From Technical Data to Compelling Stories: How to Leverage Storytelling for Effective Communication and Stakeholder Engagement

This interactive session will equip participants with the fundamentals of effective corporate storytelling, focusing on how to translate technical information and data into clear, engaging communication that lands with stakeholders. The session focuses on three key elements:

• Emotion and empathy: participants will understand the importance of bringing emotional resonance into storytelling, and learn several key devices for going 'beyond the numbers' to create genuine engagement
• Audience: participants will be able to tailor stories to their stakeholders using a simple mapping technique for creating influence
• Structure: participants will be able to apply a best-practice framework to craft a compelling story

Participants are invited to come with a real business context in mind; a project, update, or piece of analysis they are currently working on, so they can apply the tools directly to something relevant.

Session outline
1. Crafting human stories
• Why creating emotional resonance matters in storytelling
• Devices for going 'beyond the numbers' to create emotional investment
• Exercise: identifying points of emotional resonance in a business context

2. Creating stakeholder engagement
• Stakeholder mapping - the 5 key elements of influence
• Defining the 'from' and 'to' for your audience
• Exercise: articulating a 'from' and 'to' for a business context

3. Structuring compelling stories
• Introducing a best-practice storytelling framework
• 'Hooking' your stakeholders with an effective opening
• Exercise: creating a 'hook' for a business context

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About Emily Gardner

Emily Gardner is a trainer, facilitator, and author with a specialism in financial services. She began her career developing propositions and growing an innovation programme for a UK insurer - before working as a trainer and consultant across class and across the globe, working with clients such as Generali, Zurich, Aviva, and Dai-ichi Life. 

Across her career, Emily has equipped over 1,000 innovators and 250 facilitators. She combines deep knowledge of how ideas get built, with empathy for the human side of making them land.

Her approach to training is practical and award-winning: her past work conceptualising and building the Ninety Academy won Silver at the Learning Awards 2024 for Learning Provider of the Year. Participants leave with tools they can apply immediately, not just a set of frameworks.

A published author, her book The Path of the Guide: A Framework for Effective Corporate Facilitation lays out her approach to facilitating exceptional conversations and experiences in corporate settings.