How to use storytelling in public speaking

by Jaimie Abbott

Storytelling is the number one way that you can add some charisma into your presentations or speeches. Anyone can learn how to be a great storyteller. Most people are not born experts on this subject. Some people are better than others naturally, but you can learn how to do it.

Power of storytelling

Did you know that people are 22 times more likely to remember a fact when it’s got some sort of story attached to it?  Remember the audience won’t always remember exactly what you said either, but they will remember how you made them feel. And stories are great way to do that to inspire people. So have a sit down when you’re doing your speaking plan and work out, how could I inject a couple of stories into my presentation? What could I say is that is going to inspire people? From now on, start gathering your little repertoire of stories, anecdotes, and real life examples and get permission to use those stories, it just not only adds credibility, but makes your presentation a lot more memorable. Watch TED Talks and see how they do it. The presenters on there tell fantastic stories, which you do remember. I also encourage you to have a look at YouTube in order to learn how to be great storyteller.

Elements

Here are a couple of elements I want to share with you. Firstly, connection stories – this might be a story that you can share that something that has happened to you, for example “I actually used to be this amount of kilos and I lost 100 kilos,” or something inspiring like that, which people can relate to and connect with you through transformation stories. Another example may be someone who was $80,000 in debt, and in 18 months through budgeting they were able to pay off the debt and save for a house. These types of transformation stories people love. So if you’ve helped a client, in my case, I’ve helped clients secure tens of thousands of dollars in media coverage and people love to hear that kind of transformation story, facts and insights statistics.

Facts and figures

When I was involved in an animal rescue organisation, I would often tell people ” A quarter of a million healthy dogs and cats are put to sleep in Australia every year.” It’s a startling statistic, but people remember those types of statistics. So if you’ve got some facts, some little statistics that you can use, hook them in to your presentations, people will be more likely to remember your message – just two or three is all that’s needed in your presentation, depending on how long you’ve got. If you only got five minutes, just throw in one.

Finally, vision and imagination. Painting the picture that you want people to see in their minds when you’re up there presenting so be really descriptive with your words.

So there are the couple of tips on how you can be an amazing storyteller. I certainly would encourage you to really focus on at least to one or two amazing stories that you can inject into your presentations from now on. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.