Writing Say Your Message Embellish With Stories Facts Etc Then Say It Again

A good public speaker takes their audience on a journey, leaving them feeling inspired and motivated. Only structuring your oral communication to become your ideas across and keep your audience engaged all the way through is tricky. Attempt these eight storytelling techniques for a presentation that wows.

You're doing a presentation, and so you start with the facts yous want to get across. Wrong! Humans are hardwired for stories. They love heroes, journeys, surprises, layers and happy endings.

Evangelize a presentation that captures the hearts and heads of your audience past stealing one of these classic storytelling techniques. Start with the story – the remainder will be history.

1. Monomyth

The monomyth (also called the hero'southward journeying), is a story construction that's institute in many folk tales, myths and religious writings from around the globe.

In a monomyth, the hero is chosen to get out their home and sets out on a difficult journeying. They move from somewhere they know into a threatening unknown identify.

Subsequently overcoming a great trial, they return dwelling with a reward or newfound wisdom – something which will assist their community. Lots of mod stories still follow this structure, from the Panthera leo Rex to Star Wars.

Using the monomyth to shape your presentation can help yous explain what has brought y'all to the wisdom you want to share. Information technology can bring your message alive for your audience.

Good for:

• Taking the audience on a journey
• Showing the benefit of taking risks
• Demonstrating how you learned some new found wisdom

See also: The Hero'due south Journey by Joseph Campbell

Japanese yo-yo-er BLACK tells the inspiring story of finding his life'due south passion, and the difficult path he took to become globe champion. He closes by sharing his new found skills with the audition, bringing his journey full circle.

two. The mountain

The mountain construction is a mode of mapping the tension and drama in a story. It'due south like to the monomyth because it helps us to plot when certain events occur in a story.

It'south different because it doesn't necessarily take a happy ending. The first function of the story is given to setting the scene, and is followed by simply a series of small challenges and rising action earlier a climactic decision.

It's a scrap similar a Television series – each episode has its ups and downs, all building up to a big finale at the end of the season.

Good for:

• Showing how yous overcame a series of challenges
• Slowly building tension
• Delivering a satisfying conclusion

Aimee Mullins uses a mount-construction speech to tell a personal story – from being born without fibula bones in her lower legs to becoming a famous athlete, extra and model.

3. Nested loops

Nested loops is a storytelling technique where you layer three or more narratives within each other.

You place your most important story – the core of your message – in the center, and use the stories around information technology to elaborate or explain that central principle. The first story y'all begin is the last story you finish, the 2nd story you offset is second to terminal, etc.

Nested loops works a chip like a friend telling you nearly a wise person in their life, someone who taught them an important lesson. The first loops are your friend's story, the 2d loops are the wise person'due south story. At the centre is the of import lesson.

Good for:

• Explaining the process of how you were inspired/ came to a conclusion
• Using analogies to explain a central concept
• Showing how a piece of wisdom was passed forth to yous

See too:Simon Sinek's TED talk shows how successful organizations place the 'why?' of what they practise at the centre, surrounded past the 'what?' and 'how?' of their business concern. Nested loops are an ideal way of framing this message, giving your audience a real insight into your identity.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie uses the framework of her experiences in university and the way that Africa is perceived in the Western earth to drive home her argument virtually stories.

4. Sparklines

Sparklines are a style of mapping presentation structures. Graphic designer Nancy Duarte uses sparklines to analyse famous speeches graphically in her book Resonate.

She argues that the very best speeches succeed because they contrast our ordinary globe with an ideal, improved world. They comparewhat is withwhat could be.

Past doing this the presenter draws attending to the problems nosotros have in our guild, our personal lives, our businesses. The presenter creates and fuels a desire for change in the audience.

It'due south a highly emotional technique that is sure to motivate your audience to back up y'all.

Practiced for:

• Inspiring the audience to action
• Creating hope and excitement
• Creating a following

See also: Resonate by Nancy Duarte

Martin Luther Rex's oral communication is famous the globe over because it contrasts the racist, intolerant society of the solar day with an ideal future club where all races are treated equally.

5. In media res

In medias res storytelling is when you lot begin your narrative in the rut of the action, earlier starting over at the get-go to explain how you got in that location.

Past dropping your audience right into the well-nigh exciting part of your story they'll be gripped from the kickoff and will stay engaged to find out what happens.

But be careful – you lot don't want to give abroad too much of the action straight away. Try hinting at something bizarre or unexpected – something that needs more explanation. Give your audience but enough data to keep them hooked, as yous go back and set the scene of your story.

This just works for shorter presentations though – if you cord it out also long your audience volition get frustrated and lose interest.

Good for:

• Grabbing attending from the start
• Proceed an audition craving resolution
• Focusing attention on a pivotal moment in your story

Zak Ebrahim begins his talk with the revelation that his male parent helped plan the 1993 World Trade Middle bombing. His audience is gripped from the beginning, as he begins to recount the events of his childhood and the path he took later on his father's confidence.

half dozen. Converging ideas

Converging ideas is a speech structure that shows the audience how different strands of thinking came together to grade 1 product or thought.

It can be used to show the nativity of a motion. Or explicate how a unmarried idea was the culmination of several dandy minds working towards i goal.

Converging ideas is similar to the nested loops structure, but rather than framing ane story with complementary stories, information technology can show how several as of import stories came to a single strong determination.

This technique could exist used to tell the stories of some of the world's greatest partnerships – for example, web developers Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Larry and Sergey met at Stanford's PhD plan in 1995, but they didn't similar each other at first. They both had smashing ideas, but plant working together hard. Eventually they found themselves working on a research project together. A research project that became Google.

Adept for:

• Showing how smashing minds came together
• Demonstrating how a development occurred at a certain signal in history
• Showing how symbiotic relationships have formed

Encounter also: Steven Johnson'due south TED talk, where he explains how collaboration has fuelled some of history'south best ideas.

John Bohannon and the Black Label Movement explain (verbally and through dance) how scientists and dancers came together to form an exciting, dynamic alternative to tedious presentations.

vii. Fake start

A 'fake kickoff' story is when y'all begin to tell a seemingly predictable story, before unexpectedly disrupting it and commencement information technology over once more. Y'all lure your audience into a fake sense of security, and then stupor them by turning the tables.

This format is great for talking nigh a time that you failed in something and were forced to 'get back to the start' and reassess. Information technology's ideal for talking about the things that you learnt from that feel. Or the innovative way that yous solved your problem.

Simply best of all, it'due south a quick attention hack which volition disrupt your audience'due south expectations and surprise them into paying closer attention to your bulletin.

Good for:

• Disrupting audition expectations
• Showing the benefits of a flexible approach
• Keeping the audience engaged

J K Rowling begins her speech at Harvard in a typical fashion. She talks about her time at university and the expectations of her parents. The audience expects her to talk about the growing success of her writing career – instead she focuses on a time in her twenties where she felt she had 'failed' in life. What comes next is inspirational.

8. Petal structure

The petal structure is a fashion of organising multiple speakers or stories around one cardinal concept. Information technology's useful if you have several unconnected stories you want to tell or things you lot want to reveal – that all relate dorsum to a unmarried bulletin.

You tell your stories 1 by i earlier returning back to the middle. The petals can overlap as i story introduces the side by side but each should be a consummate narrative in itself.

In doing so, you lot can weave a rich tapestry of evidence effectually your primal theory. Or strong emotional impressions around your thought.

Past showing your audition how all these key stories are related to ane another, yous leave them feeling the true importance and weight of your message.

Skilful for:

• Demonstrating how strands of a story or process are interconnected
• Showing how several scenarios relate back to one idea
• Letting multiple speakers talk effectually a central theme

See as well:Carnegie Mellon University'due south guide to story nodes

Simon Sinek again! His theory might lend itself perfectly to nested loops, but he himself chose to evangelize his talk in a petal construction. He tells his audition a serial a stories to help illustrate his ideas, each one strengthening his message further.

Offset with a story

So there you have it – 8 classic storytelling shapes to brighten upward your talk and really appoint your audience.

Of course there are many other storytelling techniques out there that yous can use. What I hope this post has done is show you that stories are powerful. They are the language of your audition.

Your talk – however dry out the subject – can be brought live if y'all detect the story at the heart of it all. If y'all'd like any help developing your story and turning it into a winning animated video, contact our friendly Sparkol Artistic Services team here.

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Source: https://blog.sparkol.com/8-classic-storytelling-techniques-for-engaging-presentations

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