Programs & Courses

Advanced Storytelling: Tactics and Themes

“Great storytellers have an unfair competitive advantage,” says Benchmark Capital’s Bill Gurley. In this workshop, which assumes some familiarity with storytelling basics, participants will learn the tools to take their storytelling from good to great and develop their skills into unfair competitive advantages. Everyone will be encouraged to bring works-in-progress to class, in any form—memos, press releases, tweets, business plans, personal narratives—to be workshopped in real time with a goal of bringing our stories to the next level.

  • Topics
  • Audience
  • Instructor

  • Storytelling tactics including structure, suspense, pacing, humour, vivid description, character, imagery, style, motif, and point of view

  • Developing a ready-made selection of stories to use across a variety of professional situations

  • Showing vs. telling—what “show, don’t tell” means and why the distinction may be misguided

  • Gauging audience reaction to revise and adapt your material

  • Guided self-editing, using before-and-after comparisons from experienced storytellers

  • The shapes and textures of stories

  • How to write stories for harmony and resonance

  • How to create and choose effective metaphors

  • Building precision and elegance through careful word-choice

  • Tension vs. action—the important difference, and what it means for the “forward motion” of your stories

  • Storytelling with greater nuance by answering tough questions of prosody

  • Professionals wishing to take their communications skills to the next level through advanced storytelling tools
  • Communications specialists who want to refine or refresh their storytelling ability

Arthur Thuot is the facilitator at StoryCorp, a company that delivers storytelling workshops to business and government. Previously, he served as a project director for a media agency in Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. He holds an MFA from the University of Florida and an HBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University.

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Course Category/Template: 

Strategic Communications and Social Media

Body: 

“Great storytellers have an unfair competitive advantage,” says Benchmark Capital’s Bill Gurley. In this workshop, which assumes some familiarity with storytelling basics, participants will learn the tools to take their storytelling from good to great and develop their skills into unfair competitive advantages. Everyone will be encouraged to bring works-in-progress to class, in any form—memos, press releases, tweets, business plans, personal narratives—to be workshopped in real time with a goal of bringing our stories to the next level.

In-House Option: 

Title: 

Advanced Storytelling: Tactics and Themes

Course Code: 

942

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Email Reminder: 

Email Reminder Will Be Sent

Email Reminder Date: 

10days before the course start date

Speaker Bio: 

Arthur Thuot is the facilitator at StoryCorp, a company that delivers storytelling workshops to business and government. Previously, he served as a project director for a media agency in Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. He holds an MFA from the University of Florida and an HBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University.

Audience: 

Professionals wishing to take their communications skills to the next level through advanced storytelling tools
Communications specialists who want to refine or refresh their storytelling ability

Select a session
Advanced Storytelling: Tactics and Themes (Online Session)
March 22, 23, 2021
9:00 - 12:00
$595.00
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