(Alexandria, VA) April 28, 2020—Stories are a common language. They are memorable, actionable, and emotional, making them perfect for training and instructional design. In Instructional Story Design: Develop Stories That Train (ATD Press, April 2020), master story designer Rance Greene shares his story design process for discovering, designing, and delivering winning instructional stories that connect audiences emotionally and intellectually and motivates them for action and change.
“There’s a tendency to avoid the language of stories when it comes to training adults,” says Greene. “Unfortunately, storytelling as an instructional design skill has been largely abandoned. We know instinctively and research continues to prove that storytelling works amazingly well for learning. But when it comes to writing the story and connecting it concretely to learning objectives, designers may feel intimidated or too pressed for time to think creatively.
“The goal of this book is to thoroughly equip talent development professionals and educators with a repeatable process to design stories for any training initiative on any timeline,” states Greene. “The story design model seamlessly blends with instructional design, to empower the designer to develop stories that connect with audiences both intellectually and emotionally.”
Greene focuses on knowing your audience and what you want them to do; unearthing the best story for instruction by asking the right questions of stakeholders and subject matter experts; creating relatable characters and strong conflict for powerful stories; storyboarding a finished product; overcoming common barriers; and maximizing stories for training. Instructional Story Design examines stories from many different delivery methods, including instructor-led, blended learning, microlearning, games, branching scenarios, and immersive technologies like virtual-reality.
Greene uses relatable stories to illustrate his points. The book is a comprehensive resource, including case studies from Pizza Hut, Southwest Airlines, and PepsiCo; an audience profile questionnaire; a character description worksheet; a complete instructional story design plan; and tips for using graphics, audio, and video.
He adds, “Through storytelling, talent development professionals have the power to change the culture of training within their organization and create training that makes a lasting impact on their learners.”
About Rance Greene
Greene is a playwright, songwriter, and story writer. His connection of instructional design to story design has made him a sought-after speaker and consultant. He formed needastory.com to help talent development professionals and leaders understand their audience. His presentations are noted for their lively interactions, practical skill-building and stories. He involves audiences and students by asking them to think, respond, analyze, and ultimately discover that they are the best storytellers for their audience. He is based in Dallas, Texas.
About ATD and ATD Press
The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world’s largest association dedicated to those who develop talent in organizations. ATD’s members come from more than 120 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD Press publications are written by industry thought leaders and offer anyone who works with adult learners the best practices, academic theory, and guidance necessary to move the profession forward. For more information, visit td.org/books.
Instructional Story Design: Develop Stories That Train
ISBN: 978-1-950496-59-4| 280 Pages | Paperback
td.org/books/instructional-story-design
To order books from ATD Press, call 800.628.2783.
To schedule an interview with Rance Greene, please contact Kay Hechler, ATD Press senior marketing manager, at [email protected] or 703.683.8178.