Course Outcomes

This storytelling course for trainers will:

  • Explain the value of stories in the classroom.
  • Introduce a process for identifying and refining stories.
  • Provide a framework for recognizing basic plots and archetypal characters.
  • Offer techniques for creating robust characters.
  • Demonstrate a process for stretching stories to illustrate different messages.

Course Overview

Imagine having the instant ability to capture the attention of a group of people, connect them with your goals, and compel them to change in some way.  If you could do this successfully most of the time, how could you and your organization benefit?
 
Whether it’s making a mundane safety procedure stand out or bringing life to a customer service standard, skilled storytellers use their words to colorize what could otherwise be bland, boring black and white information.
 
During this story-crafting and storytelling workshop for executives, salespeople, presenters, and trainers, participants will learn how to use stories to establish a connection with an audience, highlight a solution to a need, and link content to life on the job.
 
Course participants will explore how and when to use stories, storytelling models, storytelling mistakes, and practice delivery skills.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Explain how and why stories enhance information transfer.
  • Identify opportunities to use stories in conversation, training, or presentations.
  • Avoid common story-crafting and storytelling pitfalls.
  • Choose an appropriate story-crafting framework or model.
  • Construct dynamic characters.
  • Build a powerful narrative.
  • Use a multitude of techniques to deliver stories dynamically.
  • Stretch a story to illustrate several points.
  • Keep stories fresh.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

Sit Right Back and You’ll Hear a Tale: Why Storytelling Works

Some stories are spectacular while others are tired, hackneyed, or simply bad. This opening discussion examines the elements of a good story and the craft of story creation. In groups, participants will review examples of several stories and discuss why they do or don’t work.

Investigate the Shipyard: What Stories Can Do

Without an end goal in mind, stories can fail more often than they succeed. In this segment, participants will discover how storytelling can be used for various purposes: selling a product, teaching a concept, heightening employee engagement, increasing brand loyalty, and building community.

Make the Most of Dry Dock: Before Forming the Words

Every successful story must have three elements before an audience will accept the message. In this segment, participants will discuss the Aristotelian triad and the roles credibility, emotion, and logic play in the success of a tale. With an understanding in place, the group will define actions they can take to use each of Aristotle’s appeals in their work.

Meet the People on Board: Eight Archetypal Characters

It’s been said there are only so many different kinds of people in this world. The same is true of the people in stories. This portion of the seminar examines eight archetypal characters and how they contribute to the dramatic purpose of a narrative. Using a story of their choosing, participants will identify the characters chronicled and the respective role each has in driving the plot.

Back to the Island Again: A Handful of Basic Plots

Is the hero battling a giant, undergoing a fundamental transformation, being defeated by a dark and evil force, or is it something else from a very short list of possibilities? As with the limited number of character types, there are only so many plots. In this portion of the course, participants will learn about the primary arcs to which all accounts can be assigned. Next, they will determine the categories to which their stories belong and work to identify any holes in content or opportunities to improve.

A Lot of Ways to Use the Radio: Story Stretching

Depending on the end goal, storytellers routinely adjust the points they highlight in any given account. This section of the workshop challenges group members to use the same story to convey different core messages. We will also discuss methods for keeping stories fresh. By the end of this segment, participants will have identified a story of their own that they can use in conjunction with several “flex messages”.

The Captain’s Chair: Effective Performance Skills

Great storytellers use their voices, gestures, space, pacing, expressions, and props to guide their audiences to a predefined goal. These masters of the tale can captivate, mesmerize, and inspire. In this final part of the program, the group will practice their delivery and audience engagement skills. They will also explore traditional rhetorical devices and learn how these things can improve the effectiveness and enjoyment of story delivery.

At the conclusion of this storytelling training course, participants should have a clear understanding of what makes a good story and how to use stories in the workplace effectively.