Since the first artist painted tales of great hunts on the walls of caves some 100,000 years ago, probably even before that, humans have been communicating morals, lessons and more through stories.
We’re just hard-wired to communicate in story form.
That’s why the best orators tell stories to bring home their points. Aesop had his fables. Religious leaders have their parables. And speakers have their anecdotes.
If you want people to remember what you have to say, you must say it in the form of a story.
It doesn’t have to start once upon a time and it doesn’t have to follow some mythological structure. Your stories just need to have a beginning, a middle and an end.
Some people will talk about something they saw at the grocery store to illustrate a point. Others will tell of a incident from their childhood. It doesn’t really matter what the story is per se, as long as it engages the audience and supports a point or two in your presentation.
Let me repeat that last part. Your story must support a point in your presentation. Do not tell stories just to tell stories … this just distracts from your message and can leave your audience confused.
There is a lot of advice about storytelling out there, but the video below, featuring Scott Simon of NPR, provides some very good points that are specifically geared toward the spoken word. I hope you enjoy it!
What is your biggest challenge around giving presentations?
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