Thin Glass & Tech Funding Requests

What could the world's thinnest piece of glass possibly have to do with public sector tech funding requests?

Not much at first glance. 

But glance again! 

THIN GLASS: Changing the Story

David Muller was a scientist who discovered the world's thinnest piece of glass, but when he talked about his discovery, nobody cared.

Okay, I'm sure some people cared, but not the masses.

David was a scientist, so naturally he talked like one. When he talked or wrote about his discovery, he talked and wrote as a scientist, using scientific jargon. That caused a problem. Why? Because the vast majority of people couldn't relate to what he was saying about the molecules and the structure and the atoms and the blah, blah, blah.

But one day, instead of talking about the science, David told a story. He told people that the discovery had been an accident. He and his student had been doing something else, working with a thin layer of graphene, when they noticed something that looked like muck. But it wasn't muck! It was glass! 

In this book If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face, Alan Alda comments,

"David realized he could begin his story with that very human moment of accidental discovery."

And, according to David,

"Once we told the backstory, people got pretty excited."

In fact, the media, venture capitalists, and even the Guinness Book of World Records sought David out. 

Alan Alda continues,

"This story is an example of how good communication can make the difference between being noticed by a few technical journals and getting the attention of much of the rest of the world."

TECH FUNDING REQUESTS: Changing the story 

What if the key to getting the funding you need to support your agency's tech initiatives is not in the tech, but in the story? What if the technical jargon, the graphs, and the implementation timelines actually create barriers to the funding you need?

The vast majority of people cannot relate to technical jargon, and telling a story that allows your audience to relate to what you are saying is the number on priority. 

"[David] was able to talk about his discovery not just in terms that interested him as a scientist," Alda says, "but in a way that ordinary people would find interesting."

Before presenting your next tech funding request, maybe take some extra time to ask yourself the following question:

"What is something about this project that my audience would find interesting?"

Then, lead with that.

What will the outcome be? I guess you'll just have to experiment and find out. But what if, like David,  you're able to say, "Once I told the story, people got pretty excited."