Learning
We’ve shared oodles of information about storytelling over the years. Since our first blog post in 2004, we’ve published over 1,500 posts, written an award winning book, Putting Stories to Work, and produced umpteen articles and a truckload of podcasts, videos and webpages, all in the service of helping people become better oral storytellers.
Yep, we like to share, and this learning page is designed to help you find the good bits.
Events
We offer public versions of our story programs. Check out our events calendar to see what’s coming up.
Blog
The Anecdote Blog is where we share our latest thinking and musing, mainly practical ideas for leaders and sellers.
- Learn how to spot stories
- Know how to put your point before your story
- Why you should develop your connection stories
- How to tackle anti-stories
- Adapting a podcast story to add to your repertoire
- What makes a compelling story?
Anecdotally Speaking
Our podcast, Anecdotally Speaking, has a simple objective: to help you build your business story repertoire. In each episode we share a story you could retell at work to make a business point. We then talk about why it works, how to make it even better, and what other business points you could make with it. Just add it to your personal story bank.
In our first year on air (2018) we were nominated for an Australian Podcast Award.
- 001 – An unexpected visitor from Mars
- 002 – World’s worst first day on the job
- 043 – Show amazing grace to your audience
- 046 – Work the plan and work with the people
Articles
Here is a list of the articles we have written. We recommend you start with our definitive guide to corporate storytelling. You’ll find it here. Then, check out our three vital business storytelling tips.
Books
- Shawn Callahan (2018). Putting Stories to Work: Mastering Business Storytelling. Winner of two international book awards.
- Mark Schenk and Shawn Callahan (2018). Character Trumps Credentials.
- Shawn Callahan and Mark Schenk (2006). The Ultimate Guide to Anecdote Circles.
Videos
- Story-Powered Communication—Keynote presentation
- “Scale, Climate, Inclusion!”: How stories can tackle your organisation’s biggest challenges—Webinar recording
- Story-Powered Leadership: Unpacking the secrets of the world’s best communicators—Webinar recording
- What’s your COVID-19 Response Story?—Webinar recording
- Learn how to tell a success story that will help you sell—Webinar recording
- Bring your data to life with stories—Webinar recording
- Seven ways to use storytelling to foster innovation—Virtual keynote presentation
We also have a library of short videos you can browse through on our YouTube channel.
The Story Test
We built The Story Test to help you build your skill in identifying stories.
There are 10 questions. For each, you just have to decide whether or not the example given is a story. It’s harder than you think. Click here to give it a go.
Anecdotally
Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, Anecdotally, and join over 6,500 other story devotees.
Story Finder
Need a story to tell? We share a lot of stories in our blog posts, so we decided to gather them with our Story Finder so you can quickly get your hands on a useful story.
Anecdotally Sunday
Sign up and we’ll send you a question each Sunday designed to prompt a story that you can add to your story repertoire.
Seven Tips to be a Better Business Storyteller
Are you looking for an introduction to business storytelling? Or are you hoping to refresh your existing storytelling skills? This online course will sharpen your business storytelling skills. Shawn Callahan shares the tips he normally saves for his coaching clients. You can access the course for just US$49.