When we present, we need to give our audience a reason to pay attention to us right away and keep them from multitasking. In the first 60 to 90 seconds of our talk, we want to provide a compelling reason. This can be a promise of what they will learn, a challenge we will help them overcome, or any other benefit they will have on the other side. Basically, we want to lay out right away what is in it for our audience if they give us time from their busy days.
A story is a great way to accomplish this.
Introduce the Topic
Start out your next talk with a story that introduces the audience the topic. If you’re presenting about a particular challenge, can you kick off with a story of how someone overcame that same challenge? Or, if you’re educating a group on a new subject, can you talk about how you first became passionate about it? Beginning with a story can help you make a connection with your audience that will keep them listening as you dive into your messages.
Consider Personal Details
If you can open with a short personal story that is relevant to the topic, it can also help engage your audience from the start. Sharing personal details can help us connect with others. The trick is finding the right personal story. It needs to be brief and could follow a typical story structure where a main character faces a challenge or obstacle and then overcomes it, learning a lesson on the journey. The challenge or lesson learned should be directly tied to the topic of the presentation.
Connect with the Audience
A story can also be used to help connect with your audience and establish common ground. Explain why your audience should listen to you by sharing your background or experience through a story. Or, consider using one to help show your audience that you were once in their shoes and how they can benefit from the topic.
Other ideas include telling a story about a specific challenge that you, a customer, or someone else overcame. Or, consider sharing the moment when you first became passionate about the topic. Below is an example of a story I have shared before to open one of my presentations.
An Example
I remember the first time I fell in love with words. I was in second grade, sitting on a rough red carpet that scratched my legs. My teacher read a poem to us, and it was my first experience that I can remember with poetry. I can still feel the goosebumps on my arms. I remember thinking that I didn’t realize words could be beautiful like that. That was the moment when I decided–I wanted to learn how to string words together like that. Today, I’m excited to share with you a few of the lessons I’ve learned from my love affair with words in the many years since that important moment so you can level up your own writing and connect with people.
Brainstorm Story Options
Need help brainstorming stories you could include? Below are a few ideas to help get you started. Just remember to pick something that is directly tied to your presentation and what you want the audience to take away from the experience.
- An interaction with a friend, family member, colleague, or customer that shares a lesson learned that will resonate with your audience
- The moment you realized there was a problem your product or service could solve
- The first time you saw your product or service help a customer
- An event in your life that shows your passion for the topic, such as a hobby you had as a child
- A lesson learned or piece of wisdom that a mentor shared with you that ties to the main message you want people to walk away with
For more inspiration, also check out our 25 Questions to Help You Discover Your Business Story.
Take Action
Try incorporating a story in your next presentation.
- Pick a story that is relevant to the topic and audience.
- Keep it short, ideally less than 90 seconds.
- Try to add in some of the five senses to make the story come alive for your audience – were there any smells that you remember? Any details around specific objects you saw? Was it warm or cold? Night or day?
