Practical Storytelling Essentials

An introduction to storytelling for my colleagues at Microsoft.

In this workshop, we explored why storytelling is a critical skill for our roles and careers. We discussed the importance of structure in communication and how it enhances clarity, impact, and influence. Finally, we put these concepts into practice through 5-minute demos, refining and showcasing our storytelling craft.

Transcript

1. Practical Storytelling Essentials Diego Quiroga linkedin.com/in/diego Feb 20th, 2025 Once upon a time... Every day... But one day... Because of that... Because of that... Until finally... And ever since then... The Pixar Pitch
2. Story-Telling? Storytelling? StoryTelling? Telling Stories?
3. What Storytelling Is ..and Why It Matters
5. 5-Minute Demos are Stories We Tell
6. Sometimes demos fall flat..
7. Common Pitfalls in Short Demos ❓No Clear “Why” 📚Overloading with Details 🤔Unclear Problem Statement 🔀Lack of Cohesive Story Flow 🙈Overlooking Constraints & Trade-Offs
8. We Can Do Better with Structures
10. Ready-To Use Structures (for 5-minute demos) • SCQA Situation-Complication-Question-Answer • What / So What / Now What • Problem-Solution-Benefit • Contrast (Before vs After) • Hero’s Mini Journey
11. Exercise Time
12. • Stories Are Powerful • Avoid Pitfalls • Use Structures • Time Is Short -> Focus • Keep It Simple, Less is More Key Takeaways
13. The End
14. Bonus Microtips ▪ Don't be like everybody else; jump in. ▪ Cut out extra details for clarity. ▪ Avoid exhaustive technical deep dives. ▪ Never read your slides. ▪ Keep your narrative cohesive. ▪ Frontload and recap your main points.
15. A Few Resources ▪ Your Brain on Story (YouTube video) ▪ Presentation Skills with Story Telling (O’Reilly) ▪ The Art of Storytelling (Coursera , Free) ▪ Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less (Book) ▪ Recommendations for Engage Demos (wiki) ▪ Viva Learning (search for ‘Storytelling’)