Public Speaking Tips - Storytelling Explained
Hi, my name is Alex Ryan and welcome to tenpublicspeakingtips.com. Today, in this audio issue, I am going to be talking about stories—storytelling and the power it has to igniting your audience’s imagination and you will 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 is number one, it is easy to remember as opposed to memorizing a speech. Have you ever been up there on the stand and you are thinking, “Man, this is quite difficult. This is very difficult. I am trying to memorize a speech here and if I just had a story that had a very similar point to the point I am trying to make in this speech, then that would be so much easier to tell.” Because number one, you are recalling from memory, it actually happened in the past and it is easier to remember that as opposed to just reading or memorizing facts and figures. The second point is the audience relate to stories far better than listening 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 like to follow stories. And number three, no one likes PowerPoint presentations anymore so if you do still use 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 storytelling. 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 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, something that other people in your audience can gain some experience from, then tell it. Now if you do not have that many stories to recall from, I advise you to collect stories. Now, it is 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 notebook 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 is told well. Number two, the plot involves a transformation. Number three, the storyteller is sincere. No one likes anyone that is not sincere. Number four, the story fits the occasion. So if you are giving a presentation about business communication and why you should communicate with your colleagues and you are telling a story about your trip with your kids to the Fairground last week, it is not suitable. People cannot relate to that. It does not fit the occasion. Number five, the characters come alive. Make the characters come alive by giving them facts and details about the characters 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 am 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 core direction at the end for the audience and it has to address their issue. Well, that is all I have time for today. My name is Alex Ryan from tenpublicspeakingtips.com and I hope our paths cross again many times in the future.