Make it part of your check list as you begin crafting your personal or enterprise story. Reach out to me for more information.

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The Storyteller’s 5-Step Guide
Determine the objective of
your talk: what do you wish
to accomplish with your
story? To inform, to establish
dialog, to convince, to
trigger action.
Know your audience who
will be attending your talk,
and gauge their interest.
What are their motivations?
Their values and beliefs?
How knowledgeable are
they of your subject matter?
How interested are they?
Create characters for your
story and give them a
name. People relate to
people so give it a human
face. Also give them a
context: a life or work
situation.
There should be learning for
principle characters that
the audience can
empathize with, including
an opportunity for audience
members to learn.
Aristotle (Poetics) would say
that the audience must
relate emotionally to the
conflict in the story and any
change in the characters as
a result.
A story holds three acts: a
beginning, a middle and an
end. Our minds our wired to
listen that way.
Act 1: There is always a
“conflict”: problem, issue,
state of dissatisfaction.
Act 2 suggests the solution,
e.g. implementing new
process, removal of
obsolete practice, purchase
of new equipment,
recruiting etc.
Act 3 is the resulting
outcome, i.e. benefits
brought fourth by the
solution; e.g. good staff
morale, increased customer
satisfaction, etc..
Briefly introduce the subject
matter. Explain why the
subject is important to you.
The audience must get the
impression they are learning
something new. Then
proceed wiith your story.
Narrative structure:
“once upon a time”,
“every day”,
“but one day”,
“that is why”,
“until finally”, and
“since then”
Test first draft with people
out of your expertise and
have them tell you in all
honesty if they understood
entirely or where they
ceased to.
Correct. Repeat.