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About Kevin Brooks

In this workshop you will:

• Review and practice the three critical elements necessary for nurturing the creativity and collaboration inherent in storytelling: listening, structuring and telling
• Practice telling a simple story both on your own and collaboratively, with the goal of learning how to communicate effectively
• Discover how story structures and other patterns can be used to guide creative endeavors
• Acquire the tools you need to bring collaborative storytelling techniques into your own organization

It is inherent in us to listen to stories for enlightenment and tell stories for education and entertainment. Everyday people are enlightened, discouraged, encouraged and swayed by the stories others tell in life, as well as in the workplace. In business, time may be money, but the power of a good story has changed the course of individual careers, corporations and entire industries. The process of creating a story can also be a useful tool to help groups of individuals collaborate and express a unified idea or set of goals. Sometimes collaboration or team building involves everyone contributing relevant ideas; sometimes it requires asking the right questions. What remains constant is that collaboration always entails listening hard enough to know how to respond, and group story-creation techniques can greatly help this process.

This workshop is for anyone who currently works with stories, or who desires to work with stories. Please join us if you are interested in gaining a clearer understanding of how stories work, or if you'd like to gain insight into their applicability to design thinking. Kevin Brooks, a staff researcher for Motorola Labs and a professional oral storyteller, will guide participants through a series of building blocks for the storytelling experience so that they can reveal their stories in their own designs and personal narratives.