Reflection-Storytelling

Challenge    Storytelling is the process of using fact and narrative to communicate something to your  audience. Some stories are factual, and some are embellished or improvised in order to better  explain the core message.

Storytelling is an art form as old as time and has a place in every culture and society. Why?  Because stories are a universal language that everyone — regardless of dialect, hometown, or  heritage — can understand. Stories stimulate imagination and passion and create a sense of  community among listeners and tellers alike.

Telling a story is like painting a picture with words. While everyone can tell a story, certain people  fine-tune their storytelling skills and become a storyteller on behalf of their organization, brand, or  business. You might’ve heard of these folks — we typically refer to them as marketers, content  writers, or PR professionals.

I love to listen to stories. I get to learn a lot of things from them. Better storytelling can help in  better communicating with a person which would eventually help to understand someone in a  much more efficient way.

Selection

Every member of an organization can tell a story. But before we get into the how, let’s talk about  why we tell stories — as a society, culture, and economy. There are a variety of reasons to tell  stories — to sell, entertain, educate or brag.

Stories help solidify abstract concepts and simplify complex messages. Taking a lofty,  non-tangible concept and relating it using concrete ideas is one of the biggest strengths of  storytelling in business.

Take Apple, for example. Computers and smartphones are a pretty complicated topic to describe  to your typical consumer. Using real-life stories, they’ve been able to describe exactly how their  products benefit users … instead of relying on technical jargon that very few customers would  understand.

Stories make us human, and the same goes for brands. When brands get transparent and  authentic, it brings them down-to-earth and helps consumers connect with them and the people  behind them.

Application

I use the storytelling tool much often. I love UI/UX design. So whenever there a problem comes up  it’s very crucial to do the background research, take interviews of users, explain your insights to  stakeholders. So I use stories to make an impact, and help them understand things better. It also  helped me to create empathy and understand users’ emotions and frustrations so that I can  design a better product for them.

I also link filmmaking. Particularly I am interested in cinematography and scriptwriting. So as we  know and the great movie starts with a great script. So when a movie project is started, I start  brainstorming and as soon I come up with some good idea, it’s my job to explain my thoughts to  my team very clearly keeping in mind the budget constraints.

If you are interested too in music videos and filmmaking, please check out our youtube channel  Cinematic Section, IIT Roorkee​ or use the URL - https://www.jackson.com/list/explorehomepage.htm

Insight & Approach

It is really a great tool. It helped me explain myself and my thoughts to others in a much more  effective way. I got to learn that good stories are-

● Entertaining: Good stories keep the reader engaged and interested in what’s coming next.

● Educational: Good stories spark curiosity and add to the reader’s knowledge bank.

● Universal: Good stories are relatable to all readers and tap into emotions and experiences  that most people undergo.

● Organized: Good stories follow a succinct organization that helps convey the core message  and helps readers absorb it.

● Memorable: Whether through inspiration, scandal, or humour, good stories stick in the  reader’s mind.

Also, I learned that, for a better storytelling approach, carry out the following processes-

1. Know your audience

2. Define your core message

3. Decide what kind of story you’re telling

4. Establish your call-to-action

5. Choose your story medium

