Story Elements
Examine elements that make up Analytic Stories.
Muzia - Discover and book live music artists for gigs.
Let’s explore a hypothetical business, a gig marketplace for musical performing artists called Muzia. People needing live music for events browse the Muzia catalog. Artists seeking gigs contribute to the catalog by creating profiles and uploading music samples and videos.
Who could use Muzia? Bars and clubs. Parties and gatherings. Corporate events.
Let’s construct a few stories.
Venue - The Harpie
For the first story, consider a venue called The Harpie, a live music bar.
Situation
The local bar The Harpy features live music each night of the week, often 2 or 3 bands in a night. Often The Harpy struggles to find enough decent artists to fill the bill on particular evenings. Relying on word of mouth in the community and networking to attract artists is unpredictable and time consuming. Furthermore the Harpie might miss out on new or alternative possibilities from outside the community.
Observations
The story centers around The Harpy, a music bar.
The Harpie experiences issues related to finding artists. Their current process is inefficient, unpredictable, and misses possibilities. There is an opportunity for improvement.
Elements
The Situation of a Story establishes principal elements.
[ Actor ]
Who is the story about?
The Harpy, a local bar.
[ Setting ]
What world do they inhabit?
Music nightlife.
[ Issue ]
What issue is to be addressed?
Need more artists.
[ State ]
What is the current state?
Process is inefficient. Results are not ideal.
Through these elements, the situation tells who the story is about, what world the story takes place in, and how things are currently and what issue is present.
Resolution
A band told The Harpy about Muzia, a website featuring local artists looking for gigs. Harpy staff browsed profiles and music samples from the listings and wrote to a few prospective bands. Results were good, and Muzia became a regular destination for Harpy staff when arranging the schedule. Was so convenient to view artists in a central listing that The Harpy even encouraged their regular bands to sign up as well.
Observations
The Harpy learned about Muzia and changed how they acquire and manage artists. The Harpy now has access to a greater selection of artists and a better organizational process, which will improve their business.
All was good for the Harpy, as evidenced by them adopting Muzia as a central part of their operation and encouraging others to use it. Muzia is certainly happy that the Harpy is promoting them.
The Harpie’s story demonstrates that venues seeking artists might find Muzia’s catalog to be useful, and the platform itself to be helpful as as organizational tool.
Elements
Stuff happens in the resolution. Econtounters, actions and outcomes.
[ Acquisition ]
How did an encounter happen?
An artist had introduced Muzia to The Harpy. Shared from the community.
[ Action ]
What was done.
Harpy staff started browsing and listening.
[ Benefit ]
What benefit occurred?
Muzia helped The Harpy to find promising new artists.
[ Bonus ]
Additional positives.
The Harpy’s organization was improved. Muzia was promoted by The Harpy.
Through these elements, the Resolution shows what happened and how the issue is resolved.
Let’s consider a second story, about a private event organized by an individual.
Party - Edison
Situation
Edison needs a quirky string quartet for his investors event, to celebrate his startup going public. Although Edison is a great CEO, he is not connected to the local string quartet scene. He fears using an agency with its own agenda will waste his time and money, and not deliver what he imagines, the right mix of classical and playful. Edison tried googling, but got only general results. Edison is not sure how to proceed.
Observations
The story concerns Edison, a CEO who is arranging a one time event, a party for his investors.
A lot is at stake for Edison. Important people will attend. He needs a band, but not just any band. He needs the right band to help make his event a success.
Elements
Edison, CEO
[ Setting ]Corporate event.
[ Issue ]Need string quartet.
[ State ]Fail to find.
Resolution
Edison was discussing his dilemma with a designer at his company. The designer had seen a google ad for Muzia recently when checking out a club online. A delighted Edison sampled the extensive choices on Muzia, filtered for string quartets. He loved the playfulness of a particular group from watching their video. Had his assistant contact them.
Observations
Edison is connected to Muzia through a google ad seen by a colleague.
Edison uses Muzia to finds a string quartet, relying on filtering to narrow his search, and videos to get impressions of different artists.
Edison is satisfied that his issue is well resolved and that the chosen artist suits his conception of his event.
We see that for an average person, an online catalog with videos is a good option to find the right artist for an event.
Elements
[ Acquisition ]
Designer saw Google ad.
[ Action ]
Edison browsed/filtered Muzia.
[ Benefit ]
Found playful quartet.
Let’s next consider the story of a band.
Artist - The Dialups
Situation
The Dialups is an electronic music band with an artistic, counter-culture pop style. They have been playing for a few years and have a fair catalog of their own music as well as their own takes on various covers. The Dialiups have a small but devoted following, and would like to grow their audience. They would play more live gigs but being struggling artists with other jobs, they don’t have the time to promote themselves other than maintaining a facebook page.
Observations
The entity of interest here is The Dialups, a band. Possibly talented, but with limited success. They have an issue of growing their audience, but lack time and resources to address it.
Elements
[ Actor ]
The Dialups, a band.
[ Setting ]
Music bands.
[ Issue ]
Grow audience.
[ State ]
Under performing.
Resolution
The Dialups heard about Muzia from another band on the same bill one evening. They created a profile and uploaded samples. Reaction was slow at first. But over time, with Muzia’s prompting, hiring parties wrote positive reviews. The Dialups began receiving frequent offers, and were contacted to perform at private events, something they were not expecting.
Observations
The Dialups experiment with creating a profile on Muzia. Results were mediocre at first, but improved along with their reputation to eventually offer more than anticipated.
The example of the Dialups shows that a band with talent but lacking in resources resources can succeed in an open marketplace.
Elements
[ Acquisition ]
Shared by peer in local community.
[ Action ]
Created profile, uploaded samples.
[ Benefit ]
Increased performance opportunities.
[ Bonus ]
Hired for private events.
Summary
Here we have seen several stories for Muzia. These help us to understand what Muzia is and how it helps people.