Enhance Your Speeches With Stories

S.K. asked about how to enhance storytelling skills in presentations.

What a great topic that we could talk for hours about. Unfortunately we don’t have hours – so let me share with you just a few key thoughts.

First of all the use of a story is a great idea. Stories can be extremely effective in capturing your audience’s attention. Here are a few important points:

+ Make sure that your story ties into the theme of your presentation. Does it illustrate one of your points? Does it tell of a personal experience where you either struggled or triumphed with regards to your subject matter? Any story along these lines can be very effective in capturing your audience’s attention.

+ People tend to think in images, so use lots of descriptive words to paint visual pictures. For example, rather than saying, “The lever was stuck so I pushed as hard as I could”, you might want to try something like, “The seized lever would not budge. I struggled with all the strength I could muster.” The second example helps the audience visualize a real struggle in the story.

+ Keep it short and sweet. Make sure that the content of your story is relevant to your point. If the story drags on you will lose your audience so cut out anything that is not directly related.

+ Use gestures. It may take some practice but try acting out some of the parts with gestures. The key to using gestures is to do what comes naturally in the story. For example, in a recent speech contest I talked about throwing a ball for my dog while my 2 year old son played on the deck next to me. While describing this I made the motion of throwing the ball and then bent over as if to pat a two year old on the head. The feedback that I got from the judges was that it was very effective. Gestures can feel awkward so it is important to practice them until they feel natural.

+ Use vocal variety. Try using your voice differently when describing different situations or characters in your story. For example, speak softly, or loudly, use anger, or sadness. Vocal variety at first feels awkward and at times contrived. The best way to learn it is to try it out and get your audience’s feedback. You will find that you can push it much further than initially feels comfortable.

+ Use emotion. Any emotion that you can build into your story will make it much more memorable. I tend to use humorous stories but a story that makes the audience feel sad, angry, or any other feeling will be equally effective.

Thanks for your terrific question S.K. and I wish you all the best as you incorporate stories into your presentations.

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Copyright © 2007 David Mudie All Rights Reserved

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