What is a story and what is storytelling?

What is a story?

A story is a narrative account of an event or a sequence of events. It can be true or fictional. But a good story always has a core element of truth, even if it is fiction. The message the story tells, must be true. It must be consistent and authentic.

A story adds emotion, characters and sensory details to plain facts. That’s why a story grabs us, pulls us along its plot and delivers its key message powerfully.

Everyone has a story to tell. We all remember stories from our childhood. We know real life stories from our friends and families. We read great books and saw memorable movies that moved us, drove us to tears, or made us laugh out loud. Our organizations are full of stories if you look close. Stories are all around us. Our lives are a collection of stories.

There are no fixed recipes for a story, but there are several ingredients which have proven to work for thousands of years. You will learn how to use them in this course.

What is storytelling?

Storytelling is the art to tell stories in order to engage an audience. The storyteller conveys a message, information and knowledge, in an entertaining way. Literary techniques and non verbal language are his tools.

As the title of this course reveals, we focus on storytelling to influence audiences to take action for nature conservation. You can tell stories to potential donors and convince them your project really makes a difference. And you can tell stories to persuade your target audiences to stop harming and start protecting nature by answering your call for action.