What do you do if your storytelling skills need a boost?

Do you remember the last time that you leaned forward while someone was presenting/speaking? In addition to reading widely these tips can help with your own storytelling: 1. When you read…read out loud & record yourself. Deliver the text (fiction or non) with voice inflections, humor, drama, movement 2. Think back to some of your fave talks and write a list of things you liked—cadence, movement on stage, interactivity, blue sky free write what you liked (bonus do same for anything you didn’t) 3. Go for a walk/ride/run-become an expert observer then share a takeaway with a friend in story form 4. Practice! (in my Allen Iverson voice) 5. Have fun! If you can have fun you’ll put your listeners at ease & they will too

Based on my experience, this might sound cliché, but falling in love is one of the best ways to enhance your writing skills. Traveling the world is enriching, but without understanding love or how to love yourself, your storytelling may fall flat. If the writer doesn't care deeply about their characters, neither will the reader.

When you explore a wide variety of stories, you are taking a journey through different worlds, each with its own language, characters, and plots. It is like having a chat with other storytellers, exchanging ideas, and getting inspired to write your own stories. You can become a more versatile and compelling speaker through the use of fiction, real-life tales, and poetry.

By observing how skilled storytellers weave their tales, you can pick up valuable tips on keeping an audience engaged, developing characters, and creating suspense. Actively analyzing the techniques of podcasts, audiobooks, or live performances can teach you a lot about what makes a story compelling. You can then apply these lessons to your own speaking engagements in order to make them more memorable and compelling.

Storytelling, a mechanism that weaves idea, emotions, and impact in a way that someone becomes part of the narrative. The simplest way to learn this art is within, because we all are storytellers of our life events. The best way to master this art is to weave our day events in form of a story in evening. In case you are struggling with crafting a story then we can take help of books to learn how author weaves a story.

Enhance your storytelling through the power of 'Yes, and', in improvisation. Join a local improv class to practice collaborative storytelling, where you receive ideas (yes) and expand on them (and). This provides a judgement-free space to practice, learn, meet people, and discover new storytelling methods that you never would have discovered if you hadn't allowed yourself to say, 'Yes, and'. By embracing collaboration, not only will it help your storytelling skills and practice, but it also provides clues on how to receive and recognize feedback and engagement from an audience. In motivational speaking, understanding audience cues (yes) and integrating them into your storytelling (and) fosters connection and engagement.

The best mechanism to improve storytelling is to seek feedback. We need to identify some buddies who can be critical and transparent with us. Also they should be able to help us suggest how to improve. I feel GenAI can be a great buddy in today's time.

To build your storytelling skills & confidence start looking your every day life. Ask yourself, 'how can this be translated so most people can understand this technical lingo'. Allow me to explain. I worked in commercial insurance for over 25 years. Most of my clients were sub-contractors, not fluent in English. To help them understand their general liability (other guy) insurance limits I would tell a story - for example: 1Mil Occurrence/2M Aggregate became 'you can burn down two 1M houses in a year.' The looks of horror! 'I'm not going to do that!' My reply, 'I know, but now you understand your policy limits.' When you are able to translate your everyday technical knowledge into a story anyone can understand, your skills will grow.

Storytelling is powerful, but overuse can backfire. For eg. using too many stories can distract from the main points hence use judiciously.

Out of so many story telling techniques available around let’s try building focus around the key elements- Beginning Built Up Characters Tension/ suspense Problem solving Visualisation Call to action. Do not forget to apply Pathos in your story to give it an emotive feel and connect, create and caste charisma.