Storytelling 101 – Creating Narratives that Influence and Impact
Storytelling 101 – Creating Narratives that Influence and Impact
Turn Storytelling into Your Superpower
Discover and refine stories that clarify, connect, and convert.
Are you…
- Interested in improving your storytelling ability?
- Looking to craft stories that can create a unique and compelling appeal to your target audience?
- Seeking to use stories to communicate your message with greater impact and clarity?
If you answered YES, then I’d love to help you achieve your goals.
The process begins with a discovery call, to get to know you, your challenges, your goals, and your audience.
From there, we can explore what the journey will look like – to find the stories that can best capture your key messages and most important takeaways.
Our work on storytelling is highly customized and bespoke. The primary focus can be on developing particular stories for a specific presentation or campaign, but it can also be to work with you long-term, to develop your own ability to become a better storyteller.
We’ll be focusing on:
- A.C.E.R. Stories: Audience Centric Emotionally Resonant stories are more persuasive, memorable, and impactful – period. Too often, stories fail to generate strong enough emotional reactions from an audience for them to stand out from the crowd. At worst, they can make a speaker feel out-of-touch with their listeners, simply interested in telling stories for their own amusement or egos, rather than to create value and clarity for their listeners. We provide complete storytelling deep dives, exploring how to create emotional rollercoasters for your audience, choice of topics, structure, content, word choice, delivery, and more.
- Vivid Communication: One of the most common mistakes in storytelling is a lack of vivid, concrete language and descriptions. To make stories come alive requires the sort of details that can transport listeners, and allows them to truly be able to image themselves relieving your story firsthand. We work together with you to help you know exactly how to do this, and take your audience from listening to your stories to experiencing them.
- Anti-“Corporate Speak”: There’s a good reason why you can still remember stories and fables you read as a child, yet struggle to remember manuals and PowerPoint presentations a week after your office meetings. As humans, we tend to think and remember in pictures. Unfortunately, most working professionals have been taught to communicate in a way that ignores this basic principle. As we find and develop the right stories for promoting your message or branding, we will actively equip you with the skills and mindset to avoid falling into the pitfalls and bad habits of “corporate communication.”
My Six Core Principles:
- 1) Your opening 30 seconds needs to grab my attention and engage me emotionally. Make me FEEL something, whether it’s suspense, laughter, anxiety, anger, or curiosity.
- 2) A huge part of resonating with an audience is authenticity, and the key to authenticity is congruency. Your body language, vocals, and content should always be in alignment, if you want to avoid looking like you’re “performing” instead of “connecting.”
- 3) Storytelling is key. A single well-told story is more memorable and more persuasive than any fact, figure, or PowerPoint slide.
- 4) A great speech isn’t just a great essay spoken out loud. Some of the sentence structures and rhetorical techniques that are most effective in public speaking go against nearly every lesson your English teacher has ever taught you.
- 5) Have a clear through-line. Having a metaphor or a story that weaves throughout your presentation can be an incredibly powerful way to make it feel more focused and easy to follow.
- 6) Record yourself repeatedly when you practice. It can feel awkward to watch yourself on camera for many of us, but it’s absolutely the fastest way to review, analyze, and improve your performance.
Are we a good fit?
Can you provide a cost estimate?
Storytelling services are provided at $250/hr. for one-on-one sessions. Converting notes or ideas into stories, or integrating stories into your presentation, will have costs that can vary based on the existing material and necessary research time. We will communicate with you clearly in advance so that you can receive clear, “all-in” pricing prior to commencing work.
How long will it create stories for my presentation / branding?
Storytelling requests we receive can vary wildly, from refining a particular story for an upcoming presentation, to crafting a narrative for the relaunch of a corporate initiative, to providing ongoing coaching and mentorship to assist in becoming a better storyteller. As such, the timeline can vary significantly. That said, once we have an opportunity to learn more about your background, your goals, your needs, and your challenges, we will provide you with detailed timelines and estimates well in advance of the start of our journey together.
I don't have a particular upcoming speech or goal, but I want to be a better overall storyteller. Can you still help me?
Yes! We have hundreds of pages or resources available to help you to become a better storyteller and communicator. We have organized, established pathways developed to help to take you step-by-step from uncertainty to confidence and success.
Can you also help me with my pronunciation or delivery?
Yes! Pronunciation, presentation, and delivery can greatly impact how your stories connect with an audience, so we will be happy to address any of your needs in these areas.
What is your experience ?
In addition to winning a world championship in impromptu public speaking, and publishing a book on content, rhetoric, and delivery, I have also spent nearly two decades teaching public speaking and offering 1-on-1 coaching to students, business professionals, coaches, media personalities, and more.
Ready to Schedule a FREE Consultation?
The sooner we get in touch, the more time you’ll have to discover the stories that make your ideas, your message, or your brand connect with your audience like never before.