63. Stories Engage People Emotionally

One day many years ago, I found myself in front of a room full of people who did not want to be there. Their boss had told them they had to attend the seminar I was giving. I knew that many or most of them thought the seminar was a waste of time, and knowing that was making me nervous. I decided to be brave and forge ahead. Certainly my great content would grab their attention, right? I took a deep breath, smiled, and with a strong voice, I started the session with a big, “Hello, everyone. I’m certainly glad to be here.” More than half the class wasn’t even looking at me. They were reading their email and writing to-do lists. One guy was reading the morning newspaper. It was one of those moments where seconds seem like hours.

I thought to myself in a panic, “What am I going to do?” Then I had an idea. “Let me tell you a story,” I said. At the word story, everyone’s head jerked up and all eyes were on me. I told them a story (relevant to them and the subject matter of the seminar), and the rest of the seminar was a success.

When we hear a story, we give the storyteller all of our attention. A good story communicates information thoroughly and commits the information to memory.

What is a Story?

If you search for “What is a story” in Google, you will get several sites with various definitions. Wikipedia says, “A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written, spoken, poetry, prose, images, song, theatre, or dance) that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events.”

In some definitions a narrative is always fictional, and in other definitions a narrative is just another word for a story. In this book, I use narrative and story as synonyms. The definition I’ll use for a story is, “a description of a character or characters and a relating of what happens to the characters over time (past or future).” The character might be you or someone you know, or a fictitious person, or an animal. The character could be your car or your computer.

You Are Already a Storyteller

When you hear the word storyteller, you might think of some overly dramatic person telling a story to children using different voices. But everyone is a storyteller. Think about your communication with other people throughout a typical day. You wake up in the morning and tell your family about a dream you had (story). At work you tell a coworker about what happened at the new product’s design meeting the day before (story). At lunch you tell your friend about a family reunion you have coming up and your plans to take time off to go (story). After work you speak with your neighbor about the dog you encountered while you were on your evening walk (story). At dinner you describe to your family the odd sounds the car made repeatedly while you were driving home from work (story).

If you think about it, you will realize that most of the communication in your daily life is in the form of a story. Yet you rarely stop to think about stories and storytelling. Storytelling is so ubiquitous that you don’t even realize you are doing it.

If someone at work suggested you attend a workshop on how to communicate clearly at work, you might be interested. But you might scoff if someone suggested that you attend a workshop on storytelling. It’s interesting how unaware and unappreciative most people are of the major way they communicate.

I Feel Your Pain

Stories allow your audience to feel what the character in the story feels. When you tell a story, the brain reacts as though the individual is experiencing the events in the story.

Use Short Stories with a Point

Now that you are convinced that you should be using more stories, make sure you use good ones. A good story:

Is short

Has a point

Has a character the audience will care about

Is relevant to the topic of that section of your presentation