Develop Your Storytelling Abilities
When we think of Hollywood, what we usually remember most are
the moving, dramatic, and funny stories that movies tell. The screenwriter
Robert McKee says, "Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into
a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency
of human contact."
All actors recognize the value of great stories and the importance of making
them come alive. I teach business leaders and sales professionals to use
stories to train, lead and sell.
Some people are born street-corner, back-fence raconteurs for whom
storytelling is as easy as a smile. Whenever a group gathers around the
coffee pot for the midmorning ritual, everyone is eager to hear their latest
personal stories. An audience of one or a thousand will always prefer a
trivial story brilliantly told to a brilliant one told badly.
Executive speech coaching has become an exciting part of my business.
Often, a corporate speaker brings me sheets of statistics and says, "Here's
what I want to talk about."
"Why should your audience care about all this?," I ask. "Where is the
excitement? Where is that currency of human contact, the STORY?"
Then we set about turning the numbing data into stimulating descriptions
of what it all MEANS. More than any words you say, people will remember
what they 'see' in their minds while they are listening.
Don't depend on PowerPoint, slides, and overheads alone to tell your
story. In a recent speech training session for engineers, I asked one man
to tell us again what he had been saying, but without the help of his very
expensive, four-color view-graphs. The entire audience agreed that he was
much more effective and passionate about his subject WITHOUT his visual
aids.
Am I asking you NOT to use these tools? NO! But first decide what you
want to say. What are your points of wisdom? How can you illustrate these
points best? Use your support materials to support your case. One corporate
team walked out of my studio saying, "This makes so much sense. We've
been putting together 40 PowerPoint slides, then deciding what to say in
between them."
You need to connect with your audience EMOTIONALLY as well as
intellectually. Look at the people you're talking to, not at your notes.
Keep the type on your slides to a minimum. Your audience is there to
listen to your stories, not read them.
Relate your stories to the needs and interests of your audience. For
example, if you're talking to salespeople, tell stories about how your
satisfied clients have used your product or service. Use their comments
as exciting and vivid dialogue in your story. Follow the classic Hollywood
formula:
- Start with interesting characters.
- Add sparkling dialogue.
- End with an important lesson learned.
Remember, everyone resists a sales presentation, but few can resist a good
story well told.
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