The story you present about yourself – as well as your project, service or product – is all-important to your success. And the more limited your resources are, the more important it is that you get it right the first time. If not, your story will not be able to cut through the noise of today's media landscape.

This is a workshop targeted at everyone, who understands the value of PR and marketing, but whose time and budget do not allow for any detours. This is particularly relevant for creatives and small businesses, who often tend to focus more on the work itself than how to communicate it. 

The workshop helps you identify the shortest possible route between you and the people you want to reach – whether they are journalists and editors, members of the public, or possible business partners and sponsors. Thus, it significantly increases your chances of cutting through the noise – and actually being heard.

When the workshop is over, you will leave with:

  • A unique and inspiring story about your project, service or product
  • An overall plan for how to communicate it to the most important target audiences

The workshop consists of two main parts:

  • Defining the most effective story
    • Presentation:
      An introduction to the craft of storytelling in the context of PR and marketing. You will learn how to:
      • Pick the elements that make up the most effective and relevant story, while also ensuring that you don't oversell your story
      • Tap into the concerns of your audience and, if possible, society at large
      • Balance your personal passion with the professional approach that ensures your audience will both be excited by your story and take it seriously
         
    • Exercise:
      Based on what you've just heard in the presentation, you will face the exciting challenge of writing the story of your own project, service or product.
       
    • Discussion:
      Your story, as well as those written by the other workshop participants, will be analyzed and developed further through group discussion. 
       
  • Communicating the story
    • Presentation:
      Once you have your story down, it's all about communicating it to the right people. And there are many ways to go about this, including the following – all of which will be discussed in the presentation:
      • Traditional PR
      • Social media
      • Your own website
      • Professional networks
      • Opinion pieces
      • Events
      • Advertising
         
    • Exercise:
      In this exercise, you will create an overall communications plan that maps out the most important people to target and the most effective channels to reach them through.
       
    • Discussion:
      Your plan, as well as the plans of the other participants, will be analyzed and developed further through group discussion.

 

Duration:

  • The full workshop is 7 hours (including lunch hour and breaks).
  • A half-day workshop (3 hours) that focuses on one of the two main parts is possible, too.
  • A 1-2 hour presentation format without exercises (but with Q&A) is also an option.

Participants: 5-15 for the workshop format. No limit for the presentation format.

Interactive elements: All workshop participants should bring along a concept for a project, service or product that they wish to communicate. This will be focal point of the exercises and subsequent group discussion.