How to Tell Compelling Stories that Move People to Action: Narrative Handbook

Learn how to tell emotionally compelling stories, use the right frames, values and metaphors to shift the public conversation and take people where you want them to go and engage and strengthen the values that will engage more people more deeply.

Contents

Introduction

The Australian Conservation Foundation’s (ACF) handbook is the result of over a year’s qualitative and quantitative research on the discourses of the environment movement, industry, government, media and pop culture. The ACF workshopped draft narratives with people from the ACF community and beyond and decided to share their important research and learnings with everyone through this handbook. This handbook introduces some key principles, techniques and tools so you can craft a compelling narrative that will motivate and mobilise communities.

It will help you create a coherent story that can engage and strengthen the values that will, over the long term, engage more people more strongly in our cause.

It provides the building blocks to construct a narrative in any situation and provides a methodology based on a bank of evidence and practice, so you can respond as new communications challenges arise The handbook will help you learn to:

Apply some core principles, tools and techniques to tell emotionally compelling stories
Speak from our moral perspective using the right frames, values and metaphors
Shift the public conversation and take people where you want them to go
Engage and strengthen the values that will, over the long term, engage more people more deeply