Telling the story: Communicating about mission and Religious Life

"Write down what gives you joy. Write down what makes you feel good."
Sr. Michele Morek

On November 17 and 18, 2022, the online workshop "Telling the Story: Communicating about Mission and Religious Life" took place. The event was organized by UISG in collaboration with Multimedia International, Communicators for Women Religious and Global Sisters Report.

The course, attended by more than a hundred participants, was dedicated to communicators of religious life. The speakers were: editor of GSR Gail De George and GSR Liaison Sisters: Sr. Joyce Meyer, Sr. Helga Leija and Sr. Michele Morek.
The topics discussed during the two days of the meeting were varied, just as comments and questions from the participants.

Topics such as writing press releases, the organization of institutional events and the realization of interviews were deepened thanks to the intervention of Gail De George who presented case studies and also carried out simulations during the two days.

Sr. Helga, however, dedicated her presentation to the theme related to the choice of words, focusing on the importance of a good construction of the sentences to be maintained, especially when proceeding with translations from one language to another: it is always fundamental to do not alter the meaning of a text. What helps is, above all, the contextual analysis, understanding who we turn to when we write a text, what is the culture of reference and the way in which a language is used.

Sr. Joyce focused mainly on storytelling, explaining intentions and strategies. "Stories have different purposes: they can inspire, influence, educate or educate, convince and persuade," he said, pointing out that we all have, without a doubt, a story to tell.

Last but not least, Sr. Michele, especially during the second day of training, described the difference between blog, news, article and column.

There were also journalistic and communicative references to the digital world that today represents a challenge and a possibility and so, interventions aside, were dedicated to social media and their characteristics: choice of images to use on sites and platforms, strategies to write good captions and practical tips on how to create social content.

UISG Communications Office