Annette Simmons recommends telling a story before presenting facts because stories help people make sense of information in a way that facts alone cannot. A story engages listeners and primes them to understand the facts in the intended context, rather than risking them drawing their own, unintended conclusions from isolated data. Telling an anecdote about one's own experiences can be even more effective than another person's story as it provides insight into the storyteller's personality and allows listeners to relate more personally.

1. Michelle Li

2. Annette Simmons
Founder of Group Process Consulting
Author of The Story Factor
People don’t want more information. They are up
to their eyeballs in information. More facts will
not help them. A story will. A story will help
them figure out what all these facts mean. If you
let the ‘facts speak for themselves’, you risk an
interpretation that does not fit your intentions.
When you give a story first and then add facts,
you stand a better chance of influencing others
to share your interpretation.
Why do you think Annette Simmons recommends telling a
story first and then presenting your facts rather than
doing it the other way round?

3. A story we told is a great way to arouse the
interest of the audience. By the end of the
story, they are ready, if they haven’t already
partially worked it out for themselves, to hear
what the key message is and what facts and
figures back it up. But, if you give them the
facts first, then they already know why you’re
telling your story before you begin. You have
spoilt the element of surprise. You’re no
longer exploiting your audience’s natural
curiosity to see the pieces fall into place.
You’ve deprived them of their “Aha!” moment.

4. An anecdote is a true story about your own
life. How can this be even more effective than
a story about someone else?

5. True stories have a special appeal of their
own. If you tell a joke or a story about
someone else, then it had better be good or
your audience will wonder why you wasted
their time telling it. But when you tell an
anecdote, it’s a window onto your
experience and personality. As long as the
story is relevant and not too long, you’ll
have your audience’s attention. And if your
anecdote reminds them of similar
experiences they’ve had themselves, so
much the better!

6. The first presenter is talking to a group of young
entrepreneurs in Singapore.
How does her story help her to build rapport with
her audience?

7. The presenter begins by confessing to a failure that
turned out well in the end. Asian audiences
generally appreciate some sign of humility,
especially in the young, so this is an effective
opening strategy. Then she goes on to show that
she started her business with next to nothing,
working out of her apartment with no staff, and still
managed to succeed. The audience laughs because
it’s something they can relate to, being young
aspiring entrepreneurs themselves. This is a good
example of a “bonding story”. In effect, the speaker
is saying to the audience: “I know what it’s like to
be in your position, but it worked for me, and, if
you work hard, it can work for you too”.

8. The second presenter is an Argentinian Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) specialist
addressing an international group of hotel
managers.
How does he use statistics and humor to make his
point?

9. The story of the guest satisfaction questionnaires is
something any hotel manager can relate to. So the
presenter begins with the familiar. He then does two
things. First, he surprised his audience with some
unexpected statistics. These turn a simple anecdote
into a revealing piece of market research. From these
statistics he draw his conclusion – customer
satisfaction is not the same as customer loyalty. And
to underline the validity of his conclusion he then
draws an analogy between customers and life
partners by asking his audience a direct question,
which is also a joke. When they laugh at the joke,
they are, in a way, also accepting that the point he is
making is true - a clever use of humor to persuade.

10. The third presenter is a German business school
professor talking at an international HR directors’
conference.
What makes his story so effective?

11. The subject of hiring more mature job applicants, who may
have been out of the workforce for a while, is a potentially
sensitive one. Such people may have a great deal of
experience, but a lot of it could be out of date. When you
hire college-leavers they know they have a lot to learn. But
the older applicant may think they know it already, so they
may have to “unlearn” a lot of old skills before they can
even start to learn new ones. In that sense, they could be
harder to train than young recruits. So the speaker cleverly
uses the self-effacing story of his own attempt to relearn
tennis after 20 years to soften his message about
recruiting older people. He does not himself work in HR,
but he knows that an audience of HR directors is probably
going to consist of slightly unfit middle-aged people like
himself. So his anecdote also helps to break down any
possible resistance to a professor trying to tell executives
how to do their job.

12. What key skills does a storyteller need?

13. Let your voice reflect the emotions in the story
Quote actual conversations.
Use gestures to illustrate the story.
Exaggerate your descriptions a little.
Draw interesting comparisons.
Stick to present tenses for greater impact.
Involve the audience as you speak.