Advanced Storytelling for Public Policy Professionals

Description

In the digital era, the battle for attention is fierce. The ways we consume information are changing at an ever-rapid pace, and it has never been harder to catch and maintain an audience’s attention. Many organizations seeking to influence public policy are, unsurprisingly, struggling to keep up. But what does effective communication in the digital era even look like? In a “post-truth” society, plagued by fears of “fake news” and “alternative facts”, effective policy communicators must be masters of both data analysis and storytelling, which has been shown to be more persuasive than presenting data and facts alone.

In this three-day executive training, experienced instructors will show participants how to tell the right stories at the right time and to strike the right balance between data and story to maximize influence and impact. The techniques that will be presented at this training, which are grounded in a firm understanding of audience and purpose, will help participants become more persuasive while remaining objective and fact-based. Specific areas of focus include:

• Storytelling for policy papers, briefs, and memos.
• Digital storytelling for public policy organizations.
• Pitching policy ideas to principals and senior officials.
• Speech-writing and applied storytelling techniques.

Learning Outcomes

✔ Telling Persuasive Policy Stories. Participants will learn how to identify and employ the three most important types of policy stories. Advanced reader-focused writing strategies will help participants better persuade their intended audiences.
✔ Moving from Data to Story. Participants will learn several story development techniques that will help them find their policy story and communicate it effectively through a variety of mediums.
✔ Turning Complexity into Compelling Rhetoric. Participants will be presented with advanced principles of rhetoric and best delivery that they will then employ in different scenarios during the training.

Special Features

• Participants can submit their policy communication examples prior to the training for assessment by the instructors.
• Participants receive detailed feedback on the policy memos they write during the training.
• Participants are given an individual assessment of their policy pitches and speeches.

Instructors

David Chrisinger is an author, speaker, and award-winning teacher who believes everyone has a story that needs to be told. He currently teaches storytelling and persuasion at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. David also serves as a Contributing Writer for the New York Times Magazine’s At War Column and as the Director of Writing Seminars for The War Horse Newsroom, the only non-profit newsroom dedicated to covering post-9/11 military and veteran issues. In 2017, he wrote PUBLIC POLICY WRITING THAT MATTERS, a book for anyone passionate about using writing to create real and lasting change.

Bernhard Knoll-Tudor is an international policy expert and instructor of effective writing and speech-giving for public administrations. He is the Director of Executive Education at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. For over a decade, he worked for the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE), an international organization devoted to “hard” security as well as to human rights diplomacy where he was involved in policy design and public relations. He has held positions at the European Union Monitoring Mission, the United Nations Administration Mission in Kosovo, and with the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Registration

Early Bird Registration Fee until November 15: USD 1500

Registration Fee after November 15: USD 2000

Included: Lectures and interactive workshops; Certificate of completion; Food and drinks in the breaks; Networking and a rich social programme in Miami

Date and location: February 26-28, 2020 in Miami, FL (Exact location TBA)

Who should apply? The programme is intended for executives and professionals in public affairs, policy advocacy, and policy making.

REGISTER HERE

About Centre for Policy Writing

Centre for Policy Writing is an international policy communication consultancy based in Madrid, Spain. We organize advanced executive education workshops for governments, NGOs and international organizations. If you have any further inquiries about the programme of this event or our organization, please do not hesitate to contact us on office@cepow.org.