It was obvious Anthony was frustrated. He said to me, “Peter, I know my job. I know the numbers. I know what we need to do to reach our goals. So why does it seem like no one understands what I’m saying?”
As he looked up, he added, “Please tell me that you can wave a magic wand and help me be better at this.”
“I don’t have a magic wand, Anthony,” I said with a laugh. “But I do have some magic dust. When you sprinkle it into your presentations, people will better understand and remember your message.”
“Yeah, OK,” Anthony replied, doubting me. “How do I get this magic dust?”
“You don’t need to get any, Anthony, because you already have it,” I assured him. “You just have to learn how to use it.”
The magic dust is storytelling. Sprinkling it into your presentations provides several benefits. But before we get to them, let’s take a look at why businesspeople often neglect this powerful tactic when planning a presentation.
• Business presentations are all about facts and figures, charts and graphs, and goals and initiatives. Yes, these are important, but it is stories that make them memorable.
• Since their superiors do not incorporate stories into their presentations, junior executives believe they shouldn’t either.
• Many businesspeople think they do not know how to tell a story. Wrong. Everyone knows how to tell a story. We tell them all the time. Making stories more compelling does take some practice, but you can master the skill in short order.
Stories can be entertaining or informative, but their power is in connectivity. Studies show that when listeners are involved in a story, “mirror” neurons in their brains light up in the same places that light up in the storyteller’s brain. As a result, we are likely to remember the point or moral of the story because we felt like we lived it or watched it happen.
Here are some steps to help you develop compelling stories:
• Build a collection of stories. They can be from your own experiences, as well as from books, movies and articles.
• Determine the point you want to make, and select the story that best illustrates your point.
• Keep your stories simple. They should be easy to deliver and easy to understand.
• Have a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is where you establish the characters. It is also where you include an obstacle, struggle, or conflict. Without a challenge, a story does not provide a lesson nor purpose. In the middle, present the steps the “hero” took to overcome the challenge. Include details and why the actions worked. Then there’s the end. No matter how it ends, make it emotional. Emotion is what makes it stick.
• Make characters come alive by using their names in the dialog. An average statement: “He told me he needs to crush his fourth-quarter numbers.” A Better statement: “He said, ‘I need to crush my fourth-quarter numbers.’ ” An engaging statement: “Jim said, ‘Liz, I need to crush my fourth-quarter numbers.’ ”
• At the end of the story, restate the point or moral to your story in case someone did not get it.
Sprinkle this magic dust into your presentations. When you see how engaged your listeners are and how much they retain, it will quickly become your favorite tool.
Peter George is president of Peter George Public Speaking Inc. in Providence and specializes in helping attorneys and executives improve their public speaking skills.
