Half-day 1: introduction to Business Storytelling
What storytelling is in a business context and why it works, with examples of effective stories and exercises to find and tell your own story.
This page was translated from Dutch with AI.
Business Storytelling
Your figures are correct and your slides are neat, but your audience forgets your message. In this training you learn to pour a business message into a story, so that your team, clients and managers remember it. It is an in-company training of 2 to 4 half-days (1 to 2 full days) for 6 to 12 participants.
Do you recognise this?
You pitch a new proposal to the board. You have a slide with four graphs and a row of bullet points, and after ten minutes someone looks at their phone. An hour later a colleague asks what exactly you proposed.
You know your content is correct. Yet you feel that your message does not stick, and that makes you insecure about the next time.
You present, pitch or persuade every week. Yet you notice that:
- your audience drops out as soon as the facts pile up;
- your message does not stick, no matter how well you prepared it;
- your sales conversations look like a list of features instead of a conversation;
- you do not know where to get a good story from.
That is rarely due to your content. Usually a structure that takes people along is missing: characters, tension and emotion.
Why does your message not stick while your content is correct?
People rarely remember a list of facts. They remember what they felt and what they could imagine. Without characters, tension and a line that takes them along, even a strong proposal slips by.
That costs you time with every presentation, every quote and every team meeting where your message does not get through. It also costs some confidence in yourself, because you feel you have more to tell than comes across.
It does not have to stay that way. Telling a good story is a skill you can learn, and you do not have to be a writer for it.
How do you pour a business message into a story?
A story has a recognisable structure that you can learn to use: tension, emotion, characters and plot. You learn to find one that suits your audience, build it up and deliver it with your voice, your body language and your gestures.
Our coaches know the pressure of a presentation where everything has to be right. We build the programme modularly, so you work on what matters to you and your team, from presentations and pitches to sales conversations.
You practise with your own situations, give feedback on each other's stories and then choose the depth of the masterclass yourself. That way your next message becomes something people remember.
What you can do after the training
After the training you can:
- recognise the structure of a good business story: tension, emotion, characters and plot;
- find a story that suits your audience;
- build up and tell that story with your voice, your body language and your gestures;
- use storytelling techniques in presentations, pitches, sales conversations, marketing and leadership;
- give and receive feedback on each other's stories.
This is how we approach it
The programme is modular and we tailor it to your questions and expectations. The basis counts two half-days, together 1 full day. The full masterclass counts four half-days, together 2 full days.
Half-day 2: building a story
Structures for impact and retention, tension and emotion, metaphors and plot, practised with your own situations.
Half-day 3: delivering a story
Building a good presentation, using your voice, body language and gestures and giving and receiving feedback on each other's presentations.
Half-day 4: applying storytelling
Storytelling in presentations, pitches and sales conversations, in marketing and branding and in team building and leadership.
Afterwards you keep practising
Every training is extended in the THOC Leerruimte. Your material remains available and you get an AI Coach who knows the lesson.
We work experience-oriented: you immediately get to work with the material in exercises that resemble real situations.
Who gives this training
Our coaches can give this training. Tell us what your team needs, and we will propose a programme together.
Frequently asked questions
For anyone who has to persuade or inform in a business context: managers, salespeople, marketers and teams who have to convey a message in presentations, pitches or conversations.
The basis counts two half-days (1 full day), the full masterclass four (2 full days). We work with six to twelve participants per group, in Dutch, English or French. That way there is room to practise and get feedback.
A presentation training is mainly about how you speak. Storytelling is first about what you say: which story carries your message. Half-day 3 combines both with voice, body language and feedback. If you want to practise further, view Public speaking.
Every training is tailored, so we work with a quote after we have heard your question. Request a quote via contact.
Your material remains available in the THOC Leerruimte, together with an AI Coach who knows the lesson. You can continue to practise there at your own pace.
Practical
- Formula: In-company training
- Languages: Dutch, English, French
- Half-days: 2 to 4
- Participants: 6 to 12