personal story presentation

Presentation Storytelling Examples & Techniques (2024)

Learn techniques for telling a story in a presentation . Get narrative presentation examples and learn to apply storytelling in business presentations .

Joanne Camarce

8 minute read

Short answer

What should a presentation storytelling structure include?

Introduction

Rising Action

Falling Action

Storytelling in business presentations matters (a lot)

Stories convey a deeper meaning, idea, or lesson. They make us feel, experience, identify, and understand.

Most importantly for storytelling in business presentations, telling a story in a presentation makes people more likely to remember the message.

Researchers Dean and Chip Heath found that after a presentation, 63% of attendees could remember the story told by the presenter.

However, only 5% could recall specific statistics from the event.

Because stories allow audiences to visualize and imagine an idea or message, stories also make them better able to make decisions.

In other words, stories bring buyers, stakeholders, and decision-makers to better understand and remember your message. Which in turn enables them to make a decision and increases the chance they’ll act on it.

What is presentation storytelling?

Presentation storytelling is the art of using a narrative structure to convey information instead of dry facts. It delivers a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end that aligns with the presentation's objectives, making the content more relatable and memorable.

Storytelling in business presentations involves 2 complementing aspects: (1) textual presentation narrative, and (2) visual storytelling.

What is a narrative presentation?

A narrative presentation is a style of delivering information where the content is structured as a relatable story. It typically includes characters, a setting, a conflict, and a resolution, and weaves complex ideas, processes, and metrics into the narrative.

What is a visual storytelling presentation?

A visual storytelling presentation tells a story or multiple anecdotes using visual elements like videos, animations, and interactive content.

Modern storytelling presentations apply scrollytelling design which combines visuals and text seamlessly to let readers interact with the presentation as they scroll down the content.

How to use the 4 storytelling archetypes

Storytelling is the art of describing vivid ideas, beliefs, experiences, and life lessons through stories and narratives.

These stories stimulate a listener's imagination as you take them on an emotional journey. There are many ways to tell a story.

These story structures have been shown to work for narrative presentations and corporate storytelling, and they will work for you.

The Hero's Journey: Communicates a transformation from struggle to success

The Story Mountain: Builds tension and anticipation

Story loop: Joins multiple perspectives into a single narrative

In-Media Res: Grabs attention quickly

There are timeless narrative frameworks that have worked for storytellers throughout the ages from the methodologies of old, through Shakespearian plays to Apple commercials.

1) Hero's Journey

The hero's journey narrative archetype involves a hero who goes on a journey and returns as a changed person.

This storytelling template consists of three distinct parts, or "acts," that include a setup, confrontation, and resolution. It makes for a well-structured and engaging narrative.

2) The Mountain

The mountain storytelling structure strategically maps the tension and drama in a story. This archetype is represented visually as a mountain, with each section building to a complex obstacle that characters need to overcome.

Think of the protagonist at the bottom of the mountain. They must climb the mountain to reach their goal (your business goals in this case). They face obstacles along the way, and they must overcome those obstacles before they can reach the top.

3) Story loop

The story loop structure contains stories within another story. However, they aren't standalone stories.

Your first story is the most important. It's the core of your message, and you use the other stories to elaborate or explain your central point.

But you stop some of the way through it, leaving the audience in suspense. Then, you share part of the second story before moving on to the last.

Eventually, in the end, you bring it all together to make one cohesive point. The purpose of this storytelling technique is to provide context, background, or a different perspective to a central narrative.

Types of anecdotes you can use in your story loop presentation

• Customer success stories
• Personal experiences by clients
• Inspirational stories
• Fictional or hypothetical stories
• Historical or factual stories

Here's a short video explaining how to use a story loop:

4) In medias res (begin from the middle)

In medias res is Latin for "in the middle of things." With this storytelling archetype, the narrative begins in the middle of a scene. It skips over the background of the story and gets straight to the action.

To choose the right type of story for your presentation, consider your audience, the purpose of the presentation, and the emotional impact you want to create.

No matter what narrative structure you choose, include visuals, sensory details, and precise language to bolster your message.

If you want to learn more about this storytelling archetype, check out the video below:

Effective presentation storytelling structure

A well-structured story can engage and persuade your audience, making your corporate presentation much more effective and memorable.

Stories can be applied in any type of business presentation, such as a pitch deck, sales presentation, white paper, report, or business proposal.

A single document can include multiple stories that make up a joint narrative.

5 basic elements of a story structure:

1. Introduction

• Sets a relevant context with background information.
• Introduces the protagonist (business or product) and the current problem or challenge.

2. Rising Action

• Builds tension by detailing the obstacles and complications faced.
• Engages the audience with the steps taken to address the challenge.
• The turning point where the main tension or conflict peaks.
• Highlights the moment of greatest challenge and the decisive action taken.

4. Falling Action

• Shows the aftermath of the climax.
• Begins to lead towards the resolution, detailing the business solution and results of actions taken.

5. Resolution

• Wraps up the story with the outcome of all actions.
• Provides a clear ending, showing how the challenge was overcome and what was learned.

After developing your story structure, be sure to connect it to your core message by creating parallels and reinforcing it with examples.

Most importantly, don’t leave your audience with the realization that they need to take action without offering them an immediate way to act.

Effective storytelling techniques for presentations

The beauty of storytelling is that the possibilities are endless. There are so many ways to tell a story in presentations. It's just a matter of finding the right one for your unique needs and goals.

1) Build your stories around your audience’s pain points

Stories establish connections. But don’t confuse your story with your audience’s story.

Your audience doesn’t care about your story, and they don’t care about your product.

But they will care if they feel you care about them.

Understanding the audience's pain points, values, and opinions can help you weave a story into a narrative that aligns with their interests. It gives you the chance to be part of THEIR story.

Stop talking about yourself. Do this and see engagement blow up, conversions increase, and greater brand loyalty .

2) Establish common ground with your prospects

One effective presentation storytelling technique is to find common ground and share experiences with your audience to establish a connection and make them care about what you say.

These commonalities are what resonate strongest with your target audience.

Common-ground stories tell your audience a satisfied client of yours overcame a particular challenge they are experiencing themselves, and offer the lessons learned while overcoming it.

3) Tell stories that foster peer envy

Peer envy is one of the strongest motivators you can flame in sales presentation storytelling.

Simply put it just means telling the story of a known industry player that achieved remarkable results with the help of your product or service.

A peer envy story should present the initial challenge, the journey to overcome it, and the final enviable outcomes. Yet the reader should feel they can attain similar or better results by following a similar journey.

Here's a fragment of a podcast where Michael Bosworth touches on this very topic:

Business presentation storytelling examples

Here are some examples of famous brands that incorporated personal stories to convey a powerful message in their business presentations.

Zuora sales deck

The Zuora sales deck was aptly named the best sales deck ever . It is truly a best-in-class example of a transformation narrative set within the story mountain framework.

It masterfully narrates the shift to a subscription economy, emphasizing evolving consumer behavior.

And by highlighting the challenges businesses face in this new economy, Zuora positions itself as the essential solution.

The deck's use of data, visuals, and testimonials weaves a compelling story of transformation, urging businesses to adapt and thrive with Zuora or stay behind and decline.

Mign sales deck

Mign’s sales deck highlights the digital shift in musculoskeletal injury recovery, emphasizing the transformation from mass production to personalized care.

Mign applies the hero’s journey story framework and positions itself as the trusted guide in this transformation.

The deck contrasts "winners," who embrace new technologies like additive manufacturing and virtual care, with "losers," traditional manufacturers stuck in outdated processes.

Tinder pitch deck

Tinder's pitch deck effectively narrates the universal challenge of meeting new people and the fear of rejection.

By introducing a hypothetical user named "Matt," Tinder gives the reader a peek into the mind of their target user - an everyday nice guy scared to approach a girl he's interested in.

This concrete personal experience gives life to a basic human need that investors can understand intuitively and even relate to.

Tinder leverages this emotional understanding to make a compelling case for its solution - a platform that eliminates the fear of rejection.

The deck also applied great data storytelling showcasing Tinder's impressive statistics, emphasizing its global reach and popularity among Gen Z.

They also nail the one-liner. Their slogan "It Starts With A Swipe™" encapsulates the simplicity and effectiveness of the app, positioning Tinder as the modern solution to traditional dating challenges.

Brothers Pub restaurant pitch deck

Brothers Pub's pitch deck presents a captivating local business story, emphasizing the need for a fresh, community-focused social pub venue.

The deck tells the story of the owners’ journey, from the initial concept to securing a prime location in Northampton, highlighting their dedication and vision for the future.

The deck outlines the challenges faced by traditional pubs, with 7000 closures in the last decade, and positions Brothers Pub as the innovative solution.

LKE proposal

Legends Kratom Co. (LKE) creates a narrative around the origins and benefits of kratom. By telling the exotic tale of the medicinal tropical evergreen tree and its transformation into a beneficial supplement, the deck creates a vivid backdrop.

They take the reader on their discovery journey to Indonesia to find a supplier for the coveted plant.

This adds authenticity and allure, while their commitment to education and community showcases a heartfelt mission.

Testimonials provide real-world validation, making LKE's story relatable and positioning them as a trusted leader in the supplement industry.

Genius Workshop Event pitch deck

Genius's pitch deck for their storytelling workshop is a masterclass in selling an experience. The deck introduces Gabrielle Dolan's expertise, setting a foundation of trust.

The workshop's structure is presented as a narrative journey, guiding attendees from novice to storyteller.

The deck mixes video, scrollytelling, and vivid language to give rich detail to the experience it promises to provide.

The 90-day follow-up program adds an element of continued growth, while alumni testimonials serve as real-world success stories.

By framing the workshop as a transformative experience, the deck engages and entices potential attendees, showcasing the power of storytelling in action.

Barbie recruitment pitch deck

Barbie's recruitment deck immerses candidates into Barbie's vibrant world. With playful greetings and whimsical descriptions, it sets a creative tone.

The deck focuses on Barbie’s story as a human being (doll in her case), her values, and her experience, instead of focusing on the recruiting company.

The deck lists attributes and responsibilities that align with Barbie's ethos, such as "spreading positivity" and "rocking a pink wardrobe."

Nokia brand guidelines

Nokia's brand guidelines deck uses visual storytelling to effectively communicate the essence of the brand. It lets the visuals tell the story since they speak louder than words.

The deck begins by anchoring the audience in Nokia's mission and values, creating a narrative foundation.

It then unfolds the brand's visual identity, from color schemes to typography, weaving a cohesive story of what Nokia represents.

By providing clear dos and don'ts, Nokia ensures that its brand story remains consistent and impactful across all touchpoints.

This storytelling approach not only educates but also engages, making it easier for stakeholders to internalize and adhere to the guidelines.

nSure one-pager

nSure's one-pager effectively uses visual data storytelling to convey the benefits of their AI fraud protection for digital gift card purchases.

Introducing the challenge of ambiguous transactions, nSure lets the numbers tell the story.

With impressive numbers like their AI solution’s 98% approval rate. They can afford to.

The deck's visuals, combined with endorsements from industry leaders like AXA, make a compelling narrative that instills confidence in nSure's expertise.

Healthy.io proposal

Healthy.io's proposal uses video storytelling with real practitioners who tell the story of their experiences using Healthy.io’s solution.

The video testimonial from a practice nurse adds a personal touch, showing the positive impact on patient care. This brings the user's experience to the front and adds credibility to the proposal’s claims.

The proposal uses a transformation narrative to showcase Healthy.io’s remote kidney screening solution.

They highlight the challenges of legacy ACR testing against their modern home-based test using a smartphone app.

Principles of visual storytelling in business presentations

Storytelling allows you to simplify complex or abstract information and address any objections or resistance. As a result, listeners can better retain and remember the message, which improves the decision-making process.

Here are the main principles that can transform your narrative:

Authenticity

Authentic visuals resonate more with audiences. In an era where people are bombarded with staged and polished images, authentic, candid photos that reflect the reality of your work can make your message stand out and be memorable.

Your visuals should evoke a sensory experience. The goal is to cut through the noise and trigger a stronger emotional response.

For example, you can make the experience more immersive by adding interactive clickable elements, embedding videos, or images that highlight details or visual textures.

Scrollytelling can also play a crucial role here, allowing the story to unfold through interaction, as the audience scrolls through the narrative, engaging them in a multi-sensory journey.

You can see the difference that interactivity makes below. Which presentation would you rather read?

The stories told by your images must be relevant to your audience. Personalized visual storytelling, supported by data to understand what motivates your audience, can turn your story into an experience that resonates deeply.

Every story has characters that fit certain archetypes, such as the caregiver, the explorer, and the creator. Identifying with these archetypes helps your audience connect with the story on a deeper level, making your organization's mission more relatable and memorable.

Make your own storytelling presentation

We've curated an extensive collection of templates to help you achieve effective storytelling for whatever business presentation you need to make.

The business storytelling presentation templates below have been rigorously tested across various devices and refined with insights gleaned from real-world feedback.

They were designed with interactive storytelling at their core. They’ll serve you as handy visual storytelling aids to make your presentations engaging, memorable, and highly converting.

Grab a template!

Why the human brain loves storytelling presentations

According to neuroscientist Uri Hasson , storytelling fosters deep social interactions through brain-to-brain connections.

He found that when we hear stories, our brains mirror each other, helping us understand what the storyteller is feeling.

Called neurocoupling or mirroring, this process occurs across many areas of the brain, including the ones that are responsible for processing and understanding narratives.

So the human brain loves stories. But why?

The short answer is that ‌neural activity in the brain increases when we hear a captivating story. Our brains are made up of neurons, which are nerve cells that send messages throughout the body.

These neurons release neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) that transmit signals from nerve cells to target cells.

The most common neurotransmitters in the brain include:

When we hear a story, the neurons in our brain light up with activity. And according to neuroscientists, "neurons that fire together wire together."

This means that as we hear stories, the neurons in our brains are wiring together. As a result, we're more likely to remember the information we receive from a story.

Storytelling also triggers the release of dopamine ("the brain's form of candy") and oxytocin ("the love drug"). In other words, stories make us feel good.

Here's an infographic showing how storytelling affects the brain:

This can influence buying behavior because it helps to create an emotional connection with potential customers or buyers.

Telling a story, instead of making a sales pitch , is less intimidating to an audience.

The company or product you're describing is easier to understand, seems less complex, and provides relevant information in a format that's easy to digest and remember.

As a result, the buyer can relate to the product or service and will eventually want to purchase it.

Joanne Camarce grows and strategizes B2B marketing and PR efforts @ codeless.io . She loves slaying outreach campaigns and connecting with brands like G2, Wordstream, Process Street, and others. When she's not wearing her marketing hat, you'll find Joanne admiring Japanese music and art or just being a dog mom.

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How to Tell a Story in a Presentation, with Examples

July 26, 2018 - Dom Barnard

Keeping your audience engaged whilst trying to clearly deliver your key messages can be difficult. A helpful way of doing this is by telling stories where you take your audience on a journey and appeal to their emotions. In this article we discuss storytelling techniques you can incorporate into presentations.

The benefits of storytelling

Storytelling is used in every culture, passed down through generations, to help with understanding because  humans like narrative structures . It’s now becoming more popular for business presentations – this is the case for Cisco Systems who switched from fact-heavy presentations to presentations incorporating stories and consequently became more successful in promoting their products.

Research suggests that humans are hardwired to listen to stories, for example, after conducting a fMRI study, neuroscientist Uri Hasson concluded that storytelling causes the neurons of an audience to sync with the storyteller’s brain. This suggests that your brain in responding like the storyteller’s so you are experiencing the same emotions.

Storytelling has multiple benefits:

• Grabs attention
• Evokes emotion, especially empathy
• Uses the audience’s imagination
• Relatable e.g. humanises a person, company etc
• Maintains attention because stories are so engaging
• Builds anticipation by having heroes, challenges, adventures and journeys
• Changes beliefs
• Very persuasive

Different ways of storytelling

Monomyth (the hero’s the journey).

In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge – they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.

Using a monomyth is a useful way of showing the audience how you obtained the knowledge/wisdom that you will be sharing in your presentation. When you deliver your presentation you can hold the audience as the hero – they can come on the journey, you encourage them to walk through it and get passed the obstacles. Your ideas delivered in the presentation can guide them to the rewards/wisdom they seek.

An example of a monomyth: professional snowboarder  Amy Purdy delivered a speech  where she talks about losing her legs to meningitis, re-learning snowboarding and finally receiving a medal in the Paralympics.

• Engages the audience by accessing their imagination and taking them a journey
• Universal appeal – has a recognisable and simple structure
• Demonstrates the benefits of taking risks
• Quickly evokes empathy
• Shows how you learned a lesson and how you got your wisdom
• Your audience sees the value of your product, service etc

Rags to riches

This essentially is a story where the main character has various hardships in their life, usually hits rock bottom but then achieves great success.

• Relatable as we have all faced difficult times
• Provides hope

In medias res (into the middle of things)

In this type of story you launch right into the action – providing a snippet/teaser of what’s happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. You’ll be familiar with TV shows frequently using this technique.

This is engaging because you’re starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious – they’ll want to know how you got there.

Don’t give away too much of the action when you start the story; you’ll want to explain it in more detail when you reach it chronologically. Consider hinting at something unexpected or strange occurring – just provide the audience with enough information to get them interested.

• Attention grabbing
• Creates suspense
• Focuses attention on the fundamental moment of the story

False start

When delivering a false start, you begin by telling a supposedly predictable story and then unexpectedly reveal something before starting the story again with an altered perspective. This can be used to surprise the audience and it will get them engaged as it disrupted their predictions.

It’s useful for talking about times where you experienced a failure and then you consequently had to start again and what you learnt from this, including whether you had a special way of solving the problem.

• Changes the audience’s perspective
• Relates to the audience by sharing a failure
• Displays problem-solving

The mountain

This is similar to the monomyth – the mountain initially starts by setting the scene, it goes on to include a series of small challenges and a build-up of action, finally ending with a climatic finish. Typically something else will be introduced to the story to overcome the final challenge.

• Highlights how you overcame a series of challenges
• Builds suspense gradually – used in a lot of films
• Provides a satisfying conclusion

Practice Impromptu Storytelling

Practice telling a story with plot twists along the way. Learn More

Sparklines are when you contrast this world to an ideal world. You highlight the problems this world has and suggest what it could be like. It’s very persuasive because it gets the audience to want to make changes. A well-known example is Martin Luther’s “ I have a dream ” speech.

• Emotional appeal
• Evokes hope
• Often leads to action

Your whole presentation could follow the structure of a sparklines story:

1. Presentation beginning  – describe current life as this helps create a connection between yourself and the audience because they will agree with what you’re saying. Go on to introduce what the future can be, for example:

• What is: Our competitors have eaten up 30% of our revenue this year
• What could be: But what if we could fight back with a completely new product line in the same market? We’ve got the in-house expertise and resources to do just this.

2. Presentation middle  – now you have shown what the issues is continue to reflect on the contrast between the present and what the future could be like, for example:

• What is: We missed our revenue target by 30%.
• What could be: We’ve got to perform better next year otherwise we’ll have to start letting people go.
• What is: We’ve conducted early product trials with some of our customers.
• What could be: Over 90% said they would purchase the product when developed.

As you keep switching from what is and what could be the audience will find the possible future more appealing.

3. Presentation ending  – You want a call to action that is motivating, you want to show the audience the benefits of taking on your ideas. For example:

• Call to action: It will take additional work from several of our departments to get the new product line built in time for the launch date and to make up the revenue number for next year.
• The result of adopting your ideas: I know everyone’s working incredibly long hours, we really appreciate it. This is our opportunity to work together and give the company a massive boost. We’ll fight back against the competitors and you’ll all earn bonuses after a successful launch.

This makes it clear to the audience that everyone will benefit from your plan.

Nested loops

In nested loops, three of more stories are layered within each other. An example would be a character in your first story tells another story and a character in that story tells another story etc. The core of your message is in the centre and the stories around it explain this message or elaborate on it.

Each nested story should end in the order it was introduced, for example, the story you begin with is the last story you finish with, the second story you start is the second to last story you finish etc.

• Shows how your wisdom was obtained through a series of interactions/showing how wisdom was passed to you
• Explains how you came to a conclusion

Converging ideas

Converging ideas shows the audience how different people’s thinking came together to produce one idea. This is a good way of showing how a movement started or how an idea was created from various people working towards the same thing.

Converging ideas are similar to nested loops but with converging ideas you can show how stories with equal importance came to one significant conclusion.

• Demonstrates collaborations between people
• Can show how relationships formed
• Demonstrates how a development occurred

Petal structure

The petal structure consists of telling multiple stories from multiple speakers that relate to the main message. This is useful if you have unconnected stories that relate back to the central concept. You can overlap the stories as one story, after it has been completed, introduces the next story.

• In showing the audience how these stories are related they understand the significance of your message
• Provides the voice of multiple speakers
• Provides lots of evidence or emotional appeal around a central idea
• Shows how multiple situations lead back to one concept
• Allows a group of speakers to discuss a main message

Example of captive storytelling

Donald Blake from the Scottish Storytelling Centre tells a tale about being hungry for stories. Great example of how to tell a story during a presentation.

Watch the full video here:  ICH for Everyone: The importance of storytelling

Storytelling tips

Storytelling is used by the  top public speakers , here are their tips:

Understand your audience

You first need to find out who you’re presenting to:

• Know their pain points, values and opinions
• Topics of interest
• Try to find similarities, including any shared experiences, you have with the audience because they can relate and empathise with you. Consequently they will care about what you say.

Frame your story

Think about taking the audience on a journey and work out where to start and finish.

To find a place to start ask:

• What do audience already know about the topic?
• How much do the audience care about the topic?

If a speech is received poorly it’s usually because it was not framed well – the speaker misunderstood the level of audience interest or they didn’t tell a story.

Know your message

Ensure that you understand what you’re trying to tell the audience and how your story is linked to your call for action.

• Think about how you want the audience to feel about your message.
• For example, you might need to share facts and figures but try to deliver this is an engaging way so they will be remembered.

Ensure that you choose a story relevant to the idea you want to support or the point you want to make. The story must be  tailored to your audience  so it relates to them and meets their needs.

Be authentic

• Tell real-life stories to garner trust.
• If your story is not genuine this will work against you and the audience will judge you as dishonest.

Use a conversational tone

When telling your story speak in a conversational tone as this will sound more natural and friendly. To help with this pretend that you’re telling the story to friends or family and avoid technical terminology.

Remember that the audience is the hero

• The audience often needs to view themselves as the hero.
• Let people see and feel what the journey of achieving the goal will be like.

Visual aids increase engagement  and memory retention. Use relevant images, videos, props etc as supplements to your story.

Evoke emotions

By evoking certain emotions in the audience, they will feel more connected to the story which will help with their engagement and persuading them. Emotions also increase memory retention.

Sell your story not your product

Focus your story on the outcome that the audience is looking for and not on your product.

There needs to be conflict, contrast or action in the story; in traditional tales there would be a villain. In a  business presentation  there might be a problem that the characters must overcome. This ensures audience engagement because they want to know what happens next. To increase suspense:

• Tell a story chronologically so you can build to a climactic conclusion
• Consider telling a predictable story and then shock the audience by going a different direction to what was predicted (false start).
• Consider using in media res.

Stories need a beginning, middle and end to create drama and anticipation. Sometimes you don’t have to complete the story as this can be a useful way of making a point in the presentation.

Tell personal stories because the audience will enjoy seeing your human side. Consider telling a story about a mistake you made, for example, perhaps you froze up during an important presentation when you were 25, or maybe life wasn’t going well for you in the past – if relevant to your presentation’s aim.

People will empathise and relate to you as we have all experienced hardship. The more the audience relates to you, the more likely they will remain engaged. These stories can also be told in a humorous way if it makes you feel more comfortable.

Ensure that you plan the stories thoroughly beforehand and make sure they are not too long.

How you tell your story

The way you tell a story is important, if you do it effectively the audience won’t forget it. Consider:

• Using every word and image to help create a clear picture in their mind
• Using visuals to supplement the story
• Providing sensory details – using all five senses
• Using precise verbs and nouns and vivid adjectives.
• Providing short but effective descriptions

Imaginable characters

Create characters that the audience can imagine easily. Characters are significant because it’s their struggles that make the audience react. You must provide enough detail on the main character and identify their unique characteristic, such, as, perseverance.

A common technique for presenting characters in business presentations is to start with “This is…” followed by the character’s name and their job role and their important characteristics/backstory. For example, “This is Sally, a hard-working but over-worked marketing manager etc.”

Shock the audience

Build up to a dramatic event that they won’t forget – this can be a provoking image, shocking statistics etc. For example, in a  2009 speech  Bill Gates, after providing statistics on the issues of malaria, opened a jar of mosquitoes in the presentation room and said “There’s no reason only poor people should have the experience.”

Satisfying resolution

End with a resolution – this can be a piece of advice or wisdom that will help the audience.

Telling stories is a compelling way of presenting because humans relate to them. Stories engage the audience, evoke empathy, increase trust and motivate action. By working on your storytelling skills you will be more effective at persuading the audience the value of your ideas. Make sure you spend the time refining these skills so you can set your company apart from the rest.

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The 5 Steps of Storytelling – How to Tell a Great Story in a Presentation

Want to Know How to Tell a Great Story in a Presentation? The Steps of Storytelling Are Not as Important as the Story Itself.

Storytelling in our personal lives is very normal. When we get together with friends or family, we build rapport by sharing good stories about ourselves. I went to my High School reunion a few years ago. I was visiting with friends that I haven’t seen for a long time. One of the funniest things, though, was that I expected that it would be a bunch of old people reminiscing about stories from our teenage years. However, the opposite occurred. It was really interesting to hear about what my friends had done since High School. We spent hours catching up. And the way that we caught up was by telling great stories to each other about our experiences. Many of my friends had accomplished some pretty impressive things. However, none of them sounded like they were bragging.

The biggest public speaking secret that I know is that you can do the exact same thing in your speeches. When you share stories of your successes, your audience lives vicariously through your stories. I remember growing up hearing the phrase, “Experience is the best teacher.” After being a business owner for 20 plus years now, I realize how dumb that statement is. Experience is NOT the best teacher. Someone else’s experience is the best teacher. When I hear a story about how someone else accomplished a goal that I want to accomplish, I can learn from it. I don’t have to experience all the turmoil that he or she went through.

So, follow the steps of storytelling below. However, just realize that the steps, in and of themselves, are not as important as the actual stories. Pick a good story to tell, the steps don’t matter.

The 5 Steps of Storytelling During a Presentation. Follow these Tips to Become a Better Storyteller.

Below are the Five Steps of Storytelling that we have identified in our presentation skills class . These best practices will help you organize your stories better. Remember that audience members have a short attention span. Good storytelling, though, can help you capture and hold the attention of your audience. In fact, inserting better stories is a simple way to improve your presentations dramatically.

The tips below can help you improve your story structure,. However, the best way to deliver a story in your presentation is to just play the video in your head. Then just tell the audience what you are seeing. Great storytelling is really just sharing your own experience with your audience. So if following these steps is a little out of your comfort zone, start by just inserting a single personal story from your own experience into your next presentation. Then try each of these tips, one at a time, in future presentations.

• Focus on a Single Incident.
• Great Storytellers Get the Audience Involved with a “Hook.”
• Narrate the Story Using the When, Where, Who, and What.
• Use Lots of Details. Paint the Picture of Your Story During Your Presentation.
• The Last of the Steps of Storytelling is to End Your Presentation Story with a Call to Action.

1. Focus on a Single Incident.

In the early days of my presentation classes, I stopped using the word “Story” and started using “Incident.” The reason was that a novel is a story. However, a novel may contain hundreds or even thousands of incidents. I was listening to a talk radio show recently, and an ad for Legacy Box played. This is an organization that digitizes old photos, films, and videos. The narrator said something interesting, though. He said, “We don’t remember days, we remember moments.” That is so true.

8 Hours of Boring Story

1 Year Story in 2 Minutes

The second is the actor Will Smith telling about learning a lesson as a child. He tells of his father knocking down a brick wall of his story and telling Will and his brother to rebuild it. The story was an entire year of Smith’s life. However, he tells the entire year in two minutes. He does this by focusing on specific incidents. He tells about the day his father knocked down the wall. Then, he tells about the day he and his brother laid the last brick. This technique is the key to the art of storytelling.

It makes for a fantastic story.

2. Great Storytellers Get the Audience Involved with a “Hook.”

Sometimes, a compelling story doesn’t necessarily follow the correct chronological order.

I remember watching the Quentin Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction years ago. In the opening scene, a couple is discussing places to rob. Eventually, they decide to rob the diner they are eating in. As soon as they pull out their weapons, the scene cuts. The two are not seen again until the very end of the movie. I admit, when I watched Pulp Fiction the first time, I was confused. However, when Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta end up being in that diner, it made me laugh. The Hangover had a similar “start with the end” technique…

Great movies, TV shows, and News Programs use this technique a lot. They give you a taste of what is coming at the beginning. You can do the same as one of your steps of storytelling. Foreshadow something that is coming. One of the best examples is The Hangover. The bachelor party group wakes up and realizes there is a tiger in the bathroom. None of them can remember how that it got there. The story unfolds to tell us the answer later. It is obvious that the person who wrote this script has exceptional storytelling skills.

You can do the same thing in your stories. Knowing how to tell a great story starts with a little showmanship. Telling the end of the story first can often be a good hook. To do this, think about the most action-packed part of the story. Then start with that part. Fill in the prequel later.

3. Narrate the Story Using the When, Where, Who, and What.

• When I was six-years-old, my dad caught me sneaking out of his bedroom with a dollar that I stole from his wallet.
• Back in 2005, I finished a team building activity where the audience gave me a standing ovation. One of the participants said, “That was worth a million dollars.” She was wrong. It has actually been worth over 20 million dollars.
• Last week, I made an uncomfortable phone call. I had to fire my new web guy.

In each of these, my goal was to both give you the when, who, and where. I also wanted to use the hook to try to get you to want to know what actually happened to get to that point. Now, when I fill in the “What Happened,” it should make for a more interesting story.

4. Use Lots of Details. Paint the Picture of Your Story During Your Presentation.

Bad Example: Abstract Concepts Are One of the Biggest Mistakes that a Lot of People Make in Storytelling.

Our team worked on a similar project last year. We all worked together and came up with a great solution. So, teamwork is important.

This just leaves the audience with more questions. Who was on your team? What was the problem? How did they come up with a solution? How did the solution work? How is it similar to what we are going through now? If this story was a painting, it would be some type of nebulous modern art. What we really want is something more tangible.

Better Example: Important Information Creates an Engaging Story and Creates an Emotional Connection with the Audience.

Last year, Abbie had a client who hired me to deliver a breakout session at their national convention in Tampa. The topic was how to design a persuasive speech. However, since the convention was going to have over 30 different speakers. Many of these presenters were experts in the industry, but not professional speakers. In past conventions, the sessions were somewhat dry and boring. So, the client asked Abbie and me to design a way to train 30 speakers in over a dozen different cities. To come up with a solution, we brought in our video producer, Evan. We also reached out to one of our facilitators, Fiona, who has a background in producing films. We tossed around a number of ideas including webinars, having speakers come to the convention space early, and even going to the different cities for more personal coaching. The solution that we came up with, though, was to start with a webinar for the whole group. We delivered the webinar live three different times. We had each presenter work with one of our instructors one-on-one via Skype for about an hour. And, we also arrived at the convention hall a day early to work with any of the speakers who needed additional help. It worked perfectly.

5. The Last of the Steps of Storytelling is to End Your Presentation Story with a Call to Action.

You don’t want your audience to have a similar question. So go ahead and tell them what the point was. By the way we do this naturally. We will often finish a story by saying, “my point is…” or “the reason that I’m telling you this is…” I remember reading Aesop’s fables when I was a kid. They always ended with “the moral of the story is…” So, don’t leave your audience hanging. Leave them with a moral of the story.

The Real Secret of How to Tell a Great Story is to Practice Different Versions.

This final tip isn’t really one of the steps of storytelling, but it is an important part of how to tell a story. It is a good idea to practice different versions of your story. I got this from my friend Ton Antion when I interviewed him about building a personal brand . He suggested having a 30-second version, a one-minute version, and a two-minute version of every story.

By the way, I’m not saying to have three different kinds of stories. I’m suggesting that you get good at telling your stories in different ways so the timing of your story is the right length whether you have three minutes to speak, 30 minutes to speak, or three hours to speak. The best storytellers are able to condense the whole story down in time if they absolutely have to do so.

Although I had been teaching students how to tell a great story for years, I never really taught this. I’d just say something like, “If time is short, just condense your story down.” After Tom mentioned this tip, though, I began to pay attention to the look on my student’s faces when I said this. I’d sometimes see a little confusion. So, we actually started practicing this in class. It has been a big help. In fact, we sometimes find that a well-worded 30-second story can be more impactful than a longer one. Try it yourself and see!

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Storytelling is a powerful communication tool — here’s how to use it, from TED

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Many of the best TED Talks are built around stories, with speakers’ personal anecdotes helping them bring their ideas to life. Here, TED head curator Chris Anderson provides us with some storytelling dos and don’ts. Plus: news about the TED Masterclass app.

After watching a great talk on TED.com , many of us have wondered: “Could I do it myself? Could I give a TED Talk?”

Now’s your chance to find out.

The new TED Masterclass app — available from the Google Play store and the Apple App store — is designed to help you develop and share your best ideas as a TED-style talk. Guided by TED head curator Chris Anderson and based on his book TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking , the app-based course features 11 animated lessons that break down the public-speaking techniques that TED speakers use to present their ideas. Developed by TED-Ed , the course also features a library of full-length TED Talks from Brené Brown, Bryan Stevenson, Susan Cain and others to reinforce its lessons.

In this post, which is adapted from the TED Masterclass app and his book, Anderson discusses how we can learn to use storytelling to elevate our speeches, presentations and talks.

The best evidence from archaeology and anthropology suggests the human mind evolved with storytelling. About a million years ago our hominid ancestors began gaining control of the use of fire, and it seems to have had a profound impact on their development. It provided warmth, defense against predators, and the ability to cook food (along with its remarkable consequences for the growth of our brains.

But it brought humans something else. Fire created a new magnet for social bonding and drew people together after dark. In many cultures, one form of fireside interaction became prevalent: Storytelling.

It’s no surprise that many of the best TED Talks are anchored in storytelling. But when it comes to sharing a story as part of a presentation or speech, there are four key things for you to remember.

• Base it on a character your audience can empathize with or ar0und a dilemma your audience can relate to.
• Build tension whether through curiosity, intrigue or actual danger.
• Offer the right level of detail. Too little and the story is not vivid; too much and it gets bogged down.
• End with a satisfying resolution, whether it’s funny, moving or revealing.

Of course, it’s all in the execution. Before speaking in front of a group, it’s really worth fine-tuning our stories — including the stories from our own lives. Many of us overstuff them with details that are important to us, but a wider audience just doesn’t need to know.

Building your talk around a single story can offer huge benefits. The personal story is the simplest, easiest-to-prepare type of talk; after all, you know your story and you know more about it than anyone else in the world. A personal story will also create empathy with your audience. Your throughline is taken care of — it’s simply the narrative arc of the story.

But there’s one trap that you must avoid. Your overall goal as as speaker is to give, yet personal stories sometimes fail to do that. They may entertain or intrigue or boost your ego. But they don’t automatically give the audience something they can walk away with — such as insights, actionable information, perspective, context, hope.

One of the biggest reasons we turn down applications to speak at TED is when they offer compelling anecdotes but no central idea that wraps their narrative together. This is heartbreaking, because the speakers are often fascinating people. But without an idea, it’s an opportunity missed.

The key shift needed is an artful edit of your journey that links together critical moments in a way that someone else can derive meaning from them. If your journey reveals something powerful you’ve learned and if each step is revealed with humility, honesty or vulnerability, it’s a journey that other people will gladly make with you.

There’s one other non-negotiable essential if you’re telling your own story: It has to be true. This may seem obvious, but people sometimes try to impress their audience by exaggerating or fibbing — precisely because they know a story can have so much impact. You must resist this temptation.

When you combine a truthful story with a desire to use it for the benefit of other people, you’ll be giving your listeners an extraordinary gift. In her TED Talk , psychologist Eleanor Longden was willing to share how she began hearing voices in her head while she was at university. It led her to being diagnosed with schizophrenia, institutionalized, and driven to the point of suicide.

Her story alone is riveting, but she builds it so people leave her talk with inspiring insights on schizophrenia, mental illness, and how we might rethink our responses to them.

Here’s part of her ending:

“There is no greater honor or privilege than facilitating that process of healing for someone, to bear witness, to reach out a hand, to share the burden of someone’s suffering, and to hold the hope for their recovery. And likewise, for survivors of distress and adversity, that we remember we don’t have to live our lives forever defined by the damaging things that have happened to us. We are unique. We are irreplaceable. What lies within us can never be truly colonized, contorted, or taken away. The light never goes out.”

In his TED Talk: How the worst moments in our lives make us who we are , writer Andrew Solomon described how he was humiliated as a child, even before he came out as gay. But he manages to turn his story into an exhilarating narrative of identity that anyone could relate to and learn from.

“There’s always somebody who wants to confiscate our humanity. And there are always stories that restore it. If we live out loud, we can trounce the hatred, and expand everyone’s lives.”

Stories resonate deeply in every human. By giving your talk as a story or a series of related stories, you can greatly increase your connection with your audience. But please: Let it mean something.

Ready to tell your own story? Download the TED Masterclass app from the Google Play store and the Apple App store . After downloading it, you’ll be able to see an overview of every lesson — including what it’s about, what you’ll learn, and a two-minute video — from the entire course. You’ll also get a preview of the library and the idea log. Full access to the course ($89.99) is available via in-app purchase, and all proceeds will go to support the nonprofit work of TED.  

About the author

Chris Anderson is the curator of TED.

• Chris Anderson
• public speaking
• storytelling

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8 Classic storytelling techniques for engaging presentations

Emily Bartlett Feb 1, 2022 1:57:05 PM

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

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

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

1. Monomyth

The monomyth (also called the hero's journey), is a story structure that's found in many folk tales, myths and religious writings from around the world.

In a monomyth, the hero is called to leave their home and sets out on a difficult journey. They move from somewhere they know into a threatening unknown place.

After overcoming a great trial, they return home with a reward or newfound wisdom – something which will help their community. Lots of modern stories still follow this structure, from the Lion King to Star Wars. 

Using the monomyth to shape your presentation can help you explain what has brought you to the wisdom you want to share. It can bring your message alive for your audience.

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

See also: The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell

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

2. The mountain

The mountain structure is a way of mapping the tension and drama in a story. It's similar to the monomyth because it helps us to plot when certain events occur in a story.

It's different because it doesn't necessarily have a happy ending. The first part of the story is given to setting the scene, and is followed by just a series of small challenges and rising action before a climactic conclusion.

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

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

Aimee Mullins uses a mountain-structure speech to tell a personal story – from being born without fibula bones in her lower legs to becoming a famous athlete, actress 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 centre, and use the stories around it to elaborate or explain that central principle. The first story you begin is the last story you finish, the second story you start is second to last, etc.

Nested loops works a bit like a friend telling you about a wise person in their life, someone who taught them an important lesson. The first loops are your friend's story, the second loops are the wise person's story. At the centre is the important lesson.

• 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 along to you

See also:  Simon Sinek's TED talk shows how successful organizations place the 'why?' of what they do at the centre, surrounded by the 'what?' and 'how?' of their business. 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 world to drive home her argument about stories.

4. Sparklines

Sparklines are a way 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 world with an ideal, improved world. They compare  what is  with  what could be . 

By doing this the presenter draws attention to the problems we have in our society, our personal lives, our businesses. The presenter creates and fuels a desire for change in the audience.

It's a highly emotional technique that is sure to motivate your audience to support you.

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

See also: Resonate by Nancy Duarte

Martin Luther King's speech is famous the world over because it contrasts the racist, intolerant society of the day with an ideal future society where all races are treated equally.

5. In media res

In medias res storytelling is when you begin your narrative in the heat of the action, before starting over at the beginning to explain how you got there.

By dropping your audience right into the most exciting part of your story they'll be gripped from the beginning and will stay engaged to find out what happens.

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

This only works for shorter presentations though – if you string it out too long your audience will get frustrated and lose interest.

• Grabbing attention from the start
• Keep an audience craving resolution
• Focusing attention on a pivotal moment in your story

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

6. Converging ideas

Converging ideas is a speech structure that shows the audience how different strands of thinking came together to form one product or idea.

It can be used to show the birth of a movement. Or explain how a single idea was the culmination of several great minds working towards one goal.

Converging ideas is similar to the nested loops structure, but rather than framing one story with complementary stories, it can show how several equally important stories came to a single strong conclusion.

This technique could be 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 program in 1995, but they didn't like each other at first. They both had great ideas, but found working together hard. Eventually they found themselves working on a research project together. A research project that became Google.

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

See also: Steven Johnson's TED talk , where he explains how collaboration has fuelled some of history's 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 boring presentations.

7. False start

A 'false start' story is when you begin to tell a seemingly predictable story, before unexpectedly disrupting it and beginning it over again. You lure your audience into a false sense of security, and then shock them by turning the tables.

This format is great for talking about a time that you failed in something and were forced to 'go back to the start' and reassess. It's ideal for talking about the things that you learnt from that experience. Or the innovative way that you solved your problem.

But best of all, it's a quick attention hack which will disrupt your audience's expectations and surprise them into paying closer attention to your message. 

• Disrupting audience 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 way of organising multiple speakers or stories around one central concept. It's useful if you have several unconnected stories you want to tell or things you want to reveal – that all relate back to a single message.

You tell your stories one by one before returning back to the centre. The petals can overlap as one story introduces the next but each should be a complete narrative in itself.

In doing so, you can weave a rich tapestry of evidence around your central theory. Or strong emotional impressions around your idea. 

By showing your audience how all these key stories are related to one another, you leave them feeling the true importance and weight of your message.

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

See also:  Carnegie Mellon University's guide to story nodes

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

Start with a story

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

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

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

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Structure Your Presentation Like a Story

• Nancy Duarte

To win people over, create tension between the status quo and a better way.

After studying hundreds of speeches, I’ve found that the most effective presenters use the same techniques as great storytellers: By reminding people of the status quo and then revealing the path to a better way, they set up a conflict that needs to be resolved.

• ND Nancy Duarte is a best-selling author with thirty years of CEO-ing under her belt. She’s driven her firm, Duarte, Inc., to be the global leader behind some of the most influential messages and visuals in business and culture. Duarte, Inc., is the largest design firm in Silicon Valley, as well as one of the top woman-owned businesses in the area. Nancy has written six best-selling books, four have won awards, and her new book, DataStory: Explain Data and Inspire Action Through Story , is available now. Follow Duarte on Twitter: @nancyduarte or LinkedIn .

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7 Proven Storytelling Techniques to Captivate Your Audience in Public Speaking

1. the power of personal stories, 2. painting a vivid picture, 3. using the hero's journey, 4. building suspense and curiosity, 5. utilizing the rule of three, 6. incorporating humor, 7. telling stories with a twist.

Public speaking can be daunting for many, but with the right storytelling techniques, you can captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression. In this blog, we'll explore seven proven methods to help you develop effective storytelling techniques for public speaking. You'll learn how to create engaging narratives that resonate with your listeners and keep their attention from start to finish.

Personal stories are a powerful tool in public speaking, as they help your audience connect with you on a deeper level. To harness the power of personal stories, consider the following tips:

• Be authentic : Share real experiences that have shaped you or taught you valuable lessons. Your audience will appreciate your honesty and vulnerability.
• Be relatable : Choose stories that your audience can relate to, so they can see themselves in your shoes and understand the emotions you felt.
• Be engaging : Use vivid language and descriptive details to immerse your audience in the story. This will help them visualize the events and feel the emotions you experienced.
• Be purposeful : Link your story to the overall message of your speech. Your personal story should support and reinforce the points you want to make.

By incorporating personal stories into your public speaking, you'll not only keep your audience engaged but also create a memorable experience that they'll carry with them long after your speech ends.

Painting a vivid picture in your audience's mind is crucial for effective storytelling. When your listeners can clearly visualize the events and emotions you describe, they'll feel more connected to your message. Here's how to paint a vivid picture with your words:

• Show, don't tell : Instead of simply telling your audience what happened, show them by using sensory details, emotions, and actions. For example, instead of saying "I was nervous," describe your trembling hands, racing heart, and the sweat on your brow.
• Use metaphors and similes : Comparing your experiences to well-known objects or ideas can help your audience better understand complex or abstract concepts. For example, you might say, "Facing my fears was like climbing a mountain."
• Use descriptive language : Choose words that evoke specific images and emotions in your listeners' minds. For instance, instead of saying "The room was noisy," you could say, "The room buzzed with the excited chatter of a hundred voices."
• Engage the senses : Describe the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures of your story to create a more immersive experience for your audience. This will help them feel like they're right there with you, living the story alongside you.

By painting a vivid picture with your storytelling, you'll captivate your audience and make your message more memorable and impactful.

The Hero's Journey is a storytelling framework that has been used in countless myths, legends, and stories throughout history. By incorporating this framework into your public speaking, you can create a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience. The Hero's Journey typically includes the following stages:

• Ordinary World : Introduce your hero (which could be you, someone else, or even your audience) in their normal, everyday life.
• Call to Adventure : Present a challenge or opportunity that disrupts the hero's ordinary world and compels them to take action.
• Refusal of the Call : Highlight the hero's initial reluctance or fear in facing the challenge.
• Meeting with the Mentor : Introduce a wise figure who offers guidance, support, or a crucial piece of knowledge to the hero.
• Crossing the Threshold : Show the hero fully committing to the adventure and embarking on their journey.
• Tests, Allies, and Enemies : Share the hero's trials, challenges, and the relationships they form along the way.
• Approaching the Innermost Cave : Describe the hero's preparation for their most significant challenge or confrontation.
• Ordeal : Present the hero's ultimate test or battle, where they must face their greatest fears and overcome their biggest obstacles.
• Reward : Show the hero achieving a significant victory or gaining a valuable new insight.
• The Road Back : Depict the hero's return journey, often accompanied by a sense of urgency or a final challenge to overcome.
• Resurrection : Share the hero's final, transformative trial, which results in personal growth and a lasting change.
• Return with the Elixir : Close your story with the hero returning to their ordinary world, now changed and equipped with new knowledge or abilities that can benefit others.

By using the Hero's Journey in your public speaking, you'll create an engaging narrative that keeps your audience invested and helps them relate to your message on a deeper level.

When it comes to public speaking, keeping your audience engaged is crucial. One effective way to achieve this is by building suspense and curiosity throughout your presentation. Here are some techniques you can use to develop effective storytelling and captivate your audience:

• Ask a provocative question : Start your speech with an intriguing question that makes your audience think and wonder what the answer might be. This will immediately pique their interest and encourage them to listen closely.
• Create a mystery : Introduce a problem or situation without revealing the solution right away. Gradually provide clues or pieces of information, allowing your audience to follow along and try to solve the puzzle themselves.
• Withhold information : Sometimes, less is more. Strategically withholding key pieces of information can create anticipation and keep your audience on the edge of their seats. Just be sure to deliver on the buildup and reveal the missing pieces at the right moment.
• Use cliffhangers : Break your speech into segments, and end each one with a compelling cliffhanger. This will make your audience eager to find out what happens next and maintain their attention throughout your presentation.
• Play with pacing : Vary the speed and rhythm of your speech to create tension and excitement. Slow down during crucial moments to build suspense, and then speed up when revealing important information or reaching a climax.

Remember, the key to building suspense and curiosity in your public speaking is to keep your audience guessing and actively engaged. By doing so, you'll not only make your presentation more entertaining but also help your listeners retain the information you're sharing.

When developing effective storytelling techniques for public speaking, the Rule of Three can be an invaluable tool. This principle is based on the idea that information presented in groups of three is more memorable, satisfying, and impactful. Here's how to make the most of the Rule of Three in your presentations:

• Organize your points : Structure your speech around three main points or ideas. This will help your audience follow along more easily and remember the key takeaways from your presentation.
• Use repetition : Repeating phrases, ideas, or themes in sets of three can create a sense of rhythm and emphasis. By doing so, you can make your message more memorable and persuasive.
• Create lists : When providing examples or elaborating on a concept, consider using lists of three items. This can make your speech more engaging and easier to digest, as it's a simple and familiar format for most people.
• Employ trios of adjectives or phrases : Using three descriptive words or phrases in a row can add emphasis and impact to your speech. For example, "Our product is simple, affordable, and effective."
• Structure stories with a beginning, middle, and end : When telling stories in your presentation, follow the classic three-part structure. This creates a natural narrative flow that is easy for your audience to follow and remember.

By utilizing the Rule of Three in your public speaking, you can make your content more engaging, memorable, and persuasive. Give it a try the next time you're crafting a speech or presentation, and watch how it transforms your storytelling approach.

Humor can be a powerful tool in public speaking, as it helps to create a connection with your audience and keep them engaged. However, it's important to use humor appropriately and effectively. Here are some tips to help you incorporate humor into your storytelling techniques for public speaking:

• Know your audience : Before using humor in your presentation, consider the demographics and preferences of your audience. What might be funny to one group could be offensive or confusing to another. Tailor your humor to suit your listeners.
• Be authentic : When using humor, try to be true to your own personality and style. It's much easier for your audience to connect with you when your jokes and anecdotes feel genuine and personal.
• Use relatable stories : Share funny stories or experiences that are relevant to your topic and relatable to your audience. This can help you create a sense of camaraderie and shared understanding.
• Keep it light : Humor should be used to enhance your presentation, not detract from it. Avoid controversial or offensive jokes, and don't let humor overshadow the main points you want to convey.
• Practice your timing : Good comedic timing is essential for landing a joke. Practice your delivery, and be prepared to pause for laughter or move on quickly if a joke doesn't land as expected.

When done correctly, incorporating humor into your storytelling techniques for public speaking can create a more enjoyable and memorable experience for your audience. Just remember to be authentic, relatable, and respectful, and you'll be sure to leave a lasting impression.

One of the most effective storytelling techniques for public speaking is to include an unexpected twist or surprise in your story. This can create a memorable moment that keeps your audience engaged and thinking about your message long after your presentation is over. Here are some tips on how to develop storytelling techniques with a twist:

• Find the unexpected : Look for stories or experiences that have an element of surprise or an unexpected outcome. These are the stories that will capture your audience's attention and make them eager to hear more.
• Build anticipation : Set the stage for your twist by building anticipation and suspense throughout your story. This can be done by foreshadowing the twist, creating tension, or setting up a mystery that needs to be solved.
• Timing is everything : Deliver the twist at just the right moment to maximize its impact. This could be at the climax of your story, or as a sudden reveal after you've built up suspense.
• Make it relatable : To make your twist truly memorable, ensure it's relevant to your overall message and resonates with your audience. This will help them connect the twist to your key points and remember it more easily.
• Practice your delivery : Like any other storytelling technique, practice is key to perfecting your twist. Work on your pacing, tone, and delivery to ensure the twist is revealed smoothly and effectively.

By incorporating twists and surprises into your stories, you can create a captivating and memorable experience for your audience. Remember to be relatable, build anticipation, and practice your delivery to make the most of this powerful storytelling technique for public speaking.

If you enjoyed reading about public speaking and want to further develop your presentation skills, don't miss George Dyson's workshop ' Public Speaking: How to Make a Presentation '. This workshop will provide you with valuable techniques and insights to help you captivate your audience and deliver an engaging presentation.

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How to Tell a Story in a Presentation – 4 Simple Steps

Storytelling is vital to a professional presentation . Once you learn how to tell a story in a presentation, you can build your reputation significantly.   Storytelling can help you connect personally with your audience and make your presentation more memorable.  

Many people hesitate to tell personal stories.  Common self-doubt include

• “What does this have to do with anything?”
• “How can I talk about this in a professional presentation?”
• “How can I tie this in without sounding weird?”

Here are the easy answers- your story has a LOT to do with your content. Yes, you CAN talk about it in a professional presentation. And there’s an easy way to seamlessly tie the story back without sounding awkward. That story you’re thinking about sharing- the first time you stood up on a pair of skis, or the way you divvy toys among your children to keep the peace, or how your high school golf experience paid off when you sank a difficult hole-in-one- can bring a new depth of personal connection to your presentations. It will enhance your audience connection, enjoyment, and retention. Let’s take those concerns off your plate!  Follow these four simple steps to figure out what your story is really about, where to use it, and how to tie it back to your content.

4 Steps for Seamless Story-telling

Step 2: Is it the story of your whole presentation? Or just a part? : Using our example above, we can determine if the story is worthy of building an entire presentation around (like a TED Talk ) or if it’s useful just to illustrate a moment within a presentation. To do this, you need to marry the thrust of your presentation with the meaning or metaphor. Say your entire presentation is about introducing a new software product that will finally solve a consumer problem that has existed for a long time. You could build your entire demo presentation around that golf story- how the effort of you and your colleagues finally paid off.

Or perhaps there is just one small section of the presentation that deals with that idea. Guess what? You can streamline your story and use it to briefly illustrate that point in one moment of your presentation. Remember, while a story can be on the long side, it doesn’t have to be. A story can be a few sentences long and still get the point across.

Step 3: Give it a specific, creative “in” : You don’t have to say “let me tell you a story” to weave one into your presentation. There are lots of other ways to set up your story, now that you know where and how it fits into your content. For now, let’s look at using a story to illustrate one thought in your presentation.  Saying “and now, let me tell you a story” can sound stodgy- you want the idea to flow right from your content, and there are a few ways you can do that.

One option is to be daring and just launch into the exposition of your story- your audience will go with you! It will also give them a bit of a mystery to follow as they are suddenly taken on a new journey.  Or, if you truly feel that you need a segue, use specific details about your story itself as your lead in: “Believe it or not, one brilliant moment on the golf course hit this idea home.” “This reminds me of my awful golf swing in high school.” “The last time I felt this accomplished, I was pulling out my golf clubs.” Whatever it is, using those details will help you seamlessly begin a story without asking permission to do so.

Step 4: The conclusion or main point should bring you back to your content : Use the conclusion of your story as a bridge back. Once again, don’t feel you have to telegraph your meaning to the audience by saying something along the lines of “the moral of the story is…”, but do revisit the big idea of your story. One way to do this is to actually make your content part of the story. Let’s keep using our golf example. At the end of your story, you can say something like “I knew the frustation we were having with the old system was like my years of unfulfilled golf games- even though all of the knowledge and experience were there, we just couldn’t make it work. But we knew that, if we just persevered, we’d sink that elusive hole-in-one, and be able to celebrate.”

When you find the real meaning behind a story, then you can free yourself from feeling the need to ask permission of your audience to tell it.  With a personal story, you can do some truly effective business storytelling that also seamlessly ties back to your content.  The big ideas, both of your story and within your presentation, will help you succeed.

Your comments:  Do you tell personal stories in Presentations?  Do these steps help?   Try it today and let us know how it goes.  Share your comments below

Like this post?  Then help us share it on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and by email

New to this site? Then Start here –  Soft Skills – How to Succeed Like an Executive

This is guest post with edits by Lei Han

Guest Author: Bridget Beirne – Bridget has a background in Theatre and in business.  She currently works in marketing and social media for Ovation Communication , and is also the acting chief editor of the OC Blog . 

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15 Actionable Storytelling Tips for PowerPoint Presentations

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Presentation Design
• April 23, 2015

Great storytellers do two things very well. First (obviously), they tell stories.

Second, through their stories, they get people to act.

You might be thinking, “That’s great if you’re Steve Jobs and introducing the iPhone, but what do I do with all of my everyday dry and boring content? How do I turn that into a story, let alone a gripping one?

Well today I’m going to help you out with 15 insanely actionable storytelling tips and tricks to get you into the storytelling mindset, regardless of what type of material you’re working with.

If you are looking for ideas for how to start your presentation, see our guide here.

You might be thinking, “That’s great if you’re Steve Jobs and introducing the iPhone, but what do I do with all my everyday dry and boring content? How do I turn that into a story, let alone a gripping one?

Well today I’m going to help you out with 15 insanely actionable storytelling tips and tricks to get you into the storytelling mindset, regardless of what type of material you’re working with.

Once you have these story telling tips down, you can see  how to start a presentation here .

How to start a story?

Getting your story started is oftentimes the most difficult part of the storytelling process, especially when you are in a professional setting.

You might know what your story is about and the point you want to make during your presentation, but getting it started can feel weird or awkward.

Don’t overthink it, just dive in and get started.

And if you feel stuck, use one of the following lines to jump start your story (and then don’t look back).

“Before we get started, I want to tell you about…”

Great for a smooth start, kick off your story (and the presentation) with this phrase and then tie it into your presentation message.

“That reminds me of the time…”  

1. Find your characters and make them the focal point of your presentation

1. Break down your topic into the people (or characters) involved

Look at your material and simply ask yourself “who” until you have some people to work with.

99% of the time, someone’s actions, needs, vision, goal, etc., lies behind the point you are trying to make.

Very little happens in the world without people’s involvement. As such, this is one of the best storytelling techniques for business presentations.

For example:

• Your company’s quarterly earnings = hard-working employees or loyal customers;
• Your new product or service = a new demographic of consumers;
• Your data points = the people who did something to create those data points;
• Your school’s new program = the students benefiting from the new program or the representatives who fought to fund the program.

2. Pick a representative to follow

If you end up with a group of people from step #1 (for example, baby boomers getting ready to retire), try to narrow your group down to a representative individual you can talk more directly about.

Because if you’re talking about retirement products, it’s more interesting to hear about 62 year old John who is looking forward to driving his camper van across the country when he retires (cool)…

…rather than financially stable baby boomers getting close to retirement (yawn).

How this will improve your story

Stories need characters to move forward, and whereas objects and data points don’t have a story, the people behind those objects and data points do.

Simply re-orienting your presentation around the people involved in your topic (who they are, what they are doing, etc.), even if only briefly, will naturally create a story that your audience can begin to follow.

Seriously, the next time you watch a politician speak, see if they don’t break down their topic into individual people whose actions back up their point.

It’s a simple storytelling tip, but it’s one of the most impactful…especially for business presentations which are often data and product focused, instead of people focused.

2. Set the stage by describing where you are now and where you want to be in the future

1. Describe where things are now (the undesired now)

What is (or was) the “undesirable now” about your topic that drove the first action?

Set the stage for your knight in shining armor.

• Are credit card companies preying on college graduates by extending them credit and encouraging them to spend it, even if they don’t have any income?
• Are employees given limited and risky options to build their nest eggs to get to retirement?
• Is it common that people who spent all day on their feet develop blisters between their toes…regardless of what kind of shoes they wear?

Tip:  Make sure your undesired state counts and is something people care about, otherwise you will lose your audience.

Your goal here is to get your audience invested in your topic.

As a bonus, highlight how you might feel about it. How painful would it be to walk with blisters between your toes?

2. Describe where things want to be (the desired future)

Now that your audience is on board about the situation, what are you going to do about it?

Now is your chance to paint the picture of the desired future that we all want to be a part of.

• College graduates are extended credit based on their actual earnings to avoid long-term financial disaster.
• Employees are given multiple options to safely build their nest eggs for retirement.
• People who spend all day on their feet can wear microfiber toe socks that eliminate 99% of all toe blisters.

Paint a picture of what the future would look like where everyone’s needs are met. Describe it in vivid detail.

Again as a bonus, describe how someone might feel about it. Does a college graduate who has avoided a mountain of credit card debt feel ‘just okay,’ or are they ‘pumped up about life’ and exited for the future?

It’s the change and/or transformation that happens within your story that is going to capture your audience’s attention. Typically the change or transformation in your story is based around unmet needs, wants and desires (something that is not as it should be) that then brings forth some kind of action or sequence of events that result in meeting those needs (potentially your product or service).

If you find that your topic doesn’t have a change or transformation associated with it, moving from an undesired state to a desired state, rethink the angle of your presentation topic to come up with something that does.

To learn more about this specific storytelling technique and see how effective it is, see Nancy Duarte’s TED Talk,  the secret structure of great talks  or read a  free multimedia version of her popular book “Resonate ” online.

3. Describe what needs to be overcome and highlight why this will be difficult

1. Brainstorm two or three obstacles or challenges that are in the way

What is it about your presentation topic that is difficult to overcome or why can’t the characters in your story (see Tip #1) have what they want (see Tip #2)?

If there is nothing standing in the way then you don’t have much to talk about.

Common challenges include time, money, connections, proof, education, a competitor, a market, a county, natural disasters, the economy, etc.

2. Narrow down the obstacles to focus on your situation

With a few obstacles in mind, think about how they are unique to your situation or maybe particularly hard to overcome in this specific scenario.

Narrowing down your challenges to the specifics helps to create intrigue and curiosity about your topic, especially if your audience feels that they are already familiar with the broader obstacles in question.

Instead of writing you off, your audience will be interested to know how these obstacles impact your own unique situation, and how you will try to overcome them.

Stories are rooted in conflict and tension, and it’s the process of encountering obstacles and then overcoming them that propels a story forward.

Without any obstacles to overcome (and therefore, conflict and tension), you don’t have the basic foundation of a story.

People want to know what you are up against and what you are going to do about it. This is why including the specific challenges you are facing is such a great storytelling technique for drawing your audience into your topic.

4. Emotionally invest your audience in the struggle (define failure or the status quo)

1. Think about what failure means in your presentation

What happens if nothing works out and you fail at your endeavor? What are the short-term and long-term consequences of failure?

Or what would happen if we stayed with the status quo?

Put another way, think about what you are trying to help people avoid or solve with your presentation and why it should matter  to your audience .

2. Describe that failure in human terms that your audience can relate to

Set the stakes by describing what failure looks like in human terms that your audience can relate to.

For example: If your presentation is about saving for retirement and you are trying to push young people to start planning, paint the picture of what retirement looks like when you are short on cash and forced to continue working?

Bonus Step: Focus on the emotional aspects of the failure

How does your character feel (or should your audience feel) emotionally about that possibility of failure?

What does the stress or regret feel like for having not started planning for retirement earlier?

How painful could it be if it negatively impacted your children, forcing them to take care of you financially when you got older?

Setting the stakes of what’s involved lets your audience know whether they should pay attention to your presentation or get their cellphones out and check email.

If nothing is at stake within your presentation, then you will have a difficult time getting your audience to care and invest themselves in what you are saying.

5. Emotionally invest your audience in the outcome (define what success looks like)

1. Think about what success means in your presentation

What happens if everything works out, the obstacles are overcome, and everyone runs off together into the sunset?

Think of what you are trying to accomplish with your presentation and why it matters  to your audience .

2. Describe that success in human terms that your audience can relate to

Drill down the success you are working towards into human terms, based on your audience’s own goals.

If your presentation is about saving for retirement and you are trying to push them to start planning, describe what retirement looks like (in detail) with all the money you need already saved up and sustaining your lifestyle.

What does it look like to have a well-planned retirement?

Bonus Step: Focus on the emotional aspects of the success

How does your character feel (or should your audience feel) emotionally about that possibility of success?

What does it feel like once the goal is accomplished?

For retirement, how relaxed and thankful would you feel, knowing that you planned ahead and didn’t need to worry about your future?

Or your children’s future?

Emotionally engaging your audience in the success of your story will encourage them to stay tuned and inspire them to take action.

Think of it from your own perspective. If there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, why even bother heading off in that direction in the first place?

People need a reason to take action, which is why investing them in the success of your topic early on is such a great storytelling tip.

6. Challenge your audience’s assumptions by adding a twist

1. List out the obstacles of your presentation

Go back and find all of the obstacles or challenges that you are overcoming within your presentation (see Tip #3).

2. Find an ‘obstacle within an obstacle’ or a chain reaction of obstacles

Looking at your list of obstacles, ask yourself if there is an ‘obstacle within an obstacle’ or a potential hidden twist to one of the obstacles that could jeopardize the entire outcome.

The twist might not have actually happened, but could have been problematic had it not been avoided.

Maybe you’ve convinced 3 members of the 4 member board of the viability of your project (which is already tough), but you need unanimity… and it turns out that the fourth member is your ex-wife’s father.

3. Add the twist partway through your presentation to create uncertainty

Add your twist partway through your presentation to lead your audience to doubt the outcome of your story.

If you are trying to add tension to your presentation, the last thing you want is everyone to know exactly where you are going and feel that they already know the outcome.

Gripping stories have twists and turns that not only raise the stakes of what’s involved, but they challenge the natural assumptions of the audience and make them reevaluate the potential outcome.

You can see this storytelling technique in action in just about any movie…you think you know exactly how the story will play out, but then a new element is introduced that throws you for a loop.

Adding an ‘obstacle within an obstacle’ or a twist, reengages the audience by creating curiosity and a loop with an unknown ending

7. Onboard your audience with an interesting metaphor THEY can relate to

1. Find a hard to relate concept or “thing” in your presentation

Think of what you have trouble explaining in your story.

Maybe you feel that it requires “too much” explanation or that it seems a bit dry or hard to grasp.

2. Relate that “thing” to something that your audience is already familiar with

Think of what you can relate that “thing” to that your audience might already intimately familiar with?

Is your new product or service the “McDonalds of phone covers”?

Or was your ex-spokesman the “Tiger Woods of water polo”?

Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks didn’t just talk about the trials and tribulations of the company (a long-winded story) at an investor meeting…

Instead, he related the company’s struggle to the journey of a spawning salmon that has to constantly fight its way upstream.

He even went one step further and pulled out a frozen salmon from an icebox onstage to create the extra visual impact.

See Bruna Martinuzzi’s short YouTube clip on  Leadership and Presentation Skills Training  to learn more about this storytelling technique.

Warning:  Choose your metaphor wisely as you will inherit all of the negative baggage of the metaphor that you use.

Metaphors are key to anchoring your story in the audience’s mind and can help you quickly summarize long-winded and hard to explain concepts in just a few sentences.

Applying this storytelling tip to your presentations will help keep your story relatable and memorable.

8. Show your audience exactly what you are talking about

1. Find the critical detail(s) about your presentation

Look at your presentation and find the one or two critical details that you want to get across.

These are the points that you want the audience to remember if they only remember one or two things at all.

2. Show your audience exactly what it looks like

Use either a visual image, a video, or better yet, a physical object to show your audience exactly what you are talking about.

Example #1:  If your product is so skinny it can fit into a manila envelope… grab an envelope and slip your product into it.

Boom, point taken.

Example #2:  If your point that the United States debt of over $15 trillion, when placed onto pallets of $100 bills, is taller than the statue of liberty, show your audience an infographic.

To actually see what this looks like, see  a visualization of United States debt .

Seeing is believing, which is why visual imagery plays two vital roles in your presentation:

First, visuals can clearly describe or show exactly what you are talking about…often times better than words.

Second, assuming your imagery is on point, visuals can create an emotional reaction in your audience and get them to really ‘get’ what you are talking about.

Imaging the audience thinking:  “Wow, I can’t believe that product can fit inside a manila envelope, how cool is that!”

9. Highlight the important by cutting out the unimportant

1. Look through your presentation and highlight your most important details and points

Find the meaningful details that help to advance your story (the ones without which your story wouldn’t make any sense).

These are the details you want to keep and highlight throughout your presentation.

2. Evaluate the other details in your story and remove the unnecessary ones

With your critical details in hand, look at the other points you raise and see if you need them at all.

Do they help your audience retain your message or help to highlight your point?

If not, cut them.

Have you ever had someone over-explain something and you immediately started losing interest?

That’s exactly what you want to avoid.

Spend time on the necessary details that prove your point or make your case, and avoid everything else.

Vivid and compelling details (see Tip #14) are critical to the success of your presentation, but too many details (or irrelevant details) will overwhelm and confuse your audience.

You will always have more details and information to share with audience than you will ever have time to speak about…especially if you have been working on something for years (which is what often makes this tip so hard to implement).

10. Use sound effects to anchor important details in your presentation

1. Think of what might have a distinct noise associated with it in your presentation

Look at the details of your story and find one or two items that have a sound associated with it (or a sound you could make up).

2. During the delivery of your presentation, make or play that sound

When delivering your presentation, either make the sound of that object yourself, or play a recording of it to anchor it in your audience’s mind.

Maybe you’re talking about how we’ve come so far from the time of the old dial-up modem, you know, the one that used to go “ca-chink-shhhhhhhhhh”…

Or maybe you’re talking about cracked cell phone screens and you highlight the sound of your $500 cell phone kissing concrete for the first (and likely the last) time (crkkkkkkkk)… whoops!

Story Telling Tip Warning About Sound Effects

• Don’t go overboard here. If you have a lot of sounds you could use, focus only on the important ones (see Tip #10) that would help add color to your story.
• If you are playing an audio track (i.e.  not maki ng the noise yourself) make sure you have everything set up properly before the presentation. The last thing you want to do is get derailed by technology problems.

Adding sound to the details in your presentation will help anchor those details in your audience’s mind.

You can draw them into your presentation, either with a sound that they are extremely familiar with or one they are not familiar with (leading to curiosity).

Even if your noise or sound effect is way off, it can add a bit of humor to your presentation and create some relief!

11. Use silence to create emphasis and draw your audience into your story

1. Find a part of your story that you want to emphasize

This could be an important point or detail that you want to have sink in, a turning point in your presentation, or a self-reflecting question.

2. Pause in order to force reflection

During your presentation when you get to that important detail or point, pause for five or six seconds (it will feel like an eternity), and then continue.

Did you know that there are now more English speakers in China, than in the entire United States? [Pause…]

Using silence in a presentation is a powerful storytelling technique that creates anticipation and forces your audience to rethink what you just said.

It forces the audience to momentarily “fill the gaps” in their minds and creates a potentially crucial time for reflection.

It also helps you to pace out your story (see Tip #13) and create more breathing room for both you and your audience.

Ultimately, a story that draws the audience in and causes them to actively process what you are saying is a successful story.

12. Create a warm fuzzy feeling by sharing a personal or vulnerable experience

1. Think of your own personal story to add to your point(s)

Think of some of the important points you want to make during your presentation.

With a few in hand, see if you can come up with a personal story, either one of your own or one of a friend or family member that you can use to illustrate your point.

2. Tell the personal story as it relates to your topic

During your presentation, insert your own personal experience BUT keep it short and on topic.

While a personal story can create a bond with your audience, a rambling, irrelevant story will take you off topic and derail your story.

A story about the new car model you’re launching can start with an old photograph you found of your grandfather leaning on the hood of his car and how much he cared about craftsmanship.

Bonus Step: Choose a personal story that shows vulnerability

The more your personal story shows yourself as vulnerable or flawed, the more rapport you will build with your audience by telling it.

Adding your own experiences to your presentation will help you in at least 2 ways:

First, it’s a story you are already familiar with and it will naturally come out in a story format (kudos!)

Second, it will help frame your story in personal terms with a real example, which in turn creates a bond between you and your audience that fosters trust.

Warning:  Your personal story might even be the one thing your audience takes away from your presentation, so choose wisely.

13. Pace out your story to allow your audience to breathe

1. Find the natural breaks in your presentation

Look at your presentation and mark out all the different places when it takes a step.

In other words, see if there are natural breaks where you can make a long pause (see Tip #11).

If you can’t find many, think about re-organizing your presentation so that there are more individual pieces that you can pause in between, pacing the story out.

2. Make clear notes of those breaks and force yourself to take them during your presentation

Write into your script (or burn it into your brain) the note to take a pause.

A few seconds can feel like an eternity when you are in the spotlight, but your audience won’t feel that way (guaranteed!).

So pace yourself, it’s not a race.

Good stories have a pace or rhythm to them…everything doesn’t happen all at once, and you should never feel rushed.

Pacing out your story will give you and your audience a bit of brain space to process what was just said and ready yourself/themselves for the next part.

14. Turn your important data points into memory glue

1. Collect the important numbers for your presentation

Find the key driving data points in your presentation, whether the numbers are big, small or medium-sized.

2. Turn your data into something interesting and memorable

With your important data points in hand, think of how you can relate those numbers to something visually impactful in human terms that backs up your message.

Let’s say your data point is that 25 to 30 million Christmas trees are sold every year during the holidays, you could create different visual images depending on your point.

If your point is “that’s a lot”, you could say that if you took all of the Christmas trees sold in a single year, and lined them up tip to stump, they would circle the entire globe (it’s true, I did the math)!

If your point is, “that’s NOT a lot”, you could relate the trees to grains of sand, and say that all of the Christmas trees sold in a single year would only fill up 25 to 30 coffee cups.

Either way, whereas 25 million trees is hard to comprehend, envisioning a line of trees circling the globe, or 25 coffee cups of sand, is a lot easier.

Adding visual cues about your important numbers will help anchor those details in your audience’s minds and give them salient points they can easily recall after your presentation is over.

The more you can relate your data to common visual elements, the easier your data points will be to remember.

The easier your data points are to remember, the more likely someone will be able to remember your main points days, weeks or months after the presentation.

15. End your story with a bang…and then shut up

1. Think about your core message and what you want someone to say about your story

What key point should your audience walk away with knowing or feeling after sitting through your presentation?

2. Make your final statement and make it memorable

Take your key point and make it memorable.

If you are struggling, see if one of the following mechanisms makes sense for your last statement or slide:

• A call to action: “Join the movement”
• A question: “So the question is, can we really afford the status quo?”
• A quote: “And as Quincy Jones once said, ‘a big laugh is a really loud noise from the soul saying, ain’t that the truth.’”
• A soundbite: “Yes we can”

For more ideas on ending your presentation, see our guide here .

3. Practice how you’re going to wrap up your presentation

Take the time before your presentation to practice what your last 3-4 sentences will be (yes, say it out loud).

This is will be  your last chance  during your presentation to make an impact and get your audience to take action and/or care…so you want to make sure the ending is as impactful as possible.

If you can clearly envision how you’re going to end your talk with a bang, and if you have practiced, you’ll get it right.

4. During the presentation, say your conclusion and then shut up, get off stage, or open up for questions

And that’s it!

No last rambling comments. No off the cuff stories or tangents. No nothing.

Say your last bit and be done with it.

With a clear-cut and well thought-out ending, your audience will sit up and take notice as your presentation comes to an end, and they’ll know exactly what you want them to do.

This is a particularly good storytelling technique for business presentations as it puts you light-years ahead of other presenters who unconsciously ramble on and on, as if they are afraid to end their presentation.

Ending with a bang additionally highlights how well organized and knowledgeable about your material you are.

How to tell a story?

Now that you have these storytelling tips down, you might be wondering how to bring it all together.

You may be sitting there with a pile of data and a number of different story angles to work with, but now you are wondering how you are going to bring it all together.

Well, in the same way that your presentation needs an outline, so does your story you tell.

According to Christopher Booker, author of  The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories , all stories follow one of seven basic plot lines like the Quest, the Rebirth, the Rags to Riches story , etc.… plot structures that we are all familiar with.

By organizing your storytelling around a well-known plot like this, you’ll ensure that your story is easily recognizable and easy for your audience to follow along with (increasing the success and impact of the story you tell).

At the end of the day you can tell your story anyway you like, but following a standard plot structure will dramatically improve the effectiveness of your story when incorporating the storytelling tips mentioned above.

Now it’s up to you!

Those are 15 storytelling tips and tricks you can use to take your everyday material and begin crafting a story.

Some are simple, others take some time to figure out. But if you use even just one of them in your business presentation, you’ll be  one step ahead of 90% of presenters out there !

What’s Next?

Related articles.

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About The Author

This Post Has 6 Comments

A valuable list that every presenter should refer to before they step in front of an audience.

Thanks Ian!

Fantastic information. Thanks for sharing so freely. I’m a newbie at this and can hardly wait to apply what I have learned before I forget it.

Thanks Charlotte! Let us know how you do and if you learn any other new tips along the way! Cheers, Camille

Lots of novel and useful tips here, so thanks for sharing. I especially like the advice about being vulnerable – but to date I’ve found that too hard to do! It’s interesting that you suggested using sound effects, too. I gave that same advice ( here ), especially for webinars, because novelty draws people in (and sticks in their minds so well).

Being a good storyteller is extremely difficult, but I just love it when speakers know how to choose the right words and run a smooth but interesting story. I think that you should use all of these techniques that you describe selectively considering the audience and the effect that you want to have. I prefer to focus on the visual component – presentation and interesting eye-catching visual techniques. But at the same time, I have weak speaking skills (worse than I would like to have to make great presentations). Here is a good list of resources that I use to develop my speaking skills: https://www.thoughtleadershiplab.com/Resources I think this list will be useful. There are some examples of how to use the techniques that you describe.

Comments are closed.

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How to tell a captivating story — from a wedding toast to a job interview

Audrey Nguyen

Our lives are filled with storytelling, from the stories we tell our friends over dinner, to the ones we tell at eulogies, during toasts, at job interviews and on dates.

7 tips on giving a memorable toast for any occasion

"[Stories] make us laugh and they make us feel hope, and they make us feel like it's going to be OK, [like] we're less alone," says Sarah Austin Jenness, the executive producer of The Moth , an organization and podcast dedicated to teaching and promoting the craft of storytelling. Jenness is one of the co-authors of How to Tell a Story: the Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth .

Stories help us relate to each other and build community, say Jenness and her co-author and fellow storytelling coach, Meg Bowles. Leveling up our storytelling game can lead to more meaningful connections.

Here's their step-by-step guide on how to tell a story, from an idea to delivery:

1. Understand that a story is more than a scene or an anecdote.

Does the story you want to tell have a beginning, a middle and an end? Does it have tension? Does it show some sort of transformation? These are the basic elements that make an anecdote blossom into a full-bodied story.

When you're telling a story, you aren't just describing what happened when you walked into the coffee shop and saw your ex on a date. You're telling us how that moment felt emotionally, how you were affected, how you reacted and how you're a different person after having endured that moment.

2. Select a meaningful story.

Each of us has hundreds of stories we could tell. How do we know which one to pursue? "I always say to think back to moments in your life that really shifted you in some way," Bowles says. "Dig in to that."

When you think of a moment, ask yourself, "Why did that moment stick with me? What about that moment was important to me?"

"You start to see patterns of your story arise," says Bowles.

Big decisions are a good place to find stories; so are embarrassing moments and mistakes. Think of a time you did something but it didn't go as planned. Within these kinds of prompts you can begin to explore moments of vulnerability.

If you're not sure how or where to start mining for your own stories, here are some helpful prompts:

• If your life were a movie, what's one scene you'll never forget? 
• What's something someone said to you that you'll never forget? 
• Tell us about a breakthrough moment. 
• Tell us about a time you had to follow your heart. 
• Tell us about a moment you were reunited with something you treasure.

3. Develop your story.

Once you find the story you want to tell, put it under a magnifying glass to blow it up big. Where were you (physically, mentally, emotionally) in that moment? How did it impact your life? What were the results?

Boil your story down to one sentence that helps focus what it's really about. For example, "It took a disaster for me to understand the important role my father played in our community." This will help you decide which details support your main point.

Every family has stories to tell. Here's how to document yours

Remember that in any great story you're not just sharing events that happened, you're also sharing the thoughts and feelings running through you during those events.

4. Figure out the structure.

A good rule of thumb is to start in the action of the story – this will draw people in. From there, ask yourself if you'll tell your story in chronological order, or if you'll start at the end and find your way back to the beginning, or if you want tell it in a series of flashbacks instead of a linear structure.

Don't worry about getting too fancy with the structure – often, telling a story chronologically is the best way to go. "You want to take people through the journey so they can experience what you experienced, " Bowles says.

5. Understand how you've changed by the end.

By this point, you know the moment your story is centered on, what the stakes or tensions are and how you want to tell the story. Writing the ending can be the hardest part.

"Stories in real life usually aren't tied up with a bow," Jenness says. "You just have to end the story in a different place than [where] you began."

The key to a good ending is showing the audience your transformation over the course of the story, even if it's a slight transformation. "There's the 'you' we met in the beginning and the 'you' at the end," she explains.

6. Ask yourself if you're ready to share the story.

If you're considering telling a story rooted in vulnerability or trauma, it's important to consider whether you're emotionally ready to share that story.

Here are some signs you might not be ready to tell a story publicly:

• if you get stuck on one scene and aren't able to come out of it because you're reliving it – this can happen with traumatic events and could be a sign of post-traumatic stress disorder. 
• if it's tough to find an ending to a story, it may mean that you're still living it. You might need to "press pause" and return to the story when you've had more time to process.

7. Before you deliver the story, practice, practice and practice again – but don't memorize it.

It's natural to feel nerves before sharing a story aloud. Become very familiar with your story. Practice enough to be comfortable telling it from memory, but the Moth team recommends that you don't memorize it word for word. If you memorize it verbatim, your delivery can sound stiff and you might go blank.

"Stories are alive and they're meant to sound alive," Bowles says.

A good strategy is to really learn the words you want to use for the beginning and end of your story, but keep your notes in between as bullet points. That way you can naturally fill the gaps, but you have your most important elements well-rehearsed.

"If you go blank on stage, just think, 'What happened next?'" Jenness says. "If you realize you didn't set it up right, you can always say 'Now, what I forgot to tell you about my mom is...' or 'What you really need to know...'"

8. Remember that storytelling is not about the storyteller – it's about connection.

Want To Listen Better? Turn Down Your Thoughts And Tune In To Others

Keep it short and tight. If you're telling a story in a more interactive environment, like over dinner, remember that the purpose of storytelling is to engage with others. It's not about taking the spotlight for the entire time you're with someone. You want to offer a jumping-off point for someone else to share their own story, too.

Want to practice listening and find inspiration? Check out stories heard on The Moth .

Elise Hu is also the host of the TED Talks Daily podcast.

The podcast portion of this story was produced by Audrey Nguyen and Meghan Keane.

We'd love to hear from you. If you have a good life hack, leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823 or email us at [email protected] . Your tip could appear in an upcoming episode.

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Why You Should Tell Personal Stories (and How to Do It)

by Rob Biesenbach | Storytelling

Some of my clients are reluctant to do this. They’ll say that nobody wants to hear their stories. Which isn’t true. Especially if you’re a leader, audiences want to know who you are and what you stand for — and personal stories are the perfect way to communicate that.

Don’t Let Fear Stop You

I actually think their concern goes deeper — beyond mere modesty to actual fear. Fear of appearing vulnerable, fear of rejection, fear of losing control.

The control issue is understandable. You should definitely make sure any personal story you share has been properly “processed.” There was a point when I couldn’t talk easily about my father’s death, but the passage of time has made it more manageable.

As for the other fears, those are a matter of ego — worrying too much about your image and not enough about what your audience really needs: an authentic connection with you. In fact, I consider it a duty of leadership to open up and show that personal side.

One Caveat: Don’t Make it ALL About You

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that a personal story is not necessarily a self-centered story. That is, it shouldn’t be ALL about you. It should be relatable, with important lessons for people to take away.

That means there should be an audience-focused goal for your story beyond simply sharing or opening up. Your goal might be to:

• Rally and motivate a team.
• Give people hope for the future.
• Guide their behavior or actions in a certain direction.
• Get them to think differently.
• Break down walls and show you’re one of them.

And while you may be the central character in that story, you shouldn’t necessarily cast yourself in the role of superhero. A little humility is in order.

How to Tap Your Personal Experience

Once you have your goal in mind, it may be helpful to think through some of these “story starters:”

• What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?
• What’s the best lesson you learned from a teacher, mentor or other influential person?
• Who are your personal heroes and why?
• What is it about your work or life that gives you the greatest satisfaction?
• Was there a moment you knew this was the right job for you?
• How do you feel you’re making a difference in the world in ways large or small?
• What did you want to be when you were growing up, and how does that square with what you’re doing now?
• If you have children, what do they think you do?

These questions can provide the spark for your story. To develop it further, check out the links at the end of this post.

Watch the Video

Here is a short (1:19) video on the importance of telling personal stories from a recent presentation I did. (Transcript below the video.)

Transcript of the Video

And finally, get personal. The best stories are the ones you’ve personally experienced, because:

• They’re much more likely to be original; and
• If it’s a story that you’ve gone through, you are more likely to be connected to it. And if you’re connected to the material your audience is going to be more likely to be connected to you.

And some people hesitate … to do this … many of my clients are with Midwestern companies — traditional, old-line manufacturers, insurance. They’re good people. They’re wholesome, they’re down to earth. They don’t necessarily like talking about themselves — they’re a little self-effacing.

And so sometimes they’re reluctant to share their personal stories, out of a sense of modesty — [for] others it’s a sense of false modesty. Others it’s a fear [that] if you get too personal, you’ll go too far — and when you do tell a personal story, it should be one that you’ve properly processed so you can actually get through it in front of an audience.

I always urge my clients and I urge you, and urge you to urge your clients to let go of that fear and open up. Because it is irresistible — people want to know who you really are, and stories are the best way to demonstrate that.

For More Help on Storytelling

If you want to know more about putting together the right story for your audience, here is a simple formula for constructing any story , another video that helps bring the lessons to life, and a post on the importance of emotion in fueling stories.

(Image by Johan van den Berg  via freeimages.com )

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How to succeed at telling your personal story

Leslie Fiorenzo gives her top tips on ensuring that you really are heard

Since the dawn of time humans have used stories to communicate and influence each other. The ability to tell a compelling personal story is a valuable skill that can set you apart from the crowd.

Never make a point without a story and never tell a story without a point

Whether you’re pitching a product, leading a team, or seeking investment, your narrative can establish a connection with your audience, making your message more memorable and impactful. In this article, we’ll explore the key elements and strategies to help you succeed at telling your personal story in a business context.

1. Understanding you’re audience

The first step in crafting a successful personal story is understanding your audience. Of course, you want to consider the demographics, industry, and background of your audience. More importantly consider psychographics which are their values, interests, and needs.

Tailor your message so it is relatable and meaningful to them. This foundational knowledge will guide you in selecting the most relevant and compelling aspects of your personal journey.

2. Crafting a central message

Before diving into the details of your personal story, identify the core message you want to convey. What do you want your audience to take away from your tale? Whether it’s resilience, innovation, or leadership, a clear and focused message will anchor your story and make it more impactful. Creating a central theme will serve as a guiding light, helping you stay on track and connect with your audience.

3. Creating a compelling opening

Capturing your audience’s attention from the start is crucial. Craft a compelling opening that sparks interest and sets the tone for your story. This could be an anecdote, a surprising fact, or a thought-provoking question.

The goal is to make your audience curious and eager to hear more. A strong opening will create a sense of anticipation and engagement, laying the foundation for a memorable narrative.

4. Building emotional connections

Avoid starting by thanking the audience, a comment about the venue or the weather, or an irrelevant joke. A few years ago a speaker at our local Chamber of Commerce event started with a comment he thought was humorous and followed it by saying, “I was told to start with something funny, so I did.” Wow, he misinterpreted that advice. Yes, a funny story or a joke can lead to audience engagement when it relates to the topic of the presentation. Otherwise, you risk losing your audience at the beginning of the presentation.

We like to think that people are creatures of logic when in fact we are creatures of emotion. Remember facts tell; stories sell. Share personal experiences, challenges, and triumphs that your audience can empathise with. Be authentic and vulnerable , allowing your audience to see the human side of you. Foster an emotional connection with your audience creating trust and relatability, making your story more memorable and resonant.

Never make a point without a story and never tell a story without a point. Include your journey of growth and learning while highlighting the challenges you faced, the lessons you learned, and the personal or professional development that ensued. This not only makes your story more dynamic but also positions you as someone who can adapt and overcome obstacles—a valuable quality in the business world.

5. Using vivid imagery

Paint a vibrant picture with your words. Use descriptive language and vivid imagery to transport your audience into the scenes of your story. A Thesaurus is a useful tool in finding alliterative words to engage their senses and emotions. The one my grandmother gave me when I was in 7 th grade is within reach when I am creating a presentation. There are free electronic versions available.

Let’s compare a couple of examples.

You could say: “The team won the championship”.

Or you could say: “The team’s incredible victory in the championship filled the players with overwhelming joy and pride”.

Here’s another example: “I received a promotion at work.”

Or: “I was overjoyed to receive a well-deserved promotion at work.“

A well-crafted sequence of events and rich details leaves a lasting impression. Design your personal story to be compelling and memorable.

6. Considering tone

The tone of your personal story and needs to align with your overall message and the context of your presentation. Whether you choose a motivational tone, a reflective tone, or a humorous tone, consistency is key. A cohesive tone will enhance the flow of your narrative and create a more polished and professional presentation.

7. Practicing effective storytelling

Effective storytelling requires practice. Rehearse your personal story multiple times to refine your delivery, pacing, and gestures. Consider recording yourself or practising in front of a trusted colleague or mentor. Feedback from others can provide valuable insights and help you identify areas for improvement. Continuous refinement is the key to delivering a polished and impactful personal narrative.

Storytelling at work

Mastering the art of telling your personal story can elevate your business presentations, communication skills and leave a lasting impression on your audience. When you know your audience, identify a core message, create a compelling opening, establish an emotional connection, showcase growth, use vivid imagery, maintain a consistent tone, and practice diligently, you can succeed in constructing a personal story that resonates and enhances your professional presence. Embrace the power of storytelling and watch as your personal narrative becomes a powerful tool in sharing your business.

Leslie Fiorenzo is a Business Presentation Coach at her company Leslie Fiorenzo Enterprises

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Steps for writing a story presentation, free google slides theme, powerpoint template, and canva presentation template.

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Best Presentation Design Software [May 2024]

Dive into an expert analysis of the leading presentation tools shaping narratives across the globe. Whether orchestrating a cutting-edge business presentation, delivering an impactful educational lecture, or enchanting audiences with personal stories, the choice of tool is pivotal in amplifying your message. This guide meticulously compares each platform's features, usability, and customization capabilities, from the time-tested prowess of Microsoft PowerPoint to the innovative approach of Beautiful.ai, ensuring you select the ideal tool to meet your specific communication needs.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Overview: The definitive standard in presentation software, widely used across various sectors for its robust functionality and flexibility.

• Extensive theme and template library
• Advanced animation and transition effects
• Comprehensive multimedia integration
• Real-time collaboration and co-authoring
• Cross-platform compatibility
• Presenter view and tools
• Integration with Microsoft Office Suite
• Extensive customization capabilities

Google Slides

Overview : A highly accessible, web-based tool known for its simplicity and strong collaboration features within the Google ecosystem.

• Cloud-based, access from anywhere
• Seamless integration with Google Workspace
• Auto-save feature
• Wide variety of add-ons
• Supports embedded videos and use of Google fonts
• Simple, user-friendly interface
• History and revision tracking

Apple Keynote

‍ Overview : Favored for its sleek interface and impressive graphic capabilities, it's particularly popular among creative professionals using Apple devices.

• Intuitive design interface
• Unique cinematic transitions
• Ability to record and edit presentations
• Collaboration across all Apple devices
• Export options to non-Apple formats
• High-quality graphics and effects
• Built-in tools for graphic design

Overview : Offers a dynamic, canvas-based presentation style that stands out for its engaging, motion-rich navigational capabilities.

• Engaging zooming user interface
• Supports conversational presenting
• Offline access capabilities
• Video presentation features
• Analytics to gauge viewer engagement
• Non-linear presentation path
• Collaboration tools for teams

Overview : Merges ease of use with a wealth of design functionalities, making professional-grade design accessible to all users.

• User-friendly drag-and-drop interface
• A vast library of templates and design elements
• Integrated stock photo and element collections
• Collaboration and sharing online
• Print-ready designs
• Ability to create other graphics, like infographics and posters
• Mobile app available for editing on the go

Overview : Designed for teamwork, this tool enhances modern presentation making with its focus on aesthetics and collaborative features.

• Built-in collaboration and commenting tools
• Intelligent formatting assistance
• High-quality templates and media library
• Integration with popular tools like Slack and Trello
• Analytics for presentation performance
• Sleek, modern interface
• Custom branding options

Overview : Automates design processes, enabling users, especially startups, to create polished presentations efficiently.

• AI-powered design assistance
• Access to financial models and business templates
• Content management for teams
• Easy to share and present online
• Analytics to track viewer engagement
• Integration with cloud storage solutions
• Focus on startup and corporate needs

Overview : Balances comprehensive data visualization tools with attractive design features to create informative and visually appealing presentations.

• Extensive data visualization tools including charts and graphs
• Interactive presentations with animations
• Video and audio capabilities
• Privacy controls and password protection
• Downloadable as HTML5
• Project management features
• Wide range of template choices

Overview : Integrates with the Zoho suite to provide a versatile presentation platform that facilitates easy creation and collaboration.

• Real-time collaboration features
• Integration with Zoho’s suite of apps
• Broad range of broadcast and publish options
• Android and iOS apps available
• Extensive library of themes and templates
• Support for animated backgrounds
• Import and export options for various formats

Beautiful.ai

Overview : Employs intelligent design automation to help users produce sleek, designer-quality slides quickly.

• Smart templates that adapt as you add content
• Focus on design principles
• Collaboration in real time
• Integration with common tools like Slack
• Presentation analytics
• Streamlined interface that automates design decisions
• Support for dynamic transitions

As you explore the vast landscape of presentation tools, the choice of the right partner to bring your vision to life becomes equally crucial. While these tools offer powerful functionalities, the expertise to leverage them effectively can make all the difference.

Choose INK PPT for All Your Presentation Needs

At INK PPT , we understand the nuances of presentation design and storytelling. Whether you need a corporate presentation to seal a deal, an educational slideshow that captivates and informs, or a personal story that resonates with hearts, our team is equipped to transform your ideas into impactful visuals.

Why INK PPT?

• Expertise Across Tools: Our team has extensive experience across all major presentation platforms. This means no matter your preferred tool, we can optimize its features to your advantage.
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Let INK PPT be your go-to solution for compelling presentations. Contact us today and take your presentations to the next level.

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About the Author

Aayush Jain - Crafting Stories from the Heart

As a passionate explorer, I see crafting the perfect story as embarking on a refreshing Himalayan journey. Every narrative is an adventure, a voyage of imagination, meticulously molded into captivating presentations. I'm here to guide you, ensuring your story becomes an unforgettable odyssey, with each creation as a vibrant landscape ready to captivate eager audiences.

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More From Forbes

A startup's guide to surviving the fundraising circus.

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Henry Chen , Founder, Sapien, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

The startup fundraising process is exhilarating. But at the same time, it's daunting. Success isn't guaranteed, and every pitch and meeting feels like a performance.

As someone who has been through this process more than a few times, I want to share the truths to prepare you for the ups and downs of securing funding, and how you can survive what can feel like a circus at times.

What To Expect At First

Fundraising is just plain necessary for turning your startup dreams into reality. It's all about convincing venture capitalists (VCs) that your idea is worth their investment.

This process requires confidence and a compelling narrative that makes potential investors eager to participate in your vision. Remember, you aren't just selling a product or service. You're selling potential. Find a way to connect your vision for that potential to their potential for profit.

The Best Mattress For Couples Regardless Of Your Sleep Styles

Wwe smackdown results winners and grades on may 10 2024, the 8 best trampolines with insights from an industry expert, putting together an undeniable pitch deck.

Your pitch deck is your key tool in the fundraising circus. It should answer basic questions like, "How will this make money?" or "Do people actually want this?" and impress with its potential for growth. It’s not about what you have today but what you and your investors could build together tomorrow.

Use this tool to balance defensive data points with offensive, eye-catching projections. Keep it concise yet comprehensive, and address potential concerns while highlighting your ambitious goals.

Pitching Is A Dance

Pitching to investors is like an elaborate dance. Each meeting and each presentation is a chance to captivate your audience. You'll drink countless cups of coffee and shake hands more times than you can count, perfecting your pitch with each interaction. It's common to hear phrases like "I'm interested," though learning to discern genuine interest from polite dismissals is important during this stage. Always remember: Commitment is only confirmed with a term sheet.

Handling Rejection

Rejection is an inevitable part of the fundraising journey. Instead of letting it dishearten you, use it as a stepping stone. Each "no" brings you closer to the "yes" that will transform your startup's future. Learn to accept rejections graciously and use the feedback to refine your approach.

The moment you secure your first term sheet is an extremely important milestone. It will feel both exhilarating and surreal, offering validation for your hard work and vision. This initial success can propel you to secure additional investors, turning tentative interest into firm commitments as you see more investors make faster positive decisions with the additional group confirmation behind their decision.

Essential Survival Tips For Founders During The Funding Stage

So how do you get from a dream to a funded startup with so many intangible elements that you can’t control? You can’t control how people will react to your pitch or company, but you can control your process, methodology and what you bring to each and every pitch.

1. Refine Your Pitch Relentlessly

Your pitch is the core tool in your fundraising toolkit. Continuously refine and adapt it based on feedback from each meeting. Be open to criticism and use it constructively to improve your delivery and content. A pitch that resonates with one investor might not work with another, so flexibility and responsiveness are key.

I've been through more than one emergency pitch production on a tight deadline to make sure it's tailored to the investor we’re meeting the next day. Usually, those are the pitches that connect most effectively. Don’t be afraid to scrap everything and create something that you know will resonate.

2. Build And Leverage Your Network

Your network is invaluable during the fundraising process. Engage with mentors, peers and industry connections to gain insights, introductions and advice. Networking isn't just about expanding your list of contacts; it’s about building meaningful relationships that can open doors to potential investors. These relationships could last well into the future, leading to future startups and opportunities.

3. Understand Your Investors On A Personal Level

Research potential investors thoroughly before meetings. Understand their investment history, focus areas and what they look for in a startup. Tailoring your pitch to align with their interests can significantly increase your chances of securing funding.

4. Manage Your Time Wisely

Fundraising can be time-consuming. I have seen this firsthand as my days have turned into back-to-back pitch meetings separated only by a rushed meal eaten between calls. Manage your schedule effectively to balance fundraising efforts with running your startup, prioritize activities that offer the greatest return on investment and delegate or postpone less critical tasks whenever possible.

5. Prepare For Due Diligence

Welcome to the show: You need to be ready for in-depth scrutiny at every level of the fundraising process. Have all your financials, business plans, and legal documents organized and ready for investor review. Demonstrating preparedness and transparency during due diligence can significantly influence an investor's decision to fund your startup.

6. Stay Resilient And Persistent

Fundraising often takes longer than anticipated. Prepare mentally for a marathon, not a sprint. Persistence is crucial; don’t be discouraged by rejections. Learn from each experience and keep pushing forward with your vision.

By incorporating these focused, actionable strategies into your approach, you'll increase your ability to navigate the fundraising process successfully. Remember, the goal isn't just to secure funding but to build lasting partnerships that will support your startup's growth over the long term, and sign that term sheet that signifies the real commitment you need to bring your startup’s vision to life.

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