Stories are powerful tools for motivational speakers. They can capture the attention, emotion, and imagination of your listeners, and help you deliver your message more effectively. But how can you use stories to engage listeners and make them care about your topic? Here are some tips to help you craft and tell compelling stories that resonate with your audience.
The first step is to choose stories that are relevant to your topic, your purpose, and your listeners. You want to select stories that illustrate your main points, support your arguments, and connect with your listeners' needs, interests, and values. Avoid stories that are too long, too complex, or too unrelated to your message. You can use stories from your own experience, from other people's lives, from history, from literature, or from any other source, as long as they are credible, authentic, and appropriate for your context.
Since we often have mixed audiences (ages, genders, experiences) even when there is a common reason to be together, choose stories that can engage any audience member with something they can relate to. Also consider where the stories are placed in the speech. Some stories are great openers. Some closers, and some specifically illustrate the main points. Some stories can weave themselves through the speech to help tie everything together from beginning to end.
The second step is to structure your stories in a clear and engaging way. You want to follow a basic plot structure that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning should introduce the characters, the setting, and the conflict or challenge. The middle should show how the characters try to overcome the conflict or challenge, and what obstacles or complications they face. The end should resolve the conflict or challenge, and show the outcome or the lesson learned. You can also use techniques such as suspense, surprise, humor, dialogue, and imagery to make your stories more interesting and memorable.
Some stories can flow into the body of the speech where the speech takes over the ending. The speech itself needs to have a great opening, strong content, and a whopping closer or call to action. A quote, in and of itself, can sometimes tell a story. A story should have description and engage the audience to visualize. They can be cliff hangers where the audience determines the ending as if they were the character in that situation and resolve it by choice. This can be very effective along with calls to action to begin or end the speech.
I recommend using the STAR method to structure a few relevant career-related stories that are ready to go for upcoming interviews and networking events. Use numbers or monetize as much as possible when talking about results. ? Situation: explain what was going on, why you were in the situation, and barriers you faced ? Task: describe your responsibility and role you had in the situation ? Actions: what did you do to fix it ? Results: what was the outcome because of your actions (short-term and long-term)
The third step is to deliver your stories with confidence and passion. You want to use your voice, your body language, and your eye contact to convey the emotions, the actions, and the messages of your stories. You want to modulate your tone, your volume, and your pace to create variety and emphasis. You want to use gestures, facial expressions, and movements to enhance your stories and connect with your listeners. You want to look at your listeners and make them feel involved and invested in your stories. You want to practice your stories and rehearse them until you feel comfortable and natural.
The fourth step is to link your stories to your main message and your listeners' goals. You want to make sure that your stories are not just entertaining or inspiring, but also relevant and meaningful. You want to explain how your stories relate to your topic, your purpose, and your listeners' needs, interests, and values. You want to use transitions, summaries, and questions to connect your stories to your main points and arguments. You want to show how your stories illustrate, support, or challenge your message and your listeners' perspectives.
To truly captivate audiences, stories must be rooted in reality and reflect your own experiences. It is not possible to recreate the same level of emotion as a personal narrative, which is why you cannot substitute it for a true story.
The fifth step is to invite feedback from your listeners after you tell your stories. You want to encourage your listeners to share their thoughts, feelings, and opinions about your stories and your message. You want to create a dialogue and a rapport with your listeners, and show that you value their input and feedback. You want to ask open-ended questions, listen actively, acknowledge different views, and respond respectfully. You want to use feedback as an opportunity to learn, improve, and build trust with your listeners.
The sixth step is to learn from other motivational speakers who use stories effectively. You want to observe and analyze how they choose, structure, deliver, link, and invite feedback on their stories. You want to identify what makes their stories engaging, compelling, and persuasive. You want to learn from their techniques, their styles, and their mistakes. You want to seek feedback from them, if possible, and ask for their advice and tips. You want to use their stories as inspiration and examples, but not as imitation or plagiarism.