The Art of Story-Telling

The moment I would leave school, I would hold my mom's finger and narrate a hour by hour update on what happened in school. Most of the times, my story would not be done by the time we reached home and so it would go on in lunch time and after depending on how interesting the day was. Half of the times she may have not paid attention but she always seemed to love knowing what was happening with me when I was away. 

This is my earliest memory of how Story telling, for me, became a habit. My closest friends know how painful it has been for them to hear scene by scene narration movies and television shows from me till it pretty much took away the need for them to actually see it. My poor husband Saurabh has been the non-listener-pretending-to-listen through our drives back from office to home in Mumbai. 

While I always knew this habit to be an "interesting" side of me, I never realized it's power at workplace till Rishi introduced us to "Story telling" at workplace as a presentation, persuasion and influencing tool. Under his guidance, I learnt how every new initiative, update or radical idea needed one to weave in elements of data, emotions and what-if scenarios in the story such that the person on the other side finds it interesting, relevant and hence makes the presentation have more relevance and weight beyond jazzy slides or data-heavy content. That we need to ensure that presentations are not a bore drag for the attendees but more like a movie experience with the onus on the director to build interest, weave in elements of suspense, drama and action. After all, the experience of a beautiful story well-narrated appeals to all age groups and backgrounds. The areas of application at work - way too many that one can imagine. It maybe an interview where the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method works wonderfully to explain one's contribution to a project at hand, or a presentation to launch a new initiative. It works well in trainings to weave in fables or examples to help the trainees grasp the importance of a concept and remember it for long just like it works very well in one-to-one coaching or counselling sessions with team members. The applications of the method is enormous, effective (in my experience) and engaging! It draws in more interest and helps people connect with your perspective better! 

Unfortunately, a lot of us feel that we are not well versed in presentation or story telling and hence lose on making important points. My take here that while some folks are born narrators and orators, that's just the eloquence which may be inborn to some. The basics of content and flow is something that each one of us can work on, it requires time and effort to prepare but like Rishi taught us, "The best impromptu speeches are the ones which are best rehearsed". As a presenter, its important to work on the details, plan to zoom in and out of the larger picture and finer details such that it keeps the interest going and possibility of buy-in increasing. And once your content is well fleshed out, it's natural for your confidence and narration to take a boost and hence help your standing as a storyteller. Its not as important to get the vocabulary right but the tempo and the flow which matters to make a good pitch. Difficult to practice, but once you taste success, difficult to ignore too.

P.S. 1. If I had to call out the most beautiful example ever to explain story telling, it would be from a movie about stories - Tamasha movie's opening credits with the song "Chali Kahani".

2. Check this blog for interesting tips and tricks on storytelling.

https://seattlewebsearch.com/2020/09/make-more-creative-content-using-pixars-elements-of-storytelling/