Reflection - Storytelling

Challenge & Selection

Storytelling is a design thinking tool that is used most of the time. Our days revolve around telling  stories and doing things that will become stories later on. What we see on the television and what  we hear on the radio are all stories. People love stories, it’s innate to everyone. That’s why when  you want to capture someone’s attention, you tell a story. Stories can be told through letters,  pictures, and by talking. The latter, or public speaking, is one of the most common ways of  storytelling. Public speaking has generally three goals: to inform, to persuade, and to entertain. As  an Electronics Engineering student, it is not only necessary to have knowledge about our field, but  it is also essential that we know how to communicate effectively. In this way we can connect with  people of the same interests and even people with of different fields more effectively. This will  also be useful for the future when we communicate with potential business partners and clients.

Application

I am not fond of talking in front of a big audience. I can write about my thoughts on paper but I  always have a hard time discussing them in front of people. Now that I am on my final year, a lot  of subjects require us to speak in front. I try to practice speaking in front of a mirror every now  and then. My stage fright and lack of confidence hinders me to speak in public confidently. My  other problem is I overthink about what I am going to say that in the end I forget to tell the really  important information. For one of my classes I need to present a report and this time I tried to use  the design thinking tool Storytelling. I tried not to focus on the technicalities and instead drew a  storyline. I began with the problem followed by the needs and from that the story flowed logically.  The needs were justified and the story moved on to the solution to the problem. Next to that was  the objectives and the discussion of the different methods and processes that will take place in  order to achieve the proposed solution. Story telling also helped me catch and hold the attention  of the audience. I was still nervous but it was an improvement compared to my other reports in  the past.

Insight and Approach

Storytelling helped me a lot to improve myself. I learned that even if you know all the terms and  different technicalities, it is nothing if you can’t catch the attention of the audience. Catching their  attention is hard but holding the audience’ attention is harder. You need to have a remarkable  story if you want to hold their attention and to have what you’re saying ingrained in their minds. I  think this tool will be very helpful for everyone because everyone deserves to be heard and  remembered. With this design thinking tool, anyone can achieve the goals of public speaking.  These are to inform, to persuade, and to entertain.

My classmates also applied this design thinking tool in their presentations and I think we all  improved compared to our previous performances. We were more confident in speaking in front.

There is still a long way to go but I think if we practice storytelling more and more we will be able  to engage with people from different fields more effectively. This is a gain for everyone.

I think storytelling is the simples design thinking tool among the tools discussed in this course  because it is innate to almost all of us. We love telling and hearing stories. We can further develop  ourselves through using design thinking tools such as these in the future.

