Are you sitting comfortably?
Then we’ll begin.
There’s nothing better than settling down to listen to a really good story, is there? Whether it’s getting stuck in to the latest John Grisham, or binge watching the new series of Marcella, we all love being taken on a journey. We want to be moved; to be transported somewhere else and to be made to FEEL something.
Be it literature or theatre, TV, radio or film, scriptwriters know that the number one rule for success is empathy. The viewer needs to care about what is going on; they need to buy in to the story and the characters. With so much choice for viewers, from Netflix, to iPlayer, to live streaming from the West End, scriptwriters have had to raise their game.
They must hook us right from the beginning, and compel us to keep watching, or we’ll be reaching for the remote.
And the same goes for presentations.
How many times have you been watching someone deliver a presentation and wished you could grab the remote and turn them over?
And, hand on heart, how many presentations have you given when you have see your audience thinking the same thing?
Let’s learn from those scriptwriters.
Let’s draw our audience in right from the word go, and keep them hanging on our every word because they want to know what happens.
Give them a reason to care: use a personal story; give them a character to root for; let them see themselves in the scene.
Yes, you need data, facts and analysis to challenge people, but you also need narrative to get people comfortable enough to care. Your audience needs to be willing to go with you on the journey.
In 2018, Princeton University ran an experiment using MRI machines to scan the brains of people engaged in storytelling – both telling and listening to stories. The scans showed that, during the story, the listeners’ brains actually began to sync with each other (to read more about this research visit https://qz.com/work/1298571/stories-literally-put-our-brain-waves-in-sync/ )
This scientific evidence backs up what we already know: that if you can use a story to find common ground with your listener, you’ll be far more successful at persuading them to see the world from your point of view.
Which is handy, because that’s just what you want, isn’t it?
My clients learn to incorporate storytelling into their presentations. They understand how to use tension, conflict and resolution to excite the audience, illustrate their point and inspire change.
Get in touch with me to find out how you can use storytelling to create more effective and impactful presentations.