The Art of the Storyteller

Master ‘the most powerful form of human communication’

“Page after page of Ann’s Storyteller toolkit is filled with wonderfully written, practical tips, tricks and examples that already have improved my stories and that will improve yours. If the communicator’s job is to make the important interesting, Ann’s toolkit is the resource to show you the way.”

— Rich Barger, chief curmudgeon, CornerBarPR
Find out what others say about The Art of the Storyteller

Dear Communicator:

Storytelling is the most powerful form of human communication, according to Peg Neuhauser, author of Corporate Legends and Lore. Indeed, stories can help you:

• Get and keep reader attention. It’s no secret that our audiences suffer from information overload. Each day, Americans face an average of 5,000 attempts to spark their interest — that’s nearly 2 million messages a year. In this environment, communicators must cut through the clutter to grab our audience’s attention. One of the best ways to do that is through storytelling.
• Bring your mission, vision and values to life. The mission, vision and values are arguably some of an organization’s most important messages. Yet in most companies, they’re relegated to laminated cards in employees’ wallets or to the back of the annual report — in six-point type. But storytelling can bring these defining statements to life. In fact, there is no other way to adequately communicate these big-picture elements.
• Enhance credibility. People who are cynical about statistics — and who isn’t these days? — find stories credible. It’s the Peer Principle of Persuasion: Our audience members believe that if it worked for someone else, it will work for them.
• Improve readership. Storytelling outscored the inverted pyramid in a study by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Articles that featured storytelling were better read, communicated better and were more effective at pulling readers across the jump, or convincing them to finish stories that continued inside the paper.
• Help people remember your message longer. People process stories in three ways — factually, visually and emotionally. That triple absorption helps readers remember stories longer than other kinds of information.

Plus: Storytelling can help you communicate better, create a buzz for your message and sell your products, services and ideas.

So how can you put the most powerful form of human communication to work in your very next piece?

Now you can tap the power of storytelling quickly and easily with Ann Wylie’s The Art of the Storyteller toolkit. With the toolkit, you’ll learn:

• Fifteen ways to get people to bring you their stories
• How communicators at Coca-Cola, FedEx, Sears, American Century, Walgreens, The Gallup Organization, USAA and other organizations find stories to illustrate their points
• What you must not do at the beginning of your anecdote
• How to model your own winning story using excerpts from more than 20 organizational communications stories
• Five places to look for stories
• How to reframe the five journalistic W’s — who, what, when, where, why and how — to tell a story instead of just cranking out another boring inverted pyramid
• A quick, easy-to-remember template for building an anecdote
• Eight ways to get the information you need to craft an attention-grabbing narrative
• The secret to organizing your material into a powerful story
• The six essential elements every narrative needs
• The key benefits of storytelling. (Use this list to sell your management on the importance of using anecdotes and narrative pieces)
• How to use stories to build and nurture a corporate culture, polish your leadership image, and communicate your mission, vision and values

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Get ALL the tools you need to incorporate effective stories into every piece you write

The Art of the Storyteller toolkit is a collection of ready-to-use tools to jump-start your storytelling skills. You’ll receive The Art of the Storyteller:

• Audio workshop and guide — you’ll be able to “attend” a one-hour workshop sharing how to apply the key elements of The Art of the Storyteller system.
• Manual — 72 pages packed with tricks, tools and tips for illustrating your key messages through storytelling. Use this information to reinforce the skills you learn in the audio workshop. Plus: You’ll get pages and pages of additional techniques and resources that just wouldn’t fit into the workshop.
• Samples to model — stories from such companies as FedEx and Walgreens. Use their success secrets to develop and craft your own winning stories.
• Cheat sheet of formulas and checklists — all the action steps of The Art of the Storyteller toolkit on one sheet of paper. Keep this checklist by your computer to use on every piece you write and edit. Our clients tell us that this job aide is one of the most valuable tools they use for applying new skills to their daily writing.

Now you can get all the tools in The Art of the Storyteller toolkit for the special introductory price of just $127.

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Put this power tool to work for you today.

Order The Art of the Storyteller toolkit today, and we’ll rush it to you immediately. There’s no reason to wait another minute to start using the most powerful form of human communications in your work.

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Gold member discount price: $97. You save $30. Not yet a Gold member?

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Would you rather bring Ann in for an in-house workshop? Contact Ann today.