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Think back to all of the stories of your childhood. Almost everyone has heard about "Little Red Riding Hood." What's the moral of that story? Listen to what your parents tell you or something bad will happen to you.

How about "The Three Little Pigs?" Work hard, don't be lazy or something bad will happen to you.

And so on.

There is a maxim among professional speakers that goes like this: "Make a point, tell a story. Make another point, tell another story." This is an effective approach that you can use in any type of situation. People may not remember exactly what you say, but if they remember your story, they will have gotten the point.

Telling good stories is like telling a good joke: it gets better every time you tell it. So don't hesitate to tell your story to your friends and your family if you want to improve it.

When you decide to use a story to make a point, keep the following points in mind:

• Don't paint yourself as the hero all the time: audiences dislike speakers who brag about themselves all the time. You turn them off very quickly if the essence of your message is: "Please admire me, I'm that good!"
• A good story has conflict: if everything goes well from beginning to end, what's the point? People love stories where there is some sort of conflict to resolve. It can be conflict with people, with the environment, or within.
• Make it about real people: saying "a man" or "a woman" makes a story bland. If you have multiple characters, give them names and a history. The more pertinent details you can give about a character, the more your audience will enjoy hearing what happens to that character.
• Act it out: many times, when people tell stories, they will describe the action. That's all right for a start, but it is much more interesting for the audience, and for you, if you can act it out. For example, don't say: "Then he told me to stop and ask for directions." Instead, say: "He looked at me and said: 'Honey, STOP BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND ASK FOR DIRECTIONS!'"
• Keep it short: most stories should be kept short, two to three minutes. However, you can get by with a much longer story if you can intersperse it with salient points along the way. One person who does this well is W Mitchell. In his speech, he tells the story of how he burned over 50% of his body, and how he became paralyzed and wheelchair-bound. He tells the story little by little, using each episode to make a specific point before moving on.
• It doesn't have to be funny: humour helps, but don't discard a story just because it isn't very funny. I once heard a speaker talk about what happened when his wife delivered a stillborn baby in their home. It wasn't funny at all. But the story is still memorable to me. Indeed, your serious stories may be the ones that resonate the most with your audience.

Many people mistakenly think that their audience wants more information, more data, more statistics. No they don't! They want the data to come alive, and that's where storytelling comes into play.

If you want to improve your speaking, if you want to influence people more, if you want to sell more, if you want a bigger impact on your audience, do like the most successful professional speakers: tell more stories.

Most of all, though, have fun doing so!

© Laurent Duperval