Rediscovering the Power of Storytelling…
Some Friendly Ideas for Presenters and Communicators
People are hard-wired for stories, yet at conferences, it seems that frequently the art of storytelling is abandoned in favour of dull corporate or overly technical presentations. I was reminded of this by people telling me of sitting through some uninspiring presentations at a recent conference.
Humans are hard-wired for storytelling. We were all told fairy tales as children handed down from generation to generation, and their power stays with us, not least as we can all recall the narrative because it made a powerful and therefore memorable impact on us!
The history of stories goes back to the invention of fire. Suddenly there was a reason to come together before sleep time and converse and share news and tell stories. The days got longer, and we needed something to do with our extra time!
So why are some people boring presenters?
Effective presenting and storytelling have become the domain of the few. I imagine that formal education has had something to do with this too, particularly as in academia we are taught that certain subjects and memorising facts (despite many of them not being of relevance to your actual life) are still regarded as far more important compared with the more creative subjects.
But regardless, the good news is that there are some simple rules and techniques we can all embrace in our presentations that will add power to our message, increase their effectiveness and build trust and rapport.
The first one is, don’t be boring. Be interesting.
I have personally sat through presentations at various events that have been super boring. Sure, with technical presentations conveying competence is important, but boring your audience into submission is not great. After your session, frankly, not many people will talk to you. Why would they want to if you have just been boring??
View your talk through the eye of the delegate
Most people are poor presenters because they view their presentation through their own lens, not that of their audience. They are stressed out about the idea of presenting so tend to go safe. But ‘safe’ is often dull. This is particularly true of those who have lots of qualifications and feel they must present technical information. The focus tends to be on their own credentials and why their particular content is so clever. Yes indeed, being confident about your competence is important, but remember a potential customer may not be at your intellectual or academic level, so they may well switch off, not least as they will not have a clue what you are on about!
Have a narrative arc
You can deploy storytelling tactics to gain empathy from the people listening. Perhaps an experience or journey you had, the impact this had on you on a human level, the struggle you may have experienced, and the solution and redemption. It is worth checking out the Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell. While following 12 stages is not advised within a business presentation, aspects of it will resonate and you will grab your audience's attention, increase your relatability, build rapport and trust, and then people will want to talk to you afterwards. You will have revealed a vulnerability, and this disarms people. It is not a weakness.
Remember there is a Science to Storytelling
Carmine Gallo, in his book the Storytellers Secret, explains that the most powerful storytellers do not focus mostly on facts and credibility. In fact, they will spend 65% of their time triggering emotion through an effective narrative.
Yet many technical presentations avoid pathos altogether!
Research in the book found the following pattern from the top storytellers:
65% to Pathos (triggering emotion through narrative)
25% is given to logos (facts, figures and statistics)
10% is given to ethos (credibility and track record)
While on the subject, there is further biological evidence that supports the fact that storytelling is powerful. When people listen to an effective story, then the brain emits hormones.
Cortisol is emitted, this enables us to focus. Pretty handy!
And also Oxytocin, meaning we relate to the person telling the story as it enables empathy. This leads to trust, it breaks down barriers, and means people will want to talk to you. Also, pretty handy!
Brevity & Timekeeping
People who cannot present succinctly and with their time allocation are frankly underprepared, and rude.
It is kind to the delegate and the organiser to stay on time. They have spent the money and dedicated the time to be there - if your overrunning leads to someone else shortening their session, that aint fair basically, plus you run the real risk of being a bore.
If TED presenters can convey a powerful message in 20 minutes, you should be able to as well!
Have one key message that is insightful, fun or interesting
You may think you must stay core to your subject. But to be honest, any industry, however technical, is the actual result of a bunch of people working together, so virtually relates back to the industry. Don’t forget we are people first, then our job roles second, so something fun, insightful or interesting that may not be in the exact domain of your topic is still OK. It is human!! And will add memorability.
Rehearse!!
To help optimise your delivery, practice, practice, practice. This enables us to hear how the words come out, measure the length of your session and work out what is worth saying, and what is not. Sometimes you can dilute the power of your message by having a secondary message that is not as powerful. We often think we have to say everything in the hope that something sticks! But if you have prepared properly then focus on your objective, and stick to the story. A secondary point may be relevant in theory, but it may not be powerful enough a point to include.
Be honest
I say all of this above as I am someone who struggled with presenting earlier on in my career and I have had to literally ‘die’ on stage in order to rebuild and get better. To embrace storytelling and presenting is such a positive and powerful thing to be able to do well, and while learning to do it is not a trivial thing, it is not rocket science either. Learning some of the basics will make you cut through and connect with your audience, it will make you feel good, and also get the best possible outcome from your session.