Business storytelling

'The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.'
- Steve Jobs

Hi guys, it was great to attend a storytelling workshop (@EvgeniMitev) and would be sharing my notes below:

I. Basic rules and structure

• Should have mystery and unexpected ending.
• Hunger for dramatic event, conflict and twist.
• Share some wisdom in the end.

'Our personal stories are subject to plotting laws.'

II. High view

• Convey  knowledge, info and values through story.
• Need to inspire on all levels.
• Not everything could be communicated by images .
• The resource of time is more valuable nowadays - to hold attention.

Ask yourself:

• Why do I want to communicate something?
• What do I want to communicate?
• How do I want to communicate it?

When you read something, you read it with your own tone of voice.

Attitude:

• I'm eager to tell you
• You won't believe what happened to me
• I would not tell everybody (create trust)

Attitude is very important. If the intent is not honest, it will be detected. Incongruence is easy to catch. You need to believe what you tell, you need to convey identity and personality. The need for a cause is important. To create context is crucial.

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Good exercise is  the elevator pitch: spark interest in under 30 secs.

Mission, vision, values have to be communicated properly.

Get feedback and learn from mistakes/difficulties.

'Facts and numbers do talk ... but facts and numbers can't inspire people.'

Don't just show the numbers! Tell the story. Data need context and story, imagination and soul.

Storytelling activates both left and right hemispheres of the brain.

III. Forms

• Insights.
• Open-ended stories.
• Serious games - to be used in business environment (online or offline).
• Could be a case study, and challenge the participants.
• Personal stories with key emotion.
• Jokes. The humor introduces surprise - that's why the brain react good on it.

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The idea of the story is to create cycle:

'Inform - inspire - provoke action - get feedback - provoke change/transformation'

IV. Tools

Canvas and basic structure:

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Star Wars is amazing example of good storytelling. The structure is:

1. Show the worst moments, what happened and how bad it was. It brings the power of context.
2. From bad to worse paradigm. Has to be really well described.
3. Action - conflict, struggle, pain.
4. Resolution - good or bad ending. 

RISK is what is important.

'Each action in risk creates value'

• Stories could end without resolution, just getting worse and finish.
• Many authors use structured approach - practicality and results.
• Reframing is a good technique to be used with difficult situations.
• Deframing, also used: zoom in - zoom out.
• Creating context is very important - may use story cube dice to create context.

V. Skills

• Ask  good questions.
• Listen carefully in order to tell good stories.
• Simplicity and clarity in storytelling.
• Empathy (it's all about emotions).
• Know your weaknesses and use them them to puzzle yourself and the audience.

VII. Guidelines

• Write down interesting stuff happening around you (also jokes, strange situations).
• Have to notice and be radically honest.
• Simplicity - make your stories simple to comprehend.
• Talk about and convey your values.
• Aim for greatness. Teach yourself the difference between good and great.
• Be vulnerable and honest. Share mistakes, fails, challenges. 

• Research your inside monologue. What does it, what is the tone, who of you inner characters talks at different moments.
• Change the story you tell to yourself.
• Share the turning moments in your life.
• Write down the wisdom out of them and reformulate all useful actions.
• Gather images which touch you. (they show your authenticity - what is important for you)
• Research an image bank to investigate how the 'searching, labeling and tagging' works.