Soil Association: training programme staff
School trips to farms, pumpkin patches in playgrounds, cooking courses for council workers and advocating for improved standards in hospital food – this is just a small taste of the activity that happens as part of the Soil Association’s Food for Life programme. But like many organisations, it was struggling to demonstrate its impact in an engaging memorable way. The key was developing the storytelling skills of its programme officers.
We developed a storytelling masterclass that was delivered online over four teaching sessions and was followed by two story review and feedback sessions at three and 12 months. The course was designed for those who have no previous experience or professional responsibility for storytelling. We covered the science of storytelling and how our brains respond to stories, how to identify a good impact story, key ingredients and structure of powerful stories and how to plan story gathering.