Embodied simulation

Ethical storytelling

Narrative communications

Narrative affect

Narrative effect

Narrative text

Narrative change

Organizational storytelling

Performance

Organizational communications

Simulation learning

Narrative

Story

Strategic storytelling

Text

Impact storytelling

Mental simulation

Narration

The process of organizing related events into the form of a story. The product of narration is a story.

The cognitive activity of organizing information — such as ignoring some stimulus, focusing on other stimulus, determining cause + effect between experiences — to create an understanding of the world that is useful for choosing actions. The product of narrative is a story, which can exist solely in the mind or can be represented through storytelling. The representation is often called a “narrative text” or “narrative” for short.

A story is the product of narrative: after you have organized information so as to be more useful, the end product is a story. It is the same thing as a “narrative text”.

Storytelling as part of a strategy — to achieve an objective. Storytelling is a natural cognitive process to organize the information we receive about the world; strategic storytelling is a tactic in a larger strategy to influence the opinions and actions of others (the audience).

Something that holds information. A text can be a book, a podcast episode, a poem.

Impact storytelling is the communications practice of telling stories about real people — narrated by an organization — that describe the human impact of that organization’s work, for the benefit of that organization. Impact stories are typically told by nonprofit, NGO or social change organizations as part of their fundraising and publicity efforts.

The action of simulating events in your mind. Essentially, it’s the act of imagining.

You know that feeling when you’re completely “in” a book and you feel what’s happening as though it’s happening to you? That’s “embodied simulation”: you are simulating the events of the story in your own mind.

Ethical storytelling is a practice within impact storytelling that adheres to policies and practices introduced to prevent harm caused by the impact of the story collection or telling (publication) processes. — Learn more at Tell Ethical Stories.

Organizational communications that includes storytelling.

The emotional experience of the audience to a story.

The change observed in the audience to a story, such as taking an action.

A text that is the product of narration. (A text that contains information, that has been organized to be more useful.) Also commonly referred to as a “story”.

The work of shifting the dominant public opinion on a social issue. Narrative change is typically part of a social change strategy, and is primarily the work of communications and public relations.

An area of organizational communications that produces stories about people, narrated and published by the organization, in service to the organization. All organizational storytelling is strategic storytelling.

An action before an audience, with the intention of meeting the audience’s expectation.

Communications produced and distributed on behalf of an organization and its spokespeople. Also “corporate communications” or simply “comms”.

“Simulation learning” is one natural form of human learning where someone imagines (or simulates) possible outcomes of different actions they might choose, and “learns” which action they should take by choosing the action with the best (imagined) outcome. You do this every day — probably without being aware of it because it’s completely natural to you.

Glossary