Storytelling for business training

Master the Art of Storytelling Sept. 19-23

It ain’t fluff. Storytelling helps people pay closer attention to your message, understand it faster, remember it longer and act on it more quickly.

Storytelling for business training — **Learn to tell compelling stories** at Ann Wylie’s storytelling-in-business Master Class.

Now you can grab attention, communicate more clearly, make your message more memorable and move readers to act at our Master the Art of Storytelling workshop — online, Sept. 19-23.

“Excellent, kick-you-in-the-butt skills that I can use forever.”

— Patti Monsoor, public relations and marketing, Utah Valley University Woodbury School of Business
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What you’ll learn in our business storytelling workshop

Learn the art and science of making your subject matter more compelling with great storytelling. In this workshop, you’ll learn step-by-step techniques for writing great stories in a business context. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:

Think Outside the Pyramid

Lead with a bang with our list (with examples) of great leads.
Avoid the “muddle in the middle” with five ways to organize the body of your piece.
Leave a lasting impression with our three-step test for writing a high-quality ending.

**Polish your skills and gain new inspiration for your work** with Ann Wylie’s proven-in-the-lab storytelling techniques.

Color Them Fascinated

Fun facts and juicy details might seem like the Cheez Doodles and Cronuts of communication: tempting, for sure, but a little childish and not particularly good for you. Not so. Concrete details are more like salad dressing and aioli — the secret sauces it takes to get the nutritious stuff down. In this learning experience, you’ll find out how to:

Show and tell: Help readers understand your big ideas by way of your specific details.
Play it SAFE: Six ways to add color to your leadership stories and other messages.
Write to be read: Where to sprinkle “gold coins” throughout your message to keep readers engaged.

Play With Your Words

Neurologists call it “the pleasure of the text,” the reward readers get from figuring out figurative language. (It can be quite a reward: If your wordplay is funny enough, your readers’ brains even deliver a little dose of dopamine.)

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

Polish your skills in our wordplay workout: Get “recipes” for creating 14 types of wordplay, from anagram to etymology to oxymoron. (And yes, that portmanteau does make your butt look smaller.)
Get inspired by some of the world’s most creative headlines.
Stop writing groaners: Learn techniques that let you come up with surprising lines — and leave the clichés to the hacks.

Make Magic With Metaphor

Metaphor has the power to persuade far better than literal language. It lets you say in five words what would otherwise take five paragraphs to explain. It makes readers’ brains light up, helps them think more broadly about your message — even (ahem!) makes you look more attractive.

But, as with other forms of magic, you’ll want to master a few tricks before you step onto the stage.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

Get an analogy during an interview by asking one simple question.
Develop a metaphor with our simple, four-step process.
Craft a compelling metaphor with our fill-in-the-blanks formula.

“I didn’t want it to end.”

— Gary Burris, public relations director, Tec Labs

**Get feedback from Ann and your peers** on LinkedIn and in our live coaching sessions.

Master the Art of the Storyteller

Stories are so effective that Og Mandino, the late author of the bestselling The Greatest Salesman in the World, says, “If you have a point, find a story.”

In this session, you’ll learn to find, develop and write stories that engage readers’ hearts and minds.

Specifically, you’ll learn how to: