Hi friend,

Hope it's been a creative week for you! 🍃 I did three storytelling/creativity workshops this week and articulating some of the takeaways that most resonated with the audience.

1. Stories are about taking the audience from their world into your world.

The more vividly you can take your audience with you on the journey, the more effective the story is. The neuroscience of storytelling: the brain undergoes neurocoupling and the neurons get mirrored when you tell a great story. It seems as though both parties are traveling together on the same path.

This helps stories stay in our minds even after that moment has passed. Facts are processed singularly, stories are processed sequentially.

2. Stories are 5-second moments of transformation.

We have so many storytelling structures. The Hero's journey, the 3 Act structure. the Freytag's Pyramid and many more. The easiest way to construct a story from your own life: think about the transformation, what happened before it, what happened after it.

Your entire plot is based around this one moment. If you can crack this moment, the story will unfold like a puzzle. If you want to dig more into this insight, check our Matthew Dicks book 'Storyworthy'.

3. Draw an emotional graph of each story.

When I used to work at TEDx, we would draw the emotional graph of every talk. What does the journey for the audience look like: what are the high points and low points in the story.

How can the arrival to the 'aha moment' in the talk be most dramatic? If you build on the plot and the conflict well, the twist delights the audience. You can check out this Nancy Duarte's talk for more.

Recap from the week:

The week has been busy with three workshops. Did the unofficial LinkedIN Creators meet last weekend, facilitated a short storytelling workshop with a luxury brand and a Creativity Workshop with Bare Necessities.

The workshop at Bare Necessities was the toughest. When you have a diverse team, with artisans and the back office team, making the teaching accessible becomes more important. And this workshop was also the most rewarding.

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The true reward for the work is feedback. :)

Tell me a 5-second transformation story from your life.

(PS: I read all replies. :))

Thank you for reading this edition of the newsletter today.

Until next time, keep finding your stories!

Love,

Vipasha

Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you:​
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🔊Workshop: If you are a business wanting to enhance storytelling capabilities within your organization, I teach storytelling and writing to decision-makers and leaders.

🎯Consulting: If you don’t have the time or inclination to learn storytelling, I consult with organizations to help tell their stories.