Storytelling: Principles and Practice Course

The techniques you will learn in this virtual course will help you achieve measurable success across a wide range of written content, from pitch presentations to industry award entries. You’ll master the art of the killer 100-word email.

Who is this course for?

If you write as part of your job, this course is for you - whether you’re the project leader on your documents and presentations, or whether you mostly work in collaboration with others.

Content

The session provides a theoretical, practical and hands-on training in the what, why and how of effective storytelling. The content is broken down into seven lessons:

1. An introduction to storytelling. What it is and why it matters.
2. The basics. The three fundamental components every story needs.
3. The Big Idea. How Hollywood studios answer the question ‘what’s it all about?’
4. Openings. How to start. And how to overcome the terror of the blank page.
5. Structure. What goes where, and why: how to put the pieces together.
6. Emails. How to apply the principles of storytelling to emails that people actually read and respond to.
7. Insider secrets. What you can learn from bestselling novelists about managing the flow of emotion. And how to write in partnership with other people.

Date and location

This course will run virtually on Zoom on Wednesday 14 October 2026, 10am - 1pm. 

Trainer

Warwick Cairns is an advertising strategist and internationally-published author. He was previously a board Planning Driector at Saatchi & Saaatchi and at AMV.BBDO Ltd, and Head of Strategy at brand agency Brandhouse. He has been an awards consultant and Strategy Partner at The Effectiveness Partnership since 2012. He has written three nonfiction books, published by Pan Macmillan and HarperCollins, and in 2018 he won the Historical Novel Society’s New Novel Award.