As a result of the 1 day or 2-part workshop, participants will leave with a 5-minute piece of spoken communication they can use straight away. They also have a set of techniques that can easily become part of their means to prepare, build and influence various methods and applications of communication.

Working with the spoken word allows for a greater speed of application within the workshop, and we reflect on how best to create any communication that draws on the benefits of the spoken word and storytelling.

Participants will have a greater awareness and practical ability (embedded through regular practice/application following the workshop) to communicate in an authentic, purpose driven, clear, memorable, empathetic, imaginative and adaptive way.

They will be able to use techniques, so that those they communicate with feel involved and considered and receive both what they want and need to know at that time.

Through the application of the right descriptive language their communication will contain detail that gives definition and emphasis and stimulates their audience’s imagination while grounding their content in reality. Exploration of different points of view or perspectives will draw out further insights on the benefits and problems associated with their subject and offer a dynamic way to connect and stimulate the attention of an audience.

In particular we want to leave the participants feeling more confident with how to work within the content they need to cover while gaining a greater awareness of how they can better relate to their audiences, and equally be more aware of how their audiences relate to what is being communicated. This should then work towards them initiating greater trust, mutual interest and more of what they are saying being heard, resulting in positive outcomes.

The workshop has an established structure but we bend and flex the workshop to suit each group, the situations they need to communicate within and the different subjects they need to explore and share.

Online and/ or in-person workshop for groups of 6-12 participants

30-minute Introduction meeting online.

2 x 3½ hours online or 1 x 3½ hours online and 1 x 3½ hours in-person or 1-day in-person.

The workshop has an established structure but we bend and flex the workshop to suit each group, the situations they need to communicate within and the different subjects they need to explore and share.

Introduction Meeting : Online 30-mins. This is an excellent option to reassure and create interest in the workshops. Participants meet us and quickly gain a sense of the style and approach of our training which, while being driven to achieving practical, work relevant outcomes, is done in a manner that is friendly and interactive. We introduce the purpose and desired outcomes of the training and how they will be achieved and then explain the pre work they need to complete prior to Part 1.

Pre work: The pre-work has proven to be a positive means to get participants in the right mindset, to start processing and considering the benefits and applications of storytelling to how they communicate; so that the learning gained in the workshops is more meaningful and practical.

Before Sharing the Message Part 1 the participants will be asked to choose a subject to create a piece of communication on. This will be something from work that needs to be explored and communicated. Any other parameters that you feel are important to cover can be incorporated, for example to set a common theme for the subjects participants work with.

We will provide the participants with the handbook as an editable PDF (their text book) and ask them to start work on the first few steps. We will revisit and develop these with them in Part 1. 

Part 1 – Sharing the Message: Finding the right story: The first part will begin by laying the ground work for a common understanding of why storytelling is useful and beneficial to the creation and delivery of communication: this will provide a sense of what each person is working towards creating and how they will do it.

Having worked on the Pre-work steps independently prior to the session with the handbooks provided, we can work with what they have done to clarify misunderstandings, develop the thinking and outputs of each of the participants and offer suggestions and direction relevant to the group as a whole.

The session will explore the intention of each person’s communication (the story) and what content will create and share that intention or purpose. The participants will find ingredients for their story that will clearly evoke details, engage or involve their audience and demonstrate what was, is or will be beneficial and important to individuals, groups and broader contexts related to their subject.

At the end of the session participants will be guided on how to map out the shape of their story, which they will do independently along with trying out a first spoken draft before Part 2. This shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes. They can also, in their own time, revisit the steps already worked through to improve or rethink their content.

The session will involve talk from us, conversation and input from everyone to help develop the content and relevance of the techniques to their work and the team they are part of, and quiet moments while they think/note and complete the steps.

Part 2 – Sharing the Message: Telling the story: This session will continue to develop the content while building its expression, clarity and how it connects to an audience through spoken exercises. “1st Tell”, is a first spoken draft, done in pairs (in virtual break-out rooms when online), further pair work (working with different partners) develops the descriptive language and extends the narrative perspectives used throughout.

Between exercises, partners will provide each other with feedback to give an honest reflection of how they have responded to the story they heard. We visit some of the pairs (in their virtual break-out rooms or around the room) to offer support and extend the development of the stories and ensure they are getting the most out of each exercise.

The participants will draw together what they have learnt from the exercises in a final telling of their story, to their partner from “1st Tell”, in order to experience the application of the techniques and to be able to structure and share their story incorporating their learning and feedback. It is beneficial for pairs to see/hear how each other’s stories have grown/developed over the process of the workshop (and therefore notice outcomes they won’t have seen in themselves).

Follow-on: at the end of the workshop participants will consider and write down what they want to apply and develop from the training, and how, when and where this will take place. We will also discuss how it will influence them as a group or team, and what outcomes they want to realise together.

They will have copies of these application commitments as will we. These commitments can be supported and followed up within their internal performance reviews and we will also contact them, three/six months after the training is completed, with a reminder of their commitments and hear from them how they have realised them. Since the workshop is the start of the learning process, the commitments will encourage and help them to apply and find best use of the workshops’ techniques and learning.

For Sharing the Message we recommend group sizes of 6 – 10 for online delivery and up to 12 for in-person delivery.

There are pros and cons to both in-person and online delivery – dependent on each client, practicalities and desired outcomes.

Therefore, we can offer delivery as purely online, in-person or as a blended delivery.

A 30-minute introduction meeting online, 1 week before the first delivery of the workshops, for both in-person and online delivery sets up expectations and explains the pre-work.

We can be flexible about the amount of time between each part, but suggest a week, to allow for the work to be processed and reflected on and so that participants can have time to complete the 30 – 60 minutes of Pre-work and 30 minutes of homework between Parts 1 and 2 whilst not losing the momentum of the training.

We will send out preparation instructions and explanations ahead of the workshops, and joining invitations for Zoom. This can be done via you or us.

In-person delivery is at a venue or space organised by you.

This 3 - 4 part workshop applies storytelling to enable participants to at first, collaboratively investigate and build a shared and strong understanding of strategy, culture, change, future developments… so that secondly, participants can also find effective and engaging ways to communicate their subjects internally (and externally) to promote, explain, reassure and gain buy in or engagement.

This workshop will help leaders, teams or partners to define and share the purpose, meaning or need for what is taking place, how it will unfold, what challenges will occur and what benefits and outcomes are being aimed for.

The workshop applies storytelling techniques and exercises so participants can explore different aspects of the subject through a narrative with focus on specific protagonists. As a result, they gain insights into how, when and where the ideas, actions, changes will happen or have happened, who will be involved, how they will be affected, what challenges and disruptions could be faced and what solutions can be found and what the overall benefits will be.

A focus is given to identifying how this is all relevant or of value to the different individuals and departments that make up the business, which includes the participants themselves.

As a result, participants find with their collaborative team, a shared vision, goal and message, define a common and individual purpose, identify problems or conflicts with the subject and how it will be received, build ways to at least meet an audience half way, if not bring them with them completely and overcome negative perceptions. Overall, they will have a strong collaborative forming of what can be said and how it can be best communicated or articulated.

Having created this core shared understanding, plan and vision, it will be easier for the for participants to convey this to other parts of the business while initiating or building rapport, respect and trust.

The 3 parts of the workshop will allow those taking part to have enough time to firstly explore and discuss their subject, to build shared and individual narratives about the subject, to develop different ways of articulating and expressing the story and to share, with tellings, how each person can communicate the story and to define key learning and elements to work with.

Online and/ or in-person workshop for groups of 6-20 participants

2 days in person, or 4 x 4 hours online

For this collaborative workshop, we recommend where possible to deliver it as 2 days in person. But we can offer a hybrid version, as benefits are to be found both online and in person.

Introduction Meeting Online 30-mins. This is an excellent means to reassure and create interest in the workshops. Participants meet us and quickly gain a sense of the style and approach of our facilitation which, while being driven to achieving practical, work-relevant outcomes, is done in a manner that is friendly and interactive.

We introduce the purpose and desired outcomes of the workshop and how these will be achieved before explaining any pre-work they need to complete prior to Part 1 (such as defining common subjects, grouping teams around them and being familiar with the subject).

Preparation and Pre-Work: Before taking part in the practical workshops the team need to ensure they have a familiarity with the subject they will all work with. The workshops will develop their understanding of it and how and why they need to communicate it - but they will need “content” to work with.

The focus of the workshops is to build a shared understanding and belief in the subject, while also gaining the an agreed means to communicate it, and giving individuals the license to refine their interpretation of it and share the detail they can each bring, through the process.

Before Part 1, having chosen their subject, we will provide the participants with the handbook as an editable PDF (their text book) and ask them to start work on the first few steps. We will revisit and develop these with them in teams, in Part 1.

Part 1 and 2 Collaborative Exploration: We start Part 1 by defining what storytelling is in relation to communication, understanding and engagement so we can go on to use it to investigate the subject, who to communicate it to and what the desired goal is.

Parts 1 and 2 are about working in teams, to collaboratively explore, with the prompts of the exercises and discussion, what they know, think and believe as individuals and as a team and build on these to find broader or more specific answers and to define or agree on a common understanding of their subject within their team.

The process will stimulate, create and select content that will be used as the foundation of what each person and the collective can say about the subject.

At the end of Part 2 participants will be guided on how to structure their content within a narrative, that can guide how anything will take place or will help them and their audience to follow and be part of what is communicated.

Part 3 Refining the Story: This part employs the process of expressing or articulating the story, in pairs, to further build insight and understanding on it; what can be most usefully said and how to say it. Working in pairs the participants apply descriptive techniques to define meaning, bring content to life and to expand on potential points of view, rationale, outcomes and experiences of those involved, so as to be able to better bring ideas to action or to connect with an audience and offer a broader knowledge on the subject.

Feedback between pairs allows colleagues to contribute to and gain from each other’s stories and encourages attention on how the story is heard or received - rather than what the intention was.

At the end of the workshop the teams can gather again, to share and collate what has been learnt in the pair work, about what to communicate about the subject and how best to do so with the techniques used that day. This can inform the direction of how individuals continue to work on and practice their spoken pieces for the next part.

Part 4 Collaborative Sharing: In the final part, participants will share their spoken pieces to each other (depending on numbers this may take place in groups to allow for everyone to tell and make conclusions within the time available). The purpose of this is for everyone to be able to hear the different and shared means and content about the subject and for everyone to make practical decisions about how best to move forward with any communication or action based on the tellings, and indeed the work of the workshop as a whole.

The various iterations will highlight common key messages, gains to celebrate and conflicts to address, content and details that work well.

Overall, there should also be a demonstration of what the participants believe in together, an improved and deeper understanding of the subject and how to implement it.

These tellings can be recorded to harvest sample stories; to share within the participants and/or to inform communication throughout the business.

The Collaborative Story can accommodate up to about 20 participants working in teams of 3 - 4 people, to explore the subject initially before pair work.

There are pros and cons to both in-person and online delivery – dependent on each client, practicalities and desired outcomes.

Therefore, we can offer delivery as purely online, in-person or as a blended delivery.

We do recommend where possible that the Collaborative Story is delivered in person to help with the collaborative nature of the workshops.

A 30-minute Introduction meeting online for both in-person and online delivery sets up expectations and explains the pre-work, ideally around 1 week before the first delivery of Part 1.

The Parts can be delivered in a mixture of half and full days. We can be flexible about the amount of time between each part, but suggest a week, to allow for the work to be processed and reflected on and so that participants can have time to complete the 30 – 60 minutes of Pre-work and 30 minutes of homework between Parts whilst not losing the momentum of the training.

We will send out preparation instructions and explanations ahead of the workshops, and joining invitations for Zoom as required. This can be done via you or us.

In person delivery is at a venue or space organised by you.