Stories as a blueprint for presenting

Next time you are going to make a presentation, consider using a story to warm up things and get your audience involved. You could use two stories: one to start the presentation and another to finish it. With it the audience can focus on you, not your slides and don’t lose interest from the start.

A story is much better that saying “eh. my name is John and this are the points of the presentation”.

So, other than warming up, getting confidence and comfortable with your audience, you should consider using stories for the  for the following reasons:

Stories don’t need a script, they have an idea and a message, therefore you don’t have to remember extract phrases and stumble because you forgot what was next.

The are part of our lives, since the very beginning. As kids, the grownups in our families used to tell us stories about their when young. As teenagers we tell stories to show off to our peers or impress a girl/guy.  We tell stories about our travels, parties, etc. They are integral part of our lives; our life is a story.

Is easy for your audience to spread the word, when you give them a story they can tell others. This is due to stories being flexible enough for people to grab them and make it their own, while maintaining the core: the main idea or message.

Finally everybody loves a good story, while we listen we imagine what is happening while the narrator speaks, especially when there is a teaching to save from it.

Even if you don’t have great stories, there is a better chance at connecting with your audience and delivering a message with a casual narration, than a cold list of bullet points.