Upcoming Events, Courses, and Talks

We’ve all been there. You’re at a networking event, or on a first date, or waiting for an elevator, and you’re asked: “So…what do you do?” It’s easy to respond with information (like a job title or a description of your work or the mission of your company), but a story is more memorable. Whether you’re talking to potential investors, drumming up business with potential clients, making the case to a new collaborator, or representing your company at a conference, the more compelling your story, the more lasting the interaction. Storytelling also helps to accelerate relationship building, build trust, and create stronger and more durable connections.

In this workshop participants will learn (and practice!):

• What distinguishes a story from other forms of information sharing
• How to source experiences from our personal and professional lives and craft those experiences into effective stories
• How to alter the components of a story in order to speak to different audiences with different needs and different lengths of time
• How to answer a question with a dynamic story rather than static information

Led by Amanda Delheimer, Artistic Director of 2nd Story, an organization that specializes in personal narrative and story-centered approaches to team building, skill building, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion training for businesses of all sizes and types.

About the Instructor 

Amanda Delheimer (she/her) has served as the Artistic Director of 2nd Story since 2007, where she has created countless performances and facilitated trainings and experiences for partners locally and nationally, including Perkins Coie, Motorola, Wounded Warriors, the Donnelley Foundation, and the Gender and Sexuality Center at UIC, among others. She was an inaugural recipient of the Leadership U: One-on-One Fellowship, funded by the Mellon Foundation and administered by the Theatre Communications Group, which placed her in residence at Lookingglass Theatre Company from 2012-2015 as a Strategic Planning Consultant. Her most recent work as an arts leader focuses on pay equity, arts worker care, and creating human-centered workplace cultures as an antidote to the systems of exploitation and violence in which we currently exist. She has been recognized multiple times as a leader in the Chicago Arts Community, most recently in New City’s Players 50 2024 List of Advocates & Changemakers.

About the Organization 

2nd Story is an arts organization located in Albany Park in Chicago. We believe that sharing our stories and experiences with each other is what binds us to one another, so we create spaces where we can share and listen to each other’s true, personal stories.We do this through our performances, our education programming, and our professional development work with businesses of all sizes and types, called StoryBuilds. 
 

About StoryBuilds

StoryBuilds is a program of 2nd Story, a Chicago-based storytelling organization in its 27th season. Working at the intersection of personal narrative, community connection, and strategic transformation, we help individuals and teams build empathy, connection, and capacity for change.

We work with businesses, nonprofits, and leaders across sectors to:

• Build confident communicators and compelling messengers
• Cultivate inclusive and values-driven cultures
• Equip teams to lead with authenticity, clarity, and empathy. 

From conference keynotes to cultural change initiatives, we build spaces where real stories change real lives.