3 Tips to Becoming a Better Storyteller
I remember freaking out inside because I lost my hearing during a presentation at National Geographic in front of a large audience — well, large to me. I had been asked to present on a project where I was heavily involved as a senior consultant. I had prepared a slide deck, knew exactly what I was going to talk about, but I still totally bombed.
It should have been a piece of cake for me. I’ve presented to rooms full of people before, but this time was different.
The people I was presenting to were my peers on the project, executives, and a few others who were invited to attend. I gave the talk in a large, open room, on the main floor of the National Geographic building in D.C. It felt like an overly spacious area to present and people were walking by, casually stopping to hear what was going on. Large windows were letting in a huge amount of light, detracting from my slides.
But that’s not why I was freaking out. The big problem is that I hadn’t thought through how to connect with this audience — about a project they were working on — in a way that felt genuine.
I stood there feeling like a fraud, like I hadn’t done this right. I felt everyone’s eyes on me and that’s when I realized I had stopped paying attention to what I was saying. I was too busy thinking about how I had approached this talk the wrong way. As I tried to recover, my hearing was fading in and out. I felt my face turning red — I was really nervous! I flubbed my way through the rest of the talk and wanted to crawl under a rock when it was over.
How to avoid screwing up like me
Storytelling is an important part of engaging with any audience. School teachers, comedians, and even doctors rely on great stories to convey meaning and make a connection. I missed using this important tool in my presentation at National Geographic.
The reason we lean on stories is that they touch people on an emotional level, and that level is where the most powerful connections and buying decisions are made.
In business, stories help shape your company culture, they speak for your brand, and help land new customers — or drive them away. Stories play an ongoing role as companies change and grow, and in the online world, the stories you tell live forever. It’s a scary prospect and that’s why it matters so much to get them right.
No good at stories? Here’s what you can do:
First, practice storytelling.
No matter what you are doing — you are likely telling a story. We naturally turn to stories to help explain things and elicit or show empathy. You can get better at storytelling by being more aware of it in your every day life and using those moments to hone your skills.
There are plenty of opportunities for practicing all around you, here are some examples:
- Trying to connect to your kids? Tell a story from your childhood.
- Want to elicit some empathy from your dry cleaner so you can get your clothes back sooner? Tell a story about how crazy your week has been.
- Writing a blog post about your product? Tell a story about how you came up with the idea or how your first lemonade stand was a disaster.
Second, follow basic storytelling rules.
The simple pattern most of us learn early in life works: each story must have a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning sets the stage, the middle details the conflict, and the end provides the resolution. This pattern applies to novels, children’s stories, business pitches, and copy on websites.
The most effective stories have one common theme: they make people feel. Yet, writing an article, ad copy, or giving a speech to evoke emotion is not easy. It’s a struggle for most people to figure out which story will connect the best and how to conclude the story in a way that creates an opportunity.
Third, when you are stuck, tell stories based on your own experiences.
My life is awesome and my life sucks. Can you relate?
I’ve found the easiest way for me to write stories that connect and feel genuine are to start with my own personal experiences. Writing about my own experiences is easy because I don’t have to figure out the beginning, middle and end.
If you’re still feeling stuck, remember, we are all human — that means we all go through most of the same things: fear, excitement, sadness, love, fatigue. Share a moment when you experienced any one of the range of emotions people feel and your audience will connect.
And for you list lovers out there….
Below are the steps I follow when I get really stuck:
- Define my audience: Is this for kids, business execs? Is there a specific sub-group in there I want to reach?
- Determine my goal: What do I want people to do when they are done reading or listening?
- Identify the emotion that will most likely cause my target audience to want to take action — is it happiness, fear, anticipation?
- Find the story in my life that connects to my topic or find the story of someone else that I can use.
- Research my topic, find quotes and look for inspiration from other people’s work.
- Create an outline of the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
- List words that relate to my point and resonate with my audience.
- Write my story.
- Read the story aloud.
- Send it to a few trusted friends or colleagues to get feedback and revise.
- Pick out compelling photos to accompany the story.
- Write the call to action for the end of the story.
- Run my story through a readability analyzer (aim for 8th grade).
- Watch the analytics to see if it’s converting — if not, revise and test.
I know that’s a big list, but once you do it a few times you’ll figure out which you can skip.
Just like anything in life, it takes practice to become good at storytelling and writing. Keep it up — even when you’re frustrated. Keep researching, reading, and following people whom you admire as great storytellers. Watch and study comedians. You will get better!
