Stories: Your Most Effective Tool

It’s 9:00am, Vegas time. The ballroom is filled beyond capacity but you wrapped up your networking breakfast early so you would be sure to get a seat. You carefully sip coffee almost warm enough to be hot so it doesn’t drip on your pants – the conference just started, after all, and you didn’t pack any extra pairs to change into later.

The conference organizer takes the stage and introduces the keynote speaker. You place the now half-empty paper coffee cup under your chair and prepare to take notes on your laptop, accidentally bumping your neighbor with your left elbow and apologizing sheepishly.  

You focus as the Speaker begins her talk – and then it is 30 minutes later and you realize you barely took any notes at all – just a few key phrases and ideas, each of which triggers the memory of a story that the Speaker shared during her talk, which had just a couple of slides.

During Q&A you hastily add some additional notes, but nothing comprehensive. The Speaker’s main points are already lodged in your long-term memory, and you have already begun to figure out how to share her stories with colleagues back at the office, because they illustrate some really important points that have relevance to your role and your business.

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It’s now 11:00am, Vegas time. The smaller breakout room is filled beyond capacity and you don’t arrive in time to secure a seat, so you stand leaning against the back wall, small bottle of water in your hand.

The Breakout Session Speaker gets up and begins his talk. You try to figure out how you can take notes while standing but quickly conclude that this will not be necessary, as the Speaker is mostly regurgitating what is already visible on his PowerPoint presentation – which you can download later.

The Speaker shares lots of numbers, a few images, and a lot of text. The talk is information rich. It is on a topic you definitely care about – otherwise, why join this track in the first place?

You try to stay focused but your mind wanders to your Fantasy Football draft coming up this weekend, and you need to remember to get back to a client with an update later today and is there any chance you can switch to an earlier flight home on Thursday?

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It’s 6:00pm and you are at the sponsored cocktail reception, chatting with a couple other attendees. The three of you have a spirited conversation about the Keynote Speaker’s talk, and then share a laugh over how boring and miserable the 11:00am Breakout session you also all attended was. In fact, not one of you can recall much about the session at all, except the tedium.

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This scenario occurred over and over and over again In my 30+ years’ in business. One might conclude that a rare few individuals appear to have the ability capture your attention and effectively share their ideas firmly whereas the vast majority of speakers do not.

It does not need to be this way. 

Science has shown us that the most effective way to plant an idea in a listener’s brain is through stories. Our brains behave very differently when hearing a story – they release cortisol (aids memory formation), dopamine (helps you engage) and oxytocin (fosters empathy) – all of which serve to firmly ensconce ideas in your head.

You know what doesn’t do that? Lists, numbers, bullet points, graphs, and any other sort of information dump. Don’t get me wrong – data is hugely important, but it doesn’t sink in nearly as well as it would if shared in a story format.

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The upshot? Ditch the standard PPT structure. Instead, create narratives that weave your amazing data and insights into compelling stories that your audience will remember without having to take notes. That’s how you earn mindshare.

What then actually constitutes a “story” verses a data dump, you ask? The answer is easier than you might think – and I promise you already know how to do it.

Stay tuned – more to come in future posts.