MODULE 1 – FRAMEWORK – Draft a More Engaging Narrative Framework

We start at the top looking at your overarching story or the narrative framework for your organization or your department. Is it too focused on issues? Or too focused on solutions? Both are problematic for different reasons.

An issue-leading framework tends to depress audiences because of the over-emphasis of issues in the news. However, a solution-leading framework is not ideal either, because it has been over-used in the commercial world. When you lead with your solution, you risk putting your audience on guard by making them feel like you’re try to sell them something.

So — we’ll explore frameworks that are go beyond issues and solutions – frameworks of possibility that are more suitable for purpose-driven organizations and that draw your audience in, that stimulate their curiosity and that wake up their creativity.

YOU WALK AWAY WITH: A new draft of your Updated Overarching Narrative Framework

Your framework will provide the context for your stories. The relationship between a framework and a story is a bit like that between a Christmas tree and the ornaments. The framework is the tree — and the stories are the myriad colorful figures that will light it up. In the morning, we'll focus on the tree.

A natural place for your Framework is on the landing page of your visual stories and in the descriptions of your visual stories. Including it in your media pitches will also make it a lot easier for bloggers and journalists to write about your short films and other visual stories and to place them in context in an editorial way for their audience.

MODULE 2 – STORIES – Bring Your Framework to Life Through Compelling Stories

Next we’ll dive into the heart of the matter—the stories themselves. You'll learn which stories are best suited for you to bring your overarching framework to life and you’ll learn the vocabulary for making effective requests from your writers, photographers and videographers. You’ll get clear on how to distinguish between a story and a presentation and we'll demystify the anatomy, the components that make a visual story compelling. We’ll show you our very best secrets for captivating your audience visually and touching their hearts through images and videos.

We’ll also explore humanization and stereotypes. Specifically, you will learn how to apply the right antidote to the stereotype that is getting in the way of you accomplishing your mission.

YOU WALK AWAY WITH: A fresh list of ideas for compelling photo and video stories, a system to rank and prioritize them for production and clarity for how to ensure that they will translate well visually. You’ll also have a clear process to determine which antidote to apply to each stereotype that you are having to deal with.

MODULE 3 – FLOW – Support the Flow of Your Creative Team

Finally, we'll walk you through step-by-step guidelines of exactly what you can do to support the creative flow of your production and the things that you should avoid doing when you are working with creative professionals.  [Not that you’re doing any of those things — but it’s still good to know.]

Becoming a more confident collaborator puts you in a better position to get the best stories from creative professionals.

YOU WALK AWAY WITH: A Set of Detailed Creative Collaboration Guidelines

With these in had you will gain more confidence and be more effective when collaborating creative teams.

CLOSING MODULE – MINDSET

In closing, we look at how you nourish your clarity, perspective and courage, so that you can bring your best self to your storytelling.

YOU WALK AWAY WITH: A refreshed and more expansive understanding of your potential as a communicator as well as with suggestions for a personal nourishment program for regularly strengthening clarity, perspective and courage within yourself. This way you will be more likely to deliver visual stories that are more inclusive and inspiring rather than polarizing and combative.