The Art of Storytelling

Tuesday 4th November 2025

Welcome and thank you very much for taking the time to be curious about and engage with this workshop.

Over the course of this period we are going to dig a little deeper into how we construct and tell stories, giving you all the chance, in a safe and relaxed environment, to identify your preferred storytelling style. And to explore new ones.

We are all storytelling creatures.

They are our way of constructing meaning and they are the primary way that we create our sense of self.

Stories and storytelling can engage our imaginations, heal our wounded souls, bring people together in community, enable us to make sense of the world (even momentarily!), invoke adventure and bring passion into our lives. Grand claims maybe but we have been telling stories since the dawn of civilization.

Stories allow us to tap into our own self limiting beliefs (for example, I can't sing) and they are the primary way that we create our sense of self.

Information informs

Argument persuades

Stories evoke

And here is the cool bit; the stories that we tell are fateful.

Time for us all to practice telling stories

I'll go first. In no more, or less, than 1 minute I am now going to tell you the story of my shoes.

Fact

So that was the factual tale of the shoes I am wearing today.

Now it's over to you

Fact

Into pairs

1 minute each

The story of the shoes you are wearing today

Be visual, show the shoe to your partner.

We will give you 2 minutes exactly. A word of advice? let it flow.

Fact

How was that?

Encourage responses.

Fiction

So now I am going tell you another 1 minute story about my shoes, only this time it is Fictional.

So that was the Fictional tale of the shoes I am wearing today. Or was it?

Now it's over to you. Same process as previously and in the same pairs; exactly one minute each to tell the Fictional story of the shoes you are wearing.

Word of advice here? You're in a safe place, have fun with it.

Fiction

Into pairs

1 minute each

The story of the shoes you are wearing today

Fiction

How was that?

Fantasy

So now I am going tell my final 1 minute story about my shoes, only this time it is a Fantastical story.

So that was the Fantastical tale of the shoes I am wearing today.

Now it's over to you. Same process as previously and in the same pairs; exactly one minute each to tell the Fantastical story of the shoes you are wearing.

Word of advice here? Discard any lingering self limiting beliefs and go for it!

Fantasy

Into pairs

1 minute each

The story of the shoes you are wearing today

Well done!

That is not easy, it is not usually in our working week but it does show how much information you can convey, when under pressure, in a very compressed timeframe.

Hopefully, above all else you enjoyed it. If you did, it will have shown in your storytelling.

Reflections?

Thank you

Our preferences

Reflecting on what you just did…

Our preferences

Which style of story do you prefer to tell?

Google Poll:

Which style of story do you refer to Tell?

The stories you prefer to consume

Which style of story do you refer to Consume?

I have done this and seen it done many, many times and in a very unscientific way, what we always see is that:

Prefer to consume

Tellers of fact tend to prefer to consume fiction

Tellers of fiction tend to prefer to consume fantasy

Tellers of fantasy tend to prefer to consume fact.

Again, I emphasise that is a non-scientific set of findings.

Thank you

We tell different stories in many different ways

Don't you wonder sometimes...

The David Bowie fans amongst you will have already recognised that lyric. It's from Sound & Vision, from 1977's Low album.

I am now going to play you a version of it that will be unlike any you have heard before.

But before we do that, some numbers for you:

9:31: number of minutes this last for

164: the numbers of musicians involved, including the creative driving force behind the whole thing, Beck

62: the audience members

2: Revolving stages. Beck is going one way, the audience the other.

3 weeks: rehearsal time, in a warehouse in the Nevada desert.

36: the number of cameras capturing it, allowing you to see and hear the performance from any viewpoint.

1: number of takes and performances. A true one off.

Why? To see what was possible.

The gift of Sound & Vision

Think about...

What story did you see, hear and feel being told?

Thank you

END