Tell Me a Story

Tell me your story.

No?

Too much?

Too soon?

Too much, too soon?

Why the reluctance? Is it because we hardly know each other? Maybe hesitance to talk about yourself? How about fear of giving away too much information?

Ah, but which story am I interested in? Did you assume that I was asking for your deepest, darkest secrets about who you are?

Each of us has a personal story, or rather, a series of stories. The story of our lives. The story of how we met our significant other. The story about the “one that got away.” The story of that time when (insert event here). The list goes on and on.

Okay, if you don’t want to tell me a story about you then how about just tell me a story, any story. There are many ways you can start, “It was a dark and stormy night,” “Once upon a time,” or common where I grew up, “Ya’ll ain’t gonna believe this.”

No? Still nothing?

Dictonary.com defines storytelling as simply “the telling or writing of stories” and a storyteller as “a person who tells or writes stories or anecdotes.” I personally think that this is too simplistic for we all tell stories to some degree even if we don’t realize it.

Don’t think so? It would be very difficult to get anyone to listen to us if we told everything in bullet or list form. Can you even imagine? The event happened in the following order: 

1.     We arrived at 7:03 PM.

2.     We got out of the car.

3.     We walked up the drive to the door.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

You would quickly find that no one wanted to talk to you if that is how you described events so you tell it as a story. How about, “In spite of the traffic from all that construction (is it ever going to end?), we managed to make it there by a little after 7:00. Since we were running a little late, we hurried towards the door when out of nowhere a skunk walked in front of us!”

Is that a bit more engaging? Are you now wondering what the skunk did?

Of course some are better than others at the telling of stories. We all know someone who can captivate a room with the spinning of a yarn about the most mundane of things and we also know someone who can put everyone to sleep describing what should have been an exciting event. Some are just naturals but while many of us will never hold a room spellbound, storytelling is a skill that we can all learn to do a bit better.

No, I’m not going to attempt to teach you to tell better stories at this point, that is not the point of this article. That being said, if you are interested in learning more, there are many great books, TED Talks, etc. that are very easy to find and I suggest you check them out.

I am simply attempting to answer a very common question.

Okay, so what does it really mean when someone is a storyteller by my definition as opposed to dictonary.com? In today’s world, it generally doesn’t mean the old world bard or minstrel plying their trade in the local tavern or even the thespian up on the stage wowing us all with their interpretation of Hamlet or really even the author if a New York Times bestseller (though they are obviously telling stories). The difference is simply the intentional nature of the telling, and often using them to make a point rather than just to entertain. We all tell stories about things we witness and experience but storytellers purposely look for stories to add to our own in order to expand beyond our own limited experience. Stories that give a lesson, provide entertainment, give an example, etc., that we can use to enrich our interactions, especially in the training arena.

Stories make a presentation more engaging and the audience more likely to connect with the presenter and more likely to retain the information. We’ve all seen that presentation that was “death by PowerPoint,” where someone droned on about facts and figures projected on a screen. Maybe they even read the slides word for word or had someone in the audience do it (you know “interactive” learning). Were you intrigued? Were you on the edge of your seat wondering what revelations were contained on the next slide? No? I’m shocked!

Okay, no I’m not.

If all of the information is projected onto a screen, then what is the point of having a presenter? You could just project it and let everyone read it for themselves or even email it to everyone and save the time.

Or you could use stories to present knowledge and engage your audience.

As an added bonus, if you begin presenting using stories that you know by heart and have relevance it will help you connect with your audience as well as help you to be more confident in your presentation, especially if you use stories that have meaning or connection to yourself. Why? Because when you are telling a story, you are speaking to the people directly rather than merely speaking at them and they will respond to it.

So give it a try, be intentional in your storytelling and see how much better you connect with your audience.

About the Author: Lee Crowson is a Story Teller and Asker of Questions who also happens to be a Navy Veteran and problem solver with over 22 years’ experience in organizational and operational leadership, communications and training. He has a strong passion for continual learning, endurance running, the outdoors and helping others to reach their full potential. He writes and speaks because it is more easily understood than his interpretive dance.