How to Write and Develop Stories

When you tell a business story, you’re not aiming to entertain. Your objective is to capture attention, inspire action and produce results. That will only happen if you write and deliver your story for the maximum impact possible.

Writing Stories for Maximum Impact

The key principles of writing stories for maximum impact are:

Write a story the way you ordinarily talk. That is, use your normal conversational language rather than trying to follow the rigid rules of composition. If all else fails, tape yourself speaking and then transcribe what you’ve said word for word without corrections or alterations.

Invest the time required to craft a compelling story by going through your story with a thesaurus in hand looking for the most vivid word choices available. Find words that add some visual spice to your story and that will project full-color mental images to your listeners. This will be painstakingly slow and time consuming, so be patient and allow yourself enough time to do this well.

Brand your message by selecting one key “phrase that pays” — a sound bite that will linger on in the minds of the listeners long after you’ve finished. You want to give them one, and only one, key thought that they can use to describe your speech to other people. A good phrase will resonate in the minds and hearts for weeks and possibly even months.

To select a good phrase that pays:
Pick one that encapsulates your message succinctly.
Keep it simple — use only one phrase per story.
Make it short and sweet — the fewer the words, the better.
Make it rhyme — like “Walk Your Talk”
Use words that are organic and aligned with the story.
Make it alliterative — like “Make Your Move”
Make it a call to action — like “Seize the Day”
Above all, make it memorable

Pay close attention to how you link your openings, your closings and your transitions because how your message flows will influence its impact.
Now that we’ve covered that point, let’s move on to…
Speaking of…, here’s another interesting point.
You may be wondering how this relates to you. Well…

Create a rich cast of characters your audience will genuinely care about by incorporating some vivid visual and audible clues about each into your story. To achieve this:
Describe your character’s physical attributes
Add information about their emotional make-up
Illustrate some of their personality traits
Vividly describe how they drive, walk, talk, eat, etc.
Use metaphors that are full of color
Use relationship descriptors like a big brother, etc.
Physically act out some of their mannerisms

Incorporate some comedy so people laugh while they learn because the simple fact is that if you want to hold an audience’s attention, you’ve got to be funny. When people laugh, they feel better. To enhance your humor content:
Say witty or surprising things your listeners aren’t expecting
Combine things that normally don’t fit together
Break patterns with a humorous twist
Use self-deprecating humor
Use exaggeration to create a bizarre situation
Speak irreverently about a corporate pillar
Use the idioms that parents use with their children

Use a sense of drama to build to a key conclusion by going deep into what you felt when confronted by a personal or professional obstacle. By daring to bare your soul and reveal what you felt at a time of great crisis, your audience can feel the anguish of the pain and exhilaration of your victory.

To build a sense of drama into a speech, you have to develop your material thoughtfully and be prepared to practice it again and again. That way, you gradually get a feel for when to be quiet, when to cling to a phrase or when to do other little things to make your speech more effective. If you aspire to being an excellent speaker, be willing to work hard at your craft. Most professional speakers spend about ten hours preparing for every hour they are scheduled to speak.

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Be a Master Presenter

October 1, 2008 by office  
Filed under Public Speaking, Sales

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The key to giving dynamic business presentations is to tell compelling and well-crafted stories that bring the principles to life for your audience. To become a better public speaker and genuinely connect with your audience, learn how to tell stories well.

Quite simply, well-crafted stories are the best way available to deliver content. Stories help people relate to what you’re saying. They are a bridge that connect the speaker and the audience. When you tell a story, people get caught up in what you’re saying, and visualize how it relates to them. They give you their full attention. To never be boring again when giving business presentations, enhance your ability to tell memorable stories.

The Best Way to Move an Audience–Storytelling

The Benefits of Storytelling in Business

Using a story is the absolute best way to help understand and “buy into” a new idea or initiative. Even better, stories can make abstract business concepts real and meaningful, which means listeners will internalize what you’re saying.

There are eight key benefits of being able to use the right story in the appropriate business setting:

Stories engage the right brain and the left brain: they meld together intellectual stimulation (which appeals to the logical left brain) to communicate ideas. By mixing a well chosen story with facts and figures, people will be convinced.

Stories apply with equal effectiveness to people with differing learning styles, as detailed below

1. Auditory learners will learn from what you say through changes in the volume, inflection and voice pitch used in the telling of a good story.
2. Visual learners will be able to visualize what you’re describing because you’ll be acting out the story.
3. Kinsethetic learners will relive what you’re describing and have the opportunity to discuss ideas with you once you’ve finished telling your story.

Stories provide business professionals with an opportunity to be original: especially when stories are used that make familiar information fresh and inspiring.

Stories can give you instant credibility: by convincing the audience beyond any doubt that you know what you’re talking about. When a business leader uses a well selected story instead of reciting a long list of dry facts and figures, you’ll immediately warm to his or her personality. Good stories help your listeners do the same with you.

Stories invite involvement on the part of the listener: such that the listeners can get swept up and immersed in a great story. They can visualize and feel what it’s like to be in the story rather than being distracted or bored.

Stories create a bond and bridge of understanding: because they have the ability to humanize authority figures, discuss common challenges and help the audience look on you as one of them.

A good story can establish you as an expert in your field: as someone who has learned something beneficial from first-hand experience and would like to share it with others in the hope that it might be useful or save others from experiencing the same problem.

Strategic storytelling differentiates you and gives you a competitive edge: because if you’re able to tell a story well, you’ll be a good communicator. If you’re a good communicator, you’ll be comfortable putting forward your ideas clearly and convincingly. If you can do that, you’ll move to the front when promotions are being considered. Being a good and effective storyteller starts a virtuous cycle that can deliver many other added benefits.

The Story Theater Method–A simple Formula for Connecting with Any Audience

A great story should be like a memorable one-person play at your local theater. Instead of just telling a story, you need to find ways to act it out and make it come alive in the minds of your listeners. You have to blend some physical and emotional action into what you’re saying.

Blending speaking and acting: The Story Theater Method means you add appropriate actions to a good story to make it spring to make it spring to life. By blending the two elements skillfully, your story can become unforgettable.

STORY what you say→ A memorable story← THEATER what you do

Bring stories to life: The key to making stories come alive is actually deceptively straightforward. It the words of master storyteller, Lou Heckler, “Don’t retell it, relive it.”

In other words, stories come alive when you as a speaker vividly recreate your story using voice inflections, facial expressions, gestures and body movements. If you can do this in an engaging manner, your story will come to life and the audience will go on a mental journey alongside you, experiencing the highs and lows the same way you do.

Story Structure

Good stories have a structure. They go logically from point A to point B .When preparing beforehand, make sure that your story has these nine key elements:

The Story Theater Method

1. Set the scene–time, place, and environment or era
I had the opportunity recently to give a speech in Overland Park just outside of Kansas City. The topic was: “The Positive Power of Change –GET OVER IT.” Although I would normally fly in the day before, since the speech was at 8 PM, I figured I could fly in the same day.

Start by talking to the audience setting the scene for what follows

3. Begin the journey–where you accept a challenge
To get to Kansas City, I had to fly from Colorado to O’Hare where I would a connecting flight. My first flight was on time, but when I got to O’Hare, I found my connecting flight was delayed an hour. That should’ve been okay, since I was still scheduled to get there at 3:30 PM my client wouldn’t be picking me up until 5:30 PM.

Act out looking at the departure board and looking at your watch figuring everything out

4. Encounter the obstacle–a difficult decision or personal challenge
When my connecting flight out of O’Hare was delayed a second and then a third time, I began to get quite nervous. My scheduled arrival time at Kansas City was now 5:15 PM, leaving me just 15 minutes to get off the plane, find my luggage and get to the curb to catch a ride.

Act out shock to find the flight delayed again. Portray anxiety with hand wrenching and pacing back and forth

5.Overcome the obstacle–by doing something unexpected and unnatural
So finally the plane lands, and I desperately run to the luggage carousel. I’m keeping one eye out for my luggage and the other for my ride. My luggage finally arrives and I rush outside to see the blue shuttle bus I need to catch drive right past me. I’m screwed. I look around for someone, anyone to blame, and then suddenly it hits me: I’m just about to try and give a speech on getting over change. So I think to myself: “What’s the opportunity in this situation?” Then, for the first time, I notice there’s a white stretch limo sitting right in front of me.

Act out getting off the plane with people getting bags from overhead lockers

Act out standing and watching for your luggage to arrive while trying to keep an eye on the traffic outside the terminal building.

2. Introduce the characters–their physical traits, personal ity quirks, etc.
The limo driver was just standing by his car. He was a short, balding guy with a thick neck and chubby hands.

6. Resolve the story–let the audience know how things panned out
I say: “Excuse me sir, are you by any chance going to Overland Park? I’ve just missed my shuttle, and I’ve got to get there to give a speech. It’s an emergency. Can you help me?” He says: “You’re in luck, my friend. My passenger seems to have missed his plane. I can drop you off. Hop in.” While we’re driving along, he added: “You know buddy, if you had taken the shuttle, you would have got there late because it stops at nine other hotels before it goes to the one you want.” He dropped me off at exactly 5:59 PM and the speech went great

Give your part of this dialogue in a rapid, obviously stressed out voice

Use a different voice to give the limo driver’s part of this dialogue

7. Make the point–clarify the moral of your story
In retrospect, I was so busy fussing about missing the shuttle that I actually overlooked the limo sitting right in front of me. I had to shift my focus to see the solution.

Take directly to the audience

8. Ask a question–focusing on whether the same thing has ever happened to teh audience
Do you ever feel like you’ve been dealt a raw hand in life or in business? Do you ever feel screwed? If you’re flexible in your thinking, change can represent an opportunity for something better to take in your life. This will only happen, however, if you’re flexible enough to see solutions rather than more problems. You’ve got to “Look for the Limo.”

Talk directly to the audience

Hand out any memory aids you have available that stress your phrase that pays when you’ve finished, not before

9. Restate the point–end with a phrase that will linger in people’s minds
In life, you get what you focus on. So focus on solutions, not the problems you have. Look for the Limo.

Story Theater Principles

To make this 9-element format work for you:

Always be authentic in what you say: Don’t try and hide who you are, but exploit your uniqueness to the maximum degree. Be the same in front of a group as you are when interacting with people one on one.

Making your message dynamic is key: Remember that you will have to embody your message if it is to come across as dynamic and vitally interesting. Pay more attention to your delivery than you do to the content. Your audience will already trust that you have content that is worthwhile. Your real challenge is to make that content come alive for each member of the audience.

Be bold in expressing yourself: Choose your material based more on what you want to say and less on what you think the audience wants to hear. That way, you can then earn the audience’s respect by having the courage to speak your mind with passion and conviction.

It’s not necessary to please everyone: Always remember that in any audience, a given percentage of the people will not like you for reasons that are completely beyond your control because they have nothing to do with reason. Therefore, don’t try and please everyone. Instead, have the mind-set that you’ll do your job and let the audience do theirs. Prepare carefully and then deliver your material with conviction. The audience will respect that.

Be confident: Once you start making your delivery, stop worrying about whether your material is right or not. Trust yourself and trust your preparation, and let it rip. Focus 100 percent of your attention on being the best that you can be, and leave everything else to work itself out.

How to Find Good Story–and What to Do with Them

Storytelling enhances your powers of persuasion as a business leader. Therefore, it makes sense to be organized in the way you gather and choose the stories you use. Build your own personal store of compelling stories that can be used at a moment’s notice.

Great Stories in Your Own Backyard

The first place to start looking for great stories to use is in your own “backyard”–in other words, mine your own personal experiences for stories that taught you something important. There are five criteria to use in selecting a story:

Look for stories with vivid details: where you will be able to recall all the colorful bits and pieces that add interest.

The story must teach a lesson: or help you gain an insight or experience an epiphany.

The story must be suitable for a business setting: which means it cannot reveal inappropriate details.

The story must inspire: and remind the listener the listener that life is good if you have the right mind-set.

You must enjoy telling the story: so you will project a sense of energy and fun as you tell it.

Other Sources

If you can’t think of a personal story that meets these criteria, some other places to look for useable stories are:

Books, especially anecdote books or inspirational books

Newspaper articles

Biographies: borrow other people’s true life stories

Quotes or quote books

Typical Business Stories

Most stories for use in a business setting involve tough decisions taken at key turning points. Business stories generally come in seven basic varieties:

Vignettes: short illustrative stories that can be told in a minute or less to teach one specific point.

Crucible stories: epic stories about people who faced severe tests or overcame incredible odds. These are generally framed as tests of the human spitit.

Imbroglio stories: where misunderstandings lead to acutely embarrassing situations. If you unwittingly find yourself in deep trouble, you have the makings of an excellent, funny story. Audiences love it when speakers make fun of themselves with embarrassing stories, but tell the truth. Don’t embellish the situation beyond what it is.

Minerva stories: parables or wisdom stories drawn from the Bible, folk stories, mythology or religious traditions (Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom).

Credibility stories: which use any current event, news story or international incident to illustrate the point you’re trying to make in your presentation.

Pattern stories: where the central point comes out over a number of years and through varying circumstances.

Instructional stories: which are generally narrative and move backwards and forwards between telling the story and commenting on the lessons that have been learned. Good instructional stories will also usually involve audience interaction and feedback.

How to Use Stories

Stories can be mixed and matched to suit the circumstances of your presentation. Over the course of a 60-minute presentation, you might use all seven types of stories, so you appeal to all personality types amongst listeners. There are also some other things you can do to enhance your effectiveness:

Pesson: Differentiate between when it’s best to use first-person stories and when it’s okay to use third-person stories. Generally speaking, most professional speakers prefer to use first-person stories to illustrate important points. This might be a pattern you can try to emulate.

Integrity: Use emotional stories with integrity and fairness. They should not be used to manipulate the audience, but more to help people acknowledge how they genuinely feel.

Experience sharing: Don’t be afraid of appearing self-absorbed by telling a personal story. Instead, work on crafting your story intelligently so it isn’t too sentimental. As long as you deliver it skillfully, everything will work out just fine.

Honesty: Authenticity is the foundation for building your career. Share the true insights you’ve gained from your stories and avoid embellishing the facts with inaccuracies. Talk about the obstacles you’ve personally overcome and people will respect what you’ve done. Always ask yourself: “Would I be embarrassed if the truth came out and the audience discovered that something I was saying was just made up?”

Universal truths: Try to base your presentation around universal truths like:

1. Honesty is the best policy.
2. You always get what you give.
3. Changing your thinking can change your life.
4. You can’t got to second base until you move off first base.
5. You get better results with a carrot than a stick.
6. People learn more from what you do than from what you say.
7. Time heals all wounds.

Pointing out excptions: Sometimes, pointing out an exception to a universal truth can make for a memorable presentation.

How to Write and Develop Stories

When you tell a business story, you’re not aiming to entertain. Your objective is to capture attention, inspire action and produce results. That will only happen if you write and deliver your story for the maximum impact possible.

Writing Stories for Maximum Impact

The key principles of writing stories for maximum impact are:

Write a story the way your ordinarily talk: that is, use your normal conversational language rather than trying to follow the rigid rules of composition. If all else fails, tape yourself speaking and then transcribe what you’ve said word for word without corrections or alterations.

Invest the time required to craft a compelling story: by going through your story with a thesaurus in hand looking for the most vivid word choices available. Find words that add some visual spice to your story and that will project full-color mental images to your listeners. This will be painstakingly slow and time consuming, so be patient and allow yourself enough time to do this well.

Brand your message by selecting one key “phrase that pays”–a sound bite that will linger on in the minds of the listeners long after you’ve finished. You want to give them one–and only one–key thought that they can use to describe your speech to other people. A good phrase will resonate in their minds and hearts for weeks and possibly even months.

To select a good phrase that pays:

Pick one that encapsulates your message succinctly

Keep it simple–use only one phrase per story

Make it short and sweet–the fewer the words, the better

Make it rhyme–like “Walk Your Talk”

Use words that are organic and aligned with the story

Make it alliterative–like “Make Your Move”

Make it a call to action–like “Seize the Day”

Above all, make it memorable

Pay close attention to how you link your openings, your closings and your transitions: because how your message flows will influence its impact.

1. Now that we’ve covered that point, let’s move no to…”
2. Speaking of K, here’s another interesting point.”
3. You may be wondering how this relates to you. Well”

Create a rich cast of characters your audience will genuinely care about: by incorporating some vivid visual and audible clues about each into your story. To achieve this:

1. Describe your character’s physical attributes
2. Add information about their emotional make-up
3. Illustrate some of their personality traits
4. Vividly describe how they drive, walk, talk, eat, etc
5. Use metaphors that are full of color
6. Use relationship descriptors like a big brother, etc
7. Physically act out some of their mannerisms

In corporate some comedy so people laugh while they learn: because the simple fact is that if you want to hold an audience’s attention, you’ve got to be funny. When people laugh, they feel better. To enhance your humor content:

1. Say witty or surprising things your listeners aren’t expecting
2. Combine things that normally don’t fit together
3. Breaks patterns with a humorous twist
4. Use self-depreciating humor
5. Use exaggeration to create a bizarre situation
6. Speak irreverently about a corporate pillar
7. Use the idioms that parents use with their children

Use a sense of drama to build to a key conclusion: by going deep into what you felt when confronted by a personal or professional obstacle. By daring to bare your soul and reveal what you felt at a time of great crisis, your audience can feel the anguish of the pain and the exhilaration of your victory.

To build a sense of drama into a speech, you have to develop your material thouhghtfully and be prepared to practice it again and again. That way, you gradually get a feel for when to be quiet, when to cling to a phrase or when to do other little things to make your speech more effective. If you aspire to being an excellent speaker, be willing to work hard at your craft. Most professional speakers spend about ten hours preparing for every hour they are scheduled to speak.

How to Work an Audience

To put the final polish on your public speaking capabilities, learn to stand in your own power. In other words, be confident in your ability to deliver a powerful message that will impact on the lives of your listeners. Have something good to say, deliver your message with passion and poise, and avoid second-guessing yourself. Give a memorable presentation you can and should be proud of.\

The Final Push

To add some polish and finesse to your presentations as a business speaker, keep these ideas in mind:

You’ll always be at your best when you’re authentic: so go deep and come up with stories and insights you can use that accurately reflect your own personality and interests. The audience will respond far better to your ideas and insights than it will if you share the ideas of other people all the time.

Try to develop your own warm-up ritual before a presentation: to get you ready to deliver a consistently great presentation. That is, you want to get energized physically while also calming your nerves. The ingredient of a good warm-up ritual might include:

1. Some physical exercises and stretches to help you feel good and relax your muscles (many professional speakers do 10 minutes of yoga before taking the stage the stage).
2. Some mental exercises like brainteasers.
3. Some deep breathing exercises to oxygenate the blood and fully awaken your mental capacities.
4. A few vocal exercises t warm up your voice. Try singing a few songs out loud irrespective of whether you’re a good singer or not. This will get your voice warmed up and ready to go.
5. Refresh your memory by running over your notes and thinking about what you’re going to say. Put your notes in order and make sure you’re comfortable with the sequence you have planned.
6. Check your attitude. Give yourself some affirmations to get centered on what you need to accomplish. These affirmations could include:
Today, I will trust that my preparation has been sound.
Today, I will feel good about myself and the audience.
Today, I will give a great presentation.
Today, I will be sensitive to what the audience is feeling.
7. Do some spiritual preparation. Take some time to meditate, pray or connect to a higher source of power and inspiration.

In most circumstances, the ideal time to do your warm-up ritual is by yourself at the very beginning of the day. That way you can combine the warm-up with a brisk walk or getting out in the fresh air. Then, 15 minutes or so before you go on, try to get a few minutes by yourself to work on your energy level. Focus your energy, and then go out and perform.

Try to make your presentation as interactive as possible: by incorporating as many different techniques as you can fit in:

1. Ask the audience questions
2. Do surveys of opinions by raising hands
3. Run question-and-answer sessions with selected people
4. Invite people in the audience to share their experiences

Brand your message: by handing out memory cards with your phrase that pays. If you work with the meeting planners, you might also be able to get that phrase printed on cards, coffee mugs, posters, handouts or caps. Help people remember the key point you are trying to make.

Work with your audio/video/technical people: and make sure everything is in working order before you start your presentation, not halfway through. Specifically, you should:

1. Ensure that there are spare batteries available for anything that uses them
2. Understand how the light controls work
3. Make sure all microphones and the sound mixer are working, and pre-set your sound levels
4. Make sure the room temperature will be comfortably maintained
5. Check for any wobbles or squeaks on the stage you’ll be using
6. Learn how to turn the lectern light and your own microphone on and off

The Exceptional Presenter

A Proven Formula to Open Up and Own the Room

by Timothy Koegel (24900)

The potential payoff for possessing exceptional presentation skills has never been higher than it is at the present time. If you can make great presentations, you can:

Build and enhance your reputation

Sell more by presenting to groups

Win your peers over to your ideas

Position yourself to get promoted

Win more business for your firm

Become more versatile and more needed

Put differently, the better your presentation skills are, the more professional you become and the more money you will make. There is a direct link between how strong your presentation skills are and what you ultimately achieve in your career.

At first glance, becoming an exceptional presenter may seem like an impossible task, but it’s not actually beyond reach. As long as you know what you need to do and then work to improve your skills, with consistent practice you can lift your presentation skills from being average to expcetional. The key is to focus on and then work at regularly upgrading your presentation skills.

The Exceptional Presenter