Storytelling with Lean In SF

It’s been said your audience will connect more with you and the information you want to share when it’s presented in a digestible story format. Storytelling has now become a powerful tool for companies, leaders, entrepreneurs, speakers, teachers, coaches and endless other professions.

Good storytelling is a way to engage people with your ideas, connect with your audience and build trust. Sometimes it calls for us to be vulnerable and weave our personal struggles into the story.

Doing so can allow listeners to see us not just as experts in our field, but as a person, someone they could relate to — and that’s the magic.

So, what makes a good story? What makes a good storyteller?

At Lean In SF’s June event, we invited comedian and storyteller Dhaya Lakshminarayanan for an experiential workshop. She began her career as a business consultant and venture capitalist. Now Dhaya is a regular contributor to NPR shows, including Snap! Judgment and hosts The Moth Story Slam in San Francisco.

Dhaya’s success has been built around her ability to engage her audience and tell great stories. The WHY model, also known as the Golden Circle, by Simon Sinek is one foundation she refers to for crafting compelling stories.

By using this model as a guide and starting with the WHY of your story, this will allow you to inspire and influence your audience from the start of your story.

As the host of The Moth Story Slam has also been a strong reinforcer for Dhaya to continue learning from others. Some of these tips can be helpful when sharing your story, whether it be one-to-one, in a small setting or in a large auditorium.

• Have some stakes in it- why is this story important to you? Why should the audience care?
• Have a great first line that sets up the stakes and grabs attention. “So this one time at band camp” won’t cut it.
• Know your story well- you don’t want to be repeating something you memorized, but make an outline of the bullet points you want to get across to stay on track.

After we learned a few key principles on storytelling, it was time for some interactive time and for us to put into practice some impromptu storytelling. We excitedly broke off into small groups, followed Dhaya’s directions and practiced our stories.

Storytelling is just like any other skill, you need to practice to become better.

Reading a book (or article) on storytelling or taking a workshop about it are great starting points to fine tune this skill. But Dhaya says the only way to become a better storyteller to is “try, do fail, learn, find out what works, and improve.” Just like learning how to ride a bike, you have to put it into practice and keep getting back on.

One great way to practice is to do it at The Moth. It’s a great place to get up on stage and strut your stuff. Moth stories are true stories, told live and without notes —but don’t worry, here are the full details of The Moth Slam Story’s storytelling cheat sheet. Use it to brush up on some pointers before you go on stage.

Note: This cheat sheet can also be a learning tool even if you’re not ready for the bright lights just yet.

If you do get on stage (or just find any of this info helpful), give us a clap, share this article or send us a DM or tweet @LeanInSF on Facebook and Twitter! #LeanInSFMembers