Communicating through a tale

Eric Miller, the director of the festival and the institute, says the event is in line with the efforts to use storytelling as a tool for better communication.

What are the different elements of the Chennai Storytelling Festival 2016? 

It is both a teaching and learning event, which will include performances and workshops. Every year, we have a theme for the festival. This year it is ‘communication’. There is a free workshop for college students. There are a number of sessions planned touching upon various applications of storytelling like emotional development, creative writing and business communication.

What led you to start a festival for storytelling? Who are the people undergoing your regular workshops? We were inspired by a similar event in Singapore and wanted to do the same. Since the inception of the institute in 2007, we have realised that storytelling is an effective tool to work on one’s communication skills. Most parents who send their children to our workshops, essentially want to work on their child’s spoken English. Over the years, we have created 22 professional storytellers in the city.

Today, the art can be applied across realms. It comes in handy for HR professionals who use it as a tool for role play. It is also the most essential quality for engineering students during interviews.