November 24, 2021: The 15th session of the Global Communication Education Conclave (GCEC) was enlivened by engrossing and meaningful stories shared by experts throughout the session. Storytelling today is not only limited to fiction. Leaders use storytelling to inspire, teachers use it to make complex information interesting for the students, marketers use it to sell... Read More

1. THE ART OF STORYTELLING
November 24, 2021: The 15th session of the Global
Communication Education Conclave (GCEC) was enlivened
by engrossing and meaningful stories shared by experts throughout
the session. Storytelling today is not only limited to fiction. Leaders
use storytelling to inspire, teachers use it to make complex
information interesting for the students, marketers use it to sell an
idea or product to the customers and change-makers use it to
facilitate behaviour change and encourage participation.
Storytelling has no specific pattern or technique, it involves vision,
skill and creativity and therefore this session was centred on the
theme ‘The Art of Storytelling.’
The Chief Guest of the session was Prof. Furqan Qamar,
Former Advisor (Education) Planning Commission of
India. He has served as the Secretary-General of the
Association of Indian Universities (AIU), the largest and one
of the oldest networks of universities in the world. In his illustrious
career, Prof. Qamar has held the position of the
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Rajasthan and the
Central University of Himachal Pradesh.

2. Prof. Furqan Qamar
Talking about educational reforms and referring to the animal
school fable by George Reavis, Prof. Qamar said that stories are
more effective in conveying thoughts than long lectures, they
encourage people to ask questions and connect instantly. Referring
to The Panchatantra Stories, Kissa Chahar Darvesh in
Urdu, Gulistan (an influential piece of Persian Literature), Alif
Laila and Arabian Nights, he pointed out that in all traditions
and languages, children grow up listening to stories. He concluded
by saying that technology has reformed storytelling by making it
short, crisp and more impactful.
The opening of the session was made by Session Chair, Prof.
Dhiraj Singh, Director MIT World Peace University’s
School of Media & Journalism who traced the history of
communication from an oral exercise to the digital era. He said that
the massive changes in technology have also changed the structure
of stories. He highlighted the growing trends of digital storytelling,
mobile journalism and also pointed out the emergence of
alternative facts and realities that often result in misleading
information.
Prof. Dhiraj Singh
The Eminent Media Educator Award was conferred during the
event upon Prof. Manisha Pathal – Shelot, Professor,
Communication & Digital Platforms and Strategies Chair,
Center for Development Management & Communication
(CDMC) MICA, Ahmedabad during the event. She has taught and
worked as a media consultant and researcher in India, Thailand,
and the US. She has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication with a minor
in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, USA and in Education from the Maharaja
Sayajirao University of Baroda, India.

3. Prof. Manisha Pathak – Shelot
She began her address on the topic ‘ Storytelling for
Social Change’ by showing a powerful advertisement by Vicks
based on the real story of transgender Gauri Sawant who
adopted the orphaned Gayatri and pointed out how the
advertisement subtly raises the issue of transgender rights.
During the talk, she shared her work on ‘Ethics of Care’
which focuses on how art and artists can bring social change.
Enlisting the role storytelling can play, she highlighted how
stories can help people be a part of an experience or situation,
offer acknowledgement and recognition to positive efforts and
initiatives, help in questioning the status – quo and most
importantly help to envision alternatives. She concluded by
detailing how elements like message, pace, brevity,
characters and audience-centric themes can be used to
make social change stories powerful.
The Corporate speaker for the evening was Ms. Aparna
Athreya, an award-winning storyteller, corporate
trainer, children’s author and life coach. She is also a
TEDx speaker on Storytelling and Multiple
Intelligence. She has conducted more than 1200 workshops
and trained more than 50000 educators around the country in
the classroom and creative pedagogies. Her background in
science and technology has made her work extensively in using
storytelling in STEM education.

4. Ms. Aparna Athreya
She started her address by sharing a story that concluded with the
moral ‘Everywhere there is a story, there’s truth.’ She said
that the greatest change-makers today are storytellers. Talking
about storytelling in business, she said that stories can be
meaningful only if they are authentic, have a sense of purpose,
are based on facts and have a call for action. Taking a cue from
the circle of control, circle of influence and circle of concern
mentioned by Stephen Covey in his book The 7 Habits of
Highly Successful People, she said that the circle of control
refers to the stories we tell ourselves, the circle of influence
refers to the stories we tell each other, these are the stories
which build a culture and finally she concluded by saying that
when stories transfer from one to another, they raise concern
for a cause or issue and thereby lead to social change.
Prof. Arvind Singhal was the International Keynote Speaker
for the session. Prof. Singhal is the Samuel Shirley and
Edna Holt Marston Endowed Professor of
Communication and Director, Social Justice Initiative,
The University of Texas at El Paso. He is also appointed as
the William J. Clinton Distinguished Fellow at the
Clinton School of Public Service, University of Little
Rock, AR, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Inland
School of Business and Social Sciences, Norway, and
Chancellor’s Honorary Professor, Amity University,
India.

5. Prof. Arvind Singhal
He shared stories based on the life of President Abraham
Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi to show how powerful stories
establish ideology and influence people. He further shared a
story about the famous American Cultural Anthropologist
Margaret Mead, regarding her notion of the beginning of
civilization. He said that stories take us to places we have never
been, transcend time and space and they help us meet people
who are marginalized and deprived. He ended his address by
saying that good stories alleviate us through insights and
inspire us to do better. The book ‘Handbook of
Communication and Development authored by Prof.
Singhal and Srinivas R. Melkote was also launched
during the event.
The session also had a paper presentation by Dr Juhi
Pathak, Assistant Professor, Department of Mass
Communication, School of Media, Films and
Entertainment, Sharda University. Through her research
on the topic ‘The Evolution and Current Status of IT Act
in India’, she explored the provisions of the Act with special
emphasis on Section 66 A.
The session was moderated by Dr Tanu Dang, Assistant
Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass
Communication, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language
University, Lucknow and concluded by Prof. Dhiraj
Singh… Read More