Storytelling for Learning Designers
Most learning designers struggle to create stories that captivate their audience - especially on a deadline.
Do you struggle to engage your audience and get them excited about learning? Do you find that, after training, employees quickly slip into their old habits, making training moot?
The best way to change employee behavior is to engage them emotionally. And the easiest way to engage emotions is through storytelling.
But not everyone feels comfortable telling stories. How do you know you've used the right one for your audience? What's the best way to approach creating a story from scratch? Sage Academy created a trusted workflow that guides learning designers through the process of story design so that they can quickly and consistently write stories that engage and inspire.
As filmmakers with a background in instructional design, Austin Welch and Richard Fleming have combined industries to tell stories that adult learners love. Now you'll get an inside look at their process and how to create your own amazing narratives for leadership development, keynote presentations, compliance training, onboarding, marketing, and more.
No storytelling experience is necessary for this course. But in a matter of a few hours, you will be a storyteller with a completed project.
Enroll today.
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Part 1
There is a great story within every learning program.
We start with the basic mechanics of storytelling and how it applies to learning design:
- How to turn your learning objectives into compelling stories.
- Creating a strong beginning that immediately captures audience attention.
- A convenient framework for story ideas that will linger in their hearts and minds of your audience.
Part 2
Build interesting and relatable characters.
In Part 2, you will develop the people that are central to your story, and will help convey your learning objective. Strong characters are critical to good storytelling. They also develop empathy in your audience. You'll be able to:
- Create characters that pop off the page and related to your learners.
- Avoid cliches and troupes that bore learners.
- Build compelling drama and engaging antagonists.
Part 3
Keep your audience on the edge of their seats.
In Part 3, you will create a plot that pulls people in and keeps them engaged. We'll cover how to:
- Develop a unique Story World that establishes the “where and when” your story takes place.
- Learn how to make your content bingeable and keep your audience asking, “Then what happened?!”
- Develop a clear plot outline and use obstacles that relate to your learners situation or job function.
Part 4
Stay in command of your creative process.
You don't have time for writer's block or creative obstacles. In this final section, you'll write your completed story to use in your training program!
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does this course take to complete?
You can finish the entire course within four hours. The videos are short and to-the-point, but you'll want to spend time with the workbook because that's where your story unfolds.
What kinds of topics can I use this for?
You can use teaching stories to enforce important points and engage your learners' attention and emotion for any subject. Stories are great for soft skills like negotiation, sales training, customer service, and leadership topics. But they also work great for more systematic hard skills that you find in IT, healthcare, safety, and industrial settings.
How does this course differ from other instructional design courses on storytelling?
Those other courses and books are great for storytelling theory and proof-cases for why you should use stories, but where our course really shines is in the end product. Rather than reminding you that "Compelling characters engage your audience," we actually help you build a compelling character. Theory is good, but we trimmed a lot of it so that you can get your story done in a pinch.
What if I have no talent as a storyteller?
Believe it or not, storytelling is a universal human function. We all do it, even if we don't notice. The main obstacle people face when designing stories is that they overcomplicate the process. We all know a good story when we hear one, but metacognition gets in the way when we sit down to write one. Novice storytellers think it's harder than it really is, but the approach in this course streamlines the design process so your brain can't interfere. It has been tested with those who swear they don't have a storytelling bone in their bodies, and they've subsequently created incredible, engaging stories.
What kind of stuff will I learn?
Feel free to message us if you want to see the curriculum, but we kept this course lean. We cover the essentials like building believable characters, designing engaging conflict, and writing solid endings, but stayed away from overly technical elements and jargon - things like rising action, denouement, etcetera. This is a practical course that will get you a compelling, finished story. We've saved the theory for college courses on writing.
How does this work with global audiences?
Great! Stories are a global unifier and work within any culture. The themes vary from place to place, and we cover how to deal with that in this course.
What if I don't have a clear learning objective to start with?
No worries! We have a super useful section that helps you write one. The goal of this course was to have something that would walk you through the entire process, from start to finish. We've removed the headache of writing stories and only kept the fun parts.
What if I'm not creative?
Often, when people feel they're not creative, it's because they have a difference preference for how they express that creativity. Since creativity is a huge part of our work, we have designed this course to encompass a wide range of creative preferences. It doesn't matter if you're the head of marketing or a junior developer, this course will work for you.
Will my boss support me taking time to learn this?
The ROI of using stories for learning is a slam dunk within any organization. If your company wants employees to change or adopt behaviors, the best way to get them to do that is by engaging their emotions. The best way to engage emotions through learning is by using stories.
Course Facilitators
Richard Fleming
Creative Director & Owner
As the lead Creative Director at Sage Media and Sage Academy, Richard combines video production with instructional design to produce stories that engage while teaching.
Richard is a veteran story designer who has worked on everything from feature films to reality TV to Super Bowl ads. His background combines his storytelling training with organizational and leadership development to produce training films that speak to the hearts and minds of learners. This approach has improved employee performance for more than 20 Fortune 500 companies that he's worked with - delivering ROIs in millions of dollars through improved training effectiveness, reduced turnover, and overall employee satisfaction.
Austin Welch
Co-Owner
His learning films have earned three Brandon Hall Award’s and he has spoken about the emerging role of media and learning at the International Association of Food Protection, the International Conference for the Association of Talent Development, and TEDx. As a Kirkpatrick Certified Professional, Austin is always looking for ways to create emotionally intelligent training films that lead to measurable behavior change.
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Ready To Write Your Story?
In just a few hours, you will have a compelling and memorable story that perfectly conveys the message from your learning objectives - regardless of your topic or your audience.
BUY COURSEBUY COURSENeed more hands-on guidance?
Consider our live storytelling workshop. You get access to the company founders, as well as full access to the online course.