How to tell a compelling story using visuals, narrative structure and compelling content in the digital age.

2. DIGITAL STORYTELLING
@nancyyxu

3. 1. What’s the Story?
2. Pick the Medium
3. The Headline
4. Story Arcs
5. Selecting Visuals

4. DESIGNER

7. “What is the Story?”
one

8. to inform to entertain
fundraising campaign
story of your work
sharing your process
story of a beneficiary

9. INTERVIEWING
Empathy
5 Why’s
Tell me more…
What do you mean by….

10. ACTIVITY find out why your partner do the work they do,
using only why… and tell me more…

11. ACTIVITY share your story with your partner

12. “Pick the Medium”
two

13. ACTIVITY pick a different partner and
share what medium you want to use to tell your story

14. “The Headline”
three

17. curiosity gap

18. ACTIVITY brainstorm your story headline in a group

19. pop culture analysis tools

20. distillation
show don’t tell
start late, end early

21. “Story Arcs”
four

22. ARISTOTLE

23. HERO’S JOURNEY

24. WADE DAVIS
Attention grabbing introduction
Appeal to the heart
Appeal to the mind
Approachable call to action

25. ACTIVITY sketch out your story layout

26. tools demo

27. accountability buddy

28. “Selecting Visuals”
five

29. action shots

32. text/image overlay

33. go for noiseless
blur it

34. darken the
image
add a color
layer

35. go BIG
put it in a box

36. free image editor roundup

37. 1. What’s the Story?
interviewing tips, story types
2. Pick the medium
long article, photo essay, scrolling site
3. The Headline
relevance, timing and being part of a bigger
story
4. Story Arcs
hero’s journey, Wade Davis, camp fire
5. Selecting Visuals
action shots & text overlays

38. RESOURCES
 If you have a lot of text, try writing on Medium: https://medium.com/@scottharrison/the-last-walk-for-water-
979160375b4a
 If you have a lot of photos, try Storehouse: https://www.storehouse.co/stories/t7tkj-nyirazana
 If you want to pitch stories to press, find the nonprofit journalists that you like. You can also talk to our
LiveStories CEO who writes on HuffingtonPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adnan-mahmud/
 If you have "lighter" content that has mass appeal, try contributing that on buzzfeed:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/italy-is-beautiful#47kjip4
 Inspiration for your short video, Splash.org's water story, watch at the 3min mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVDGSMvlwQM
 Inspiration for headlines written withe "curiosity gap", but be careful not to overdo it:
http://www.upworthy.com/

39. RESOURCES CONT.
 Search for what topics people are searching for on the internet so you can better target your content:
http://www.google.com/trends/explore
 Search what conversations are happening on twitter so you can join ones with the most chatter. This tool
shows you which related hashtags are more popular to your topic:
http://hashtagify.me/hashtag/entrepreneurship
 If you want to practice how to distill complex info and still preserve the essence of the story, check out this
class on writing micro-fiction: http://www.skillshare.com/classes/writing/Mini-Class-Flash-Fiction-How-to-Tell-
Pint-Sized-Stories/2104850910/project-guide
 We didn't have time to cover this, but if you need to edit your photos to have them stand out more, free image
editors roundup here: http://mashable.com/2013/07/22/free-image-editors/
 If anyone have data stories they want to tell (infographics, stories that include charts, reports), we would love
to have them try our tool and get feedback! Request invite on our website: http://livestories.com/

40. thank you!
DIGITAL STORYTELLING
@nancyyxu