Everybody should know how to tell a good story.
Bob Dotson, an award-winning journalist for MSNBC, spoke at Pruis Hall last night, and his message reached beyond just student journalists.
"No matter how brilliant you are, if you can't explain it to somebody, you're in trouble," he said during an interview earlier in the day. "I don't care if you're an engineer. At some point, you're going to have to explain what you do."
Dotson said that his favorite part of telling stories is finding a way to tell it in a way that no one else has.
"The most fascinating part about it to me is the challenge of trying to figure out the perfect way of telling the story, and it's not always easy, but that's why they call it work," Dotson said.
He said everyone needs to learn effective communication skills.
Sue Guillaud, a French instructor at Ball State, agreed with this statement. She went to the lecture to learn more about storytelling because she will be trading stories with an African school in her classes.
Austin Vance, junior advertising major, said she had trouble relating to Dotson's stories
"A lot of the stuff he was saying was interesting, but I felt like he lost his audience's interest," Vance said.
Dotson told the audience they need to realize that everyone has a story, even if they aren't famous or have never written a book.
Alison Mercado, senior telecommunications major, said that because of this advice, she will now be aware of her environment and the people around her.
"If I were to take anything away from it, it would be to get the backstory," she said.
He said the most important key for storytelling is to show the information no one else sees.
"Tell people things they might've missed even if they were standing right next to you," Dotson said.
He said that the future of news relies on good storytelling.
"Everything I learned in college [and] every tool is now in a museum," he said. "No matter what tools you get and how they change, the storytelling never changes."
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