Why Our Stories Matter
How listening differently can change the way we understand and serve people.
Every person you meet has a story you don't know yet.
In frontline work, we're often asked to respond to the information in front of us: a form, a referral, a behaviour, a request, a missed appointment, a problem that needs solving.
But information isn't the same as understanding.
A form can give you an answer. A story can help you understand the answer.
In this engaging storytelling keynote, Erica Richmond explores how listening differently can help us challenge our assumptions, understand people more fully, and respond in ways that better meet their needs.
Drawing on her experience as a service coordinator, writer, educator, and communication instructor, Erica invites audiences to consider what becomes possible when we make room for the stories behind the information.
The story behind the answer
Sometimes the most important part of someone's story isn't the answer they give you.
It's what happened before they got to that answer.
Erica learned this firsthand while helping a mother complete an application for home modifications for her son. On paper, one answer seemed straightforward. But when Erica listened to the story behind it, that answer meant something very different.
And that context mattered.
Because the way we understand someone's circumstances can change the way we're able to respond.
The stories we don’t know we’re hearing
Stories don't always arrive as neat, beginning-middle-end narratives.
Sometimes they show up as a piece of mail someone brings to your office.
A detail mentioned in passing.
A question that seems unrelated to the reason someone came to see you.
A story they've told before.
Or a story they tell again and again.
When we're listening only for the information we need to complete the task in front of us, we can miss the clues that tell us what someone actually needs.
What if the thing that seems like a distraction is actually the thing we need to notice?
Three things stories can give us
Context
A story can help us understand what an answer actually means.
Clues
The information we need isn't always presented directly. Sometimes we have to notice what's being said around it.
Trust
When people know we're listening, they may feel more comfortable sharing the pieces of information that help us understand their situation.
These aren't abstract storytelling concepts for Erica.
They're lessons she learned while working directly with people and trying to figure out how to support them well.
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
There's another kind of story we need to pay attention to.
The stories we tell ourselves about other people.
Someone doesn't return a phone call.
Someone misses an appointment.
Someone seems angry.
Someone doesn't follow through.
Someone asks for something that doesn't seem to make sense.
We make assumptions because that's what humans do.
But there is a difference between:
What I know.
and
What I've decided must be true.
In this keynote, Erica explores what can happen when we become curious before we become certain—and how that small shift can change the way we communicate, make decisions, and serve the people in front of us.
You don't have to hear someone's whole life story.
Making space for stories doesn't mean asking everyone you work with to tell you everything.
People have boundaries.
Our workplaces have time limits.
Our systems have requirements.
And sometimes, the story isn't ours to hear.
This keynote isn't about becoming therapists, interrogators, or amateur detectives.
It's about noticing when we might be filling in the blanks—and developing the curiosity to ask, listen, and understand before we decide we know.
Better listening doesn't necessarily require more time.
It requires paying better attention to the time we already have.
What participants will explore
Through personal stories, practical examples, and reflection, participants will consider how to:
Listen for context rather than simply collecting information
Recognize the assumptions we make when we don't have the whole story
Notice clues that might reveal an unmet need
Distinguish between what they know and what they are assuming
Ask questions that create understanding rather than simply gather facts
Become curious before becoming certain
Make space for someone's story without expecting them to tell everything
Recognize listening as a professional skill for building trust and connection
Consider how a deeper understanding of someone's experience can change the way they respond
For people who work with people
Why Our Stories Matter is particularly suited to organizations and professional groups whose work depends on understanding and serving people.
This storytelling and communication keynote is a natural fit for:
Social and human services
Healthcare and allied health
Community and nonprofit organizations
Education and student services
Municipal and public-facing services
Frontline teams and client-facing professionals
Professional associations and conferences
The keynote can also be adapted for staff development days, organizational retreats, conferences, and other professional audiences.
Whatever the setting, the central question remains the same:
What might change if we listened beyond the information we were given?
What makes this keynote different?
Erica Richmond is a Canadian author, public speaker, college communications instructor, and founder of Open Sky Stories.
Her work as a writer has taught her to pay attention to the details other people might miss: the pause before someone answers, the thing they don't quite say, the detail that doesn't seem important until suddenly it is.
Her work in communication and education has taught her how powerful those same skills can be in our everyday interactions.
And her experience as a service coordinator showed her that listening isn't simply a nice thing to do.
Sometimes, listening changes the service you are able to provide.
Erica brings those experiences together in a keynote that combines storytelling, communication expertise, practical reflection, and a healthy curiosity about the humans in front of us.
It's thoughtful without being overly complicated.
Practical without being another corporate framework.
And deeply rooted in the belief that people are more than the information we have about them.
Bring Why Our Stories Matter to your audience
Give your team an opportunity to pause, notice what they're assuming, and think differently about what it means to truly listen.
Why Our Stories Matter can be adapted for conferences, professional development events, staff gatherings, organizational retreats, and other groups.
Ready to bring Erica to your event?
Erica Richmond is a Canadian author, public speaker, college communications instructor, and founder of Open Sky Stories.
She writes and speaks about communication, creativity, connection, and the complicated stories that make us human.
As a writer, educator, and speaker, Erica is interested in what happens when we pay closer attention—to our own stories, to other people's stories, and to the small moments that connect us.
She is the author of Pixie and the Bees and Pixie and the Fox, and her creative nonfiction has appeared in literary publications and anthologies.
Based in Peterborough, Ontario, Erica speaks to organizations and audiences across Canada.
About Erica Richmond
