In the reading provided this week, 7 Storytelling Techniques Used by the Most Inspiring TED Presenters, I found Dananjaya Hettiarachchi’s winning speech, “I See Something” (2014), the most compelling. I was immediately drawn to his story because he masterfully uses numerous effective story telling techniques – and it is hilarious!
Hettiarachchi’s – “I See Something”
Storytelling techniques he uses:
- Immerse your audience in a story: He effectively immerses his audience by using animated movements, audience participation and humor
- Tell a personal story: He shares intimate details of his life and although they are personal, they are relatable to the viewer
- Create suspense: When he starts plucking the petals off of the rose, the viewer is compelled to learn more
- Bring characters to life: When he talks about the characters of the story, like his mom and dad – it is like you can see and hear them
- Show, don’t tell: His use of the rose losing its’ petals as a metaphor for being broken sends a powerful, visual message
- End with a positive takeaway: His story reminds us to be grateful for the people in our lives who support and understand us, when we are feeling lost
Practicing My Storytelling Techniques
This week, I had a turn implementing storytelling techniques to tell a story with a learning purpose. The topic I chose was 3 Strategies to Support Students with Dyslexia. Next week we will be fine-tuning and recording the video, so be sure to check out my finished product on my next blog. I was not able to link my story script (kept getting a 404 error) so below is my created story board, which includes my story script.
These guidelines for creating educational video will help you apply the principles we’ve been exploring to your own videos.
| Guidelines | Principles |
| 1. Keep it Short Research has shown that learners are most likely to retain the content of a video if it is less than 5 minutes in length. Shorter videos also allow users to choose the topic or subtopic they want to focus on, rather than searching through a lot of unrelated video to find what they need. |
Mayer’s Segmenting Principle |
| 2. Focus on Learning Outcomes Make sure that your videos are focused and relevant to the course. |
Mayer’s Coherence Principle |
| 3. Use a Conversational Tone When you narrate your video, use a friendly, enthusiastic, conversational tone. |
Mayer’s Personalization Principle |
| 4. Include Active Learning Engage the learner in active learning by posing questions and asking them to solve problems or consider alternatives. |
Merrill’s First Principles (Problem -centred, Application) |
| 5. Add Visual Elements To emphasize key points in your video, add visual elements like diagrams, text call outs and short clips from other sources. |
Mayer’s Signalling principle |
| 6. Keep Text and Images Together Present images and text next to each other on screen rather than one at a time. |
Mayer’s Spatial and Temporal Contiguity principles |
| 7. Build in Accessibility Ensure that you include captions, transcripts and descriptive audio wherever possible. |
UDL Guidelines |
Evaluating and Creating Media Resources from last week:
Choosing media (10 min) – A presentation by Tony Bates on the model he created for evaluating media for learning.
What is the TPACK Model? (6 min) – An introduction to the TPACK model and its seven components.
Filming and Editing Video – A tutorial to guide you through the process of filming and editing video.
Resources
Video Editing with iMovie and Microsoft Video Editor – A self-paced workshop from the UVic Library with instructions for using iMovie (Mac) and Microsoft Video Editor for editing.
How to Edit Video with Openshot – Step by step instructions for editing using Openshot.
How to Edit Video with Shotcut – A beginner’s guide to using Shotcut for video editing.
Finding Images and Attribution – A tutorial to assist you finding images that are not copyrighted.
Hi Sarah!
Thanks for sharing your post! I personally think that Hettiarachchi’s presentation was so successful because of the different tones he used while speaking for example when he was imitating his mom when she found out that her son was arrested. But maybe changes in tone correspond to more public speaking than storytelling. Something that got me thinking after reading your post was how the immerse your audience technique can be used in an online teaching setting. I’m thinking it would be a lot harder if the class was taught asynchronously.
Hi Sarah,
I watched a little bit of Hettiarachchi’s video and found out that when he brought his mom to life (by pretending to be her and himself when telling the story) it was a really good imitation and you can tell how his mother is just from that. It was a good laugh. Something that I also liked was when he was plucking out the petals from the rose he had. It was like each petal represented a chapter in the story and he plucked each petal as he started to progress the story kind of also hinting at when the end was. Did you notice that as well? Also which of the techniques he used did you think was the most effective and strongest? For me personally I think it was immerse his audience into the story. The way he tells the story and attention to detail helps you really feel like your in his memory that he replays for you.
Thanks,
Becky!
Hi Sarah,
What a great post! I thought Hettiarachchi’s video was really well done, the different tones and how he presented the story from start to end through plucking the rose petals (I had to rewatch that to get it the second time @becky!!) was truly well presented. He kept us engaged through humor and shared related experiences. I really felt through his storytelling that we were there reliving and experiencing his memory thanks the vivid detail.
Hi Sarah!
I really enjoyed your storyboard. Your story is very cohesive and I learned so much about assisting students with dyslexia. I really appreciate that you also provided an example of what reading with dyslexia can look like so I could feel immersed in Sally’s experience. The only suggestion I would have would be to follow up with this at the end and let your audience know how Sally feels after having the strategies you suggested implemented such as the apps and assistive technology. Does she feel supported? Has her confidence grown? Awesome informative post and I cant wait to see the video! 🙂
Darby
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for your summary of storytelling techniques in Hettiarachchi’s presentation.
Indeed, the rose represents the technique “CREATE SUSPENSE”. The rose is also cover the theme in this presentation. The rose can be a main example of Hettiarachchi’s feeling in different stage, which I hope you can discuss it more.
In addition, I really like your blog format. This blog seems very concise but contain essential information. You have created a link for your storyboard, which I haven’t discover that technique.