5 Essential Storytelling Tips

By Jim Endicott, Owner/Manager of Distinction

The audience was absolutely riveted to the presenter. No wandering gazes. No tapping toes. You see, she had truly mastered the art of presenting and years of experience had helped her fine tune the craft. Every time she presented became an opportunity to explore new approaches, change her voice inflection or alter her pacing for added emphasis. Even the introduction of images was carefully orchestrated for maximum impact; her success measured moment by moment by the favor of their attention.

But all good things must come to an end. She concluded the story, slowly closed the final page of the book and sat for a brief moment with her eyes firmly locked on the group of five and six year olds. The momentary silence spoke volumes about the depth of the connection made that Saturday morning.

Over the years, this library storyteller had learned some powerful lessons that many business presenters still struggle to understand.

You may think you're out selling a unique product or service but you're not. You might even think you're trying to persuade a new strategic partner or out raising venture capital but that's not the whole story. At its very essence, every presentation is simply a well-told story. Yeah, there's a point to your story but your ability to connect with your audience, hold their attention, illustrate the storyline and master the necessary body mechanics has everything to do with whether you close the deal or get the dough.
Here are 5 essential storytelling tips that every presenter needs to master.

TIP # 1     Get out of the gate quickly
Maybe you've heard the statistic that you have eight seconds to initially capture your audience's attention or you lose them forever. There's much truth to the urgent nature of setting a level of anticipation to what we have to say. All too often we begin our presentations abruptly with no attempt to create interest, buy in, or a sense of expectation. We just jump right in and hope that our title slide has said all there is to say.  It doesn't work with kids and I'm sorry to say it rarely works with adults.

Next time you begin your presentation, start with posing a question or making a statement that gets their interest. "In the next 30 minutes I will provide you with three compelling statistics that will show you how you can consistently reduce your operating costs by 20% by using our newest product." There's no substitute for a good introduction. As with children, however, you better deliver the goods.

TIP #2   Don't underestimate the need for enthusiasm and passion
A story told with little or no passion will leave an audience flat. I remember sitting through a budgeting meeting where two department managers were proposing expenditures for the next year.

They both knew they were competing for the same budget dollars and their pet projects were comparable in terms of their value to the company. The first manager got up and methodically went through the key points of his project. All the immediate questions were answered. The next manager addressed the group but something was very different. There was an elevated level of enthusiasm. The tone of her voice conveyed a personal passion and commitment that was not only apparent in her voice but the body language that supported the spoken message.

Guess who won? Be passionate about your message. Think it's just a senior staff briefing or a lifelong customer? It doesn't matter. The thing to remember, however, is that passion comes from within and can rarely be convincingly manufactured. Has it been a while since you were passionate about those things in your presentations?

TIP #3   Eye contact is essential to audience involvement
Those who tell stories to our kids in the libraries or street fairs are masters of eye contact. Watch them. Watch their eyes watching their audience's eyes. They connect for only a moment but work the young audience to make sure that every person in the room is hanging on every word. Watch the problem youngster in the front row. The storyteller will not only hold that eye contact a moment or two longer but will occasionally take a small step or two towards the youngster. This subtle movement often times brings the youngster back into the story. The slight invasion of their "personal space" makes it difficult to disregard the storyteller.

Ever had someone nod off or appear to be disinterested in your presentation? This happens to the best of us but this simple technique can help you regain their attention. Eye contact and body position can help keep your audience more closely involved with what you have to say.

TIP #4   Quality illustrations bring stories to life
Can you imagine telling a story to a 5 year old without any pictures? Adults aren't much different in their need for visual reinforcement. The brain processes sensory-based content much differently than text or data and it's more easily assimilated by our audiences because of its graphical nature. The content also has the opportunity to move more quickly into long-term memory.

Choose your illustrations carefully. Select and enhance your pictures, charts and graphs with thoughtful intent. Overly complex material overwhelms the senses and has the opposite affect on audience retention. If you want to create professional impressions you'll need to leverage quality imagery and that takes some additional thought. Like the pages of a well-orchestrated children's book, the storyteller seamlessly moves between picture and spoken word without fanfare or interruption.

Remember that the next time you struggle with your remote pointing device or want to integrate distracting animation between each presentation slide. It's not about how you "turn the pages." it's all about your ability to turn a phrase.

TIP #5   Carefully practice a close that is a masterful piece of summary
Far too often our presentations come to an anti-climatic close leaving our audiences to wonder if we're done or if we simply ran out of slides. What do you want your audience to do with the information you just gave them? Take action? Decide favorably for your project proposal? Buy your product or service?

When you close a presentation never leave your audience wondering. If we've told our stories well, they will want to take action and we do them a disservice by not telling them how. Even motivational speakers will conclude with the one or two things for you to remember. That's because those who speak for a living understand the value of the close. Don't falter on one of the most critical presentation delivery elements, the closing.

We want to make things more complex but in reality, our stories and our ability to tell them well are at the essence of any truly good presentation. If you think I stretched this analogy a bit too far, consider the executive you just got an appointment with and the 60 unread emails sitting on his/her desktop when you walk in the door. You'll need to be better than good. You'll need to be absolutely compelling.

Reprinted from Presenters University. For more information on Jim Endicott visit their Contributors Area.