An aspect of story telling is to engage the audience's imagination. One tool is the use of simile and metaphor to illuminate the essence of a complex concept. I'm amused by the creativity of using food simile to explain technology. For those of us in non-food businesses, there are ample opportunities to utilize something almost as important as air and love. An inspired executive keynote is like a tender Filet Mignon, the best of the best. Are you hungry yet?
I saw a brilliant example of simile when talking about battery technology. In a post on LinkedIn the author likened a new battery to a BLT - bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich:
"...think of this new battery like a BLT sandwich."
I really like BLTs. But I wouldn't have taken a second to read that post if it weren't for the exploded diagram of the BLT, cleverly marking each sandwich component with the battery element it was correlated to. I have to give the author a lot of credit because the essence of the story is about a less than exciting topic of recharging:
The researchers claim 10,000+ charge and discharge cycles ... at a high current density ... meaning faster charging times.
In another example our corporate editor blogged about a recent security presentation. John Strand of Black Hills Information Security delivered a presentation at last year's RSA conference titled I Had My Mom Break Into A Prison Then We Had Pie. OK, sounds absurd on both points. But it's a very funny story, and the Pie is like the promised desert at the end of the story.
I don't know about you, but I'm hungry, and am going to throw some steaks on the grill.
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