May '15

"The cultural dimensions, icebergs and diagrams of culture shock are yesterday tools and were as such challenged at the SIETAR Europa conference Tallin two years ago. We still struggle with coining new theories and drawing new models depicting the complexity of cultures and the transition stress. Nevertheless we should not forget what is our main role as intercultural trainers. Sometimes we act as consultants, sometimes – advisors and coaches and sometimes we become storytellers. As for the last role, I have asked myself whether we are aware of the power of visual storytelling and the impact our stories can have on our listeners and clients. In this interactive presentation I would like to highlight the importance of visual storytelling as we do not only tell the stories, we show pictures, maps, diagrams and movies and create the “cultural reality” which is part of the reality seen from our perspective, and just our perspective. We balance between cultural standards and context dependent details. Why do not we encourage the participants of our intercultural sessions to share with us THEIR story of the culture seen from their perspective? That is what I actually did with diverse groups of Master students, PhD candidates and business people and guess what! It worked out and the creative visualisations communicated not seldom more then 1000 words. Thanks to visual storytelling and interactive storytelling the exchange on cultural specifics has always been very vivid and constructive. The fun factor was an additional enrichment." You can read more on my TED style talk presentation in the SIETAR Europa Journal