Using Storytelling to Support Learning, Renewal, and Transformation

In a changing world, our methods need to help us understand the realities of those touched by our evaluations, as well as our own realities. This workshop will present the use of story as a powerful method for supporting learning, renewal and transformation. As maintained by Hodges (2014) “if we want to transform society, we must learn to tell – and listen to – a new set of stories about the world we want to create.”

While the facilitators will present information on storytelling, this workshop will be highly participatory. The facilitators will provide an introduction to the story as a method, the difference between story and fiction, ways to collect stories, practical tips for storytelling, as well as examples of stories they have heard and used in evaluations. Particularly important in this time of reconciliation, story represents a traditional way knowledge is shared in Indigenous cultures, transmitting history and memory. However, storytelling crosses cultures and millennia and is a means of ensuring relevance and authenticity in many contexts.

Learning objectives:

1. Participants will learn about the importance and use of story as a method in evaluation.
2. Participants will learn different ways to collect and share stories, including the incorporation of other methods into storytelling.
3. Participants will learn about and reflect on the considerations and ethics involved in using storytelling in evaluation.

Some feedback from previous “Storytelling” workshop attendees:

“Thank you for another wonderful workshop! It’s always a pleasure to be part of such an informative, action-packed, reflective and not boring event. Even though I’ve attended this workshop twice before, there is always something to learn, and refresh, and take away. Looking forward to doing more!”

“Thank you, Larry and Linda! Great use of hands-on activities, group discussions, and information sharing. Great examples of how stories elicit emotion and empathy and can motivate people for change.”

About the facilitators:

Larry Bremner has worked in social research and evaluation for 45 years. In 1984, he established Proactive to provide research and evaluation services to the not-for-profit and public sectors. He is recognized for his depth of knowledge and his willingness to share his knowledge, particularly in the areas of Indigenous and decolonizing approaches to evaluation and the inclusion of people, such as children and youth, whose voices are habitually overlooked and undervalued. In 2012, Larry was elected National President of the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES), in 2017, Larry received the CES Service Award and in 2018 the Contribution to Evaluation in Canada Award. In 2019, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Evaluation Society (FCES). Larry is also co-editor of the new permanent section of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, "Roots and Relations: Celebrating Good Medicine in Evaluation".

Linda Lee, a passionate advocate for using evaluation to create a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable world, is Vice-President and a Partner in the Manitoba-based evaluation and social research company Proactive Information Services Inc. A CES Award winner and Fellow (FCES), Linda has worked in evaluation and research for 40+ years. She has been a keynote speaker, presented papers and facilitated workshops at many national and international conferences. She has conducted evaluations across Canada and internationally, including many countries in East Central and Southeastern Europe, as well as Argentina and Lithuania. Linda, a former CES National President, has served on the CES Credentialing Board, the Fellows’ Executive, and was a founder of the original CES Diversity Working Group. She was a member of the CE Competencies Review Working Group which was tasked with revising and updating the Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice in 2017-18.

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