Strategy

Storytelling Canvas

Eight boxes that build a business narrative with a before-and-after, not a slide deck.

What it is

Subject, Goal and Audience frame the story; Before captures the audience's starting feelings and knowledge; Set the Scene, Make Your Point and Conclusion carry the argument; After states the specific transformation the story should produce. Raw material — facts, anecdotes, arguments, emotional beats — gets gathered before it's sequenced into that arc.

Reach for it when

• A pitch that's a list of features with no audience transformation behind it
• A presentation drafted straight into slides before anyone agreed what it needs to achieve
• A team with plenty of facts and anecdotes but no argument connecting them

Running it

1. Map the audience's Before and After states first — what they feel and know now, and the specific change the story should produce.
2. Gather diverse content — facts, anecdotes, examples, arguments, emotional elements, key insights — without ordering it yet.
3. Fill Set the Scene and Make Your Point once the raw material is on the table, in a single 45-minute session.
4. Test the assumptions about what the audience actually needs before locking the Conclusion.