Narrative Training Program

Theory. Practice. Application.

Our Narrative Training Program guides participants into understanding and applying narrative structure through 3 stages.

Theory: The ABT Course

Our 6-hour course that includes core and guest lectures outlining the theory and tools used to dissect and improve narratives with the ABT.

Practice: Working Circles

Group sessions where participants use the tools learned during the Theory portion to work on and improve each other’s narratives.

Application: Nailing It Workshop

A three week workshop in which our ABT Team works with participants to polish their ABTs. Participants use their ABTs as an outline to create a 5-minute PowerPoint presentation about a work or research project.

Theory: The ABT Course

The ABT COURSE provides two main benefits:

1) Introduction to the narrative tools, including:

  • ABT Framework
  • Ultimate Vs Proximate
  • Stakes
  • The 3 Forces of Narrative
  • Dobzhansky Template
  • cABT (i.e., Conversational ABT)
  • Ordinary World

2) Start the journey towards developing “narrative intuition,” where you not only know how to create narrative structure, you can feel it at work and use it naturally.

The course is six 1-hour sessions, usually held on Tuesday/Thursdays throughout a month. The lesson plan outline is below. (Note: Universities should consider the expanded ten 1-hour lesson plan. Contact us for details.)

ABT Course Sessions

1. Breadth

Introduction of the INNER/OUTER CIRCLE, ULTIMATE vs PROXIMATE, and STAKES.

2. Singularity

The SINGULAR NARRATIVE is imperative.

3. Analysis

Using the 3 FORCES OF NARRATIVE to dissect and understand writing

4. Metrics

Analyzing text using two narrative metrics: The AND FREQUENCY (AF) and NARRATIVE INDEX (NI).

5. Proposals

Marine scientist Dr. Dianna Padilla draws on her NSF years to explore the ABT in proposal writing.

6. Leadership

The pieces all come together showing how narrative is a required component in leading.

Practice: Working Circles

A WORKING CIRCLE is a half hour session of 3 to 5 course participants coming together to help shape the narrative of the project for the initiator of the circle (the HOST). Participants will help the Host on clarifying the story, problem, necessary context, stakes, and central argument/theme using the tools learned during the ABT Course.

The ultimate goal of Working Circles is social “entrainment,” meaning the habit of developing narrative structure while working in group brainstorming sessions. These sessions ease people into ABT structure by focusing on perfecting their written ABTs. After completing their Working Circles, participants are primed and ready for the “Nailing It!” workshop.

Everyone is expected to Host their own Working Circle and participate in a minimum of two other Working Circles.

It’s recommended that participants join Working Circles in which they know the least about the subject matter as possible. Doing so will force them to fall back on our narrative structure tools and prevent them from getting caught up in the content.

Application: “Nailing It!” Workshop

In this 3-week “Nailing It!” workshop, our ABT Team works with participants to take their ABTs and use them to create a 5-minute PowerPoint presentation about a work or research project.

“Nailing It!” Course Breakdown:

• Narrative Gym:  A large group brainstorming session in which we hone a participant’s narrative.

• Slide Dissection:  We take an ABT approach to the participant’s slides and provide feedback to help them focus and clarify their narrative.

• Polish (optional):  We continue to help participants polish their presentation as needed.

• Showcase:  The Narrative Training Program concludes with a Showcase in which each participant will present their 5-minute lecture, either live or with a recording.