Read – Five Reasons Why You Need a Digital Storytelling Facilitator including;

• You have a personal story you want to share
• You want to connect with others in your community
• You want to propose a new idea to a non-profit organization or business
• You want to engage with your stakeholders
• You want to share your origin story

Storytellers can document transformative life events in meaningful ways, and the journey can be a way to process challenging events through compassionate collaboration with Kristy and her team. Kristy is a medical mom herself, and understands just how meaningful it is to document these journeys. It’s important to her to help others feel seen in the experiences they have lived and are now ready to share.

You are likely starting to recognize digital stories are a powerful tool in advocacy and stakeholder communications, adding dimension to your marketing and communications. Supporters want to see the human element of your organization.

Have a look at how these digital stories create unforgettable and touching narratives.

Kristy is a Level 3 Common Language Digital Storytelling trained facilitator and trainer. 

She makes an emotional commitment to each and every storyteller she works with to be sure their health and wellbeing remain at the forefront of each project. Storyteller wellbeing is discussed right from the beginning, and she is mindful to work with people who are not currently in trauma. She conducts regular check-ins during her work with storytellers and ensures they have access to mental health resources.

Kristy is fully committed to helping you amplify your impact. Whether you are an individual or an organization, she will help you bring your story to life. Kristy guides storytellers through a process of planning, writing, gathering images, and creating audio for their digital stories. Creating your story is just the first step. Sharing your story is an incredibly important part of the process.

Whether it is shared within your own community or with a wider audience, Kristy is able to support you in deciding the best way to share your story and amplify your message.

The process begins with planning the project. What are the goals of the storyteller and the organization(s) (if any) involved? How will the story ideally be shared? Will storytellers work one-on-one with Kristy? Or as part of a group workshop facilitated by Kristy and a colleague? In person? Virtually?

Then every storyteller works through the four phases of digital storytelling (find, tell, craft, share) taught by Common Language DST.

#1 Finding the Story: Meaning in the Mundane

“Psychotherapists have explored the connection between storytelling and mental health for many years under the auspices of narrative therapy. Using storytelling in psychotherapy enables participants to reconstruct their experiences into coherent stories, allowing them to make sense of, or ascribe meaning to, traumatic experiences and move forward in their lives.

When we tell stories, nothing is as it seems, and asking “What is this story really about?” is important to find the story theme. The ability to find the story that needs telling in someone else’s life is the hallmark of a skilled DS facilitator and this phase of DST facilitation should be the least formulaic.

The primary outcome of this phase of DST facilitation is for the participant to distil meaning from not only profound events but sometimes even what might be thought of as ordinary events of their lives.

Excerpts from Mike Lang’s 2019 paper, “Digital Storytelling Methodology” Read it here.

#2 Telling the Story: Manifesting Life Lessons

A story is full of emotional peaks and valleys with a fundamental change in the “value-charged condition of the character’s life.” Compelling Digital Storytelling seamlessly connect the occurrence of health events with context and meaning in a participant’s life. Facilitators help participants:

•  follow classical story structure and principles,
• emphasize subtext and imagery, and
• address external, internal, and philosophical conflicts.

The primary outcome of this phase is to help participants succinctly but powerfully communicate the lesson embedded in their stories using only 200–400 words.

#3 Crafting the Story: Conveying Emotional Experience

Human emotions can be complex and hard to communicate and the audio-visual nature of DST provides an opportunity to feel the emotional experience of the creator. DST Facilitators help participants create a visually powerful DS with the:

• selection of personal and/or stock images and video clips
• pacing and timing
• cropping, movement, and overlays
• transitions; and
• music

The primary outcome of this phase of DST facilitation is to help the participant convey his or her inner emotional experience by thoughtfully co-crafting the Digital Story.

#4 Sharing the Story: Affirmation Through Audience Engagement

An important piece of storytelling is having an audience witness it. The potentially therapeutic aspect of Digital Storytelling is the affirmation inherent in meaningful audience engagement with the Digital Story. It is through audience engagement that some participants come to understand, often for the first time, that their story matters.

Debriefing a screening experience with the participant is an important final step in the Common Language DST process. This discussion provides an opportunity to reflect on the DS experience and process the feedback provided by friends, family, strangers, or healthcare professionals who viewed the Digital Story.

Read the Digital Storytelling Methodology Paper here.

Learn more, check out this one page case study, “Digital Storytelling Brings Your Experience to Life”

“Regardless of whether you co-create a digital story with Kristy or take part in a workshop you can expect to spend 16-20 hours on the project.

A single storyteller can choose to work virtually or in person depending on location.

In this example, the storyteller would work with Kristy one-on-one for 4 two hour sessions virtually over Zoom.

• Session #1 – Talk more about Digital Stories and begin to create an outline for you.
• Session #2 – Refine your writing to a 200-400 word story.
• Session #3 – Record your reading of your story and begin adding images to the video.
• Session #4 – Add in music and continue creating the video together.

Kristy then works on finishing the final draft to send you for approval.

At which point we will plan how you will share your story with your people!

Learn more, check out “Journey of a Storyteller a 3-part series in the blog.

When planning a project Kristy will work with the organizers to determine the most appropriate workshop layout for the project goals. Below is an in person weekend workshop layout. This is one example of how an in person workshop could be organized.

Introduction to Storytelling Session

3 hr virtual session two weeks prior to workshop dates

This interactive workshop will help participants learn to recognize the meaningful moments in their own extraordinary and routine experiences. We will explore: why stories matter; story structure and delivery; and there will also be dedicated time for self-reflection and one-on-one feedback to help participants identify important lessons embedded in their own experiences. Participants will leave with a rough outline of their story.

Story Circle

3 hrs evening before in person workshop or virtually a few days prior to workshop

After completion of the Intro to Storytelling Workshop, participants will spend time writing their story in approximately 200-400 words and begin selecting images to accompany their story. In the Story Circle session participants will share the rough draft of their digital story and receive feedback and ideas from the group, using the collective wisdom to further clarify their story and add emphasis and meaning.

Two-day Digital Storytelling Workshop

In person two full days are required

After a tutorial about the basics of video editing on the first morning, participants will finalize their story, record the voiceover and begin the process of importing all their audio, pictures and video into the video editing program. The second day will involve a more advanced editing tutorial and exploration of creative techniques (ie. pans, zooms, transitions, effects, filters, pacing etc.). The rest of the workshop will be spent working on their stories with one-on-one support from the facilitators as needed. Following the weekend, Kristy will finalize all the videos and deliver the final .mp4 files to each participant via email download link. The post-production process involves final audio balancing, music purchase, image review, and any final changes that participants ask for.

Story Screening and Celebration

2 hr virtual 7-14 days after the in person workshop

At this session everyone will come together to celebrate and watch each other’s Digital Stories. We will spend time discussing each person’s story and what we learned from them. This will help each participant clarify the talking points that they can use to accompany their story when they share it with their friends and family or other audiences. At this point a decision will be made about how participants would like to share their story with the organization(s) involved.

Read a case study about Heart Beats Children’s Society.

Kristy is a Level 3 Common Language Digital Storytelling trained facilitator and trainer. She completed her Level 1 training to work with individuals as well as her Level 2 training to work with groups. She now trains other facilitators.

The Common Language Level 1 training is a 54-hour online training where you begin to develop your own personal DST Facilitation style and skills.

• Trainees will create their own Digital Story
• Learn more about the technical and theoretical foundations of DST
• Have the opportunity to work directly with a storytelling participant to help them create a meaningful and compelling digital story.

Learn more here.

Click here to learn more and view rates for 1:1 digital storytelling facilitation.

For workshops, you can book a meeting with Kristy to develop a project plan and determine a quote.

 Virtual sessions – solid internet connection and computer

In person sessions – laptop computer, headphones, often participants prefer a mouse as well
*Basic equipment can be rented for in person group workshops (subject to availability)

Cost of 1:1 stories & workshops includes all other equipment, facilitator expertise, royalty-free image/music purchases, and consultation/coordination.