Training course
Storytelling for business: narratives people follow
A short, hands-on course in telling a business story. Learn a simple storytelling framework, pin down your main message, and rebuild your own slides and documents so your audience understands, remembers and acts.
Why take this course?
You know the material inside out. Your audience doesn't. So you put everything in, string it together in the order you found it, and hope they follow. They don't. They skim, they miss the point, and nothing happens.
There is a better way: start with the story, not the content you happen to have. You know that book you couldn't put down? That's a story doing its job. Your deck can do the same.
What you'll learn
You'll learn why stories work in business: how people make decisions, and why they remember a story far better than a list of facts. You'll learn a simple storytelling framework you can apply to any slide, deck or email. And you'll practise finding your main message, sharpening it, and putting it where nobody can miss it. Every exercise uses your own slides, in your own template, so what you learn looks like your real work.
Course content
Why stories work in business
A brief look at how people make decisions. The analytical side weighs the evidence. The emotional side makes the call. Stories reach both.
A simple framework
A storytelling structure you can apply to any slide, deck or email. It gives every document a path the reader can follow, and tells you what goes where. Simple enough to use on Monday morning.
Know your main message
The one thing you need people to remember. Most decks don't have one, or bury it on slide 14. You'll learn how to find it, sharpen it and put it where nobody can miss it. And what to do when you have more than one.
Headlines, not labels
Active, insightful slide titles that land the point and, read together, tell the summary story.
Across a whole deck
Apply the framework to a deck, or to each section of a complex one. Storyboard first, build second.
Updates and emails
An update needs less of the framework, and you'll learn which parts to keep. The same structure works in emails.
How it runs
Format
90 minutes or 2 hours, in person or remote. 90 minutes covers the framework, the main message, slide titles and three hands-on exercises. 2 hours adds a document storyboarding exercise, so you leave having restructured a whole deck. A half-day version is available on request.
Group size
8 to 15 people. Larger groups are possible but the exercises get less hands-on.
Your content
You send me a handful of real decks in your template two weeks ahead. I pick the best examples and prepare improved versions, so the before-and-afters are yours. Laptops are optional: the exercises work on paper.
What you'll get
What you need
PowerPoint basics
You should be comfortable with PowerPoint but no advanced skills are needed. The course is about the story, not the software. No pre-work.
Sample decks
A range of your real PowerPoint documents, in your house template, at least two weeks before the session. Anything sensitive can be redacted.
From the moment we began, it was clear that the course was well-structured and designed to engage participants on a deep, personal level. Steve was exceptional, combining theoretical insights with hands-on exercises that made the learning both practical and immersive. One of the standout aspects was how the training emphasized the psychological power of stories – how to connect with an audience, craft compelling narratives, and deliver them in a way that resonates long after the story is told. The tools and techniques I learned have already transformed the way I build decks. I left the training not just with a set of new skills, but with renewed confidence in my ability to engage and inspire others. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
Short session
Short on time? Start with 60 minutes
A 60-minute session for larger groups or an away day, in person or remote. It covers why stories work, the framework and how to find your main message, with before-and-after examples from your own decks. No exercises and no laptops. A good first step before the full course.
Bring this course to your team
Tell me about the documents your team writes and who reads them. A short call is enough to agree the length, the format and which of your decks to use.
Using AI too?
AI as a Precision Tool applies the same principles in your own AI tool. Use it to plan, build and review slide documents, without handing over control.