The document emphasizes the power of storytelling in presentations to engage and retain audience attention. Key elements include capturing attention quickly, incorporating conflict and characters, and using sensory details for a vivid experience. Additionally, effective storytelling should culminate in a clear take-away message that resonates with the audience.

2. Connect
with your
audience

3. Through
story
telling

4. The magic ingredient in all great talks is
storytelling.
If you master the art of storytelling, you’ll
have your audience captivated.
Even at corporate level, use stories in your
presentations because stories are powerful.
Stories are inherently interesting and
memorable.

5. 1 Watch videos of great speakers
Analyzing the effect a presentation
has on you is a fantastic way to learn
what works and what doesn’t.
Which was the most memorable
presentation you attended?

6. 2 Audience attention
If you can’t grab and grasp their
attention in the first 30 seconds
you risk losing them.
How can you hold them before you
even start your presentation?

7. 3 Introductory remarks are boring
‘thank you for inviting me, my name is…’
We should avoid boring them telling
them how thankful we are for their
presence.
The best way to thank them is to deliver
a speech that keeps them engaged,
interested and involved.
How can you take them on a journey,
start a story?

8. 4 Beginning the beginning
‘I’m going to tell you a story’
‘We are going to go on a little journey
together’
‘Let me take you, for a moment, into the
future ’
‘Imagine, each day, living an hour
longer…… and what could we do with
that?’

9. 4 Beginning the beginning
Or
When I was only, this high, 9 years old,
my dad came into my room with a giant
smile and said “hey son, do you wanna
see something really special?”

10. 5 Hardwired
People are hardwired to listen to stories.
Stories are the way human knowledge
was passed down before ever we could
read or write.
Story telling and listening is part of our
mental fibre, our natural DNA.
It’s the natural way that our brains learn
and process information.
How can you package raw facts as a story?

11. 6 Mental journey
Where do you want to take them?
When I was only, this high, 9 years old,
my dad came into my room with a giant
smile and said “hey son, do you wanna
see something really special?”
On hearing this, they are hooked, they
want to know what happens next,
where are you taking them?

12. 7 Share a personal story
Are you willing to share a personal story?
They will learn something new and more
importantly as you know it by heart your
delivery will be natural, true and sincere.
Also the emotions you feel will be
sensed by your audience so you won’t
have to practice your body language and
a facial expressions.

13. 8 Conflict
CONFLICT refers to trauma, a trial, a test,
a fight.
A fight between OPPOSING FORCES.
Between life and death, hate and
forgiving, freedom and opposition,
recession and rebirth.
The stronger the conflict, the more
captivating your story will be.

14. 8 Conflict
As there are two opposing forces that
make the outcome of the story
uncertain, your audience will be
engaged, curious, they’ll be asking
“What’s gonna happen next?”

15. 8 Conflict
‘On arrival, DUCATI’s new and
enthusiastic CEO was more than
surprised to discover that they were on
the verge of bankruptcy, with falling
orders, leaking roofs and a reluctant
workforce unwilling to speak to his own
team.’

16. 8 Conflict
a)Two people fall in love on a boat
b)Two people have just fallen in love on a
boat and the boat sinks.
No conflict = no curiosity = no interest

17. 9 Bring characters alive
Stories need actors, characters.
The more credible your characters, the
credible the story.
Bring them alive by providing details.
Give your audience enough sensory
information for them to construct a
mental image.

18. 9 Bring characters alive
“I could hear the picketers outside at the
gate when Marshall walked in. He had
wide smiley blue grey eyes, his beard at
the point was just starting to grey. He held
his sausage fingered hand out to greet
me. His grip was challengingly over firm
and his smell of strong bitter coffee and
stale tobacco overwhelmed me. His eyes
kept smiling.”

19. 9 Bring characters alive
Who is Marshall?
What does he do?
How do you imagine him?
What is he wearing?
Is he somebody you would like to spend
time with?

20. 10 SHOW
Show, don’t tell:
“I could hear the picketers outside at the
gate when Marshall walked in. He had wide
smiley blue grey eyes, his beard at the point
was just starting to grey. He held his sausage
fingered hand out to greet me. His grip was
challengingly over firm and his smell of
strong bitter coffee and stale tobacco
overwhelmed me. His eyes kept smiling.”

21. 11 Incorporate senses
It is important that you use senses when
constructing your speech. Include as
many senses as possible.

22. 11 Incorporate senses
VISUAL – what can you see?
AUDITORY – what can you hear?
KINESTHETIC – what can you feel ?
either physically or emotionally?
OLFACTORY – what could you smell?
GUSTATORY – what could you taste?

23. 11 Incorporate senses
VISUAL – what can you see?
“I could hear the picketers outside at the
gate when Marshall walked in. He had wide
smiley blue grey eyes, his beard at the point
was just starting to grey. He held his sausage
fingered hand out to greet me. His grip was
challengingly over firm and his smell of
strong bitter coffee and stale tobacco
overwhelmed me. His eyes kept smiling.”

24. 11 Incorporate senses
AUDITORY – what can you hear?
“I could hear the picketers outside at the
gate when Marshall walked in. He had wide
smiley blue grey eyes, his beard at the point
was just starting to grey. He held his sausage
fingered hand out to greet me. His grip was
challengingly over firm and his smell of
strong bitter coffee and stale tobacco
overwhelmed me. His eyes kept smiling.”

25. 11 Incorporate senses
KINESTHETIC – what can you feel –
either physically or emotionally?
“I could hear the picketers outside at the
gate when Marshall walked in. He had wide
smiley blue grey eyes, his beard at the point
was just starting to grey. He held his sausage
fingered hand out to greet me. His grip was
challengingly over firm and his smell of
strong bitter coffee and stale tobacco
overwhelmed me. His eyes kept smiling.”

26. 11 Incorporate senses
OLFACTORY – what could you smell?
“I could hear the picketers outside at the
gate when Marshall walked in. He had wide
smiley blue grey eyes, his beard at the point
was just starting to grey. He held his sausage
fingered hand out to greet me. His grip was
challengingly over firm and his smell of
strong bitter coffee and stale tobacco
overwhelmed me. His eyes kept smiling.”

27. 11 Incorporate senses
GUSTATORY – what could you taste?
“I could hear the picketers outside at the
gate when Marshall walked in. He had wide
smiley blue grey eyes, his beard at the point
was just starting to grey. He held his sausage
fingered hand out to greet me. His grip was
challengingly over firm and his smell of
strong bitter coffee and stale tobacco
overwhelmed me. His eyes kept smiling.”

28. 12 Specificity
Specificity adds internal credibility to
your presentation.
“it happened on a Tuesday.”
Or rather
“it happened early on the Tuesday morning,
just after the long Easter weekend.”

29. 12 Specificity
“I was speaking to a large group of people.”
Or rather
“I was speaking to a group of 200 CEO’s.”

30. 13 Dialogue
I'm doing a new book at the moment
called "Epiphany," which is based on a
series of interviews with people about
how they discovered their talent. I'm
fascinated by how people got to be there.
It's really prompted by a conversation I
had with a wonderful woman who maybe
most people have never heard of; she's
called Gillian Lynne.

31. She's a choreographer and everybody
knows her work. She did "Cats" and
"Phantom of the Opera." She's
wonderful. Anyway, Gillian and I had
lunch one day and I said, "Gillian, how'd
you get to be a dancer?" And she said it
was interesting; when she was at school,
she was really hopeless. And the school,
in the '30s, wrote to her parents and said,
13 Dialogue

32. "We think Gillian has a learning
disorder." She couldn't concentrate; she
was always fidgeting. Anyway, she went
to see this specialist. So, this
oak-paneled room, and she was there
with her mother, and she was led and
sat on this chair, and she sat on her
hands for 20 minutes while this man
talked to her mother about all the
13 Dialogue

33. problems Gillian that she was having at
school, and that also she was disturbing
people; her homework was always late;
and so on. In the end, the doctor went
and sat next to little eight year old
Gillian and said, "Gillian, I've listened to
all these things that your mother's told
me, and I need to speak to her
privately."
13 Dialogue

34. He said, "Wait here. We'll be back; we
won't be very long," and they went and
left her. But as they went out the room,
he turned on the radio that was sitting
on his desk. And when they got out the
room, he said to her mother, "Just stand
and watch her." And the minute they
left the room, she said, she was on her
feet, moving to the music.
13 Dialogue

35. And they watched for a few minutes and
he turned to her mother and said, "Mrs.
Lynne, Gillian isn't sick; she's a dancer.
Take her to a dance school." I said,
"What happened?" She said, "She did. I
can't tell you how wonderful it was. We
walked in this room and it was full of
people like me. People who couldn't sit
still. People who had to move to think."
13 Dialogue

36. Who had to move to think. They did
ballet; they did tap; they did jazz and
modern. She was eventually auditioned
for the Royal Ballet School; she became
a soloist; she had a wonderful career at
the Royal Ballet. She then graduated
from the Royal Ballet School and
founded her own company “the Gillian
Lynne Dance Company.”
13 Dialogue

37. 13 Specificity
She met Andrew Lloyd Weber. She's
been responsible for some of the most
successful musical theater productions
in history; she's given pleasure to
millions; and she's a multi-millionaire.
Somebody else might have put her on
medication and told her to calm down.

38. 14 The alternative
She met Andrew Lloyd Weber. She's
been responsible for some of the most
successful musical theater productions
in history; she's given pleasure to
millions; and she's a multi-millionaire.
Somebody else might have put her on
medication and told her to calm down.

39. 15 The spark, the change & the Take-away
The SPARK ignites the process of
change.
It’s the realization that something
needs to be done.
It’s a trigger.
It allows us to overcome conflict.

40. 15 The spark, the change & the Take-away
Let’s start with a simple example:
Imagine a man,
we’ll call him John.
He is 65 kilos overweight.

41. 15 The spark, the change & the Take-away
(Conflict/Difficulty):
John wants to lose weight, but every
time he goes on a diet, he gives up
quickly because his commitment is
not strong enough.
As a result, he’s depressed.

42. 15 The spark, the change & the Take-away
(The Spark):
When he goes to the doctor for his
yearly checkup, the doctor tells him,
“John, if you don’t lose wait, you’ll
be dead in five years.”
This is the SPARK that John needs to
change his life.

43. 15 The spark, the change & the Take-away
(The Change):
Fast forward to a year later
John has lost 60 kilos and is living a
happier life.

44. 15 The spark, the change & the Take-away
(The Take-away):
If you want to achieve your goal but
don’t commit to it and don’t have a
strong enough reason for achieving
it, then you’ll never achieve it.

45. 15 The spark, the change & the Take-away
Each story must have a take-away
message. To be an effective public
speaker you need to “tell a story and
make a point.”
What’s the point of your story?
What’s the key take-away message
of your speech?

46. 15 The spark, the change & the Take-away
Summarize your key message in a
short, memorable phrase so that
your audience will easily remember
and repeat it.