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Be the Story Not Just the Storyteller

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If you’re asked to give a presentation in the final hours of a four-day conference, then brace yourself, because you’re facing some serious impediments. Your audience members have been on a fevered engagement high for half a week. They’re exhausted. They’re ready to catch flights back home. And they’re tapped out on charts and data.

So what do you do if you’re in one of the more unfavorable positions that a public speaker can face? How do you keep an audience engaged during a presentation? You let down your guard — and you let your audience in.

A Tale of Effective Professional Storytelling

If your immediate response is, “Great idea, but a story won’t keep an audience engaged,” you’re incorrect. I’ve seen how powerful storytelling can be, even if your listeners’ minds seem to be wandering.

Take the case of a presenter at a convention I attended. It was the final dinner. About 1,500 of us were sipping coffee, clanking cutlery, and feeling wary of listening to another speech. Our presenter, seemingly unfazed, walked onto the stage full of confidence.

Her speech began on a typical note: She introduced herself as an employee of an organization committed to helping people who have served jail time successfully reintegrate into society. She shared some alarming statistics on how difficult it is for incarcerated people to get a fair shake on the other side of justice.

So far, her approach had been informative. We stirred cream into our coffee, listening politely (but not totally engaged in her speech). Then, it happened: She went into full storytelling mode. With a notable change in her cadence and demeanor, she began talking about how she became a single parent years ago. After giving birth, she worked three jobs while trying to finish school. She regaled us with stories about school bake sales and late-night essays.

Many of us in the audience could relate to her hectic schedule and inability to juggle everything. That is, until she shared a story about the night that a co-worker offered her methamphetamine to help her stay awake. Within a few weeks, she was hooked. And we were riveted by a presentation that had turned very personal.

When the pills ran out, our speaker told us, she became desperate. She stole money from an employer, bought drugs off the streets, and eventually landed in jail for 18 months. She lost everything — including precious time with her daughter.

No one in the audience breathed. No one moved. No one reached for sugar packets across the table. We were all connected by a brilliant woman who understood how to keep an audience truly engaged during a presentation. She wasn’t just telling a story. She was the story. And that changed everything for the audience.

“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.” – J.K. Rowling

Using Storytelling to Become a Better Speaker

Now, you might never give a speech under such challenging circumstances. However, if you work long enough, you’ll give some kind of presentation or speech during your career. When you’re preparing, remember that one of the most effective strategies to become a better speaker is to use storytelling.

Why do we love stories? Chalk it up to human nature: Stories are how we connect; they help us belong. And when we belong to something, we feel connected to something.

Consider how many times you’ve turned something that has happened in your life into a story, used a story to illustrate a principle, or told a story to emphasize a point. We rely upon these narratives constantly, but we often forget to engage in storytelling when giving professional presentations. As a result, we weaken our connections with our audiences. But often, it’s challenging to share ourselves as storytellers — especially in professional settings.

Eager to find out the secrets of how to become a better presenter and engage your audience with storytelling? Consider these techniques:

1. Show, don’t tell.

Although nitty-gritty details are important, just “telling” facts isn’t the best way to engage an audience. Instead, use sensory descriptions — sights, sounds, and smells — to invite your audience members into the story instead of just telling them about it. This creates a more visceral presentation for your listeners, bringing them into the moment with you and, in turn, sharing the experience directly with them instead of just talking at them.

2. Remember the ‘why.’

Stories are powerful and transformative, but only if you allow them to paint a complete picture as hers did. In order to do this, you need to know the “why” of the story you’re sharing. What are you trying to tell the audience members? What do you want them to take away from your time with them?

The presenter mentioned earlier in the article had a goal: to help her audience understand the difference her organization could make. She could have spent her time sharing a plethora of statistics, but those numbers wouldn’t have been nearly as powerful or transformative as her story. She found a way to help us connect with her company’s purpose on a deeper level by sharing the “why.”

3. Resist the temptation to read aloud.

One of the biggest mistakes speakers make is reading from a script. Although children typically adore being read to, teen and adult audiences require more engagement. The less you rely on reading off a page, the more you’ll be able to connect physically and emotionally with your audience and create a richer experience. Put aside the cue cards in favor of making eye contact, gesturing with your hands, and conveying emotion through facial expressions.

4. Tether your speech to something personal.

Whenever possible, share yourself and your personality in your presentations and speeches. If you’re naturally funny, add humor. If you’re a golfer, use the sport as a metaphor for your message. Above all, offer personal experiences that tie back to the speech you’re giving.

When you share from experience, you invite everyone’s humanity to the table. And this changes the dynamics between you and your audience for the better. The more heartfelt and authentic you are while telling your personal story, the more memorable the presentation will be.

5. Allow yourself to get emotional.

It’s often thought that being emotional in professional settings is inappropriate. But emotions are the gateway to seeing another human being and the road they’ve walked. When listeners see a genuine tear in the corner of a keynote speaker’s eye, for example, they become riveted with the person’s presentation. Showing your feelings gives audience members permission to embrace their feelings, too.

Stories are an art form in and of themselves. And mastering the art of storytelling is one of the primary ways to become a better speaker. The more you allow stories to organically arise in your presentations — whether that’s in a five-minute speech to the Rotary Club about your newest product or a 40-minute TED-style talk — the more you can create richer and deeper experiences for your audiences.

Genevieve Georget is an executive editor at Round Table Companies, the publisher of Conscious Capitalism Press. She is a full-time storyteller whose work as a writer and photographer has been seen on Oprah.com, “The Good Mother Project,” “Love in the Rockies,” “Wedding Bells Magazine,” the “Huffington Post,” and among her online community of 35,000 people. Genevieve’s first book, “Her Own Wild Winds,” was published in September 2016 and her second book, “Solace,” was released in the fall of 2019.

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Success Advice

How Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success

Your life is dictated by beliefs and biases that drive your thinking, behaviors, and decisions

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Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success (1)
Image Credit: Midjourney

Pause for a moment and ponder two pandemic-era beliefs: First, closing schools will control the spread of a serious virus. Second, the consequences of such school closures—particularly social interruption and the prevention of immunity—are worse than becoming sick with the virus. (more…)

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Success Advice

How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

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Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be. 

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time. 

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.

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Success Advice

Here’s a Young Man’s Antidote for the Uncertainty of the Modern World

Why do a lot of young guys lack confidence in today’s world? 

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We all have been told that confidence is a key factor in achieving success and happiness in life. But what is it exactly? (more…)

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Toxic Leadership: 5 Ways to Identify a Bad Leader

if you have a leader who displays any of the toxic traits, it’s time to move on to greener pastures.

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Toxic leadership
Image Credit: Midjourney

Let’s be honest, we’ve all crossed paths with a toxic leader in our careers at some point. Unfortunately, while some toxic leaders don’t even bother to hide their behaviour, some know very well how to conceal their true selves behind a strong-built facade. The latter is the most dangerous of the two. (more…)

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