WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Hari Kumar's goal is to help people excel at what he calls the oldest art form: story telling.

 

The engineer turned communications specialist recently struck out on his own to found Connect Convivo, which offers public speaking programs. 

 

"Convivo means with life, with joy, with warmth, like in convivial. So the idea is to help people build confidence and joy in their ability to connect," he said. "So with my background in communication, I know that communication isn't just about conveying content. 

 

"It's about building a connection, and especially in these AI driven days, people are really hungry to connect in authentic ways, and storytelling is one of the most authentic."

 

Kumar offers training and classes to help people enhance their personal and organizational speaking skills in storytelling, conversation, networking and presentations. 

 

"So public speaking, presenting customer engagement. For nonprofits, I offer classes on mission-driven storytelling. For businesses, I do customer centric storytelling," he said. "And then for the general public, it starts out with just getting up on stage and telling the story with no slides, no notes, no memorization."

 

Kumar is offering a four-week in-person storytelling series on Wednesdays starting Jan. 8 and ending with a showcase on Jan. 29. More information here; "Adventures in Storytelling" is limited to 10 people. He's also planning a virtual class on presentations and a business storytelling class in February while continuing the regular series. 

 

The goal is to step up a continuing series in-person and virtual of classes for personal skills and for business and nonprofit presenters. 

 

Kumar came to the Berkshires a few years ago "for love," he laughed, as his wife is a professor at Williams College. But he's been in New England for nearly 30 years working in information technology, marketing and education, and is a board member of Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires and sits on the steering committee for 1Berkshires' Youth Leadership Program.

 

This year, he decided it was time to start his own business and graduated from EforAll Business Accelerator program.

 

Communications training is service somewhat lacking in the area, Kumar said. He's been reaching out to nonprofits and local businesses and has been in conversation with MassHire about workplace needs, and is looking to partner with Berkshire Community College.  

 

"A lot of businesses struggle with upskilling and reskilling their workforce," he said. "One of their No. 1 priorities is communication skills. But that's also the area that mass hire doesn't actually offer any training in."

 

Communication and connection had been difficult for him as a child and at times during his career, Kumar said. 

 

"I grew up an introvert. I was very socially awkward. I was an engineer, right?" he said. "And it took a lot of lot of work to figure out, oh, how do I communicate and how to get over, especially as an immigrant, being new to an area, how do you build a community? How do you build connections?"

 

He hopes that his courses will drive connections and bring people together in spaces such as Hotel DownStreet in North Adams, where the first storytelling course will take place. 

 

"Especially these days, when people are so isolated and there's an epidemic of loneliness, I've come to really value community and connection, and so that's the big why behind this," he said. "I want to really help people find confidence and joy in building that community."