ONE PAGE

1. Identify a story that supports a point — FIND + INTENT + TEST

Search your experiences. Follow the truth. Determine what you need the story to do. Choose a story that connects, shows change, remains relevant, and contains enough interest to engage.

2. Identify the focal point — INTENT + MAP

Find the meaning at the center of the experience. Remember: the broad point the story supports and the point learners construct from the story are not necessarily identical.

3. Timeline the events — MAP

Identify leading events → key event → consequential events. Look for causality. Find the change.

4. Structure and shape — SHAPE

Use a structure appropriate to the story. For ICAP: Intent — what do I want it to do? Context — where am I taking them? Action — what happens? Point — how will learners gain from it?

5. Facilitate the story — FACILITATE + PERFORM

Reveal yourself authentically. Invite learners in. Use your body deliberately. Show as well as tell. Ask. Wait. Let learners construct meaning.

You do not need to become a professional storyteller. You need to become more observant.

Notice what happens. Notice what stays with you. Notice when an experience changes what you believe or how you act.

Then do the work. Find the events. Find the change. Understand why the story belongs in the learning experience. Shape it without strangling it. Invite learners inside. Give them enough room to make meaning.

And when the story is finished, save what you learned about telling it. Because the next time you need a story, you may discover that you already have one.