Engaging Storytelling Techniques to Captivate Every Audience

Engaging Storytelling Techniques to Captivate Every Audience

Have you ever watched an audience grapple with relating your content to their own experiences? Have you struggled to capture their attention, engage their minds, or even earn their trust? In any training we develop and deliver, we have one immediate goal: connect with learners. Connections are at the heart of learning transfer and a critical component of learning application. How do you create that connection? That's where storytelling comes in!

Storytelling is perhaps the most human training strategy talent development professionals have at their fingertips. Stories create powerful connections between people; they can build confidence, generate trust, and activate our brains so that learning and knowledge retention is easier and more enjoyable. Knowing how to pick just the right story, properly format it, and integrate it into training content requires developing and applying solid storytelling skills. This highly interactive session will provide you with a roadmap to help you craft your own captivating stories as we talk about the science of storytelling, how to select the right story for your training, and how to effortlessly integrate stories into instructor-led, eLearning, and virtual sessions.

Learning Outcomes:

Identify optimal opportunities to integrate stories into training content.

Craft compelling stories that form connections between facilitators and learners.

Stephanie Hubka wants to live in a world where learning is exciting and inspiring and training is recognized as a natural driver of an organization’s strategy. Known for innovative solutions that initiate immediate organization-wide growth, she specializes in developing strategies and products that advance a company’s mission, vision, and professionalism. Stephanie has developed hundreds of instructor-led, eLearning, virtual, social, and blended learning programs and is a recognized expert and sought-after partner when developing new programming and refreshing legacy trainings.

Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. She is a Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD), a credential conferred by the Association for Talent Development (ATD). She is a longtime volunteer for the Metro DC chapter of ATD and served as the chapter president in 2016, and she served as a National Advisor for Chapters from 2017-2022. Stephanie is a regular volunteer for ATD’s Certification Institute and has contributed to ATD’s work in credentialing, competency modeling, and test specifications. She is a recognized speaker and has delivered sessions at conferences including the ATD International Conference and Exposition, ATD Core 4, and ASAE Great Ideas. She is a member of ATD and the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). Stephanie is also the co-founder of and travel writer for Road Unraveled, which tackles HR innovation and management through fostering a paid time off culture within organizations.

TD Capability Model