Storytelling is 'the most powerful form of human communication'

Have you mastered the art of storytelling? Or are you hobbling along without this power tool in your writing toolbox?

Dear Communicator:

Storytelling is the most powerful form of human communication, according to Peg Neuhauser, author of Corporate Legends and Lore.

Unfortunately, many communicators haven't mastered the art of writing anecdotes, narratives and other stories that have the power to move people. Given the extent of information overload these days, no communicator can afford to be without this power tool for getting the word out.

If you want to win the hearts and minds of your audience members, you must be a master storyteller. 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 3,000 attempts to spark their interest — that's more than a million messages a year. In this environment, communicators must cut through the clutter to grab our audience's attention. The best way 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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Why learn this from Ann?

Admittedly, there are some skill sets that Ann lacks and some subjects about which Ann may be the last person on earth you should get advice from. (Her fondness for chocolate and for lying around on the couch probably means she'll never be a successful diet-and-exercise guru, for instance.)

But Ann has spent thousands of hours researching, developing, testing and sharing techniques for mastering the art of the storyteller and otherwise improving your writing. She's done so for:

• The graduate writing classes she taught for 10 years in her spare time
• The more than 250 writing workshops she's presented to professionals at such companies as FedEx, H&R Block, Gap Inc., Delta Airlines and Sprint
• The award-winning writing she's produced for such clients as the Mayo Clinic, State Street and Northern Funds

Each year, Ann spends more than 240 hours — six work weeks — researching and writing about communicating more effectively.

Frankly, you don't have time to do that. After all, you have a job. You have a life. You don't have hundreds of hours to spend finding ways to improve your writing.

Fortunately, the thousands of hours
Ann has spent analyzing, reading and researching
can cut hundreds of hours off your own learning curve.

Now you can learn the tricks and techniques Ann has used to earn more than 40 awards — including two IABC Gold Quills — in The Art of the Storyteller toolkit.

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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 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.
• More than 20 real-life samples to model — stories from such companies as FedEx and Walgreens. Use their success secrets to develop and craft your own winning stories.
• The Art of the Storyteller audio workshop and guide — you'll be able to attend a workshop outlining the key elements of The Art of the Storyteller system.
• The Art of the Storyteller 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.

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What do these people know that you don't know?

With The Art of the Storyteller toolkit, you'll soon be writing compelling stories. That's been the experience of these communicators who have practiced Ann's techniques:

I'm a storyteller from way back, but Ann poses a problem. As I turn each page of her Storyteller toolkit, I find another wonderful example that I want to comment about — NPR's Driveway Moments, the terrific story of The Haunted Man, the fact that the best stories are when something goes wrong ...

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. I think one of the reasons Paul Harvey is so popular is that he must use Ann's toolkit. 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

 

 

I am asking better questions during interviews, and these questions are prompting more stories and anecdotes. I am writing better leads based on the principles of storytelling (one moment in time, characters, plot, etc.) I'm getting a lot more positive feedback about the magazine. Better storytelling has helped readers make a connection with this publication.

 

— Jan Waldschutz,
communication specialist,

Irving Oil Limited

I was finally able to convince one of my internal clients to use storytelling to explain a new service/role.

 

— Cheryl Fletcher,
project manager,

corporate communications,
RBC Financial Group

I've used this information in media training sessions to help dairy farmers use specific examples of what they do on their farms. Telling their stories has made the interviews rich with real-life detail and therefore memorable.

 

— Carol Bodensteiner,
communication consultant,
West Des Moines, Iowa

 

 

We are now actively seeking stories about things our employees have done that are special or beyond the call of duty that benefit customers. We are also using the model you provided to frame the stories so they start with the issue/conflict/decision point and then backtrack to provide details. Previous customer stories always started with the customer's name, place, size, etc. How boring now in retrospect!

 

This is important information for the person who wants to cut through the clutter and have their message read/heard/seen.

 

— Jill Feldon LaNouette,
director,

organizational communications,
Cardinal Health Systems

 

 

I learned that stories can be used to put big ideas into little packages that readers will remember.

 

— Jan Waldschutz,
Communication Specialist,
Irving Oil Limited

 

 

Great ideas on how to effectively communicate — new ideas, not the same old thing that everyone does.

 

— Matthew G. Brooks,
director of marketing and PR,

Push America

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Master the Art of the Storyteller
for a fraction of the cost
of learning this material any other way.

Such companies as Nokia, Motorola, Principal, AOL and AT&T pay Ann thousands of dollars to share her writing secrets with their professionals.

Communicators have paid up to $250 to attend one of Ann's The Art of the Storyteller teleseminars. (Of course, they didn't receive the manual or cheat sheet. And they weren't able to listen to the program again and again to review and master key concepts.)

Now you can receive the entire The Art of the Storyteller toolkit for less than the cost of the audio program alone when you take advantage of the special introductory price of just $127.

Gold member discount price: $97. You save $30.

Not yet a Gold member?

Would you like to share The Art of the Storyteller
with your entire team?

This toolkit is a self-study program. Each toolkit comes with an individual license. That means you may listen to the audio workshop as many times as you like and even pass the toolkit around for your colleagues and friends to hear and read. However, you may not play the audio workshop in a group or make copies of any of the printed materials.

Would you like share The Art of the Storyteller with your entire team? Contact Ann's office to receive a 10 percent discount when you purchase 10 or more toolkits. Plus, Ann will send you a one-page guide for getting the most out of your toolkits in a group-study program.

Would you rather bring Ann in to present a customized on-site workshop on The Art of the Storyteller, where your group can ask questions, get feedback and hear Ann's analysis of your storytelling efforts? Or would you like to have Ann present a customized teleseminar to your group? To get the details, contact Ann.

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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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Serious about developing your skills? Get Ann’s Power Pack and save!