Visual Storytelling 101

Creating WOW Slide Decks

This learning experience is designed to teach the team how to create persuasive slide decks with engaging visual narratives. The team will learn how to craft a storyline that ties everything together and uses data visualizations to reinforce key points on each slide. Through hands-on exercises, the team will practice strategic title selection, layout design, iconography, and imagery integration.

Outcomes

Following the session, the team will be able to...

Identify the narrative arc of the central message
Find, evaluate, and use images to reinforce data points
Design slide layouts that leverage imagery, data displays, and minimalist text to grab and orient the audience’s attention.
Make optimal data visualization choices: chart, graph, timeline, etc., to clarify and convince.

What it could look like

Here is a suggested agenda for this session. It can be customized to align with the team’s specific needs including learning outcomes, session duration, and job scenarios to ensure effectiveness.

Setting the Stage

45 minutes

The session will start with a warm-up and focus exercise, for example:

I See Literary

The group will analyze a bold, surrealist painting to understand the artist’s perspective and intent.

Building the Tool Kit

90 minutes

Next, the team will learn through interactive activities that focus on these specific skills aligned to on-the-job situations.

Zeroing in on the irreducible core meaning of the message
Identifying what needs to be remembered by the audience to inspire action
Setting emotionally intelligent goals for the audience
Choosing the right story format for a given circumstance
Applying best practices for slide deck design
Creating a visual narrative with clear and impactful design choices

Putting into Practice

75 minutes

Then the team will show their work.

Dynamic Deck Showcase

The team will work in small groups to create a three-slide deck and present the rationale behind their narrative and style choices to the full group.

Moving Forward

15 minutes

The session ends with time to reflect on what has been learned.

Our Implementation Plan

The team will identify strategies to apply what they’ve learned to their job-specific goals.

SELECT CLIENTS

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Your investment in Alliance@work goes directly back into the community, with all proceeds going to support advancing literacy in Georgia classrooms.