4. Storyboarding

You’re reading an excerpt of Great Founders Write, by Ben Putano, writer, entrepreneur, and book publisher. He’s the founder of Damn Gravity Media, a publishing house that inspires and educates tomorrow’s great founders. Purchase now for lifetime access to the book and on-demand video course.

With your building blocks, learning outcomes, and delivery format in place, it’s now time to build the actual lesson. Barry calls this process “storyboarding.”

“We believe that the best educators are storytellers because they inspire learning with imagination, teaching us to visualize and think about things instead of simply presenting us with information,” said Barry.

Craft your lesson like you’re telling a story. Curious Lion recommends a narrative framework that looks like this:

• Hook—Capture attention (Again, see Sell with Storytelling).

• Signpost—Alert to what’s coming and why the person should care.

• Sensitize—Be consistent in your choice of music, color, and images to create a receptive mindset.

• Elucidate—Explain the more complex topics with definitions and examples.

• Reinforce—Repeat key points early and often.

• Conclude—Present dramatic climax and summarize key points.

Start writing your lesson by using a bulleted outline. Fill in each of these steps with the written, visual, and interactive material you plan to use. If you’re creating visual learning material, Barry recommends using a storyboarding template. Search online for “storyboarding template” for a wide variety of options.

You won’t get your storyboarding right on the first try. After creating the first draft, do a dry run of the lesson with a colleague. When you first present the lesson to trainees, note the questions they ask so you can improve your material for next time.