The practice of storytelling is as old as humanity. Stories store our knowledge, foster connections, and make us grow and evolve. But how to apply storytelling to concrete situations, in a world seemingly led by brief messages and stats? How can someone use these techniques if they are introvert or if the context requires high precision or facts-only? Is storytelling helpful for everyone, or just for those that have speeches to deliver? Is there a connection between storytelling and emotional intelligence?

In my 10 years of experience as a storytelling architect for organisations and individuals, I have identified a few key actionable insights that are universal, transferable, and can be applied by anyone, regardless of their culture, age, skill level or specific expertise, to boost their emotional intelligence skills through storytelling. To illustrate my findings, I will use anecdotes from my personal life and my professional practice, as well as examples from the scientific literature. By the end of this keynote, the participants will see their personal and work experiences in a new light, learn more about what they are capable of doing, and be able to use storytelling not only for creating more memorable pitches, presentations, and negotiations, but also for having more EI in their everyday interactions.

Georgiana Bigea is the founder of StorytellingArchitect.Com, where she delivers creative works, workshops, and consulting for public and private purposes. She has a degree in Journalism and is currently completing her PhD research on workplace conflict. Her experience includes being a social trends analyst at an international think tank, a storytelling architect in international IT start ups, and a teaching assistant at Babes Bolyai University (Romania) and University of Fribourg (Switzerland).