How to use storytelling to make your public speech interesting?
We all love hearing to stories. A story well told can hypnotize people. People listening to you might forget what you were wearing, what you were showing in your presentation, a graph or a fact, but would always remember the story you told.
In most of the business presentations, meetings and interactions, the business leaders and managers avoid telling stories because they feel that might make the presentation informal and not business-like. And so they fail to grab attention of the audience and establish an atmosphere of trust and respect with the listeners.
Two decades of my experience in sales, after-sales service and corporate training, has taught me that, be it an audience of 200 people or a presentation to an individual client, we should always use few personal stories in our speech. Professional public speakers always use storytelling and with it they make even statistical data, graphics and fact, more vivid and interesting.
The best stories to use in your public speech may involve true facts from your life, self –effacing humorous facts about your past mistakes and challenges, success stories from famous people’s biographies and stories that explore the history of your business.
Not every story will grab your audience’s attention and interest. We should consider few important points when choosing the right story for your speech.
First, to begin with you should give your audience something that will enrich their lives, from the richness of your own life or someone else’s.
Understand that it’s not bad to create excitement around your talks and presentations because the element of genuine excitement makes the presentation or the speech memorable and influential. It’s great fun for the audience. But just for the sake of displaying excitement, if the speaker tries to build up unnecessarily, the buy in itself might not be achieved.
Remember to always to tell a simple story. Make it emotional and personal. That’s it.
Stories don’t work when the audience can’t visualize what a speaker is talking about. We get lost if things are too dry or abstract.
Aim to create an image or stimulate the senses in some key way. Really effective storytelling allows the audience to put themselves into a situation that you’re describing. If they can’t see it or touch it or taste it, then your story won’t be as effective because they won’t be as interactive with the information you’re providing them with.
When you’re telling your story, try not to speak from OUTSIDE the experience using memorized words. Speak from within the experience, using personal perspective to help the audience feel, see, and hear what YOU feel about your topic.
It’s not just telling stories for the stories sake; it has an end point that means something for the audience. Don’t just tell a story because you think it’s fascinating for yourself, always ask yourself “What is it that I want my audience to get out of this story by the end of it?” Work your way to the end point of your story from its very beginning.
