Thursday, July 8, 2010

3-Step Storytelling

When it comes to getting the point across, nothing beats a relevant story. Learn to be a good storyteller. Stories are what people relate to and remember. All good stories, from the beginning of time, contain the following three phases. (Think of your favorite book or movie and see how the phases apply!)
1. Start the Journey. Tell your audience about some of the details such as the when the event occurred and the first names of the people involved. Describe the location, name the city, describe the climate, etc.

2. Face the Challenge. What occurred that was unexpected or deviated from the norm? What were
the challenges and how did you proceed? What were the obstacles to overcome? To draw people in and maintain attention, spend most of your time in this part of the story detailing the struggle(s).

3. Find the Victory. What did you learn from your difficulty or success? Regardless of the outcome, let your audience know that you “landed on your feet.” Each member of your audience will find a part of himself/herself in your story. Remind your audience that success is not determined in the challenge. Success is created when we learn something that changes our lives forever, and when we “return to the village and live to fight another day."

1 comment:

Fred E. Miller said...

Good reminders in this Post!

Another key fact about stories: As much as possible, make them YOUR Personal Stories. NO ONE, without your permission, can tell YOUR STORY!

As they teach in Yoga: 'Be always present and in the moment. When those personal storie occur in real time, Capture Them and put them in a file in the hard drive of your brain. When you need a story to emphasize a point, retrieve that personal story.

A digital recorder, always with you, is terrific for doing this.

Thanks for the Post!