Why storytelling should be your next transformative skill

This is Part 1 of a two-part series.

Through stories, we learn about people – their experiences, traditions, or cultures – and they sometimes help us reflect on our own opinions and experiences. In today’s world, sharing stories, or storytelling, is a strong means of connection. As graduate students or early career researchers, storytelling can be a transformative skill where we can present complex concepts, issues, or findings in a way that can help people understand and appreciate the greater impact of our work.

How does storytelling connect others to your research and its wider implications? To start, people tend to gravitate toward narrative structures. Since academic work often consists of complex ideas, frameworks, and facts, storytelling can transform the factual and structured tone of academic work into something relatable, conversational and easy to understand. Instead of using terminologies found in academic papers, storytelling makes use of everyday, accessible language. I’ll always remember a mentor who told me before I did a live three-minute research presentation (SSHRC Storytellers), “You don’t want the audience to walk away thinking you’re smart or you know so much; you want them to leave remembering how the topic relates to their own lives.” The personal touch and humanistic nature of storytelling takes away the overwhelming feelings audiences might have when trying to understand complicated information. The goal is for the listener to understand the topic and, ultimately, its relevance in terms of current issues that aim to make our communities better.

Here’s the good news: we can become effective storytellers, and graduate school offers many opportunities to hone your craft. Presenting to live audiences in coursework, defending a thesis or dissertation, or speaking at conferences are all excellent opportunities to turn your research into a compelling narrative. For example, instead of saying, “research indicates that children who engage in regular reading with their parents actively demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in academic performance, with 25 per cent increase in standardized test scores and an overall improvement in their social participation among other children,” you can keep your audience engaged by sharing a real-life story. In this case, you can describe a family you have interviewed or that you know personally; describe their struggles and the entire journey of the parents in encouraging their child to read every day, and how that simple change led to improved social skills, school success and a love for learning in the child. Sharing a personal story puts a light on not just the challenges and positive outcomes of your research, but the entire experience, making it more meaningful and impactful for the audience.

Furthermore, recorded or written works such as video presentations and reflection papers allow you to better curate the experience by expressing your ideas creatively, both visually and verbally. Job interviews, scholarship or school applications, or articulating your goals and objectives are also venues to practice these skills. They allow a more intimate setting that invites you to speak about your professional background (how many times have we heard the question “Tell me about yourself” in job interviews?).

Just like any skill, the more you practice, the more you improve. Not only do you improve your communication skills, but it can also help you better understand your research. In the process of talking about your work, you may be surprised at the different angles from which to look at your topic, whether from a practical or layperson’s standpoint. With each delivery, along with questions from the audience, you may find things to modify, add, or change to make the next presentation relevant and relatable along the way. In my experience, I tend to include current social issues or recent events that can resonate with the audience. Even my ways of delivery change depending on many factors:

• Am I comfortable with the presentation space?
• Will hand gestures make me feel more comfortable?
• Is it going to be a large group or audience?
• Is it the kind of presentation that requires slides, or can I present by simply speaking to the audiences?
• Is it a good place to speak outside of my script and be creative?
• Is it a one-way presentation, or is it a two-way conversation where I can invite audiences to respond or share their thoughts?

The only way to discover and make use of your potential is to keep finding opportunities to tell your story.

Part 2 of this article will share ways to tell a story for a research presentation competition.