In this issue I’m going to be talking about stories, story telling. And the power it has to igniting your audience’s imagination. And you’ll notice that every good public speaker these days, they use stories to convey their point. And there are three reasons why they do this.
The first reason, number one it’s easy to remember as opposed to memorizing a speech. Have you ever been up there on the stand and you’re thinking, “Man, this is quite difficult. This is very difficult. I’m trying to memorize a speech here and if I just had a story that had a very similar point to the point I’m trying to make in this speech, then that would be so much easier to tell.” Because number one, you’re recalling from memory, it actually happened in the past. And it’s easier to remember that as opposed to just reading or memorizing facts and figures.
The second point is the audience relates to stories far better than listing to facts and figures. They would rather you tell a very personal story that has a point at the end as opposed to going through half an hour of facts and figures and graph charts and pie charts and then making your point. The audience likes to follow stories.
And number three, no one like PowerPoint presentations anymore, so if you do still user PowerPoint presentations I highly recommend you stop. The quickest way to lose an audience is by dimming the lights and turning on that PowerPoint presentation. That is the quickest way to lose an audience.
You have to have faith in your story telling. You have to reveal things. You have to have a little guts to be personal with your audience. And you know what the best stories are? Personal stories, people like to hear personal stories and the insights that that person has experienced. So if you have a very personal insight, something you learned from, something that makes a point at the end that other people in your audience can gain some experience from then tell it.
Now if you don’t have that many stories to recall from I advise you to collect stories. Now it’s very simple to do this. All you have to do is head out and buy a paper, buy a newspaper. Buy one of those media magazines and start a note book or a database to improve your access to the stories that you like. Now once you have a few stories to recollect from learn the characteristics of a good story. So take the time to learn what makes a good story. What makes a story that people can relate to and learn from as opposed just someone blabbing on about their trip yesterday to the Rocky Mountains.
A good story is, number one it’s told well. Number two, the plot involves a transformation. Number three that story teller is sincere; no one likes anyone that isn’t sincere. Number four the story fits the occasion. So if you’re giving a presentation about business communication and why you should communicate with your colleagues and you’re telling a story about your trip with your kids to the fair ground last week, it’s not suitable. People can’t relate to that. It doesn’t fit the occasion.
Number five, the characters come alive. Make the characters come alive by giving them facts and details about the character’s appearance, the way they walk, their habits, give them something to picture in their head. Usually I try and match my characters with movie stars.
So if I’m telling a story about a short stocky fellow with no neck, I will talk about Danny DeVito. And that gives the audience a character to relate it to.
And lastly the story addresses the issues at hand. There has to be a call to action at the end for the audience, and it has to address their issue.
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Saturday, September 27, 2008
Storytelling and Public Speaking - The Power Of Telling Stories In Your Speech
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