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Introduction

We are influenced by other people’s stories, and we influence others with our own. They become a part of the foundation for our new experiences in life and they emerge into our identities. That goes for the good ones. However, there are a lot of stories that never make it past the sender, so to speak; even if it has a great mission. That is simply because the ingredients have not been structured in a way that enable the power of storytelling to play out.

In this course, we learn about the entities of a good story, and when and how to use it wisely. Through the history of rhetoric, from the ancient to the present time, we have used stories, mythos, to engage and convince an audience of our ideas. The most successful businesses in the world, use storytelling as a strategic tool, but the good news is, that these are all insights that can serve everyone. Not just the biggest brands with the most money.

A good story can make an artist on the music scene. A good story can get you the job that you want. A good story can get your customers more emotionally involved with your brand. Hence, the skill of being a good storyteller, has become an important tool that one is looking for at a workplace.

Course content

Applied storytelling will give the students an understanding of the origin of this subfield, but the current position and practicalities of being a professional storyteller make out an even bigger part of the course; hence the various topics are not equally discussed in depth.

The topics cover:

  • Storytelling from ancient to present time
  • The power of storytelling as a strategic tool
  • The narrative structure of a good story told
  • Characteristics of stories
  • The creative process that is required 
  • The corollary effects of stories

Disclaimer

This is an excerpt from the complete course description for the course. If you are an active student at BI, you can find the complete course descriptions with information on eg. learning goals, learning process, curriculum and exam at portal.bi.no. We reserve the right to make changes to this description.