purpose is to secure the future funds. “This is a story of securing future funding.”
Point A of the story: We are not securing future funding.
Point B of the story: We are securing future funding.
Try to fill in “This is a story of____” for your ABT using only 3 additional words (focusing on the change) or less.
Session 2 Resources – Outer Circle and Singular Narrative
The One Thing:
Nicholas Kristof’s Advice for Saving the World – The importance of the singular narrative. Once you increase the size of a narrative from one person in need to two people in need, compassion drops in the audience.
Compassion Fade: Affect and Charity Are Greatest for a Single Child in Need – The research article that “Advice for Saving the World” references.
Off With the Talking Heads: A Plea for One COVID Voice – Randy’s Medpage article where he talks about the importance of the singular narrative.
‘Data-Driven’ Campaigns Are Killing the Democratic Party – The article in which Dave Gold coined the term “Christmas Tree” when looking for an overarching problem. It’s okay to have several problems in your narrative, but you need to find the overarching Christmas Tree problem for your narrative that all the other problems can hang off of like ornaments.
Optional Exercise #2: The 5 Word Problem
“What’s the problem?” is the second most common question Randy asks during the ABT Builds. For this exercise, look at your ABT and try to finish this sentence “The problem is _____” and use only 5 additional words.
Examples: The problem is bad resource management.
The problem is the old method doesn’t work.
The problem is we have bad data.
Stripping down your problem to just 5 words can help you clarify what your narrative is actually all about and focus in on the real problem that you want to address.
Session 3 Resources – cABT and Abstract Analysis
Three Forms of the ABT – It’s recommended you read this excerpt from Houston, We Have a Narrative and get an understanding of the cABT (Conversational ABT).
Optional Exercise #3: Using the Dobzhansky Template to find your “One Thing.”
Restructure your ABT in the form of a Dobzhansky Template to help you find your singular narrative. This is an excellent tool to use during Step 2 of the ABT Blue Card.
Dobzhansky Template: Nothing in _______ makes sense, except in the light of ________.
Examples: Nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution.
Nothing in geology makes sense, except in the light of plate tectonics.
Nothing in the management of mule deer makes sense except in the light of correctly estimating abundance.
Nothing in the challenge of teaching human anatomy makes sense except in the light of time management.
Session 4 Resources – And Frequency
Posted after Session 4.
Optional Exercise #4: cABT – Starting from simplicity
Randy might ask you the cABT version of your ABT, so for this exercise you’ll prepare your cABT ahead of time.
The cABT should have all specifics stripped off of it. Use nothing but generic words, like “thing” and “stuff.” For example, if your ABT dealt with a new way to clean junk from the ocean that’s an improvement and the old system is outdated, the cABT would be “We had a thing we were using for a while, but it’s not working that great, so now we want to use a better thing.”
See? We can’t tell that you’re working on cleaning the environment. You could just as well be telling me that you’re implementing a new accounting system at your bank for all we know. That makes it a good cABT.
This exercise is important in making sure you have an easily understood base narrative, that you really know what the narrative core of your ABT is all about. And then from the base cABT, you can start adding specifics again when constructing your kABT.
Science Needs Story – Randy Olson’s Blog.
@ABTAgenda – Follow Randy on Twitter.
ABT Time Podcast – All things ABT, start to finish. In this weekly hour long post Randy will discuss observations, applications and implications of this powerful tool that is at the core of his narrative training program and effective communication of all forms.
The ABT Agenda Newsletter – We send out a newsletter a few times a year with new ABT related events, news, and course updates. If you sign up, we promise not to spam you with tons of junk!
Agreement: The first of the 3 forces of Narrative (Agreement, Contradiction, Consequence). This is the set up part of a narrative in which the Ordinary World is established and Stakes are set. Typically, the Agreement section should be a statement about the topic that is non-controversial and contains no problems – this is done to maximize the narrative turn when we reach the Contradiction. In class, the Agreement is colored blue.
And Frequency (A.F.): The percentage of the word And in a given document or presentation which is used to determine how well a document has been edited. The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English is a 7 year foundational study that took a quantitative analysis approach to the English language. It found that the ideal percentage of Ands in well edited documents tend to converge around 2.5%. You can use this word frequency tool to find the number of Ands in your own document, then divide that by the total number of words to find your And Frequency. We consider an And Frequency of over 4% to be indicative of “deadly levels of boring.” The closer to 2.5% you are, the better.
Arouse and Fulfill: A common narrative dynamic in which you first Arouse the audience’s interest in a topic by giving them general information that only hints at what the full topic is about. The Arouse part of the narrative is very short, broad, and lacks context. The Fulfill section is where you provide the full context of the topic that you hinted at in the Arouse. It’s common for presentations to begin with a quick Arouse statement or question to give the audience a general idea of the talk before diving into the specifics in the Fulfill.
BUT/BECAUSE: The general to specific breakdown of the problem. The BUT introduces us to a general version of the problem that is typically no more than 5 words. It’s meant to quickly convey the emotional part of the problem. For example, “BUT that’s not happening,” “BUT we are failing,” and “BUT it’s not working right.” The BECAUSE gives us the specific informational part of the problem.
Christmas Tree (aka Umbrella Problem): The overarching problem of your narrative. Your narrative may have multiple problems. If so, the Christmas Tree is the broad version of the problem that encompasses all of them. The Christmas Tree sometimes must be very general in order to encompass a wide variety of “ornament” problems.
Consequence: The third of the 3 forces of Narrative (Agreement, Contradiction, Consequence). In narrative, the Consequence is a statement of the action that will be taken to solve the problem. In non-narrative, the Consequence is often a logical conclusion, not an action. For the purposes of this course, we will be focused on the narrative/action type of Consequence. In class, the Consequence is colored green.
Contradiction: The second of the 3 forces of Narrative (Agreement, Contradiction, Consequence). The Contradiction is the statement of the problem. To maximize the effect of the Contradiction, no problems or controversial statements should be used in the Agreement. In class, the Contradiction is colored red.
Context Deficit: A typical problem in ABTs where the Agreement section lacks necessary information to help setup the problem in the Contradiction section. This might involve a lack of explanation on what the Ordinary World is, leaving out the proximate steps that are being taken to achieve the ultimate goal, or not helping the audience to understand the Stakes.
cABT (Conversational ABT): A tool that is a short, general version of an ABT that lacks all specific information. Using this tool can give you an understanding about what the narrative core is of the message that you’re trying to convey. A cABT should be easily understood by a 5-year-old. For example, a cABT for a complicated biomedical process that involves researching a new method to detect tuberculosis could boil down to: “There’s a thing that would be good to know, BUT we don’t know it yet, THEREFORE we’re going to find out about it.” cABTs can also be used as part of the Arouse segment of a presentation.
Dobzhansky Template: A tool used to help find the singular theme of an ABT in just a few words. The template: “Nothing in ________ makes sense, except in the light of _________.” Dobzhansky’s can be used as Arouse statements at the beginning of presentations.
DNA (Dream/Nightmare/Action): A method of grouping facts and information together to make an argument. First, the Dream is laid out in the Agreement where you make the argument of why what you’re trying to do is important (i.e. stating your goal) and all the positive benefits that would occur if you where to succeed (a Hope IF/THEN is helpful with this). Then, the Nightmare is laid out in the Contradiction in which you tell the audience the obstacle that must be overcome if we are to ever achieve this dream. Optionally, you can use a Fear IF/THEN to project into the future with how much worse things will be if they continue. Finally, you give the Action in the Consequence that you will take that will lead us out of the Nightmare and towards the Dream.
General to Specific: A common pattern in narratives in which the General idea is laid out first and then the Specific details are filled in. This pattern can be seen in Arouse and Fulfill, BUT/BECAUSE, and THEREFORE/BY. For PowerPoint presentations, slides can be used to give General bullet points and the presenter can verbally give Specific details.
IF/THEN: A tool that is a hypothetical statement in which you project into the future to outline your goals and the stakes. Typically used in the Agreement section in what we call a Hope IF/THEN to help clarify for the audience what it is you are specifically trying to accomplish, why it’s important, and why the audience should care about it. It can also be used as a Fear IF/THEN, typically at the very end of the Contradiction, to outline how much worse things can be if no action is taken.
Informational ABT: An ABT that is crowded with too much information. The information is often put in in an attempt to make the ABT compelling and thorough, but the lack of concision tends to make an audience lose the narrative thread.
Inner Circle/Outer Circle: The two main audiences divided by one major element: context. An Inner Circle audience understand the background context of your topic and often does not need narrative elements to give them context. The Outer Circle audience lacks context and requires narrative to help give them proper context on your topic to understand what’s at stake and why they should care. Examples of Inner Circle audiences could include research project partners or co-workers who work together in the same department. Examples of Outer Circle audiences could include the general public, upper management at your company, a grant committee, or an office of co-workers who are right down the hall from you and don’t understand what it is that you’re doing.
Narrative Index (N.I.): The ratio of Buts to Ands in a given document or presentation which is used to determine the narrative strength. The Narrative Index is calculated as: N.I. = Buts/Ands x 100. A Narrative Index over 10 is considered narratively adequate. Over 20 is narratively strong and over 30 is narratively fierce. More details can be found on this blog post.
Narrative Intuition: An intuition gained for what types of narratives work and what don’t. Typically, those who practice narrative frequently and get immediate feedback from broad audiences are more likely to have higher narrative intuition as shown by the And Frequency and Narrative Index metrics. Based off metrics, experienced professional stand-up comedians tend to have the highest narrative intuition, followed by journalists in wide publications and politicians. Scientists and researchers tend to rank the lowest. The goal of this course is to increase your narrative intuition through repetition.
Numerical Intuition: An intuition gained by scientists and researchers in which you learn to trust large sample sizes and intuitively understand the importance of them.
Ordinary World: A term derived from Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. It is a statement of the topic at a broad level, is used in the first half of the Agreement, and is important for properly framing your narrative to orient audiences correctly. An effective Ordinary World tends to be non-controversial and does not include problems.
Stakes: The thing in a narrative that can be gained or lost. When we ask “what’s at stake,” we want to know what great thing do we have the potential to gain by what you’re doing, or what do we have the potential to lose out on? Stakes are typically set in a Hope or Fear IF/THEN.
THEREFORE/BY: The general to specific breakdown of the solution. The THEREFORE introduces us to a general version of the solution that is typically no more than 5 words. It’s meant to quickly convey the emotional part of the solution. For example, “THEREFORE we’ll fix this,” or “THEREFORE we’ll help solve this.” The BY gives us the specific informational part of the solution.
Communication Books by Randy Olson
They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein – A book for an ABT like approach to argumentation.
Step by Step to Stand-up Comedy by Greg Dean – A book that takes a structured approach to joke writing with a focus on the AND and the BUT (i.e., Setup and Punchline).
The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler – If you every wanted an in depth look at storytelling, THIS is the book. Draws heavily from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and is based on Vogler’s 7 page memo that reshaped Hollywood.