“Tell stories and make a point”: that mantra pretty much sums up a huge range of useful stuff about how to make presentations. We’ll talk in a moment about why that’s useful but take a moment, if you can, to look at this list of the different types of story you can use in your presentation.
An alternative take on this idea is given by Annette Simmons in a book called “The Story Factor”. Her six ‘types’ of story are
- who I am
- why I’m here
- the vision
- teaching
- values in action
- I know what you’re thinking.
and it’s not hard to see how these can be easily used in a presentation or public speaking engagement.
What many of these different types of story have in common is that they allow you, the presenter, to put yourself in the position of the members of your audience: that gets them onside. You break down the barrier between “us” and “them” - which also helps with your nerves, don’t forget. That’s one of the major upside to telling stories: it’s one of the main reasons they’re so powerful a tool.
There is a downside to using stories, of course. Firstly, I know someone who’s every story consists of the work “I” far, far more often than it should. It contains it to the point where I’m avoiding him altogether and this is one of the reasons why!
Secondly, there’s a real risk for good story-tellers in particular to forget that what they’re there to do is not (just!) to entertain. As a presenter you’re there to make a point. Stories are a means to an end in a presentation but all too often, when the audience is laughing and you’re on a roll it’s all tooooooo easy to let them become the guts of the presentation and find yourself running out of time.
Us them, but don’t let them be the point of your presentation. They’re a means, not an end….
Post a Comment