Five ways to power your storytelling

"Storytelling is as old as the campfire and as new as Twitter." - Richard Branson

There's no question storytelling is powerful. In this article, I'm going to share five ways you can power your storytelling.

Our brains are wired for story. We make sense of the world by telling ourselves stories about what is happening and why. And that's why we remember things so much better when delivered in a story form.

Here are five things to incorporate into your next story -

ONE: The power of the individual.

As people, we connect with people, we connect with individuals. Take documentaries, for example. Documentaries are told to us through individual eyes, through actual people or characters.

And so instead of talking about Matt Campbell, 19-years-old, deployed May 18, 1916 returned May, 2019. We could say -

I want to tell you about Matty Campbell, a 19 year old kid who worked here in Collinton on a dairy farm. He and his two mates landed in France on the 18th of May, 1916, the first time they ever left Queensland straight into the noisy chaos of trench warfare.

So you see, we have a character and you're probably visualising a face in a place.

TWO: The power of letting go.

You'll never be able to share all the information you have or all the details you have on a story. So don't even try! Be brutal - unless that piece of info feeds into your purpose for telling the story, ditch it. You have to scrutinise the content and ask, is this relevant to the purpose of the story? Or do I need to let it go?

THREE: The power of the senses.

If you're struggling to paint the picture, go through the senses. Ask yourself what were they or you seeing? I saw a sea of strange faces.

What are you feeling? My heart was pounding out of my chest and I could feel the red rising up my face.

What were you smelling? My sense of smell had gone.

What were you tasting? My mouth was dry and salty.

What were you hearing? The silence of the audience was deafening. I knew I had to break it, but I couldn't find the words.

Evoking the senses in your storytelling puts the audience there. And the added benefit is it helps you use more visual language. And when you use visual language like metaphors, your voice will naturally become more expressive too.

FOUR: The power of the medium or the platform.

Tell your story through gestures, facial expressions, props, and costumes. I often throw on my eighties, flouro sweat bands when taking you to the speech gym for speech warm-ups. And if you're telling a story about a phone call, you can hold your hand up to your ear and just say the dialogue and then change which way you look for each character.

FIVE: The power of a personal story.

Now you might freak out and think, 'Oh, I'm a private person,' or 'I'm shy, I don't want to give too much away'. Look, I'm not saying reveal your kinky Saturday night shenanigans. Personal stories can be anything that you have seen, heard, watched, and felt.

This goes for all your presentations, you should be the only one able to deliver it. It should only be able to be delivered by you, not a colleague, not me, not a robot, you, and the best way to ensure this is by infusing stories from you into whatever it is you're presenting or speaking about.

For more on how to tell a great story >> CLICK HERE << to listen to That Voice Podcast.

Or head to my website - www.sallyprosser.com.au