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The Art of Powerful Storytelling through Theatre Improvisation

Anyone who wants to influence, whether it’s to push forward a social cause, to sell products, or simply to change the way people think, has no choice but to share their messages in the most compelling way. One of the most effective and powerful tools of influence is storytelling. Storytelling may be an age-old tradition, but in today’s corporate world, it’s also been embraced as a uniquely powerful business practice. Top organizations utilize it as a means to communicate vision. Forward thinking business schools now include storytelling courses in their management curriculum. As a leader or a manager, if you’re not using storytelling as a method to rally your troops and convince others of your ideas, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal.

Many people have misunderstanding about corporate storytelling. They think that it means you have to be theatrical and dramatic in their delivery. That’s not true. Corporate storytelling is not about entertaining people with dramatic impressions, animated delivery. That’s for the theatre.

Having said that, there are many things that we can learn from theatre. Coen Tan will call upon his experiences in Improv Theatre to help you craft compelling stories that engage our audience and get them to think, feel, act and do. Together, you will explore key lessons from theatre (how to make characters, plots and conflicts clear in our delivery) as well as learn tricks that the best scriptwriters use to write compelling storylines behind box-office hits.

Objective

In this program, you will learn how to:

• Be a master storyteller so that you can energize, excite and engage your audience every time you speak.
• Understand the basic structures and elements of compelling stories - characters, plots, conflicts, settings.
• Be able to tap on key moments in your stories to evoke emotions, insights and realizations in your audience.
• Weed out the parts of your stories that may not add to the audience’s experience, or may distract people from the main messages you are trying to send.
• Use improvisation techniques to be able to create stories on the spot through audience interactions.
• Influence with stories - how telling the best stories will make all the difference in business, work and relationships
• Bring the audience through a roller-coaster ride in emotions so that they experience the learning for themselves, are inspired and moved to take action

Outline

Introduction to Storytelling

• Appreciate the various effects of storytelling in everyday life
• Why storytelling works

Master the Elements of a Good Story

• How to craft themes, plots and storylines that are interesting and engaging
• How to identify the plot, the conflict and the dilemma in the story
• How to paint a compelling picture of the characters, their traits and the challenges that they face
• How to unpack the key parts in a story and deliver it to make the story impactful
• Understanding the vital elements of a story that without which stories don’t exist (Challenges, Change, Conflict)

Learn the Basics of Improvisation

• Bust the common myths of improvisation and overcome your fears and barriers to improvisation
• Be able to use improvisation techniques to create stories on the fly, especially without preparation
• Use improvisation games as warm-ups to smooth and powerful presentations delivery

Impactful Storytelling Delivery

• Keep your audience at the edge of their seats through your story
• Apply powerful delivery techniques, such as voice quality, enunciation, accents, pitch, vocal variety, body language, eye contact and energy, to bring the story to life

Profile of Coen Tan, CSP

Leadership & Communication Facilitator | Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)

Coen Tan helps people-centred leaders, the thoughtful, relational, quietly capable ones whose strengths are often mistaken for a lack of presence, turn that very trait into how they lead, influence, and hold a room. Rather than coaching leaders to perform a louder, borrowed version of leadership, he helps them make their authentic style legible and persuasive, so they lead as themselves, with structure behind them.

He does this through curated learning experiences, real stories, and safe spaces where leaders experiment, practise, and receive targeted feedback, the deliberate practice that turns insight into changed behavior.

In May 2024, Coen was conferred the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, held by the top 12% of speakers globally.

PERSPECTIVE & APPROACH

A lifelong student of human psychology, Coen brings a rare ability to see people accurately, to recognise the strength beneath the surface and name what others overlook. This depth of empathy and perception is the core of how he works with leaders.

Having spoken in 12 countries and travelled to more than 150 cities across over 30, he reads and adapts to leaders across very different cultural contexts – ability especially suited to developing leadership talent across diverse Asian markets. His background in improv, method acting, and languages makes his facilitation engaging, adaptive, and safe, so leaders open up, take risks, and stay with the discomfort where real growth happens.

EXPERIENCE

Over 17 years, Coen has designed and facilitated learning for more than 50,000 professionals across industries – from fintech and financial advisory to pharmaceuticals and FMCG, as both curriculum designer and facilitator, grounded in a deep understanding of adult learning psychology.

He is certified in the MBTI, Gallup CliftonStrengths, and the Enneagram, and is an Appreciative Inquiry practitioner – instruments he draws on selectively in service of each leader's growth.