We live in a very noisy world, filled with marketing messages, ringing mobile phones, social media updates, and more email than most of us can ever get through in a single day. The amount of information that we take in each day is amazing.

With this in mind, how can we as educational communicators cut through all of the daily noise, to communicate big ideas and capture the imagination of our stakeholders?

While technology is part of the problem and the solution, one practice is decidedly old school: storytelling. Among the ringing phones, status updates, and information overload, most of us still are captivated by stories.

To show the success of a new mathematics curriculum, you could use talking points, charts, and numbers. Or, you could tell a story about how students have become increasingly engaged in their learning. In this story, you can bring numbers alive by talking about students and their successes.

Storytelling is as old as mankind. Don’t forget to put it in practice in your communications efforts.