Storytelling as Edutainment Words empathize, Words energize, Words mesmerize, If they are sculpted well, express inner joy

and are cut to size.

We love entertainment and some of us would be happy if we dont have to work and can do entertaining activities the whole day. Some of us are lifelong learners and are always on the lookout for an opportunity for personal development, be it formal (training/coaching) or informal way. What if you could get the best of both worlds, the best of education and entertainment Well that is not utopian and is practically possible through the magic of storytelling. Storytelling is edutainment. !et us take few e"amples in professional storytelling conte"t# $) Case Studies % &ase study is nothing but a story. 't is a true story of a problem faced by a company or sometimes an imaginary story. &ase study was my favourite tool both as a student and a teacher. 't is also very fle"ible in terms of length/depth as one can use a caselet (anecdote) of half a page or a book si(e case study of )** pages+ ,ather than being theoretical, it takes a practical situation and gives opportunity to discuss alternative solutions. )) Customer Testimonial Stories % - customer testimonial which is in a story format, influences us more strongly than a ./0 lines testimonial, especially in case of high value (and intangible) services. 1any people have uni2ue eye opening e"periences during travel to faraway places and such moments of truth can be converted into powerful stories. .) From Success to Mega Success % 'nspirational storytelling is a powerful tool to inspire the audience to transform and to take the storyteller from success to mega success simultaneously (by building the reputation or brand). ,ead this anecdote# ''I am not successful yet, how can I write a success story?'' good !uestion, which came from a prospecti"e client #a life coach$ who considered herself not successful yet, %ecause she had only &'( high profile clients. I ga"e a honest piece of ad"ice. ''If we ha"e %een a%le to get e"en one good client we must consider oursel"es successful and we only need to repeat the success now. )hare your anecdotes #short stories$ of success and experiences to %egin with and you will soon %ecome successful in the eyes of the society too. nd then you will %e ready to share '*he )uccess )tory.' ''

0) Viral Marketing of Socially Useful Ideas % Some socially beneficial ideas if presented in an entertaining way become more appealing and also stay in our memory for a long time. ' remember seeing a 34 campaign, 5With a cigarette in my hand, ' feel like a man6. 3he anti/smoking campaign advertisement ended with, 5-nd ' was a dead man6. 't was a powerful message in story format and has stayed in my mind for almost )* years. 7sing social media, such socially useful ideas can be promoted at low cost by attempting viral marketing through worthy story content.

8) Training Concepts With Help of necdotes and Stories % Stories have always been popular with trainers/teachers to teach e"ecutives/students. !et us take an actual e"ample of an educative and yet entertaining anecdote# *he +eautiful ,ady and a -aughty udience' .ecently during a /ersonal +randing Wor0shop with )ales and 1ar0eting professionals, I tried to ma0e things simple for them and told them you can apply I2 model # wareness, Interest, 2esire and ction$ of product ad"ertising to personal %randing also. I was trying to correlate it with the popular 34/ or 3isi%ility, 4redi%ility and /rofita%ility approach. 5irst you %uild "isi%ility, then concentrate on impro"ing credi%ility and finally create profita%ility %y monetizing. gentleman !uestioned, 6ow? and a young'%eautiful lady "olunteered to answer. )he started explaining, )uppose I am %uilding my personal %rand, the first thing I would do is to create ' wareness' a%out myself #e.g. my coaching ser"ices$, then create an 'Interest' and then a strong '27)I.7'. # hem, hem$ I noticed many mem%ers of the audience could not stop their naughty smiles and I re!uested her to sit down and too0 o"er. *he lady was em%arrassed and I was em%arrassed to see her em%arrassed. 1y due empathy for her though. 9) Emotional Connect and Empathy % - great story evokes the highest of empathy, great empathy creates the highest of story. :mpathy also helps in forming an emotional connect with the audience. ;reat storytellers believe that people are basically good. 'f you believe that, then only you can move them, e"cite them, and make them laugh and cry. -nd who knows may be more. 3hose who are sincerely empathetic and can be a bit dramatic at the same time end up becoming the best storytellers. 3he story needs an element of drama or else it would taste like lemonade without sugar.

<) Story as Source of Inspiration ! - story can be even more than edutainment. 't can change our very life by removing our mental blocks through a role model. Stories may inspire us to take action and transform our life forever. So we must find our =,ole 1odel Story.= -ll human beings have uni2ue challenges and mental blocks. 3he story which inspires us the most is the story in which the hero/protagonist goes through the same struggles as we do and faces similar challenges. >or e"ample if you are a woman entrepreneur, you feel most inspired by the stories of other (successful) women entrepreneurs. 'f you have settled in another country, you need a role model who succeeded in another country and so on. 3oday we have easy availability of inspiring success stories (through ;oogle etc) and you can find hundreds of people, who came from small towns, poor families, born with physical disabilities and other challenges yet they succeeded against all odds. >ind your role model stories, get inspiration for action and create your own =3ouching/ ,ocking= story. So ladies and gentlemen are you ready