Situation:
The Head of Education and Community Engagement required training for guided walkers, education staff and volunteers. She was keen for all participants to improve their talks and presentations and felt that storytelling would be an ideal tool. Concern was raised regarding the greatly varying levels of experience and confidence within the group.

Solution:
To accommodate the different levels of experience we created an opportunity to share skills, knowledge and best practice amongst the group. We encouraged the new members' fresh enthusiasm and energy and the expertise of the more established staff. Each participant personalised a folktale, by incorporating their own specialist knowledge or interest. The workshop culminated with the team putting their newly acquired skills into practice by creating a group tour of Richmond Park.

Results:
Storytelling provided the participants with both the creativity and structure to distil essential information and improvise spontaneously and engagingly. We gave them confidence by nurturing each individual's style and by improving their body language and vocal skills. They developed the ability to communicate informally yet informatively with audiences of all ages and sizes. As a result of bringing staff and volunteers from different parks across London together the workshop helped to unite the team.