109 Rules of Storytelling, by Jeremy Connell-Waite
IBM’s Global Communications Designer, and Bristol, England resident Jeremy Connell-Waite has written an impressive FREE pdf booklet: 109 Rules of Storytelling. It’s available on his LinkedIn.
Connwell-Waite’s introduction explains how the book came about:
Over the last few years, I’ve given a lot of presentations on the art and science of storytelling, and I’ve hosted dozens of “ask-me-anything” Q&A sessions.
I kept notes of all the advice I gave out during those sessions. Some of it was good. Some a little questionable…
So, for a bit of fun, I thought I’d compile them all into a handy list for you. In no particular order.
I’ve called it The 109* Rules of Storytelling – but they’re more like guidelines, really.
As with all “rules”, it’s important to know them
before you break them. Enjoy.
In addition to the 109 rules (although, since the last one is a reference back to the previous ones, there’s really 108 — something that pleased me no-end since 108 is an auspicious number!) there are dozens of bonus pages with enticing graphics and pithy quotes:
There are shout-outs to Nancy Duarte and Carmine Gallo, Guy Kawasaki and Steve Jobs, Ted Sorensen and Hollywood scriptwriters.
The booklet is a treasure-trove of wisdom that will benefit all executive communications staffers, speechwriters, and presenters. Here’s some of what you’ll discover:
Connell-Waite is not afraid to address one of the hot-button topics in speechwriting today. Here’s #17:
Great storytellers love AI, but they don’t get it to write their stories for them.
They use AI more like an “IA” – an Intelligent Assistant – which helps them to research their audience, ask the right questions, and not let their own cognitive bias get in the way of telling the audience what they need to hear.
AI is great as a research assistant, or to help you with critical thinking?
AI helps you ask better questions. It’s not there to write your stories for you.
AI is a core expertise, as mentioned in his bio “…I train AI models to help people communicate more effectively. That mostly involves building narratives for clients around transformational technologies such as generative-AI, cloud & quantum computing.”
As impressive as the booklet is, I’m blown away by his expalanation of how swiftly it was created:
I collated my notes, messages, and all the advice I’d written in notebooks and on the backs of envelopes.
A few bits of advice became a few guidelines… And a few guidelines became some rules…A lot of “rules”.
Before I knew it I had 8,475 words.
– It took me 2 days to prep & research.
– 1 day to write.
– 1 day to design & edit.
Wow!
He concludes on a positive note:
Our job as storytellers is to transform those energies into something our audience’s can feel, carry, and act upon.
We transport our words and ideas into the minds of our audience.
~ We don’t just tell stories.
~ We light up minds.
~ We ignite hearts.
When we send words and ideas vibrating through screens and stages, if we do it right, we can impact companies,
our colleagues, and sometimes even entire communities.
That’s the kind of energy the world needs now.
You can find this booklet and much more on his Tell Better Stories website. Check it out.
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Vitaly Friedman writing on LinkedIn:
The 109 Rules Of Storytelling (Free PDF Book), a wonderful practical guide with advice, notes, strategies and techniques for better storytelling in presentations, reports and meetings — to capture attention and drive meaningful action. Wonderfully put together and kindly shared by one-and-only Jeremy Connell-Waite.
Jeremy’s post: https://lnkd.in/eZxVak9d
Free PDF: https://lnkd.in/eMFMBMgb
As I was reading through the book, I kept taking notes about little things that resonated with the way I would structure reports or meetings, but also critical bits that I might have overlooked.
Useful takeaways:
– There is nothing more impactful than black screen and silence.
– Think of your hands as punctuation: open gestures emphasise key points.
– Avoid screen-sharing by default. Nothing kills human connection faster.
– You have about 75s to capture attention when you start talking.
– One “but” every 60-90s (125-200 words) is a good ratio.
– Leave some details out to let people fill in the gaps on their own.
– Your voice is your superpower: vary your pace, pitch, and pauses.
– The fastest way to get people to remember is to make them laugh.
– The most powerful emotion in storytelling is surprise.
– If a story has no stakes, it has no pulse → show the cost of inaction.
– A story’s ending is the beginning of what the audience remembers.
In times of AI, nothing is more impactful than a genuine, sincere human connection. The feeling of mutual trust and respect. The presence of vulnerability and humility. The value of critical thinking. I strongly believe that if we can wrap a story around that — our truly human attributes and experiences — we can move the audience in a way AI never could.
We probably will end up orchestrating digital experiences with less pixel pushing and more automation under the hood. But to make a true impact, we need to curate, we need to raise the right questions and we need tell a damn good story to get people on our side. I don’t see it changing any time soon.
✤ Useful resources:
Free Storytelling Masterclass (+ PDFs) https://lnkd.in/e9MRUiKw
50″ x 50″ Hi-Res Wallchart (PDF) https://lnkd.in/eKNTNKfs
15-pages PDF (with each structure on a separate page) https://lnkd.in/dzdMsmvp
Story Arcs For Effective Storytelling (PDF) https://lnkd.in/evf4RyFn
I can only wholeheartedly recommend to follow Jeremy Connell-Waite, along with BetterStories.org (https://lnkd.in/eiFscUtf). Thanks for your incredible and passionate work, Jeremy!
By Theboss on 05.18.25 1:19 pm
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