Foundations of Storytelling
All About Storytelling and Why it Matters
• Elements of the Complete Narrative
• Tools: Storytelling Frameworks
• Different Types of Storytelling: B2B vs. Product vs. Brand
PTC: Company Brand and Product Story
• Do you know the PTC, Windchill, and Windchill + Brand Story?
• Communicating with Your Diverse Audiences
Product Strategy and Storytelling
• Storytelling in the Roadmap Presentation
• Storytelling in Development and Sprint Meetings
• Storytelling in Product Demos
• Product Marketing Stories
Break for Lunch
Objective #1
Creating a Well-Crafted Product Story
Product Storytelling in Product Development
• Expanding the User Story
Delivering Compelling Product Stories
• Delivery Tips and Tricks
PTC Storytellers
Breakout Activity - Split into Teams (60 mins)
• Choose your captain and your prompt
• Choose your framework
• Craft your story
Breakout team presentations and discussion
Review, Wrap-Up and Evaluation
Objective #2
Objective #3
Hi! My name is Liana Henry and I’m your instructor for today’s workshop. I’m as excited that you are here as I am to be leading this storytelling class. I know how busy you are, with Liveworx right around the corner so I hope you will find value in our time together today.
I am the owner of Black Dog Marcom, a Marketing/Comms Agency focused on Storytelling. Black Dog Marcom is a pillar brand of The Black Dog Group, a Professional Services Company. Our other pillar brand is Black Dog Management, a Project Management Consultancy.
In addition to running this agency and my half of the parent company, I also teach Storytelling in the community and corporately. I believe my calling is raise up the next generation of storytellers. You will hear my story in more detail during the presentation.
I’m a former PTC PLM Product Marketer and passionate Storyteller. I come to the table with almost two decades of storytelling experience in marketing, communications, PR, and journalism. I’ve mentored other journalists and storytellers, launched a magazine where I told an entire town’s stories, developed enterprise product stories that got an entire segment reading, and conveyed the voice of tech start-up executives in such magazines as Forbes and Manufacturing.net. I’m looking forward to sharing some storytelling tips in hopes that you can use them in your daily work in product management.
Merriam-Webster defines a story as “an account of incidents or events; a statement regarding the facts pertinent to a situation in question; an anecdote.” Dictionary.com defines it as “a narrative designed to instruct.”
A good story simplifies our world into something we can understand. When you want to influence others, there is no tool more powerful than a story.
Therefore, storytelling is the activity of sharing stories by employing crucial elements as plots, characters and surprising angles . In a broader sense as related to today, it’s employing the tactics and techniques to tell the company or product story in order to gain insights into users , build empathy, gain emotional access , and increase the attractiveness of an offer or feature .
Storytelling is the oldest form of knowledge transfer. People have been telling stories ever since they gained the ability to speak, initially telling stories to mark danger, set an example, or relate an event. It also lead to attempts to explain the unexplainable through a fairytale or tall tale.
The Chauvet cave in France is the oldest representation of stories found thus far, dating back to approximately 36,000 years ago. Later forms of visual stories can be found in Egyptian hieroglyphics of about 3,000 years B.C.E.
it seems. Regardless of genre or style, all good stories have five common elements.
Setting: A well-established setting creates an intended mood and provides the backdrop and environment for your story. This is your context . So, in a product story, your setting is the user’s experience .
Characters: You will have a Protagonist and an Antagonist. The Protagonist is the main character of a story and most times, the hero. In a product story, your protagonist is the user. Your antagonist opposes the protagonist, standing between them and their ultimate goals. In the product story, the antagonist is the user’s challenge and obstacles
Plot: This is the sequence of events that connect the audience to the protagonist and their ultimate goal. In the product story, the plot is the user journey to solving their problem .
Conflict: This drives the story by creating tension and building suspense, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. In the product story, the conflict is the user’s obstacles which got them to you
Theme: What the story is really about and the main idea or underlying meaning In the product story, the theme is how the user meets time, cost, and quality demands .
It demonstrates the fears, challenges and desires of your customers . It helps you position your messaging and brand to achieve clarity and success.
Remember... your customer is the true hero of the story. Your brand is the mentor, and you are there to help your customers achieve their goals
It helps to achieve instant understanding and emotional connection . It engages the people in your brand’s story and solutions
This framework is used in countless brand videos, stories and social media. It helps guide the audience through your content. It shows that customer has a chance to reflect on their own reactions and take opportunities.
The brand is the mentor to the customer. It expands customer engagement. It helps to create a message of providing empathy. It clarifies your story to grow revenue and increase your impact.
Your customer should immediately identify with your character and want to see what happens to them and how they prevail. We see the three-act structure used widely in short content like social media posts. It will bring the customer’s transformation alive. It is a helpful way for strategizing the goals of your content.
Confrontation Set-Up Resolution
It helps you create that sense of empathy with the audience . It makes your target customer feels understood and acknowledged. It helps your customer avoid the pain of their problem with the solution you offer.
The CAR framework works for any narrative providing a consistent blueprint for any material. It helps audiences connect with you so they trust you .
Using a Story Framework to organize all of these elements helps you map out the storyline. There is more than one way to present a single piece of information.
Place PTC Brand Message Here
B2B storytelling is the use of narrative to illustrate new opportunities or business transformation in our audience’s minds. Storytelling can lead people to get excited about new ideas or spurn them on to take an action.
Brand storytelling involves telling the story of the brand itself, humanizing the story and explaining why the company was made and how it is differentiated from other businesses out there.
Product storytelling involves telling the story of a product – and can include why the company made it, some of the unique struggles they faced in doing so, and the changes it has made to their customer’s lives . This is generally much more tempting to potential customers than a list of features and facts as it provides an inspirational outlook.
Place WC & WC+ Brand Message Here
Every deliverable a product manager creates is a storytelling opportunity. Every problem statement, competitive analysis, market sizing exercise, OKR, and even user stories, hypotheses and (yep) JIRA tickets are storytelling opportunities.
They must be compelling, communicating the value by focusing on the user’s problem vs. the features. They need to take your audience on a journey in a way that is meaningful to them. It has to make them want to care about your idea.
Here are four key roles great product narratives can serve for different audiences:
1. Attract users
Tell strong stories to draw users into engaging with the product . Product teams should think of the product experience as a story.
2. Improve user experience
A powerful product narrative helps users understand how tools and features will help them and guides users through the PX from start to finish .
3. Secure stakeholder buy-in
Intra-organizational product narratives balance conceptual user stories with core business goals beyond concrete facts and figures and keep stakeholders engaged.
4. Instill passion in the product team
Strong product narratives help teams stay connected to a shared vision and and increase alignment . Storytelling can help teams tap into their role in the organization’s broader narrative as a whole.
Your roadmap presentation is a story to your executives.
When you organize the details of your product roadmap into a coherent and compelling story for leadership, you’ll be engaging them emotionally . Storytelling also puts a complex strategic plan for your product into a simple framework that’s memorable. This is much more likely to lead to the buy-in you need over just recitation of features and timelines.
Planning meetings are stories for your developers. When communicating product requirements to your development team, instead of just explaining how you want them to build something—which is in their wheelhouse - try communicating WHY you want them to build something. And the best way to do that is through the use of stories.
When have you used storytelling in your Roadmap?
When have you used storytelling in your dev’t or sprints?
In your demos, introducing a narrative and characters can help bring out empathy in the customer. They can see how the product is used by real people, which is why case studies are great storytelling tools. Explaining the product as a combination of story and facts will make it stick.
Every product’s marketing materials tell some kind of story— hopefully it’s compelling and not boring. You should use the actual elements of a real story—hero, guide, obstacle, villain, etc. —to build a message around the product.
Where are you using storytelling in your demos?
Which product marketing stories are your favorites?
A big part of successfully holding your audience’s attention whne telling a compelling product story is in your delivery. For some, public speaking comes easy. Especially when you have a warm audience. However, even that sometimes doesn’t take away the jitters.
No worries - approximately 77% of the population has some level of anxiety regarding public speaking. Preparation and practice are key and we have a few delivery tips that should help.
1. Know your purpose – answering ‘What do we want to do?’, ‘How?’, ‘Why does it matter?’
2. Organize your story in a logical sequence
3. Be sure to practice and rehearse frequently prior to delivering it.
4. Be familiar with the setting where your presentation will take place.
5. Choose comfortable yet professional clothes to wear.
6. Visual aids should fit the presentation.
7. Start strong with a powerful opening that will grab your audience’s attention
8. Be conversational. Avoid reading your story word for word
9. Speak with passion and you’ll be better able to keep your audience’s attention.
• Start your stories in different places . You don’t have to start a story at the beginning
• Keep your audience curious from the beginning with questions you can you plant in their minds.
• Get to your stories quicker and avoid too much set-up (i.e. the “pre-ramble”).
• Take your time between your lines using looks/facial expressions for emphasis. Remember: “Reactions tell the story.”
• Condense to connect and put all of the important statements in no more than a couple of lines of dialogue.
• Don’t be the Hero of the story. Remember – you are the guide .
• Invite your audience members into your scene.
Eye contact establishes an immediate bond
Control mannerisms which are nervous expressions.
Put verbs into action by physically acting them out.
Change your voice for emphasis or for transitions.
Avoid insincere gestures.
Move around the stage as topics change.
Be patient!
Storytelling is not easy and it takes time to hone your skills.
It’s your turn!
Time to take what you already know (products), sprinkle in what you learned (storytelling), and deliver a storyline that is new. I challenge you to think beyond the stats, graphs, and charts and personalize this. It can be a presentation, a demo, a user story, a product update, etc. Get creative!
1. Choose a captain and form a team of 3-4 people. Our remote attendees will go into breakout rooms on Teams.
2. Decide whose prompt you will work on and choose a storytelling framework.
3. Here are some questions to consider:
• Know your purpose – answering ‘What do we want to do?’, ‘How?’, ‘Why does it matter?’
• Where can you add storytelling? Can you move a story elsewhere?
• What about your user? What’s compelling about them and their struggle?
4. We’ll call you back together to go around the group and present what you came up with.
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