wp engaging through story workshops
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“Engaging Through STORY”Communication and Neuroscience Workshops for Business
Imagine if …you could positively change your people and your business, by the stories you tell and the memories they leave behind
… what would you imagine?
A New Opportunity For 25 years Winning Presentations has been a leading communications, presentation and advisory company.
Our acclaimed methodology was developed upon the pillars of rhetoric and the on-going observations and research into what makes great communicators truly great and why their audiences selected them as “winning communicators and presenters.”
Building on these foundations, we have now incorporated the findings of modern neuroscience into a new and even more comprehensive offering. Neuroscience shows us the best approaches to use in order to inform, persuade and inspire people to take a desired course of action.
Modern neuroscience proves that the most effective and persuasive form of communication is one which involves character, logic, and emotion, presented as a STORY, even as a “business story.”
Please read on for a brief recap of where we’ve come from, and where we are going, with our neuroscience-based offering, “Engaging through STORY.”
Nigel Dickinson and David GilgristFounders, Winning PresentationsMay 2016
The Pillars of Rhetoric
Ancient RhetoricEthosPathosLogosThe art of persuasion
Being the FirstEnheduanna (2285 - 2250 BCE), an Akkadian Princess in Mesopotamia, is one of the earliest women in history whose name is known, the earliest known author, and poet and was the first practitioner of rhetoric.
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, to inform, persuade and inspire a particular audience, in a specific situation.
Creating the BasicsAristotle (384 - 322 BC), author of Treatise on Rhetoric, developed the fundamentals of rhetoric, that “thereafter served as its touchstone”, influencing rhetorical theory from then to now.
Aristotle identified the three steps of rhetoric as being:
• Invention• Arrangement• Style
Appealing to Action • Ethos - how the character,
competence, credibility and ethics of a speaker, made up of perceived intelligence, virtuous character, and goodwill, influence an audience to consider the speaker believable.
• Logos - the use of logic and reasoning, including evidence, data, and facts, to persuade.
• Pathos - the use of emotional appeals and empathy to persuade, through metaphor, amplification, storytelling, and presenting a topic to evoke strong audience emotions.
The Foundations of
Winning Presentations
Observing What WorksTwenty-five years ago, Winning Presentations began observing and researching real-world communication events, to determine what really does and does not work.
This global research identified:
• The distinctive behaviours of the world’s best communicators.
• What makes the difference between a truly great presentation, and just a good presentation.
• The specific reasons why business audiences select winning communicators and reject others.
From these foundations, Winning Presentations developed its acclaimed methodology for informing, persuading, and inspiring audiences to desired action and decision-making.
The Age of
Neuroscience and Story
It Works, It’s Science!2,350 years after Aristotle, neuroscience has proven rhetoric as the most persuasive form of communication and, the most effective when it involves character, logic, and emotion, presented as a Story.
25 years after Winning Presentations began observational research into what makes really effective communicators, neuroscience has confirmed the neurological basis for the research findings.
Neuroscience has Discovered• Facts and figures only stimulate the language
processing areas of the brain, whereas words are decoded into meaning.
• Facts and figures alone do not stimulate other areas of the brain, such as the auditory, motor, olfactory, sensory, and visual cortices. A Story does.
• Narrative story structure is the basic organising principle of learning, understanding, memory, and behaviour.
• Decision-making requires both rational and emotional inputs; without emotion, decisions are impossible.
• Brains are hardwired to absorb, understand, and retain Stories, even business stories!
Proven by NeuroscienceWinning Presentations’ methodology has been proven by 15 years of modern neuroscience:
• Classical rhetoric is the most persuasive form of communication, most effective when it involves character, logic, and emotion, presented as a Story.
• Facts and figures only stimulate brain language processing, whereas words are decoded into meaning.
• Narrative Story structure is the basic organising principle of learning, memory, and behaviour.
• Decision-making requires rational and emotional inputs, without emotion, decisions are impossible.
• Brains are hardwired to absorb, understand, and retain Stories.
Business storytelling is the most effective way to inform, persuade and inspire people.
Neuroscience of StoryIt is now known that a Story:
• Affects emotion and behaviour.
• Enhances imagination, recall, and accuracy of memory, through the release of dopamine.
• Commands attention through less daydreaming and more focus.
• Changes brain chemistry, releasing hormones:
• Cortisol, which signals and maintains attention and focus.
• Oxytocin, which promotes connection, care, empathy, generosity, compassion, trustworthiness, and sensitivity to social cues.
Neuroscience of StoryAnd it is also known that a Story:
• Lights up Broca’s and Wernicke’s language areas and the auditory, motor, olfactory, sensory, and visual cortices, with the brain responding to the Story as if the events were actually happening to the listener.
• Causes the listener’s brain to experience the same activity as the storyteller’s brain, via “mirroring.”
• Synchronises the listener’s brain with the storyteller’s brain, turning the Story into their own ideas and experience, via “neural coupling.”
• Connects listeners to the storyteller emotionally, via “narrative transportation,” involving empathy and mental imagery.
The Business of StoryStorytelling, including storytelling in business, is the most effective way to inform, persuade and inspire people …
… facts are wrapped up in context and ideas are united with emotion, for more engaging and memorable experiences, that lead to the desired action, behaviour and decision-making.
Inspiring Business PeopleNeuroscience tells us that effectively informing, engaging, and inspiring business people requires three elements, in balance:
• Story• Sensation• Spirit
In addition, retaining current business and winning new business very often requires mastery of the:
• Q & A
“Engaging Through STORY”Communication and Neuroscience Workshops for Business
We all have a
STORYto tell the world.
What’s yours?
STORYThe most effective business Story is developed following the Gilgrist Story Model, proven over 25 years to inform, persuade, and inspire business audiences, by including a critical balance of 4 key elements:
• Strategy• Structure• Proposition• Behaviour
The STORY WorkshopThis 1.5-day interactive workshop:
• Enables delegates to create and practice delivering an informative, persuasive and inspiring business story.
• Traces the history of storytelling from cave men through to today’s corporate executives.
• Explains the neuroscience of business communication and storytelling.
• Presents proven strategies, skills, propositions, and behaviours for creating a winning conversation, speech, presentation or pitch.
The STORY Workshop comprises 4 modules:
• The Past Story• The Present Story• The Gilgrist Story• Your Future Story
We can all craft a
SENSATION
to inspire people to action.How will you?
SENSATIONThe brain chemistry and narrative transportation of audiences can be greatly influenced by specific stimulation of the senses, for a “sensational” Story experience, through:
• Hearing - voice, music, and sound
• Seeing - inspiringly designed slides and / or Story-relevant props
• Smelling - scents that activate emotions, images, and memories
• Tasting - aligning food and drink to the Story, and the scents
• Touching - feeling shape and texture
The SENSATION WorkshopThis half-day interactive workshop:
• Presents how best to use slide-ware visuals to support the telling of your Story, to create an impactful and memorable Sensation with your audiences.
• Discusses when, and when not, to use visuals, and looks at the worst possible mistakes in designing slides.
• Explores the neuroscience of what creates truly effective, understandable, and memorable visuals.
• Details how best to use words, numbers, and images, to inform, persuade, and inspire audiences to desired action.
The SENSATION Workshop comprises 5 modules:
• Sensation• Foundations• Words• Numbers• Images
We all have the
SPIRITto connect and engage.
How will you ignite yours?
SPIRITSpirit is the contagious energy of connection and engagement that is transferred amongst people when vision, words, and action are aligned.
Spirit is about:
• Body• Emotion• Humour• Gesture• Language• Presence• Projection• Voice … and Smiling!
Why do great storytellers and presenters have a “great presence”, a “great spirit” on stage, and others have little, or none, of either?
The SPIRIT WorkshopThis half-day interactive workshop:
• Focuses on how best to accomplish the overall delivery of your presentation Story, from using your body and voice, to your emotions and humour.
• Presents the different types of storytelling situations and how to mentally and physically prepare for each.
• Explores the neuroscience of connecting with your audience, through dressing, looking, moving, talking, and timing.
• Explores the neuroscience of engaging with your audience, through customisation, emotions, humour, imagination, and practice.
The SPIRIT Workshop comprises 4 modules:
• Being• Connecting• Engaging• Doing!
We can all master the
Q & Aand win!
How will you?
Q & AThe underlying foundation for the neuroscience of “questions and answers” is related to the different types of “evaluation gaps,” why they exist, how they are exhibited, and how they are “closed.”
By understanding these gaps an excellent business communicator and storyteller can “master the Q & A” and ignite the desired action and decision-making in their audience.
This is critically important, because 70% of audience decisions are made during the Q & A.
Even if great communicators deliver excellent Stories perfectly, if they do not master the Q & A, they are unlikely to achieve the desired response from their audience.
The Q & A WorkshopThis half-day interactive workshop explains the neuroscience of:
• Why have a Q & A?• How long should a Q & A be?• Why do people ask questions?• How best to answer the
different types of question?• Handling the major challenges
of a Q & A session?• How to prepare for and
conduct a Q & A as a team?• How to handle disagreements?
Delegates also practice asking and responding to the different types of commonly asked questions.
The Q & A Workshop comprises 4 modules:
• Fundamentals• Strategies• Challenges• Concluding
Ignite the Neuroscience of
“Engaging through STORY”
in your Business!
Please contact