Many marketers have been inspired by Storytelling guru Andy Goodman. Canadian communications pro Kelley Teahen takes Goodman's theories and adds both a Canadian spin and more "how to" information on how to create effective stories to share with and influence your audiences.

1. Let me tell you a story
Using stories about people to spread your message
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2. About Kelley Teahen
• Working for nine years in higher education
• Previous career in print journalism
• Winner of five Ontario Newspaper Awards for writing
• Five years running the media office for the Stratford Festival
• Developed and taught “writing for public relations” course at
Western University
• Taught English 210H (arts writing) at St. Jerome’s University
and English 408A (media writing) at University of Waterloo
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3. A photo with basic information…
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4. But this one tells a story. Why?
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5. Best communicators tell stories
“The most powerful thing you can hear, and the
only thing that ever persuades any of us in
our own lives, is [when] you meet somebody
whose story contradicts the thing you think
you know. At that point, it’s possible to
question what you know, because the
authenticity of their experiences is real
enough to do it.”
Ira Levin quoted in Andy Goodman’s
Storytelling as Best Practice
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6. Andy Goodman, storytelling guru
Goodman tells us that narrative is powerful
because of:
• History: for thousands of years, humans
have captured and passed along
information in stories: We look for
narrative identifiers: “the primate who tells
stories.”
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7. More Goodman wisdom
• Memory: story is the string that holds the
beads of facts together: we remember stories
more than facts alone.
• Identity: We create identity by the stories we
tell. Think of the 10 stories you tell most,
about yourself…
• Culture: We are also part of a larger, cultural
identity and that culture’s stories
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8. Reich’s Tales of a New America
Four American (U.S.) iconic stories
1.The Mob at the Gates
2.The Triumphant Individual
3.The Benevolent Community
4.Rot at the Top
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9. What are Canada’s iconic stories?
Nature, friend or foe: our spiritual home, and a
threat
• Survival (Margaret Atwood)
• The Garrison (Northrop Frye)
“The two solitudes” (conflict and isolation)
• French/English
• Aboriginal/European
• rural/urban
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10. Iconic Canadian
A new model of society for the world
• The Cultural Mosaic
• The Honest Broker (Lester B. Pearson);
Canada as “Fifth Business”
• “Peace, Order and Good Government”
(BNA Act)
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11. What are your “iconic stories?”
What stories reflect your organization’s
attributes? Who are the “heroes”?
If you haven’t been through a branding
exercise that has produced identified
“attributes”, get together a group to
brainstorm ideas.
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12. Jumping-off points for brainstorm
• Pull together some old magazines and quickly
identify images that, to you, represent your
organization’s identity / attributes
• Have everyone come up with three adjectives to
describe your organization as it is, and three
adjectives to describe the organization as you
aspire to be, then share and discuss
– Are you modern, cutting edge, traditional, iconic?
– Is the organization’s work / product about fun?
Safety? Adventure? Security? Invention? Healing?
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13. Who embodies your attributes?
• Look at the organization’s history, its
founders, its pioneers
• What are the key stories and who were, or
are, the key players?
• Authentic connections: e.g., clients,
customers, who benefit from what you do
• Paid “spokespeople” or icons: you buy a
story to attach to / align with your brand
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14. Who embodies your attributes?
• Using a personal story to represent
something more complex common in media
and journalism:
– e.g., federal government budget explained as it
impacts one family
• For communicators working for
organizations, need to move beyond
statistics, mission statements and “PR speak”
and bring your story alive by telling it through
an individual’s journey
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15. Moving from theory to practice
• Be it agreed: Stories convey messages
more effectively than any other way
• We need to recognize which stories create
and support our identity
• But now, how do we tell those stories most
effectively? How can we improve our
storytelling skills?
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16. Rule No. 1: Audience comes first
Apply the W5s to figuring out your audience:
• Who are you telling this story to?
• What do they want to know?
• Why would they care?
• Where, when, and how will they hear your
story?
Communications is foremost about audience.
Always.
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17. Who relates to your audience?
What heroes, what stories from your
organization would connect to:
• A high-school student
• An urban entrepreneur
• A retired couple
You intended audience also helps focus your
medium of communication: Facebook? Printed
brochure?
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18. First storytelling step: research
Effective profiles begin with learning all you
can about your subject by:
Online research: Not just Mr. Google, but
media databases
Self-reporting (biographies, CVs, websites)
• Consulting/interviewing friends, family,
colleagues: going from monochrome self-portrait
to one painted from a broader
palette
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19. Brush up your interview skills
Talk to your subject, in person if possible
• Start with the easy stuff, like confirming
spelling of a person’s name
• Prepare questions, but don’t be a slave to
your list
• Closed versus open questions
• The “mirror probe” technique to clarify
information
• The “clearing house” question at the end
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20. Should you record interviews?
A good idea if you are not able to write the
story right away
However, also good to take some notes
during the discussion: They will remind you
of highlights and you can just transcribe
particular quotes, rather than the whole
interview
A good resource: NewsU, Chip Scanlan,
Poynter Institute interview training course
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21. Open your eyes, follow the clues
• Check out the room: décor; art; bulletin boards;
books; photos. Ask questions. Get the stories.
• Write down descriptions, impressions: you won’t
know what you might want to use until you go to
write your story.
• The interview subject: check out jewelry, clothing
choices, any obvious affiliations or symbols. Ask.
• You’re not being “nosy”: you’re being “curious.”
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22. Other interview tips and tricks
• You want your profile subject to be
comfortable – can you find a common hobby,
passion, or interest to discuss to animate the
conversation?
• Don’t be afraid of silence.
• If anything seems unclear when you are
writing, call back and clarify.
• Even if you aren’t going to write your story for
a while, schedule enough time to transcribe
or fill in notes immediately after the interview
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23. Interview is done; writing is next
Follow Luna’s example and pause for moment
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24. Shape your profile: craft a story
• “Pyramid”: most important fact first. Think of
rushing home and saying “guess what?” The
usual “news” story shape.
• Profiles often take a different approach:
something interesting, compelling, first.
• Often, one person is representing a larger
story or theme: start with the individual, then
set the context.
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25. Common profile story forms
• Narrative story form (start at the beginning:
“Once upon a time”)
• Hourglass story form: Summarizes the news,
then shifts to a narrative. The top delivers the
news, the turn acts as a transition, the
narrative tells the story
• “Nut graf” story form: anecdote first, summary
nugget (“nut graf”) then more details
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26. Selecting details for your story
• If you observe and interview well, you will have far
more material than you can use.
• Type out your notes, or review written notes: highlight
anything that stands out.
• Focus: what is the purpose of your story or profile?
What will be of most interest to your target audience?
• Some details create and reinforce the “main
impression” but contrasting details add texture and
depth.
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27. Your most important sentences are:
• Your lead: bring the reader in
• Your “closer:” wrap it up with a punch
• Kelley’s rule: never end a story with an
attribution (“he said”; “she said”): tuck it in
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28. The art of the headline
• May be the only thing a person reads on a “skim by”
• Important to spend time on crafting it well
• Use “turns of phrase” wisely: “Measuring what comes
out of the mouths of babes”
• Alliteration is good, when restrained: “Don’t slack on
the salmon”
• Use effective verbs: “Probing the history of fat”;
“Plugging together energy solutions”
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29. Back to Andy Goodman
• Good stories have a beginning, middle, and
end. They are about people.
• There is a protagonist (sometimes a hero):
the world is in balance but something (“an
inciting incident”) pushes it out of balance.
• The protagonist has to overcome barriers.
The more barriers, the more interesting the
story. (“Superman without kryptonite is
boring.”)
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30. Goodman on story structure,
cont.
• Stories need conflict, something to go wrong
and overcome, to keep them interesting
• We follow the hero’s journey (“the rising
action”) to a conclusion
• How can we avoid “came, saw, and
conquered” stories (i.e., the boring ones) in
our publications? Corporate instinct is to
never admit struggle or conflict: but perfect-happy
does not a compelling story make
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31. Using words your audience gets
• Once you’ve chosen your medium to
share the story, also consider the reading
level of your writing
• People generally read with ease at 3-4
grades below their educational attainment
– Love You Forever by Robert Munch: Grade 3
– Average reading level in U.S.: Grades 6 to 8
– Newspapers in Canada: Grade 9
– A university alumni magazine: Grade 12
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32. Find reading level via MS Word
• Go to Tools – Spelling and Grammar –
Options.
• Under “grammar”, click “readability
statistics”
• Run the Spell Check
• The magic gremlins will calculate the
grade level of the writing passage selected
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33. A final thought on storytelling
“Good journalists [and communicators]
share a common ground: They are driven to
learn about life, to ask hard questions, to
listen to the answers, to report the news,
and tell stories of our times.”
Chip Scanlan, Reporting and Writing Basics for the
21st Century
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34. Happy storytelling!
Twitter:
@kteahen
Email:
kelleyteahen@gmail.com
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