Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge & Selection

Storytelling is today the main tools one haves to promote your brand, product or idea. For the last  10 years, I’ve been involved in educational projects, specially focused on millennials. In order to  understand how to better communicate the information we wanted our audience to learn we asked  ourselves two questions: what millennials are interested in, and how they consume information. The  conclusions showed us that they are more willing to consume information when is given by someone  in the format of a story, for example, we saw a huge increase in Vlogers that talked about academic  issues like geography, politics and history, and they were very successful in their channels.

Application

We decided to tell our story as our main educational tool. Instead of talking about general history,  we started the conversation y telling our personal history. Before even talking about complex  realities, we talked about our personal challenges and dilemmas. Our classes became sessions and  the structure of teacher and students disappear. We were equals talking about real issues, learning  about how history could help us overcome our challenges by learning from it. Another very  important aspect is that we encouraged the participants to have a conversation with us, as  millennials are so used to do in social media, we gave them an opportunity to tell their stories.

Insight & Approach

Education is a challenging process, and with every generation we should study a better way to do it.  Sadly, formal education is less open to changes. Our results show that, when applying storytelling  techniques to education, engagement grows and students are more open to learn.

By telling our story we became humans to the participants, and they were interested in hearing  what we had to say. More interestingly, we were able to discover that they had a lot to say too and  they realized that they knew more than what they thought about the subjects we were talking about

Now, I work in an executive manager position. Until this course I was not able to see the use of this  technique to my new job. This course allowed me to better understand how I can use techniques  from different backgrounds to create more holistic plans for the nonprofit I manage.

I think design thinking, in combination with classic techniques of project management, will allow us  to create programs that adapt better to the new reality of the world.

Mauro Pacheco


Reflection – Storytelling Challenge & Selection Storytelling is today the main tools one haves to promote your brand , product or idea . For the last 10 years , I ’ve been involved in educational projects , specially focused on millennials . In order to understand how to better communicate the information we wanted our audience to learn we asked ourselves two questions : what millennials are interested in , and how they consume information . The conclusions showed us that they are more willing to consume information when is given by someone in the format of a story , for example , we saw a huge increase in Vlogers that talked about academic issues like geography , politics and history , and they were very successful in their channels . Application We decided to tell our story as our main educational tool . Instead of talking about general history , we started the conversation y telling our personal history . Before even talking about complex realities , we talked about our personal challenges and dilemmas . Our classes became sessions and the structure of teacher and students disappear . We were equals talking about real issues , learning about how history could help us overcome our challenges by learning from it . Another very important aspect is that we encouraged the participants to have a conversation with us , as millennials are so used to do in social media , we gave them an opportunity to tell their stories . Insight & Approach Education is a challenging process , and with every generation we should study a better way to do it . Sadly , formal education is less open to changes . Our results show that , when applying storytelling techniques to education , engagement grows and students are more open to learn . By telling our story we became humans to the participants , and they were interested in hearing what we had to say . More interestingly , we were able to discover that they had a lot to say too and they realized that they knew more than what they thought about the subjects we were talking about Now , I work in an executive manager position . Until this course I was not able to see the use of this technique to my new job . This course allowed me to better understand how I can use techniques from different backgrounds to create more holistic plans for the nonprofit I manage . I think design thinking , in combination with classic techniques of project management , will allow us to create programs that adapt better to the new reality of the world . Mauro Pacheco