Skip to main content

Storytelling Structure: Nancy Duarte

    As a storyteller, I believe that I’ve usually done a good job maintaining a focus on the details that are relevant, and with my story structure. When telling a story I have usually relied on the structures that I learned in primary and secondary school. I remember studying the storytelling 5 act structure of the storytelling pyramid. Duarte (2011) recounts this storytelling technique throwing me back into my tenth-grade literature class, only to tell me that this structure does not in fact capture the hearts of audiences and inspire change! Duarte (2011) contends that the best storytelling structure involves highlighting the gap between the status quo and an alternative future while alternating between these ideas. The structure ends with a call to action. She also describes effective storytelling techniques including modeling behavior, variety, audience engagement, repetition, and metaphor (Duarte, 2011). 

Image from: https://seattlewebsearch.com/2020/09/make-more-creative-content-using-pixars-elements-of-storytelling/

    I do not claim to have ideas and visions of the future that would change the world like Steve Jobs or Martin Luther King, Jr. I see ways that I can use techniques from these wise people and  “to have a dream and make it real” (Duarte, 2011, 15:56). I am currently in the process of creating a future story for myself. This story is a vision of the future and where I’d like to see my place in it. In my story, I explore personal, professional, and lifestyle. In order to leverage the storytelling back and forth storytelling stricture, I can tell the story of what is, in regards to each element of my life followed by what could be.

    Alternating, between these two states, rather than telling the full story of what is, followed by the full story of what could be helps to raise the excitement of the audience. The modulating structure also allows me to built excitement with repetition and provides an opportunity to ensure there is variety in storytelling. I do worry that the audience and purpose of my future story are too narrow. The story of my future is very personal and salient to me, but using these techniques to tell the story in a compelling way will be entertaining, informative, and hopefully inspiring to others. 


References

Duarte, N. (2011). The secret structure of great talks. TEDxEast. https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I found the Standards in my Life

I had standards by which I lived my life before I could explicitly identify them. I found that not every choice I made brought me closer to the person I wanted to be. I make decisions every day that bring me joy, sadness, fulfillment, and yearning for more. In an effort to understand how I make these decisions, and to be more intentional, I recently started a journey to reflect on my own core values. I have made many moves in my life and I wanted to better understand how I can make decisions that align with my core values. To facilitate this introspection I asked myself the questions below. In reflecting on these questions I found patterns. Patterns of behaviors and ways of being that helped me understand how I have lived in and out of alignment with my core values. Now that I am aware of them, and have them written out, these are my standards for decision making. These are the ways of being that help ensure I am living the life I want to live. Questions I asked myself What am I doing ...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Role(s) in a Team

Teamwork is a common thread throughout life. Growing up with parents and a sibling, working at my first job at McDonald's, and my marriage and current household all provide me with an opportunity to practice teamwork. Most, if not all, of the engagements in my life involve interacting and cooperating with others, so this exploration into how teams form and are led is an interesting practice of reviewing literature and reflecting on how I engage in my day-to-date life. As a part of a team, I tend to take leadership roles quite naturally. Whetten & Cameron (2011) describe several roles of embers within a team: task-facilitating, relationship-building, and blocking roles. I believe that I have played each role at some point. I feel most at home when I play a task-facilitation role, but I also make time and space for relationship-building. Teamwork is all about getting individual contributors to work together toward a common goal, so ensuring that the relationships among team membe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Constraints on Creative Problem Solving

Creative problem-solving requires a great deal of flexibility, and acceptance of risk which can be difficult for businesses who are generally risk averse to embrace. Many constraints also exist in our individual thinking which limit our capacity to think and problem-solve creatively (Whetten & Cameron, 2016). In my own experience in the nonprofit and social service industries I have seen these constraints hold back otherwise successful individuals.  “Well, this is how we’ve always done it” I’m sure you’ve heard this common refrain from supervisors and teammates in the past. Generally, we hear this when someone questions an existing policy, procedure, or process. The inquiry is not personal, but this knee-jerk response is a clear indicator that the individuals are experiencing some conceptual blocks to creative problem solving. Complacency is a major impediment to thinking differently, in fact, complacency may mean that the people in question are not thinking at all. When we avo...
Post a Comment
Read more