Sounds simple, right? You find somebody with a story about how their life has been changed… and.you.tell. it. But thats like saying you find a picture of a tasty looking meal… and you just make it.

Like a recipe has certain steps and ingredients that go into creating it, a story is the same way. If you want to know some of the ingredients that make up a compelling story, you can check out some of my past videos on the pillars of storytelling. However, in this video, I’m going to talk about the structure of your story and the different pieces that make it up.

What happens when you plan and plan and plan… and then nothing works out? You keeping moving forward and see how you can take whatever you have in front of you and create something great out of it.

Life is never as straight forward as we would like, but by remembering the principles that guide us, whether it be in life or simply when creating a story, you will emerge from the other side in a better place than where you started.

Creating stories is a bit like a maze, sometimes you plan for one thing, but 5 other things happen that push you in the opposite direction. You can stick to your plan and try plowing through or you can adapt and pivot your plan to move with the flow of things.

This week’s story tip explores one of our past projects where things did not go as planned, but because we knew what we needed to complete the story, when that character presented itself, we were able to jump on it.

How do you tell an effective story in your video? You need to make sure you know what each of the 5 pillars are that your story is built on. In this video, I give a brief overview of those pillars, but for a bit more info about each one, check out my other videos.

5 Pillars of an Effective Story

1. Your Goal

2. Your Audience

3. Your Plot

4. Your Character

5. Your Locations

Crazy couple of weeks, huh?!?! Will be hard, but I encourage you to be thinking about how what is going on right now, fits into the story of your organization’s future? How can what you are doing to overcome the obstacles you’re facing, actually be an asset to you after this is all over? The landscape of society and culture is changing rapidly, as leaders in our community and organizations, we need to be thinking about how what we are doing now, will help move us towards the new normal we want to live in.

Taking a little break from talking about the pillars of storytelling to encourage you about being intentional with the time you have right now. As things are slowing down in the world, give yourself the space to brainstorm and dream about what stories you would like to tell.

Hi Everyone! Here is #storytip #3 where we explore the plot of you video. How do you emotionally engage your audience? Hint: people engage with people, not numbers =D . Watch to learn more!

Time for another #storytip video where I discuss different tips and tricks for creating and telling a compelling story. We’re starting with the pillars of what an effective story is built on. This video touches on one of those pillars: your goal.

I’m starting a series of short #storytip videos, where I discuss different tips and tricks to creating and telling a compelling story. We’re starting with the pillars of what an effective story is built on. This video touches on one of those pillars: your audience.