____________________
Communication

Despite New Tools like Twitter and Facebook, Storytelling is Still the Most Powerful Tool Non-Profits Possess

Waterloo – Ever since we began talking to each other, telling stories has been the most powerful way to capture attention, engage an audience, and motivate them to act. Steadily advancing technology keeps handing us shiny new tools to communicate faster and farther – think Facebook and Twitter to name just two – but in our fervour to remain current, we often ignore our natural inclination to tell a good story.

On June 15, master storyteller, author and consultant, Andy Goodman, will be in Kitchener for The First Big Thing: Storytelling as a Best Practice. Goodman will explain why he thinks storytelling remains the single most powerful communication tool non-profits possess, and he will offer specific ways organizations can use stories to advance their mission.

“Andy is an amazing speaker and the perfect person to kick off what we’re calling a Year of Storytelling,” said Cathy Brothers, Executive Director in Residence of Capacity Waterloo Region. “The next year will offer many exciting learning opportunities for non-profits and fun ways to put into action how they’re having an impact and creating change in our community.”

Goodman has been invited to speak at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs at Princeton, as well as at major foundation and non-profit conferences. In 2007, he was selected by Al Gore to train a thousand volunteers who conducted presentations on global warming throughout the US and around the world. And in 2008, he co-founded The Goodman Center, an online school “to help do-gooders do better”. Along with the book, Storytelling as Best Practice, he is author of Why Bad Ads Happen to Good Causes and Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes.

This workshop is held on June 15, 8:00am - 12:30pm at The Digital Media Hub event space, Kitchener, Ontario. To register visit this website: www.cwrstorytelling.eventbrite.com

The workshop is presented in partnership with The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation.