Few words have more power and baggage than story.
It describes everything from novels, movies, and TV shows to news reports, histories, and podcasts.
Often, we think were storytelling when, in fact, were arguing.
Were more like lawyers in the courthouse than old-fashioned storytellers glowing in front of a campfire.
Rather than tellastory, we use stories to back up our arguments.
Stories supply evidence, emotion and imagery that a purely logical argument lacks.
Business people usually present to each other without recounting incidents and events.
They dont use Joseph Campbells heros journey or other archetypal narrative structures from movies and novels.
Rather, they attempt to convince an audience to believe a perspective and follow a corresponding plan of action.
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A founder, for example, wants to convince VCs that her company is a worthwhile investment.
To start, she tells her origin story, which happened in the past and led to the present.
Then, she tells the imagined story about how the company will grow, presumably with the VCs backing.
The second story is like a casting call.
It invites the VCs tojoinone of the founders stories.
Whether youre making an argument or telling stories,youre concurrently in a story.
Many stories, in fact.
You may be a hero in one, a villain in another (do you have teenage kids?
), a supporting character in yet another and a mere extra in dozens more.
Its difficult as hell to look at our world without stories filtering the view.
How might this distinction change your presentations?
Lets consider a few components of presentations and discuss where stories fit.
It happens on the TED stage.
But does that work at your pitch or your marketing meeting?
Or, maybe, you share the data and then humanize it with stories.
In other words, hooking with a story is a choice, not a necessity.
I think this is a bit extreme.
To start, what kinds of images are we discussing?
A crying baby meme might be an entertaining way to soften bad news before you move onto the solution.
Repetition
Good arguments and stories often repeat themes.
No one forgets the recurring line ofThe Big Lebowski:Shut the f*#k up, Donny.
Or the line that defined a season ofGame of Thrones: You know nothing, Jon Snow.
Repetition breeds familiarity, like an inside joke.
It makes audience members feel like part of your story.
People hear them, identify and join the story.
Argument, not entertainment
Its scary to be boring during a presentation.
However, if we get into the mindset of always being entertaining, we risk sacrificing clarity and focus.
Take comfort in knowing that colleagues, clients, and investors want to participate in meaningful actions and events.
He previously founded and served as CEO of SlideRocket (sold to VMware).
