The power of storytelling in presentations and speeches

As an audience member, when you consider all the speeches, talks and presentations you’ve ever attended, which ones were the most memorable, connecting with you at an emotional level?

I can almost guarantee they were the presentations in which the speaker told personal stories.

Do you use storytelling in your presentations?

Audiences LOVE it when you are your most authentic self and share your life experiences with them, in the form of relevant, powerful and compelling stories.

Our brains are actually wired for stories - Story telling has been part of our culture for eons, originating from camp fire days.

Think about your life experiences to date, and look for the nuggets – the stories in which you faced a seemingly insurmountable problem, difficulty or challenge, and came out the other side victorious, and with a valuable lesson to share with the world.

According to famous motivational speaker and public speaking guru, Dale Carnegie, “Speakers who talk about what life has taught them never fail to keep the attention of their listeners”.

Don’t play it safe with a bland presentation overflowing with a never-ending barrage of bullet points, facts and figures. They don’t call it “Death by PowerPoint” for nothing.

You may be thinking at this point that you have had an ordinary, banal life with no interesting stories in your repertoire. This could not be further from the truth.

You may not realise it, but you have been through a plethora of experiences that have taught you many valuable life lessons. These are the stories that you can pass on to others and can help and inspire your audiences and in turn, make a difference to their lives!

When I moved to New York City from Melbourne some years ago on the adventure of a lifetime, to onlookers, I looked like I had completely lost my mind. I had a visa, but no firm job. I had nowhere to live. I knew two people there – my cousin and a relative of a girlfriend.

But the amazing Helen Keller’s wise words kept reverberating in my mind, and spurring me on: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing”.

Within three months of arriving in New York, I had secured a job, found somewhere to live, made some new friends and met my husband-to-be.

I learnt so many amazing lessons over that time and grew as a person. I learnt to be patient, persevering and resourceful.

When I look back on this period in my life, I am proud of myself for having made it in New York, as ol’ blue eyes, Frank Sinatra, once sang in that famous song.

When I share my story, I am excited to hopefully be able to inspire people to go after their dreams and believe with all their heart and soul that they can achieve them!

If you haven’t done so already, start recording your life experiences. Whether you write them in a Word document, in a simple notebook, or in a beautiful, elaborate journal, it does not matter one iota! What matters is that you go to the effort of recording all the stories in a convenient and accessible place.

Start by going back over the different stages of your life – childhood, teenage years, young adult years, middle age and beyond. Note down those events that were powerful for you in some way, and from which you gained something valuable in the long run. Who was there? What happened? Why and how did it happen? And most importantly, how did you benefit in terms of gaining or learning some lesson?

These stories will form the words of wisdom that you will ultimately impart one day to your audiences. When you are writing your speech or presentation, consult your journal and see if any story would be relevant to illustrate and reinforce your presentation’s main message.

Remember to embrace the power of storytelling in your presentations and speeches.

Your audience wants to hear about your life and to learn and be inspired by your experiences!