Meet the Instructor
Chris Cobb
Chris Cobb is a multi-award winning journalist and author, Chris enjoyed a 25-plus year career at the Ottawa Citizen and was a long-time member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery.
G119
DIGITAL STORYTELLING & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
NOTE: The workshop content described below will be delivered through ZOOM ONLINE on two consecutive half-day sessions. Agendas and other relevant workshop documentation will be sent to you by the workshop instructor at least three days prior to the date of the first session.
WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?
Digital story telling is an increasingly important component of every communicator’s toolkit. It can be a tremendously effective way of conveying an organization’s mission, changing people’s behaviour, rallying supporters to action, and raising funds. But to achieve these goals it must be done well. This workshop will expose communicators to the digital storytelling landscape in today’s world with a focus on organizations that excel at telling inspiring and impactful stories that achieve their strategic goals. Workshop participants will then be provided with the key tools they need to acquire to become great strategic digital storytellers themselves. They will learn about how to identify a strategic story and incorporate it into their broader communications strategy, the key elements that are the base of every great digital story, how to weave a story from these elements, and the exciting variety of digital formats and channels available to convey stories.
The workshop combines a mix of formal instruction with a generous dose of group discussion and practical exercises in order to provide participants with immediately actionable new skills and knowledge.
WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?
This workshop will focus on:
- Why digital storytelling has become a key strategic communications tool
- Organizations that are leaders in the digital storytelling landscape
- Examples of superlative organizational digital storytelling
- How to identify a strategic story amid the thousands of possibilities
- The five key elements that are essential for impactful digital storytelling
- The broad range for formats available for digital storytelling – the easiest, the most popular, the most challenging
- How distribution channels impact stories and their formats
- How to build stories with a story arc that grabs your audience
- The difference between stories told in the 1st person voice vs 3rd person voice
- How to think through the video format
- How to measure a strategic story’s success
WHAT WILL YOU TAKE AWAY?
- Workbook
- Exercises and handouts
- Bibliography of reading and digital storytelling models
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMPETENCIES
- Values and Ethics: Serving through integrity and respect
- Thinking Things Through: Innovating through analysis and ideas
- Engagement: Working effectively with people, organization and partners
- Excellence: Dlivering results
| Agenda: Day 1 | |
|---|---|
| 8:45 - 9:15 | Introductions and Workshop Overview |
| 9:15 - 9:45 | Digital Storytelling
What is storytelling? What is digital storytelling? How is the term digital storytelling misused? How are organizations using digital storytelling to achieve communications purposes? What are the five key elements in every successful story? |
| 9:45 - 10:30 | Exercise
Working in groups participants will review a video story to identify the five key elements that every successful story includes. Working individually participants will review a web story to identify the five key story elements. Participants will discuss findings with the whole group. |
| 10:30 - 10:45 | BREAK |
| 10:45 - 11:00 | Digital Storytelling Organizations
What organizations are successfully using digital storytelling to achieve their communication objectives? How are their storytelling strategies similar and how are they different? |
| 11:00 - 11:40 | Digital Storytelling Formats
What are the various digital formats available to tell an organizational story? What are the key decision factors in choosing a format for digital storytelling? How does the distribution channel impact the story and choice of format? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different distribution channels. |
| 11:40 - 12:30 | Exercise
Participants will be assigned an organization’s website to review their storytelling practices. What are the different formats used, how does digital storytelling fit into the broader communications content strategy, what are their distribution channels, and how (or not) do stories enhance the organization’s communications goals? |
| 12:30 - 12:45 | Questions??? |
| Agenda: Day 2 | |
|---|---|
| 8:45 - 9:00 | Recap and Morning Overview |
| 9:00 - 9:45 | Strategic Communications and Digial Storytelling
Why has digital storytelling become a key communications tool for organizations? How and where does digital storytelling fit in a broader communications strategy? What makes a digital story strategic? What are the steps to follow to identify a story that will support communication objectives? What are the different types of strategic stories? Case study of strategic storytelling. |
| 9:45 - 10:30 | Exercise
Participants will be assigned an organizational profile and communications strategy and will work in groups to enhance it with a storytelling strategy, including suggested story type, and potential protagonist profiles, formats, and channels. Working individually participants will be asked to identify a current (or past) communications strategy they have worked on, and how it could be enhanced with a storytelling strategy. |
| 10:30 - 10:45 | BREAk |
| 10:45 - 11:15 | Ethical Storytelling
What is ethical storytelling? Why is it important to proceed carefully when sharing someone’s story as part of a communications strategy? What are some of the key concerns ethical storytellers need to be aware of when developing a digital story? |
| 11:15 - 11:30 | Stories to Remember
What are some of the additional ingredients that can lift a story from so-so to unforgettable? |
| 11:30 - 12:15 | Exercise
Working individually participants will review a successful story in detail. What makes this story so impactful? How does it exemplify storytelling best practices, are there additional ingredients that make it memorable, and how does it follow (or not) ethical storytelling guidelines? |
| Agenda: Day 3 | |
|---|---|
| 8:45 - 9:00 | Recap and Morning Overview |
| 9:00 - 9:30 | Digital Storytelling: Key Elements (In-Depth)
What are the characteristics of a good protagonist in digital storytelling? What are the characteristics of a good goal? How do obstacles propel a story forward? What are the key ingredients in a good resolution? |
| 9:30 - 10:00 | Exercise
Participants will choose a personal story about a goal they pursued and achieved from their own life. They will identify the key storytelling elements including the obstacles they had to overcome, who helped, and how their story ended. They will share with the group. |
| 10:00 - 10:30 | Building Your Story
How do you turn the elements of a story into an actual digital story? What are the key steps to follow? Why is a transcribed interview your best friend for efficient and successful organizational storytelling? What is a story arc? What makes for a good beginning? How to make a meaty middle? What’s the rule of thumb for endings? |
| 10:30 - 10:45 | BREAK |
| 10:45 - 11:30 | Exercise
Participants will review an in-depth interview transcription of someone’s story and identify the key story elements, and the possible building blocks for a beginning, middle, and end. Participants will discuss their decisions with the group. |
| 11:30 - 11:45 | Building Your Story: Point of View
What do we mean by point of view? What is a 1st person point of view? What is a 3rd person point of view? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each for digital storytelling? |
| 11:45 - 12:15 | Exercise
Participants will assemble a story using the 1st person point of view using the assigned interview transcript and the building blocks they identified in a previous exercise. Participants will discuss with group. |
| 12:15 - 12:45 | Exercise
Participants will assemble a Q&A using the interview transcript and building blocks developed in previous exercise. Participant will identify a quote from the interview transcript that can accompany a photo. |
| Agenda: Day 4 | |
|---|---|
| 8:45 - 9:00 | Recap and Morning Overview |
| 9:00 - 9:15 | Building your story: 3rd person narratives
What is a digital story told in the 3rd person? Why is it more challenging to prepare than a 1st person story? What are some tricks of the trade to write 3rd person narrative stories? |
| 9:15 - 10:30 | Exercise
Participants will use the story elements developed from a personal story in a previous exercise to identify the building blocks and story arc for a story. They will then write this story in the 3rd person narrative form. These stories will be shared with the group. |
| 10:30 - 10:45 | BREAK |
| 10:45 - 11:15 | Building Your Story: Video Format
Why is the video format so key to digital storytelling strategies? Why are videos the most challenging storytelling format for organizations? What are the steps to follow for developing a video story? What is a storyboard? What are the various multimedia available to support a video story? |
| 11:15 - 11:45 | Exercise
Using the web story developed in a previous exercise, participants will be asked to prepare a storyboard for a video treatment of this story. What kind of multimedia can support the story and where will they be placed? |
| 11:45 - 12:00 | BREAK |
| 12:00 - 12:30 | Measuring Storytelling Success
What are the various ways to measure the success of a digital story? What kind of digital analytics can assist with this measurement? |
| 12:30 - 12:45 | Evaluation |