Prompts help your people reflect and structure their stories in a way that’s going to generate the richest insights and provide the most value.
Inviting people to talk to specific prompts and questions also builds their confidence and makes sure you get the on-point results you need. It’s worth spending time on getting them right.
NB. The maximum character limit for prompts is 90 characters including spaces.
Consider these tips:
1. Aim for 3 prompts per Part or less
In most cases 2 or 3 prompts is the sweet spot for building a response around your Part's theme.
Keep each prompt focussed. If you need a specific answer, avoid combining too many ideas in one prompt or Part.
As a rule-of-thumb allow at least 15 secs per prompt and keep it simple.
You can add up to 5 prompts where you want to give people more choice in how they shape their story, or offer different, optional routes through their response.
2. Bring out the human side
If you need stories that connect, shift perspectives or encourage others to try something new, ask about how an experience felt.
People mirror the language they hear. So, if you want your storytellers to show more emotion and passion make room for it.
Try:
What are you most proud of?
How did this make you feel?
Why did this matter to you?
What do you love about XYZ, and why?
This helps build emotional as well as cognitive trust, which is important when you're using peer stories to influence thinking or change behaviour.
3. Write prompts for spoken answers
Use natural, conversational language that helps people think about what they want to say and respond in their own words.
You can use a mix of open requests, questions and sentence starters.
Here are some examples:
Start with what you are going to share.
What’s your story in a sentence?
In this story ...
For the first prompt in a Part, an open request such as Tell us or Share works well. This helps people frame their response and include some of the question in their answer.
4. Ask for specific examples
Ask for a real example, then use follow-up prompts to draw out what they learned, what changed and what others can take from it.
Prompts to try:
Tell us one area where you've grown or changed most as a leader.
Share a specific example of what you're doing differently.
What impact did your actions have on your team or customers?
What one thing will you do differently to build on this?
Share one tip to help others in a similar role.
Specific examples give people something concrete to talk about, make stories more useful to others and provide stronger evidence of impact and change.
5. Keep your audience and campaign objectives in view
Check that your prompts are drawing out the stories, messages and insights you need from the campaign.
Think about what will be most useful and relevant to the audience and make sure your prompts give storytellers the opportunity to cover it.
Avoid trying to force every message into every story. Focus on the things that matter most and leave room for people to bring their own experience and perspective.
6. Ask why it mattered
Use “why” prompts to help people explain the meaning behind an experience, decision or change.
Prompts to try:
Why was this important to you?
Why did you take that approach?
Why did this make a difference?
Why do you think it worked?
Why should others care about this?
Asking "why" helps people move beyond describing what happened and share the thinking, motivation or significance behind it.
7. Encourage the personal and unexpected - avoid scripting
Use prompts to guide the story, not script it word-for-word.
Give people enough direction to stay relevant, but leave space for their own experiences, examples and unexpected insights. Over-scripting can make stories sound less natural and engaging.
The best responses often include something the designer didn’t anticipate.
As a final check, think like an interviewer: do your prompts help someone open up, get specific and share the most useful parts of their story?