We tell stories to explain and make sense of the world. But today, with media-savvy audiences tuning out ads while seeking ever-more-immersive entertainment experiences, the way we need to tell stories is changing. We know that stories are more effective at changing people’s minds than rational argument. So to get our point across, we need to view the world in narrative terms, not as a thesis to be argued or a pitch to be made but as a story to be told. This is the essence of “narrative thinking” — a new discipline that is changing the way we communicate.
A senior fellow at Columbia University School of the Arts, New York, and the author of “The Sea We Swim In”: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World, Frank Rose is one of a small group of people who have been helping to pioneer this new understanding of narrative and its role in the digital age.
In this seminar, like the Strategic Storytelling program he leads at Columbia University, he will build on these insights to explain how stories are used by entertainment industry professionals, leading brands, B2B providers, and nonprofits — and what each of these can learn from the other.
Over the course of a day and a half, participants will engage in a mix of deep learning and hands-on workshops that will leave them with a new understanding of the digital media ecosystem and provide the expertise they’ll need to communicate effectively within it. They will learn how to employ the Strategic Storytelling Model™, a simple suite of visualization tools designed to help manage the complex narrative ecosystems that audiences are coming to expect in a highly interconnected, digital environment. This model shows how a hit television series like The Walking Dead can spawn not only spin-off TV and Web series but also interactive online quizzes, highly participatory multi-player video games, and even real-world experiences like the AMC Zombie School. Together, these four levels form a “narrative platform” — a self-reinforcing network that deepens the connection of existing fans and brings new ones in.
“Narrative Strategy”, and the model that describes it, can be applied not just to entertainment properties but to businesses of every sort. The program is intended for a small group of executives who want to understand the power of immersive storytelling and learn how to leverage its potential in a digital world.
Schedule
Friday, 22 April 2022
15:00–15:15 h Welcome and Introduction
15:15–16:15 h Narrative Thinking and the Science of Story
16:30–18:00 h Story Structure/The 9 key elements of story
18:15–19:00 h Addressing Your Story Issues
19:45–21:30 h Fireside-Chat/Dinner with guest speaker, Markus Gross, Professor of Computer Science at ETH, head of the Computer Graphics Laboratory, Vice President of Research, The Walt Disney Studios and the director of DisneyResearch|Studios
Saturday, 23 April 2022
10:00–11:00 h From Telling Stories to Building Storyworlds
11:00–12:00 h Understanding and Building Narrative Platforms
12:00–13:00 h Break
13:00–13:30 h Visualizing Data – Telling Stories through quantitative information
13:30–15:00 h Team Exercise: Transforming your Company into a Media Company
15:00–15:15 h Break
15:15–16:15 h Presenting your story concepts to the class
16:15–16:45 h Final Review and Discussion
Date
22/23 April 2022
Time
from 15:00 h
Locations:
– Seminar – Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8031 Zürich
– Fireside-Chat & Dinner – Hotel Widder, Zunftstube, Rennweg 7, 8001 Zürich
Fee
1.300 CHF per person, limited to 15 participants
(Catering and Book “The Sea We Swim In” included)
To register for the seminar, please contact directly
Lucienne Gürtner, lucienne.guertner@zhdk.ch.
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