Want to improve your learners' experience of your course?

Get them to remember your course content? Teach complex concepts in a framework that makes sense to them?

When learners have a good experience, they return for more. As a marketer, that's what you're hoping for!

Course designer Lisa Yoder shows us why and how to incorporate stories into course design. Even if (like me) you already have successful courses out there, she shows us surprising ways to build your course with stories.

This episode goes a little longer than most episodes in this podcast -- and it's packed with information. I was busy taking notes myself.

You will learn:

...How university courses differ from entrepreneurial online courses

...How some courses are done better online vs. in person

...What Is course design (especially backwards design)

...3 ways you can use stories in course design

...A surprising way to use “non-examples” to figure out a pattern

...Why it’s important to Identify your “why” as a course creator

...Putting together the why, how, and what

...How “running analogies” can pull your course together in a meaningful way (Lisa illustrates with examples of hiking)

...A sneaky but effective way to tap into an audience's world to introduce them to a new concept (this comes after 24:00, so keep listening!)

...The role of chunking in the way we learn

Books mentioned by Lisa:

Understanding by Design book Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Brain Rules (Updated): 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina

Where you can fnd Lisa:

Website: https://connectedcoursedesigns.com/

Register for the free Summit-First Framework Course at:

https://connectedcoursedesigns.com/summit_first_framework_free/

Email: Lisa@ConnectedCourseDesigns.com

Cathy’s course on course design: 5 steps to a profitable course

Cathy's website: https://CathyGoodwin.com

Have you ever heard a story that was so memorable you couldn't forget it? A story that taught you a hard lesson -- but made you smile at the same time?

This week I'm doing something a little different. I've collected three of my favorite stories that appear over and over again.

I see them in business books, in blog posts, in articles, and in speeches. And yet they're not about business.

These are iconic stories. We "get" them right away...and we don't easily forget them.

Ideally, you'll come up with your own iconic story...but in the meantime, use one of these. Or collect iconic stories and use them as needed...not too much, but for special effect.

This episode has 3 special stories that seem perfectly suited to teaching their lesson. I explain why I think these stories work--the magic ingredients they pull together.

In effect, these stories are about concepts. I explain concept stories in my ebook on storytelling, Grow your business one story at a time.

Learn about my flagship consulting program, the Strategic Intensive.

Tell your own branding story: a DIY course.

How do you introduce yourself to prospective clients?

Nicole Kepic introduced herself to her email list with a traditional origin story -- solid credentials, burnout, and reinvention as a copywriter to female entrepreneurs.

Nicole tells that story to show us the person behind the website. She also highlighted her deep experience with copywriting.

But she's got a better story: she can tell an origin story that shows she's human and shows how she serves her clients.

In this super-informal episode--two copywriters chatting--you will learn:

...how Nicole uses personal anecdotes to introduce copywriting principles (much more effectively than most business owners)

... how Nicole can change her origin story to illustrate why she's so effective with entrepreneurs

...how changing the copywriting has a much greater impact on entrepreneurs than on big businesses

...Nicole's down-to-earth advice for other business owners who want to tell stories (at the very end)

Resources:

Reach Nicole Kepic at NicoleKepic.com (she has a beautiful website)

Read my book on Amazon about telling stories for business (types of stories for business)

FREE report on story archetypes for immediate download (how small businesses brand themselves)