Storytelling for Government Employees (Levels 1 and 2)

Summary

Storytelling is an essential skill at all levels of government. This seminar teaches the art and science of storytelling, with interactive exercises, brief lectures, and examples that will be useful across many situations, including gaining support and legitimacy for projects, writing reports and proposals, engaging stakeholders, explaining ideas and initiatives, and preparing briefing notes and public outreach materials. You’ll leave with specific tips and tricks on how to break out of “bureaucratic” language and get your message across with clarity, concision, and conviction. You’ll understand which types of stories to tell, which to avoid, and which should never be told, and come away with an appreciation of stories as a way to influence and persuade for maximum effect.

Learning Outcomes

• How to use “hooks” and proven structures to make your audience listen—and keep listening

• Time-tested approaches for beginnings, middles, and endings

• Key frameworks for turning new experiences into compelling stories

• How to find compelling stories in “boring” material and/or organizations

• How to choose and include meaningful details

• Identifying obstacles to effective storytelling—and how to overcome them

• Why stories can help convince even the most skeptical audiences

• How to unlock the hidden potential of the stories you already know

• Communicating your story with clarity, concision, and conviction

• How to create and choose effective metaphors