Communicating resilience challenges
in impactful ways:
- Are you struggling to engage your colleagues or clients with the need to adapt everyday practices and priorities?
- What kind of story needs to be told, to create a shared sense of purpose and identity around pressing issues?
- Do you need to communicate key technical information in an engaging and memorable way?
At Vesper Hill, we share your desire to respond positively to the resilience challenges we all face. And we understand the frustration that can arise when it feels like no one cares or ‘gets it’.
That’s why we use storytelling methods, to humanise difficult content. We’ve often been told that our work has helped ‘the penny drop’ for audiences. This is because we’ve created the conditions for people to respond, imaginatively, on their own terms. We don’t just tell them what to think.
"We found working with Vesper Hill hugely inspiring. Our team members who met with them to explore the meaning of resilience found it stimulating and personally worthwhile. The outcomes from this research stage of the project helped us understand where, as a business, to focus on capacity building and for Steve and Angel the research was the jumping off point to create a unique new performance piece. We are really pleased with both the creative process and the final production."
Steve Maslen CMLI
Head of Sustainability & Environment, JBA Consulting
HOW OUR PROCESS CAN HELP
At Vesper Hill, we use an iterative approach that we call LEAF
L is for Listening. We start with the story. And that means listening, first, for yours. When we understand your brief, we’ll carefully interview people within or beyond your organisation, to better understand your needs and challenges. Conversations are always confidential, so that respondents can speak freely. We’ve found that this part of the process, in itself, can be valuable for those being listened to.
E is for Emergence. As we listen, certain themes will start to emerge – some of them probably expected, some less so. We’ll tell you what we’re hearing, and how we think we should respond creatively. Then we’ll then ask you to respond. Does what we’re saying resonate? What might we be missing? This phase involves you, the client, in shaping the creative process.
A is for Action. Next we’ll do our thing – writing, rehearsing, filming things – whatever the emerging project needs. We’ll then present the results in the place, time and context that best addresses your brief.
F is for Feedback. After presenting what we’ve made, we’ll invite responses from your audience. We’ll then incorporate this feedback into any further iterations of the work. We can also prepare action points or written report materials, as needed.
We hope the end result will be something you’ll be proud to share with your community and stakeholders.
“Steve Scott-Bottoms’ ability to explore and replay complex issues like climate adaptation is a real asset to organisations like Leeds City Council. He asks good, probing questions to develop his material, and he is an excellent teller of stories that are relevant and extremely helpful to a wide range of audiences.”
Jonathan Moxon
Executive Manager for Flood Risk & Climate Resilience, Leeds City Council
Get in touch
If you’d like to have discuss possibilities for working with us, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
We’d love to hear from you.
