Karen Eber

The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories that Inform, Influence, and Inspire

Today’s world values connections and clear and compelling information. Your ability to connect with the hearts and minds of your audience determines your success. 

Whether in person or virtual, storytelling can help sell a product or service, land an idea in a meeting, or communicate with a loved one. It’s memorable, informative, and builds trust. Especially when communicating data. Data doesn’t change our behaviors, emotions do, and emotions are best engaged through storytelling. 

But it’s not enough to tell a story. The way you tell one makes a difference in the experience for the listener. It all comes down to how the story engages the brains of your audience. 

This talk demonstrates how to scientifically hack the art of storytelling by leveraging the Five Factory Settings of the Brain. Karen makes storytelling accessible by sharing where to find story ideas, and how to apply a simple, memorable model for telling stories that inform, influence, and inspire for any setting. 

This talk covers:

• Describing and applying the science of storytelling.
• Finding endless ideas for stories to tell.
• Defining your audience and the desired outcomes for the story.
• Applying a structure to the story.
• Including details and emotions that engage the brain.

What Story Does Your Culture Tell?

Culture is a top priority, yet many companies are unclear how to create a flexible culture that can adjust to a changing business environment. Especially with hybrid work. Culture doesn’t exist within walls, it is demonstrated and reinforced through interactions.

Every culture tells a story. Not just at the organizational level, but through teams and how values are demonstrated day-to-day. The story of your culture is told as your employees talk to fellow team members, friends, family, and possibly recruits. Knowing the story your culture tells gives you the true experience of work, and it helps you intentionally shape what is desired.

As a former Global Head of Culture at GE and Head of Leadership Development at Deloitte, Karen helps Fortune 500 organizations implement practical behaviors at all levels to shape culture, especially on teams. This researched, story-based talk covers the neuroscience behind culture, common challenges faced, how to discover the story of your culture, and how to equip leaders and teams to shape the desired culture for your organization.