Art of Story Telling

How to make your point stick

Often times you attend annual meetings, seminars and conferences or hear great speakers talking and it feels as if they are walking their talk; in other words their words, their thoughts, expression and examples seem to flow smoothly whereas very few are able to say a few words that stick in your memory at best beyond a week.

You say a few thousand words every day to your family, your colleagues, to random people in our college and school, still every day most of our words are lost in the air once the listener’s head hits the pillow.

So what can make a story inspiring so it sticks? A few commonly known tips are;

It should be;

Simple

Emotional &

Vivid

Sound straightforward, right? But simplicity has to do with practice or mastery. Ever seen a master do the yoga moves, they seem to flow with ease. The beginners have to work with their flexibility and breathing techniques. Similarly the art of storytelling has to be mastered. Your listeners may not remember a string of numbers but what they will remember is a story.

Principles of Storytelling

Peter Meyers and Shann Nix in their book, “As we Speak” offer you some excellent advise on effective story telling. According to them for a good story, you have to consider sources. These could be;

1.    History – either the history of your organization or the world

2.    Your own life or the lives of people you know, who were in particularly difficult situations.

3.    Newspapers – current event present a gold mine of ideas

4.    Literature- classic stories lead great power and dignity to the talk.

5.    Your children- kids are often a great source of story everyone can understand.

Also remember the best stories are real ones.

A good story starts with three coordinates; (1) Where, (2) When & (3) Who. Thus the classical formulation; “Once upon a time….can be adopted thereon. 

A successful story starts with a platform. The platform here is defined as stable ordinary circumstance. Than comes the “Struggle” which is what defines the story. Without struggle no story can be inspiring or exciting.

Personal story of an executive

We were once working with a Senior Executive at a telecom firm, which was hosting a conference on “collaboration”. We kept rehearsing and editing his text for the keynote but it seemed to lack the soul. We prodded him for a personal story that might breathe some life into his talk.

I remembered him mentioning he was a marathon runner and then saying something cryptic about the fact that he hadn’t always been able to run. Upon pressing him we found out he had polio as a child and was confined to a wheelchair till he was twelve. It sounded like potentially very compelling story about overcoming odds.

On that day when our executive started telling his story of struggle from wheelchair to the marathon, with the help of his family, doctors and friends; the audience was rapt and they still remember the speaker’s message about collaboration several years later.

Share your inspiring stories with us and if you like this blog like the authors’ page, “My flight as a Writer” on Facebook.