Diverse Intelligences (DI) has produced exciting insights over the years, and sharing these results with a wider general audience is a clear need. The National Geographic Society (NGS) Storytellers Collective offers National Geographic Explorer-led Storytelling for Impact workshops in support of the Society’s educational mission to illuminate and protect the wonders of the world. Through live, in-person, small-group workshops, they draw on NGS’s 138-year legacy of storytelling excellence to teach the art and science of storytelling across media. In its various collaborations, the Collective has repeatedly seen that storytelling capacity-building increases the quality of stories collected from the field and their ultimate impact when shared with the public. 

Led by Lisa Lytton at NGS, this project will offer two workshops for DI community members.

Participants will be early-career researchers and scholars whose work involves exploring the nature, origins, and future of intelligence in all its forms — human, animal, and machine. They will learn to craft and deliver compelling stories that engage audiences with empathy and authenticity; translate science into accessible narratives for non-specialist audiences; design clear presentations; and use infographics and maps to make complex data understandable and shareable.

Workshops are experiential and outcome-based, combining expert presentations, interactive exercises, live demonstrations, and a final deliverable. Each participant will present a three-minute, three-slide, no-notes story pitch, or will craft and deliver a two-minute spoken story designed to make people care.

These presentations will allow participants to connect the tools, strategies, and best practices learned during the workshop with the ultimate aim of furthering the impact of their storytelling on the public.