The power of story - Video Tutorials & Practice Problems

I walked into the conference room a few minutes before the meeting and saw my friend and colleague Chris chatting with someone off to the side as chairs filled around the table. Chris began walking to the front of the room to deliver his presentation right before my very eyes. Chris went from a dynamic easygoing friend to a hyper professional robot presented. He literally morphed on his way to the front of the room. Chris started his presentation by sharing a status update on his project. Then he shared a bunch of statistics after that. I think he talked about what was going well and what they were still trying to solve. I love Chris, but I'm not really sure what he said after the first minutes of his presentation, because my brain just couldn't stay focused. All I could think was tell them the story you told me last week. Tell them about the client who called just to thank you for being so responsive to her tech issue. Stories are powerful. They can teach, inspire, make a powerful point and help you remember all in one experience without you even realizing it's happening. But you've probably heard that stories don't belong in business presentations. They don't get to the point, or maybe you like the idea of a story, but you just can't seem to remember any at the right moment. In this video, I'm going to show you how to cultivate a storytelling mindset. So you'll always have stories when you need them and be able to use them for maximum impact. First decide that you're going to be a storytelling presenter deciding on this identity may sound like a fluff part of the process, but it's actually the foundation. When you actively choose your goals, you're more likely to achieve them second. Start a story garden. This is a place where you can reveal and gather stories over time. Then when you craft a presentation, you'll have this whole garden of story blossoms. You can do this in a folder with slips of paper on a large post-it paper, stuck to your wall, or in a journal begin by setting aside at least minutes to begin brainstorming stories. I usually suggest starting with a person place or maybe a phase of time in your life. Maybe you choose your first boss to start your story garden. You'd put their name in the center of a mind map. Then ask your brain for memories of moments in time with that person. Add each story to a new circle all around your mind. Third spend at least two to three minutes. During every content brainstorming exercise, just focused on calling forth stories. They might come from your own life. The media, your clients, maybe your colleagues, stories come from all over the place because telling stories is such a human activity. Our brains are wired for story at this phase of the process. I just want you to start reclaiming your storytelling nature.