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Welcome to the course! We'll be starting off this week with the fundamentals of storytelling, brainstorming, and presentation. But Kevin also gives us a sneak peak and everything we'll be doing this month.
We start things off by hearing Kevin's story - how he began the RISK! storytelling podcast, and how learning to tell stories about himself opened up new opportunities.
Kevin explains why good storytelling will always have some amount of risk.
Let's dive into the mechanics of storytelling. Kevin takes us through the things that every single story needs to have.
As we continue to go through the fundamentals of storytelling, Kevin introduces the three kinds of business stories we're going to work on creating.
In this video, we talk about the particular business contexts for sharing stories. Spoiler: there's a lot of them.
In this lesson, we take a moment to skip to the end, and talk about why it's important to know your controlling idea before you start creating your story.
The next section of the workshop will focus on Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement speech at Standford University.
Watch Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Address.
In this lesson, our workshop group discusses Steven Jobs' commencement address.
Now we get to work and begin brainstorming controlling ideas for our stories.
In this video, the workshop students share and refine some of their controlling ideas.
We've arrived at the next step of business storytelling construction: brainstorming life events that match our controlling ideas. Start thinking about the incidents and moments that might help illustrate the overall point you're trying to make.
In this lesson, Kevin takes us through some questions to help you brainstorm stories that might support your controlling idea.
Next up, we watch a talk by storyteller and keynote speaker Ty Bennett. Keep in mind as you watch how he stresses his controlling idea.
Watch Ty Bennett tell the story of Michael Downing.
Now Kevin covers some key points from Ty Bennett's talk.
Now it's time for you actually come up with a story.
Welcome back! In this video, Kevin orients us for the kind of storytelling we're going to be doing this week.
Now, we hear from the workshop students, and discuss some of the problems and solutions of coming up with a purpose story.
We start in on crafting our stories by talking about the importance of scenic detail.
Next, we dive into how to create scenic detail.
For the first of the senses, we cover sight, and the wealth of visual details that can bring atmosphere and emotion into a story.
Next, we cover how sound can impact the emotion of a story.
Now we cover two slightly less common senses, smell and taste, which can nonetheless be evocative storytelling tools.
Finally we cover the expressions of the body and mind as ways to convey emotion and intimate detail.
Now we discuss scenic detail in stories with the workshop students.
Now that we've laid out some fundamentals and talked about enriching our stories with sensory detail, in this video we discuss purpose stories in-depth.
In this video, Kevin helps us brainstorm scenarios that might work as good purpose stories. Keep your controlling idea in mind as you think about what might be a good purpose story for you.
Now we're going to take a look at the workshop student's stories, starting with Ryan's.
Now we tackle some additional stories from the workshop students.
Identifying and amplifying the dramatic stakes of your story will help to pull your listeners in, upping their engagement level.
With everything you've learned about stakes in mind, now listen to Jamie's story.
Let's take a closer look at Jamie's story and her strengths and opportunities for growth.
We wrap up our first pass on purpose stories with the rest of the live workshop students.
Now you're up! Take everything you've thought about story structure, scenic detail, and stakes, and come up with your own purpose story. Then, share it with the One Month community.
Before we dive back into the workshop, let's recap what we've already covered and lay out a plan for the rest of Week 3.
To start things off, Kevin tells a relationship story of his own.
Now that you've done some thinking about Kevin's story, watch the workshop students discuss it.
Kevin defines relationship stories.
Kevin gives us another, business-centric example of a relationship story.
Now that we've become familiar with relationship stories, it's time to brainstorm material for our relationship stories.
We add one more puzzle piece that helps hold up a good story: narrative structure.
We put what we know about narrative structure into practice with two different story examples.
We finish up our discussion of narrative structure with both our real-world and fantasy examples.
Now we head back to the workshop students, and discuss the challenges of creating good narrative structure.
Now let's look at a student example of a relationship story from the workshop.
As we continue to work with the workshop students, Kevin offers some general tips for helping to shape good stories.
Let's look at one more relationship story from the live workshop.
Now it's time for you to get to work! Create a purpose story and share it with friends both inside and outside the One Month community.
Welcome to the final week! We're going to wrap things up with possibility stories and some general pro-tips on how best to present any kind of story.
Let's tackle what a possibility story is and why it's a good fit for business storytelling.
Now we know what a possibility story is, let's look at a good example of one, from Doug Stevens.
Kevin breaks down Doug Stevens' possibility story.
Now we're ready to brainstorm our own possibility stories.
In this video, Kevin talks about how to modulate story length by sticking to the essentials.
In this lesson, Kevin talks about vocal pacing, and how it can be applied to best fit the story you want to tell.
Now we talk about body movement, where to use it in a story, and why.
Now we cover eye contact, and the different vocal ticks, which can inform how you present a story.
Kevin covers what to do if you're feeling nervous.
In this lesson, Kevin tackles how to deal with mistakes on stage.
What about asking questions? Kevin's got the answer.
Now that we've dealt with questions, Kevin asks another one: how much should you memorize or prepare your story in advance?
On the other hand, if you're asking to improvise a story, how do you sound prepared while being unprepared?
Kevin talks about visual aids, and how much they should feature in your storytelling.
Now, let's watch an example of a possibility story from one of the workshop students. Keep in mind everything Diedre does with her voice and body language.
Let's take a look at one more possibility story, this time from Ryan.
Now that we're wrapping up, let's do some additional thinking about how our stories might fit specific contexts.
Your last assignment is to create a possibility story. Keep good presentation skills, story structure, and scenic detail in mind as you go.
Remember: the best story from this live course will get a cash prize. Make sure you submit yours!
Congratulations! You made it through. The course is over, but now that you have the tools to make your stories descriptive, structured, and engaging, this is only the beginning of your opportunities to be a storyteller.
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