A key finding of our recent survey of local voluntary organisations, charities, community groups and social enterprises was that they would like support raising their profile. We are also looking at ways that we can raise the profile of the work we do at Dudley CVS. We’re starting to think about storytelling – both how we can improve at it, and support others to use it as a tool.

A few Dudley CVS staff are signing up for this free online course, Storytelling for Change. The idea is that by the end of the 7 week course we will:

• Be confident in using stories, especially personal stories, as a part of our communication toolkit.
• Know how to tell stories and use a specific set of storytelling skills so that we connect with hearts and minds.
• Have developed, rehearsed, and received feedback on one personal story as a replicable model so that we can build a personal ‘library’ or ‘back pocket’ of stories that can be used in different situations.
• Be able to use a 5-step process to integrate story into presentations for change, work or many other situations.

The course organisers recommend groups of 2-6 people going through the course together. If anyone would like to join our group, or would like us to help co-ordinate additional groups from people in Dudley just leave a comment here, or get in touch via twitter (@DudleyCVS) or email (lorna@dudleycvs.org.uk). The course starts on 8 May, and ends on 25 June. You need to register by 22 May. If you’ve never taken an online course before I can highly recommend it. It’s great to work at your own pace, at times that suit you, in places that work for you. I haven’t yet done an online course in a group, so I hope that will add a motivating factor.

Do let us know if you’ve taken any great online courses or are interested in knowing more about them.

Image credit: Walter Lim on Flickr , shared under a Creative Commons licence