Story Telling
I am going to change the font size of this page because I just realised how much easier it is to read larger size print. Back to the story telling... It is a class that lasts 3 days every year and it is about programs and various things related to Medicare and Medicaid. Kansas has a program called SHICK (Senior Health Insurance Counselling For Kansas) If you're interested can contact the Kansas Department on Aging. If you get into this, you will find that some of the stories are good, but some are very bad. This organisation tries to keep everyone on the good side of the story. The rules are not very flexible and I would suggest that anyone even close to age 65 contact a representative of SHICK and verify what you are doing is meeting all the time frames.
The representatives can't tell you what to do, they can only offer you information on what the rules and laws are at that present time. We can't tell you what to do, although we can go over the various options and try and let you get a better idea of what is available.
I am reaching this age, and several of my friends voted me into volunteering for this organisation. My first year I was pretty well over whelmed with all the information, and thought this is for social security workers, nursing home, and hospital administrators. I'm a manufacturing and industrial engineer; what am I doing here?
The main thing I learned was that each person is responsible for making the proper decisions at the proper times. Otherwise, they may be going to have problems later on. I have to admit; I was more confused after the class than before. Even though everyone there worked very hard at trying to get me to understand. I know they knew I was really lost on most of the data. They did offer me enough resources and people I could call upon that I didn't feel completely isolated. I was invited back again this year and surprised them by returning.
I still have a lot to learn, but things seemed to make a little more sense this year. The other difficult part is that ,this is a dynamic program in that it changes constantly. It would be much easier if it was static, but it probably wouldn't work that way. The laws change as the people and politicians change. I was a little more comfortable this year and will try to put more effort into helping spread the information. I feel like I am fairly well educated, and if I have trouble following this; what about those less fortunate, and not as well educated.
I attended this class again; knowing that unless you really want to understand what is going on would be the most boring information in the world. The instructor is well aware of this and even though Sue, is somewhat of a character herself, she is good at relating and telling stories that make the information bearable, if not somewhat learn-able. To keep this related to my site, I would go on to say, that the same is true of any subject and this includes marketing of any type.
Storytelling is kind of a lost art, but I believe that anyone willing to work at it could become a story teller. How many times will you follow along, and read something until the story teller jumps to a whole different area and then wished he had finished the story rather than telling you it was just a story and may or may not be true. In marketing, I find myself reading more of the information if it is a story type format.
In business, we sometimes get to tangled up in specifications and facts, or stretched facts, and lose the customer. In order to get them to read and learn all the benefits of our product; we would do much better by creating some form of story and tell the customer all the details by involving them in the story telling process. Stop and think how many times you have followed some story along and then found it was a hidden sales pitch? Was you more interested, probably you heard the whole story and was just a little disappointed that it was selling something.
At the end of each class, Sue passed out a sheet to evaluate her presentation. I gave her high marks, and really didn't realise until I got home and started rethinking some things; that I hadn't told her the real reason I felt she was able to keep me awake in the class. Partially, the questionnaire asked the wrong questions, but I should have realised enough to answer that whatever else they might do, don't ever stop telling the stories. Even the most boring things can be fun; if presented in an enjoyable way by story telling. It is an age old way of presenting information, and has been used from the beginning of time.
