NYC Innovation Hot Spot Hosts Third “Storytelling for Scientists” Workshop

Storytelling can present a challenging skill for scientists—but it’s a critical tool for successfully bringing partners, supporters, and funders on board. On February 12, 2026, the NYC Innovation Hot Spot, in partnership with the New York NSF I-Corps Hub, hosted their third “Storytelling for Scientists” workshop, led by Andrea Retzky, Storyteller-in-Residence for CUNY’s Industrial & Applied Research division. 

More than 30 startup founders attended in person, with others participating via Zoom. The workshop included an overview of the value of storytelling for entrepreneurs, explaining the power of analogy and language choice and exploring why it can be particularly hard for scientists to tell their story in simplified language. Retzky reviewed numerous strategies for improving written and in-person presentations, and engaged participants in an opportunity to share and refine their “elevator speech.” Each participant was able to workshop a stump speech live and left with a confident introduction to lead future conversations.

The workshop concluded with Retzky meeting one-on-one with 6 companies for 10-minutes each to review and improve their current business thesis language for an upcoming business presentation.

The NYC Innovation Hot Spot will offer the workshop again later this year in Fall 2026.