SMART Volunteering-Storytelling Guide

IV What are the different ways to tell your story? First of all… The first step you surely need to start with, when telling your personal story is to decide exactly what message you wish to convey. Let us have a look at some quick hints to find it out: Do you want to... ... discuss a difficult time in your life and how you overcame it? ... find and share a deep moment that defined you? ... talk about a funny moment that changed the way you think and feel about something? ... share something you learned during your career that changed you and/or your life? ... talk about how learning from the best mentors around you launched your career? ... show how failing fast got you to success? What are some key means to tell your story? Stories can be read, watched and others to be listened to. The mean you choose for your storytelling depends on the type of your story, your audience as well as resources, like time and money. Let us see some different ways through which you can tell your story: A written story is told through articles, blog posts or books, which are mostly text and may include some images. Written stories are by far the most affordable, attainable method of storytelling as it just requires a pen and paper... or a free word processor like Google Docs. A spoken story is told in person, like a presentation, pitch, or panel. TED talks are considered spoken stories. Because of their « live », unedited nature, spoken stories typically require more practice and skill to convey messages and elicit emotions in others. An audio story is spoken aloud but recorded — that is what sets it apart from the spoken story. Audio stories are usually in podcast form and with today’s technology, creating an audio story is more affordable than ever. Tool: Anchor application, easy to tell your story using only sounds. (More information here: http://www.techsoupforlibraries.org/blog/tips-for-teaching-audio-storytelling- skills-at-your-public-library ) A digital story is told through a variety of media, such as video, animation, interactive stories and even games. This option is by far the most effective for emotionally resonant stories as well as active, visual stories … which is why it is also the most expensive. But video quality does not matter as much as conveying a strong message. -14-