How to get started with the Storyteller Tactics

Welcome to Storyteller Tactics. Whether you’ve got the physical cards or the digital version, I’m going to explain the quickest ways to get started. In a moment, I’ll share with you the most common problem I solve for my storytelling clients.

But first, a quick tour of your new Storyteller Tactics deck.

Digital Cards
Get the Digital pack and you can start reading the cards as one PDF document straight away. And you can download a Dragon Drop (sorry, drag and drop) version to use in your own presentations and online working spaces.

The Vault
In the Storyteller Tactics Vault, you get a stash of secret resources. We’ve created beautiful Miro boards for each card (Mural boards coming soon!) and a short explainer video to help you dive right in.

How to get started

So - how to get started: first, ask yourself “what problem am I trying to solve?” Perhaps you’ve got a client who doesn’t get Agile working, or an important pitch coming up. Perhaps you’re suffering from… The Curse of Knowledge!

What’s the Curse? Well, the more we know about a topic, the harder it is for us to imagine not knowing. The harder you’ve worked to become an expert, the harder it can be to explain yourself to non-experts. Stories can help you bridge that gap.

Story Recipes

Get started with the Story Recipe cards. Read the front of each card - then pick the recipe that most closely matches the problem you’re trying to solve. If you need to persuade a client to wait until you’ve done proper research - ok, try the Stories that Convince recipe. You need them to back your idea: try Stories that Sell. Each recipe card links to five tactics - so you can create a workshop that will take about 90 mins to work through. By the end, you’ll have a range of new stories to try.

If you’re not sure which story will help you solve your problem, go through each of the Recipe cards and pick the recipe that looks most useful.

Desert Island Cards

Or you can try starting with our Desert Island Cards. (If we could only take seven cards to the mythical island, these are the ones)

The Dragon and the City: get people excited, frame your work as an epic adventure!
Story Listening: turn your insights into stories
Trust Me, I’m an Expert: make a connection with your audience
Pitch Perfect: convince people to back your ideas
Man in a Hole: give your story a structure
Movie Time: help us see what you mean
Story Bank: keep track of your stories, don’t lose our trust!

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Come and join a whole community of storytellers and workshoppers on the Pip Decks Slack channel (get access via The Vault). Learn from others AND ask authors like me (Steve) and Charles any questions you want about using the decks.