To Dr Eric Miller's homepage

 

Notes on "Storytelling Workshops
for People in the Business World"

 

 

These 2 articles mention Dr Eric’s work in this field:

 

"Storytelling can Effectively Train Employees",  The Hindu (Visakhapatnam edition), 7 March 2017.

 

"Selling Story",  Times of India (Crest Edition, Mumbai), 2 Sept 2012, page 4.

 


Workshop Objectives
:

This Storytelling Workshop, led by Dr Eric Miller, is designed to help Participants develop their creativity and become more effective communicators.  The Workshop can help Participants reduce stress, get to know each other better, and build teams.

The Storytelling Workshop process -- in which Participants recognise, conceptualise, create, and tell stories -- can be one of self-discovery.  Storytelling can also be used as a method of persuasion.  Both of these approaches are discussed and practiced in this Workshop.

This is a very practical and activity-based Workshop.  Participants often form groups of two or four, in which they discuss ideas, create and shape stories, and tell stories to each other.


This Storytelling Workshop involves both: 1) the study, shaping, and creating of Stories; and 2) coaching participants in the Performance of these stories.

Principles of story, and of storytelling performance, are discussed and demonstrated.


Regarding Stories

We work with Traditional Stories, such as folk tales and epics.  These are stories that have been created by communities (even if they may have been written down by individuals), and have been passed down from generation to generation.  We discuss how aspects of these stories might relate to situations in everyday life.

We also find, shape, and tell stories based on everyday life.  These are known as Personal-Experience Stories.  At times we may change aspects of these stories, and thus transform reality into fantasy.
 
We may work with stories that relate to Challenging Situations in the Workplace.  Such stories may come to involve problem-solving, conflict-resolving, and transforming challenges into opportunities.  In this way, Storytelling can be applied to the development of Soft Skills.

Participants may develop their Life Stories, especially in terms of how they discovered and have applied their unique talents and skills.

One option is for Workshop Participants to create and tell stories about imaginary projects.

We also work with stories about the companies and industries in which Participants work (a field formally known as Heritage Management).


Regarding Performing Stories

Storytelling is a form of public speaking,   We review aspects of public speaking such as eye contact; body language; and the ability to add variety and attraction to one’s ways of speaking (in terms of speed, pitch, volume, voice modulation when role-playing as characters, etc).

We look at various situations in which stories are told in the workplace, such as: Inspirational Speeches, Project Reports (at meetings), and Sales Pitches (for clients).

Participants draw multi-coloured maps of stories in the course of the Storytelling Workshop.

This Workshop can be done for any duration: 2-hours, half-day, full-day, multi-day; one 2-hour session per week for any number of weeks; etc.  Follow-up sessions (every six months, for example), can be very useful for Participants and are highly recommended.

Dr Eric especially enjoys leading Storytelling Workshops via videoconference (Skype and other).  He is a scholar and director of videoconferences, and specialises in achieving conversational interactivity with each participant in videoconferenced Storytelling Workshops.

Dr Eric lives in Chennai.  He was raised, and trained as a storyteller, in NYC.  He was trained academically as a Folklorist, at the Folklore Program, University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.  (Folklore is a type of Cultural Anthropology, concerning traditional ways of conceptualising, communicating, and making things.)  Dr. Eric brings the perspectives of Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology (small-group dynamics), Education, Theatre, and Literature to his Storytelling Workshops.

He has led Storytelling Workshops for companies such as Reliance Mutual Fund, Cognizant, and Royal Bank of Scotland.  References are available upon request.

Links to Dr Eric's CV and Life Narrative, and to some of his writings, can be found at his personal website, www.storytellingandvideoconferencing.com .

The website of the NGO he directs is www.storytellinginstitute.org .

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A videoconference course Dr Eric teaches relating to this material is described here.

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Dr. Eric Miller,
Nungambakkam, Chennai
0 98403 94282
eric@storytellingandvideoconferencing.com


Last updated, July 2017.