Communicating about Interreg and macro-regional / sea-basin strategies is not always easy, especially when it comes to writing interesting and engaging texts that resound with a wider audience. For this reason INTERACT is organising a workshop that will not only help you find your organisation’s story and write it in a clear and effective way, it will also teach you how to train others.

The workshop will be divided into two sessions: a one-day session on storytelling led by two storytelling experts / trainers from MSLGroup, an internationally recognised communications agency, and a half-day session on clear writing by the Plain English Campaign, an organisation that has been working towards jargon-free public information since the 1970s.

MSLGroup:
Andrew MacDougall – MSLGROUP Senior Executive Consultant; former director of communications to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Dominic Payling – MSLGROUP Insight & Planning Director; 20+ years of communications experience gained in both leading consultancy and in-house positions
Plain English Campaign: Peter Holmes – 20+ years of English teaching and training experience

To find out about which topics will be covered, please see the draft agenda on the INTERACT website.

You will go away from this event not only with the story you have developed, but also with a toolkit including presentations, tips, a literature review of top storytelling publications, research and websites, and training materials. The kit will help you with your own story writing and enable you to pass on the information to your colleagues and project partners.

In order to be able to provide an interactive session and individual feedback, the workshop is limited to 30 participants: 15 from Interreg programmes and 15 from macro-regional / sea basin strategies. Please note that only one participant from each programme or organisation will be admitted, but don’t worry – as mentioned above, that person will be given the tools they need to share what they have learned!

Another important point: registration for this event requires agreeing to a pre-workshop assignment (yes, that’s right – homework!). In order to be able to be able to tailor the workshop to your needs, we ask you to please submit a text no longer than 800 words by the end of October 2014 where you tell a story about some aspect of your work. This can be drawn from already existing communication materials (about a project, cooperation in general, an event, etc.), or you can write a new text. You will submit this text directly to the trainers / storytelling experts who will give you individual feedback during the event. As always, please wait to receive a confirmation email before booking any travel or accommodation.

To register, please go to the event page on the INTERACT website.