AI for Storytelling

This opening module sets the stage for an AI for Storytelling workshop built around using ChatGPT for creative content generation. Participants reflect on their current experience and feelings about AI tools, hear what the workshop will cover ??? generative AI basics, prompt engineering best practices, and hands-on use of ChatGPT for a content creation goal ??? and check in with a partner to share a personal or professional focus, a question about ChatGPT, and a personal goal for the session.

This module introduces the fundamentals of ChatGPT as a foundation for using AI in storytelling and communication work. Through guided discussion, participants review what the tool is, what "GPT" stands for, how it generates responses from prompts, and where its limits lie ??? including data cutoffs and its tendency to produce inaccurate or fabricated content. Participants also surface and share how they've already been using the tool, grounding the discussion in real, current use.

This module teaches practical techniques for writing effective prompts when working with AI tools like ChatGPT: assigning the AI a role, starting with simple commands and iterating conversationally, clearly defining the output format you want, and giving feedback to refine results. Participants first review these prompting tips, then watch a live group demo where the facilitator builds prompts in real time around topics participants choose ??? such as blog posts, short stories, marketing pitches, or Q&A with a real or fictional person ??? and are invited to suggest their own prompt ideas.

This module gives participants hands-on practice using ChatGPT to generate marketing and storytelling content around a product of their choice. Working in pairs or small groups with rotating control of the shared screen, participants prompt ChatGPT to produce a range of marketing assets (product descriptions, social media posts, ad scripts, sales talking points, positioning statements) for a favorite product, then separately prompt it to write and reshape a story about a product across different audiences, age levels, tones, authorial styles, and languages. The exercises are built around picking your own favorite product as the working example, and the prompting and editing techniques practiced generalize to any product or brand storytelling task.

This module teaches a four-step playbook for using AI (like ChatGPT) to draft and refine personal or professional stories: gather story inputs, prompt for the "big idea," add characters and sensory detail, and experiment with style. Participants define their own story using a structured input framework (Audience, Insight, Context, Characters, Conflict, Plot, Conclusion), then practice iterative prompting techniques to sharpen the core idea, add scenes with dialogue and metaphor, and rewrite the same story in different styles (e.g., a biography, a news story, PR talking points). Practice is grounded in example scenarios ??? an entrepreneurship pitch story and a job-interview story ??? which illustrate how to apply the framework, then participants build and share their own version.

This closing module wraps up the AI for Storytelling workshop with a guided reflection on what participants learned and how they'll apply it going forward. Participants discuss surprises from the day, revisit the personal goal they set at check-in, and identify specific parts of their own work where ChatGPT could save time or spark creativity???as well as areas where they'd choose not to use it. The module ends with participants naming a concrete next step for continuing to explore the tool.