Storytelling to Inspire and Activate

Five 2h sessions  

• Feb 26 – March 5 – March 12 – March 19 – April 2. All sessions start at Noon | NYC, Bogotá | 6 p.m, Kinshasa, Brussels | 7 p.m. Gaza. Find your time here.

Instruction will be in English with simultaneous interpretation to Spanish. A.I. live captioning to 39 languages. Interpretation can be arranged based on number of registrants needing that language.

People want to be part of something that is bold, has momentum, and enables people like them to have a voice and get things done – especially when it connects on a heart level. This is a training series on how to make our organizing captivating and inspiring through the stories we tell.

The series covers the key elements of narrative, storytelling, and visuals to build powerful campaigns. We cover how to go about it in an ethical, trauma-informed way that develops storytellers. Strong and weak examples will be discussed, along with common pitfalls to avoid. Participants will practice and get individual feedback on their work.

At the end of the series, you will have done at least one interview with a storyteller and worked with them to shape a powerful piece of content rooted in their story.

The series is for anyone who wants to be a more effective storyteller. It’s for you if you want to cut through ideological walls propped up with disinformation and help people connect on a human level around real needs and common interests. It’s for you if you want to develop content that inspires sharing and action.

What We’ll Cover: 

• What makes a compelling narrative and story, the necessary ingredients 
• The Race Class Narrative: an empirically-tested narrative on race and class that resonates with working people, and when it can be most useful
• Two other narrative frameworks and when to use them for framing, narrative development, and storytelling
• Narrative power mapping and how to use it to strengthen your campaigns
• Audience segmentation and how that relates to selecting story ambassadors
• Why it’s important to connect stories to the organizational narrative, and how to do it
• How to prepare and conduct an effective storytelling interview 
• The best combination of tools for documenting stories
• Examples of stories designed to create connection and activate across ideologies
• Designing story posts to optimize sharing
• How to create a culture of storytelling in your organization 
• What it means to do ethical storytelling interviews and coaching, and why that’s so powerful in building leadership
• How to distill stories into eye-catching and engaging videos and graphics and amplify them
• Building an effective amplification network for our stories

Assignments will be made after each session designed for participants to practice learnings by trying them out right away. Instructors will provide individualized feedback. 

A Certificate in Storytelling to Inspire and Activate may be earned by attending live sessions, completing assignments, and showing proficiency.

Feedback from the 2024 program:

Main Instructors:

Deivid Rojas (he/him), SMT Staff Partner. Deivid is an organizer, storyteller, communicator, and visual artist with 10+ years of experience supporting and building organizing campaigns that tightly intertwine field organizing, communications, and digital, including over six years as the Communications Director at Fight For 15 Chicago, where he led the communications work for hundreds of actions, strikes, and protests. He developed and coached dozens of workers to become effective campaign spokespeople and landed national stories with national and international press, created content shared thousands of times online, and produced iconic protest visuals. As a queer man from Colombia, he is fluent in Spanish and has deep experience working with groups focusing on labor, Latine, racial justice, Black/Brown solidarity, and LGBTQIA+ issues. 

Joscar Amondi (she/her), Africa Movement Support Coordinator. Joscar is a queer rights activist with over 12 yrs organizing experience, using storytelling and narrative change as an advocacy tool to shift hearts and minds. Prior to joining SMT, Joscar was the advocacy officer for a nonprofit organization in Kenya, where she led a project that transformed known perpetrators of violence into queer allies and drivers for equality campaigns. She has since trained various groups across the continent on how to effectively use storytelling in different campaigns. Joscar has organized with, and supported movements for women’s rights, queer rights, and youth engagement in civic rights.

Cost

In order to support a movement organization learning space, SMT trainings are for staff of non-profits – NGOs, unions and electoral campaigns. Trainings are not for consultants or agencies. Consultants & agency staff who register will have their registrations refunded. Alternatively, on-demand trainings are available to all on SMT’s course platform.

Payment

The cost at check-out includes a 4% credit card processing fee. For orders above $600, or if you’re unable to pay via payment methods available here, email info@socialmovementtechnologies.org requesting an invoice payable via wire transfer. Please include the organization’s budget and region, and the number of registrants.

Purchasing the ticket for someone else?

Email info@socialmovementtechnologies.org with the names and emails of registrants.

Looking for individualized storytelling coaching? Work 1:1 with an SMT storytelling coach to supplement the training and get support with completing assignments, or get individualized support on improving storytelling skills, creating a storytelling plan, content creation, and more.  Registrants of this training can access coaching at a discounted rate. If interested, email info@socialmovementtechnologies.org. 

• 1 hour coaching session for $175 rather than $250 (30% discount)
• 10 hrs of coaching at a lower coaching rate, plus a 10% discount

Photo: Palestine Action and Youth Demand protest UK’s continued military support for Israel, Alisdare Hickson