Jon McKenzie is Professor of Practice and Director of StudioLab, a critical design and media lab at Cornell University that connects researchers, designers, and organizations working in human rights, public health, and social and environmental justice. StudioLab teams collaborate on strategic storytelling through transmedia knowledge, using performance design thinking as a human-centered, iterative process of stakeholder alignment and shared dreaming. Jon is the author of Transmedia Knowledge for Liberal Arts and Community Engagement: A StudioLab Manifesto (2019) and Perform or Else: From Discipline to Performance (2001), and he holds degrees in Fine Arts, English, and Performance Studies and has also worked as a writer and UX designer in NYC. He is founder and former director of DesignLab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and co-founder of the performance group McKenzie Stojnić. In addition to workshops and consulting, Jon produces experimental videos, lecture performances, and other media. His work and that of StudioLab can be found at labster8.net.
Course Overview
For your campaign to reach everyone who can support your cause or benefit from what your product or skills offer, it is important to take the time to establish who your stakeholders are and what they need. By using a tool called the Strategic Sparkline, you can do just that.
In this course, you will use the Strategic Sparkline to analyze content. You will then identify stakeholders and determine the context and goal of your story for each stakeholder. Finally, you will reconfigure your story to generate different forms of your message for various stakeholders. In addition, you will use different media forms to share these insights with the stakeholders you need to address. By the end of this course, you will have actionable insights on your audience to help set your campaigns up for success.
You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Strategic Storytelling Across Media
Key Course Takeaways
- Use the Strategic Sparkline to analyze content
- Identify stakeholders and determine the context and goal for each stakeholder
- Reconfigure your story to generate different forms of your message for various stakeholders

How It Works
Course Author
Who Should Enroll
- Marketers and brand managers
- Community-based educators
- Grant writers
- Communication leaders in fields such as healthcare, environment, and public policy
- Executives
- Communications consultants
- Individuals seeking to better communicate their ideas and build a professional identity
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