It’s 2015, and I’ve just started training in Improvisational comedy. Every Wednesday night, I attend Alan Irwin’s Improv classes at Santa Barbara Improv.

Weeks turn into months, and my fondness for Improv grows into an addiction. I want to learn more, absorb more, and grow faster! 

So I start keeping a notebook of all the games we play and capturing all the critical class lessons and sound bites. I even stay after to ask for notes on my performance.

Yet, I still crave more and want to accelerate my learning beyond the pacing of one class a week. I ask Alan for private coaching and, while he doesn’t do it very often, he agrees. 

Those one-on-one sessions are a game changer for me. They help deepen my understanding of the craft of Improv and allow me to significantly expand my knowledge. Thanks to his feedback from just a few of these private lessons, I end up at a completely different level.

So many of us want to accelerate our growth, amplify our learning, and expand our skills fast. How do we do that as speakers and storytellers? 

In this continuation of our “So You Think You Want to Become a Storyteller” series on the Storytelling School Podcast, you’ll learn where to start, how to accelerate your learning and grow with your audience, and how to keep track of your progression as you amplify the expansion of your speaking craft. I’ll answer questions like:

How do you personalize your development plan to become a master storyteller or speaker? How can you accelerate your success and make stories more engaging and memorable? How can you leverage digital platforms, networking, and collaborations to become more visible and expand your reach? How can you get more opportunities to practice storytelling and teach your expertise? And how do you integrate continuous learning into a busy schedule?

What you will learn in this episode:

• How to come up with a development plan for mastering storytelling
• How you can use your audience to help you accelerate your growth
• What to look for to assess your storytelling and speaking progress over time

A little about me:

Hi there. I’m Kymberlee.

As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I’ve had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I’ve seen what works when influencing change and what doesn’t. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That’s why I’m building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people’s lives.

Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You’ll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teach my clients to do the same.

If you think business owners can’t tell stories or don’t have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There’s no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value.

Now it’s your turn... If you’re ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you’ve come to the right place.

Links and Resources:

• Santa Barbara Improv
• Storytelling School Website
• @storytellingschool on Instagram
• @storytellingSchool on Facebook