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NARRATIVE TRAINING

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Yes, you’ve been told you need to do a better job with storytelling.
You just haven’t been told about the tool you need to do it.
It’s called the ABT Narrative Template. 
We developed it. We want to train you with it.

Over and over again, what we hear from people using the ABT is that, “It provides me with FOCUS in my communication.”  Focus is the biggest challenge.  Anyone can carry on and on about "this AND this AND this AND this" (AAA structure).  What audiences want and need to hear is for you to talk about "this AND this, BUT the problem is this, THEREFORE we are doing this" (ABT structure).

 

We offer two forms of ABT Narrative Training:

 

LOW IMPACT - working with the ABT every day for three weeks with our Structuralists as you develop your own ABT.

 

HIGH IMPACT - our 10 hour course that includes core lectures, guest lectures, and Working Circles for development of your own ABT.

 

This is our tool, the ABT Narrative Template:

 

            AND              BUT              THEREFORE           

 

Here are just a few of the organizations we’re working with: World Bank, Pfizer, U.S. Forest Service, USDA, National Park Service, FAA, NOAA, Emory University Medical School

 

Here is our goal: to establish THE ABT MINDSET

 

A WORKING CIRCLE is a group session where graduates of our NARRATIVE TRAINING program use the ABT Framework to develop and strengthen the core narrative of a project, proposal, paper, presentation -- any material that needs to eventually be communicated either to fellow specialists or the general public.

 

The Narrative Gym Series
In the spring of 2020 we developed the ABT Framework Course consisting of 10 one hour sessions for 30 participants plus individual half hour Working Circle development sessions.  Month after month, we have run the course as we’ve drawn in a team of 20 instructors and advisors.  The course gave rise to this initial short book which has now been adapted to other disciplines, coauthoring with our team members.
6TH VERSION
FOR MEDICINE

Original

Business

Science

Law

Politics

The ABT Course

The ABT is fun. (Here's an article about it.) The course is part of the larger concept of THE NARRATIVE GYM, which refers to anything that exercises the narrative part of your brain, including the course, the podcast, the books, and Working Circles that are part of the course.

The course provides three main benefits

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Introduction

Introduction to the narrative tools (in particular the ABT Framework and the Dobzhansky Template).
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Journey

Start of the journey towards developing “narrative intuition.”
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Working Circle

Social “entrainment” meaning the habit of developing narrative structure through a 5 person group called a Working Circle.
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Our Clients
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MEET THE TEAM...



Mike Strauss
Science


Dianna Padilla
Science


Park Howell
Business


Doug Passon
Law


Shirley Malcom
Science


Rick Nelson
Science


Brian Palermo
Acting


Nancy Knowlton
Science


Matthew David
Film


Dave Gold
Politics


Marlis Douglas
Science


Keisha Bahr
Science


Julie Claussen
Science


Liz Foote
Conservation


Michael Bart
Science


David Pullan
Business


Sarah Jane McKechnie
Business


Patty Limerick
History
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10 One-Hour Sessions
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ABT Ambassadors
We’ve asked some of the instructors and graduates of the ABT Framework Course to help us as ambassadors in propagating a wider understanding of the power and ubiquity of the ABT. For each one, they tell about one INSTANCE of seeing the ABT in the real world, and one APPLICATION they have made of the ABT Framework to their own work.
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About Randy

Hi, my name's Randy Olson, and I’m a scientist-turned-filmmaker. Here’s my story ...
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Randy Olson (left) receives the 2020 John P. McGovern Award for Excellence in Biomedical Communication from the American Medical Writers Association. Center: Kimberly Mankiewicz, Director, Center for Health Communication, University of Texas. Right: Long time ABT collaborator Dr. Mike Strauss, former head of Office of Science Quality Review, U.S.D.A./A.R.S.
The ABT Time Podcast

The ABT Time Podcast is hosted by Dr. Randy Olson. It was launched in spring, 2021. The podcast has a specific focus on the ABT Narrative Framework as a part of the Narrative Gym concept for conditioning the narrative part of the brain.