Tech Storytelling Lecture
This is where you can see the storytelling magic happen - live! In the introductory storytelling lecture, I combine life experience with lessons learned to create the perfect story. The story tells, first and foremost, why stories are important: how they impact the brain and engage the audience. We’ll talk about opening sentences, and the different ways to introduce yourself. We’ll see how technological topics can be manipulated to create exciting stories that create suspense for the audience. Finally, we’ll discuss scripting the talk, slide design, and preparing for the presentation.
Includes Q&A Session
Participants will learn:
- The theory behind storytelling
- How to find the value of the talk
- How to create suspense
- Engagement with the audience
- Potential storytelling structures
- Beginning and closing statements
Duration: 1 hour
Number of Participants: Any
Tech Storytelling Workshop
In the interactive workshop, we’ll cover the concepts of storytelling for every context (as seen above), and ask the questions that lead to better stories. We’ll talk about ideation, brainstorming, and archetypal story structures. We’ll do some exercises that will focus on practicing key parts of the presentation. Participants will work with me to structure a story around their topic and then will present a short speech to the group. By the end of the workshop, participants will have tools needed to craft stories on any topic and for every purpose.
Participants will learn:
- The storytelling concepts from the lecture
- A better approach to introducing ourselves
- How to brainstorm the topic
- How to build a story structure
- How to get creative with a technological topic
- Intro to effective slide design
- How to deal with stage nervousness
In-person
Basic Workshop: 1 Day, 4 hours
Advanced Workshop: 2 Days, 3 hours each
Number of Participants: 10-15
Speechwriting Session
In the individual session, we will focus on a specific speech or presentation, including but not limited to a conference talk, podcast, feature demo, or product pitch. We will brainstorm and structure the story, write a script, and plan the slide design. Most importantly, we'll rehearse the presentation together to ensure flow and confidence. Prior participation in the storytelling workshop is ideal but not necessary.
Duration: 60-75 min
Suggested number of sessions: 3
Hackathon Demo Prep
A hackathon team that prepared the best project can be sometimes overlooked because of a poor or unexciting presentation. During the final hours of the hackathon, I will present the principals of storytelling, and work individually with each team to prepare a prize-worthy demo that effectively demonstrates the team's efforts.
Duration is based on number of teams
Blog Writing Workshop
Anyone can write a blog post. But how do you write a blog post that is engaging and valuable? How do you write a blog post that is relatable and very shareable?
In this workshop, we’ll learn about the place where storytelling meets blog posts. We’ll discuss topics in tech that lead to strong content, and the types of blog posts we can create. We’ll cover the blog post structure, a clickable title, and various media. Most importantly, we’ll focus on giving value to the audience, with posts that will strengthen our company, and our brand.
Duration is based on number of teams