Everyone has heard the advice about incorporating stories into a presentation to make your message more " sticky " and easier to understand. But if you're not a natural story teller [and I count myself firmly in this camp]...you then how exactly do you go about telling a story? So we're all on board there. you know, the person who always has an anecdote, a colorful example or a yarn to spin...then

start by telling my story of how developing presentation skills has enriched my career. If you’re speaking on health and safety, tell them stories of people injured in your workplace and the consequences it had for them. When you tell a story, speed up, get chatty and move around. Reference: Hartley J and Davies I “Note taking: A critical review” Programmed Learning and Educational technology, 1978,15, 207-224 cited by John Medina in Brain Rules Keeping audience attention is more important and more difficult than grabbing audience attention .

Some visual thinkers challenged me to write a very short presentation about the power of visual thinking during these tough economic times. Once I’d developed the story itself, I felt it needed to all be one scene panned across with a “push left” transition to be perceived as one continuous thread. Next, I ran the story by Tracy, and she had constructive and insightful feedback. Presentations are only as good as the idea, visuals and delivery. So I whipped out our presentation map and got to work.

After 10-15 minutes of narration that is monotone and dispassionate, it becomes very difficult indeed to stay with any speaker, regardless of topic. Our story and our evidence matter, but the genuine emotions that we project have a direct and strong influence — for good and for bad — on the message our audience ultimately receives and remembers. few minutes spent around extremely happy and excited people in a famous amusement park in  Copenhagen reminded me once again about the power of emotional contagion. Photo credit: Bill DeRouchey Links • For tips on presentation

People love stories.  Throughout time, stories have been a powerful tool to communicate points and make them memorable.  We care more about a person when we know his or her story. They work will work overtime to give us the back-story of the competitors.   This is illustrated time and again in almost everything we see on television.  It will soon be time for the Winter Olympics. 

I’ve written about using the power of the 5 basic stories that Western culture has to make your speeches stronger, ‘stickier’ and more instantly graspable.  0160; Today, I’m going to revisit the stories as a quick refresher course.  0160; The most fundamental of the stories is the Quest.   0160; Look here: [link] or here: [link] for more detailed information.  0160; Here, case the audience as the hero. 

8220;The Power Gap” (a new animated infographic by Airslide) is a great example of making a complex story look effortless… “Demos came to us with an intensely detailed statistical study, which rated every single constituency in Britain according to a number of different social and economic aspects. Each of these aspects has an effect on the power held by the individuals in each area, and by the constituencies as a whole. Simplicity does not necessarily mean skimping out on the meat of your presentation. When handled correctly, complex scenarios

story, followed by another, and another. Story" is the S of our SHARP principles, Story Story is also the primary tool in making your message stick, as in Chip and Dan Heath's great book "Made To Stick." Malcolm Gladwell - story makes ANY idea stick, and if you haven't read his great book get ("Blink") At a recent speech the presenter before me started out with a a

Jerry’s book The Power Presenter has many tips on connecting with the audience but what it has–that no other book to date does–are real historic video examples. Animation: There were a few points in my presentation that were pretty dramatic where I told a moving story with a memorable quote. It takes a bit of courage to move outside your comfort zone, but it is powerful and memorable because As a presenter, I feed off the energy of the audience. I

What were a few of the sounds that you remember most from a film, story, commercial, or anything? Unless your presentation has a story, or theme, the context is important and audio shouldn’t be included “just because”.  What was your favorite movie?  What made it so memorable?  Recently I was asking a few Duartians