Step 1: Invite
The Invite, Relate, Share system has three distinct steps.
In each step, you’ll create a focused message for achieving the outcome stated in that step.
In the Invite step, you create a way for people to participate with your message, and make it attractive to others to listen to your story.
The way in which you can approach creating the message in this step depends on the lens that you have selected. For example, if you have selected the Lens of Inquiry, the first thing you might do to invite participants is to ask a question, or make a statement about a collective problem that people will wish to respond to.
In the Invite step, the visuals and media are designed to catch attention, you can use icons and symbols that people easily interpret, or special effects that cause a viewer to do a double-take for example. This way, as the media is shown in a feed, people will tend to notice and then choose to engage with the symbols that they see.
To complete the Invite step:
- Ask yourself the best way to prompt people to notice your message, visualize this attention-getter.
- Write a statement or a question in the provided template that invites engagement. This is your Invite Statement. The Invite segment of your story is based on expounding this statement.
- Set the characters that will present the part of the story based on your Invite Statement. Record them in the template.
- Create the scene that represents the Invite Statement, include any special visuals or locations that you may wish to record and include. List these in the template.
- Script the story by writing out the message(s) that the character(s) you have selected will present the story based on your Invite Statement in this scene. Add this to the template.
When you have completed these steps, you will be able to visualize the first segment of your presentation. It can be as long or as short as is needed to be effective, you’re really seeking to gain an interactive response from this media that will cause people to investigate the next parts of your message. Typically a good invitation is really only a few seconds long, depending on the complexity of your message.
- *Note: It is good to avoid using a lot of written language on screen, as it will make it easier for you to offer translation of your message and create the space for relating, by using cross-culturally established visual symbols in your media instead.
An effective invitation will always encourage people to consider the viewpoint created through the lens(es) you have selected for this media message, and engage with that vision in the next scenes.
Congratulations! You’re ready to move to the next step. Please retain your template as you prepare to complete it in the next steps, you’ll have a chance to share it as the course progresses.