G’day from the land down-under
Maritime Navigation
• Until the later half of 1700’s navigation at sea
was a complex issue
• Finding longitude solved this complex issue
• Complex issues have been with us for awhile
Key areas over the next hour
• What makes an issue complex
• An interpretive approach to navigating
complex issues
• The what – themes and thematic statements
• The how – engagement strategies including
metaphors, analogies, stories
What makes an issue complex?
•
There are a lot of variables
•
These variables keep changing
•
It is difficult to find a single focus
•
It is sometimes hard to know if we are
having an influence
What are some complex issues
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•
•
•
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Climate change
Endangered Species
Food resources
Sustainability
Breeding programs
Qualities of complex issues
• Complex issues can be frustrating
• Complex issues can be challenging
• Complex issues can be of benefit – through the
value of complexity and multiple perspectives
My message - aim for simplicity when
seeking to interpret complex issues
What sells
The easy way to …. iron your shoes
3 easy steps to open your car door
Licking ice cream made easy
The free and easy guide to …. being
free and easy
The 5 simple steps for walking
Keeping it simple is often reflected in
logos
…. in that they aim to communicate the
complex nature of an organisation and
their offering into a simple symbol
The KISS principle:
• keep it simple stupid
• Keep it simply simple
• Keep it stupidly simple
• Keep it super simple
Interpretive techniques for finding and
communicating the simple
• Themes
• Engagement strategies
An interpretive approach to facilitating experiences is about
sharing the joy of learning and inspiring people to learn.
YOU
VISITOR
PLACE
Interpretation leads to a meaningful gain
for people and place
Themes provide a starting point to interpreting a
complex issue
Themes
key message
premise of the
story
main idea
key idea
moral of
the story
Themes ‘cut to the chase’ and bring focus to
what is relevant
2 techniques for creating themes
• Get it ‘out of your head’ …. ‘get it down’
….. then evaluate and find your theme
• Identify your key idea at the start by
asking the so what question of your issue
Subject Area (topic) - Ice creams
Possible messages
• Ice cream is good for life
• Ice cream is a comfort food
• Ice cream is a chameleon food
Subject Area (topic) – backyards
Possible messages
• Backyards are a window to Australian culture
• Backyards are a social lubricant
• Backyards are a window to a wild world
Themes need to be relevant
Once we have our theme we then start
building our experience / presentation
Engagement strategies include:
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Compelling and fun facts
Humour
Silence
Stories
• Poetry
• Visuals
• Sensory
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Audience involvement
etc.. etc…
Listen to the ‘tone’ of the engagement strategy and
which works best for your interpretive goal
Describing a perspective using …
… devices of comparison
• Metaphors
• Similes
• Analogies
They usually involve the use of the
concrete to explain the abstract / a
concept
Examples of similes
The parks are like the lungs of the city.
Examples of metaphors
The parks are the lungs of the city.
The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you
get from not eating for a while.
Creating your own metaphors and similes
… using an example of wanting to describe the
morning mist of a landscape
Broad
subject
focus
Feature you
want to
highlight
Create similar Make the link
concepts /
ideas
Mist in the Softness and
Doona
The mist cuddled
landscape
Pillow
the landscape
fluffiness of
mist
like a big, fluffy
doona.
See the world through the eye of an artist
… and especially a cartoonist
Some parting thoughts regards
interpreting complex issues
We put in the hard yards to make it easy for our
clients / visitors / customers
We need to present our ‘best face’ despite what
goes on ‘back of house’
It is sometimes hard to gain traction and
momentum with complex issues – so in the spirit of
Kaizen … they might require the use of little steps
In finding a way forward we sometimes
need to suspend right and wrong
Remain true to your story
The average teacher explains complexity; the gifted
teacher reveals simplicity. Robert Brault
…. interpretation is about revealing a key idea and
message rather than create an environment of rote
learning
A related quote is by William Arthur Ward:
the mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains,
the superior teacher demonstrates, the great teacher
inspires
Begin with the end in mind.
Stephen Covey