The document provides guidance on storytelling, including what makes a great story, how stories impact the brain, and tips for crafting powerful personal stories. It discusses how stories show a personal transformation through challenges, have an "a-ha moment" where the lesson is revealed, and include vivid sensory details. Participants are guided through an exercise to identify impactful personal experiences and craft them into stories, with a focus on the insight or belief that emerged from that experience.
3. WHAT IS A STORY?
What makes something a story?
Turn and talk to the
person next to you.
4. FOR IT TO BE A STORY...
Time has to pass.
There is a beginning, middle and end.
Something has to happen.
5. EXERCISE:
You already know what makes a great story.
Break into 5 groups.
1. Each group will get a prompt with part of a story on it.
2. Each group will make up a story to fill in the details.
3. Each group will have one minute to perform their story
for their larger group.
4. As you watch, investigate the question, “What makes a great story?”
5. Choose 2 insights to share with the whole group.
18. Stories make us feel
connected to one another.
When we can relate to a story,
it makes us feel that
WE’RE NOT ALONE.
19. People care more about
WHY THAN WHAT.
STORIES SHOW WHAT’S AT STAKE
AND WHY IT MATTERS.
20. When beginning a story,
present a question in the mind of the
audience.
?
Ask: what will make someone want to
keep listening to this story?
21. GREAT STORIES...
have dramatic tension.
THE STAKES are high.
THEY MAKE the audience wonder,
“WHAT WILL happen next?
How will they overcome this challenge?
How will this end?”
22.
23. A protagonist faces a
challenging experience.
THE HERO’S JOURNEY
(archetypal story told in many cultures)
29. GREAT STORIES...
Present lessons that encourage people to
pursue their higher values-
Believing in our power, choosing our own self-definition,
caring for one another, acting on behalf of one another.
30. GREAT STORIES...
Make the audience have
an ‘A-Ha Moment’.
The moment the protagonist learns how to
get through the challenge.
Most emotional moment of the story.
31. THE AH-HA MOMENT
It’s when your audience
suddenly understands the
message within the story.
It reveals the purpose and
meaning of the story.
45. HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR STORY:
STORY ARCH
CLIMAX
CLOSURE
CONCLUSION
The A-Ha Moment.
Ground it in a specific location.
How is life different because of
this realization? Include a detail
or anecdote about how the
impact was experienced.
Relate the story back
to your audience.
Empower them to
apply the moral
of the story
to their lives.
CONTEXT
The hook: set the
stage and introduce
who, what, when,
and where.
CONFLICT
Present the problem. Include
a detail or anecdote about
how the challenge was
experienced.
JOURNEY TO CHANGE
Struggle of the journey
makes the character change.
47. CONFLICT:
PRESENT YOUR PROBLEM
Set up what the character wants, so the
listener wonders how they will get it.
Include a memory/scene at the moment of
realizing the problem/asking the question.
49. CLIMAX:
THE MOMENT OF CHANGE
THE “A-HA MOMENT”.
Include a memory/scene at the moment of
realizing the solution/finding the answer.
Take people to where you were and what you
remember seeing, feeling, thinking, hearing,
smelling.
53. PERSONAL TIMELINE EXERCISE
15 minutes
Plot the major turning points
and experiences in your life.
Indicate at least 10 experiences
that changed you.
54. EXPLORING YOUR PERSONAL STORY
I’M
BORN!
MOVE TO
PASO ROBLES
MOVE TO
LA QUINTA
MOVE TO
SACRAMENTO
RECEIVE FULL
SCHOLARSHIP
TO NYU.
GO TO
NIGERIA
OUTWARD MOMENTS
INNER SHIFTS
PARENTS BREAK UP,
START DATING ETHAN
I see injustice for
the first time.
Commit to
strengthening
humanity.
Leave Catholicism.
TRAVEL AROUND
THE WORLD WITH
SEMESTER AT SEA
Comparative
injustice.
Develop my
philosophy on
the world.
Beliefs and
worldview
rocked.
Ungrounded.
PALESTINE
I begin calling myself
a photographer“Failure” in school =
Proving mentality.
55. “We cannot think
without language,
we cannot process
experience without
story.”
-Christina Baldwin
62. Start with an experience.
Something that happened- a challenge you faced, a goal
you had, a person you met, a project you started.
Reflect on what you learned from that experience and
how it changed the way you see the world.
Craft a story that adds up to that realization/belief.
EXPERIENCE BELIEF
63. Start with your core messages.
What do you want to say to the world?
What’s the message that you just have to share
as a result of your experiences?
Then try to remember experiences you’ve had
that taught you or confirmed that belief in you.
Build a story that adds up to that belief.
BELIEF EXPERIENCE
64. DIGGING UP YOUR STORIES
WORKSHEET
Experience Belief
Work on first part of worksheet.
65. CHOOSE 1 EXPERIENCE
that was particularly transformative
SHARE WITH A PARTNER IN 2 MINUTES:
1. The story of that experience
2. How it affected you.
3. What you learned from it.
PARTNER:
Be a story detective:
-What catches your attention?
-What makes the story powerful?
-What are the ingredients that make it work?
69. STEP 2: IDENTIFY YOUR
AH-HA! MOMENT
What do you want your audience to realize?
What is the message you feel called to share
with your audience?
70. Think about the shift in perspective you
want the audience to have.
Do you have a story of when you had that
shift in perspective yourself?
STEP 3: BUILD A STORY AROUND
YOUR AH-HA! MOMENT
83. REFLECTIONS
How was the experience of crafting
your story and sharing it?
How did it feel to share your story?
What realizations did you have listening
to other peoples’ stories?