The fundamentals of storytelling (how to not bore your audience)

“People don’t remember what you say, but they remember how you made them feel.” — Carl W. Buehner.

If people are going to forget what you said, how do you create the feeling that they remember? That is the power of storytelling. But you don’t just want to tell any old story — it needs to be relevant, and told in the right way.

The killer of attention is too much detail, context, or waffle, but this is the trap most speakers fall into. Attention is what you need, and is exactly how every James Bond movie starts — with a bang. Start your stories with a bang and people won’t be able to help themselves. Before they know it they are gripped.

Trigger an emotion

You want to make your audience feel — that is how you make your message memorable. But what emotions are you trying to trigger?

• Laughter
• Sadness
• Happiness
• Tense
• Relief

This list could go on. The main thing is you know what reaction you are looking to evoke with your story. If you know the people in your audience you can tailor make the story to something relevant to them — this is particularly useful in a workplace setting.

Keep the story moving

You don’t want your audience to be bored. They do not need every detail, just the defining moments in…