I’d Like to Tell you a Story..

I've had so much fun today putting the finishing touches to my new presentation for The Fix It MasterClass, I've had my story book out.

I never find it much fun playing with PowerPoint but this time it’s been really easy - I've cut out 75% of my slides! Why, because I'll be telling lots of stories instead. We all remember the stories we learnt as children, from books we’ve read and stories that other people have told us. We remember some presentations better than others, but the evidence is clear – people not only remember stories but they are influenced by them.

I read an article by Martin Sykes www.martinjsykes.com in Talk Business Magazine (www.talkbusinessmagazine.co.uk ) a couple of weeks ago called ‘Stories that Move Mountains’. That single article reminded me about the power of storytelling. After all that is what presentations are all about, storytelling.

I want to engage my audience and I want them to recognise the pain that failing to solve problems causes.  I want to show them that the pain doesn’t have to continue. I want to persuade them that my views, methods and programs are so interesting and important to their business that they would engage me in the future.

My husband, Steve is a commercial insurance broker – not the most riveting topic to listen to but critical for business owners to understand it. Whenever he presents to business owners he does it by telling stories – all of which have happened to business he has worked with. His audience feels the pain through these stories and they always ask Steve to help them make sure that their insurance arrangements are correct.

Throughout my entire coaching, mentoring and business career I have participated, seen and been involved with lots and lots of stories. So I soon realised that I had plenty of stories that very clearly illustrate the point much better than a boring bullet point list would do.

Perhaps, a problem solving short story book might be my next project…….

For a copy of the visual story map from stories that move mountains visit www.storiesthatmovemountains.com