Storytelling to make your point

Humans have used stories to make sense of abstract concepts for as long as we have had written history.

It only makes sense that research has proven that personal stories are what people remember most in a presentation. Data points go in one ear and out the other but people will remember good story for a long, long time.

Inspire, motivate and educate your audience with your own personal stories, especially if you intend to present a case study – which are an excellent way to provide information because they are already set up as “the story of what happened to our company when we did ...”

Leave in the false starts, mistakes, failures and conflicts – especially if the end result is success. Working through difficult situations is incredibly compelling to an audience. Just look at most movies, TV shows and novels. Don’t make the mistake of dropping out the very thing that would most engage an audience for fear of showing a vulnerability or weak side.

Think about what presentations you most remember and what you remember about those presentations. Notice I suggested remembering the “presentation you remember and liked” as opposed to the “presenter you remember and liked” because research has shown that those might be two different things. Odds are that what you most remember about a presentation is a particular story that the presenter told. If so, I encourage you to use stories as well.

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