Storytelling in training is an effective way to relay facts and give your participant the information they need in a context they can understand. Unfortunately, crafting a story that resonates with participants isn’t always easy.
Stories need structure, something that keeps participants involved until the end. To make storytelling a bit easier, I pulled together the framework I generally use when creating a story. This simple formula aims to help you build a good story without giving too much information away too soon.
I like to think of building a story like building a set of stairs that lead to the lesson or objective of the story. A graphical representation of the stair analogy looks something like this.
Let’s take a look at each step in the storytelling structure in more detail.
1. Protagonist Background
Start the story with the background of the protagonist where people have the opportunity to find a connection by eliciting emotions. We care about the characters in the story if we understand what brought them to the place where we start the story. It is important not to give too much away early in the story. A good story builds.
2. Set the Hook
Setting the hook early in a story is a technique that draws us in and usually involves the flaw of the character. The best characters are flawed in some way. Achilles is much more interesting because of his vulnerable heel.
3. Inciting Incident
All good stories have an action that triggers the events that follow. During the inciting incident, your protagonist ends up in a sticky situation and most stories follow linearly from this point.
4. Barrier
As the protagonist works towards his or her goal, they should encounter conflict. Stories need conflict to keep our attention.
5. Another Barrier
The more drama, the more we care about the outcome. A minimum of two barriers should happen in every good story.
6. Moment of Truth
The moment where the lesson is learned. This is best if it is an unpredictable moment. Everyone loves a good twist.
7. Closing
What did the protagonist learn during the story? The closing drives home the point of the story.
Do you use storytelling as a part of your training? How do you structure a story? I’d love to hear about it in the chat below.
