Touch Your Audience with Stories

Apr 19, 2010 2:27 PM Touch Your Audience with Stories from Mi Colibri


It was stormy and almost midnight. On an isolated country road in Missouri, my truck plowed into a section of flash flooding. Water shot up on the right and left and over the hood. The engine died. And it wouldn't start. All I could see was water in every direction and tree branches floating in front of the truck. There would be no traffic until sunrise...

This is a true story. It happened to me. It has become an eight-minute vignette with lessons learned and several laugh lines along the way.
Stories grab your audience. Listeners will remember the drama and the humor, and chances are good they'll remember your point as well.

But what comes first_the story or the point? Personally, I never start with a point and then look for a story or joke to fit it. I used to do that, but I've found that it works better to find the story first and then discover the natural points that flow from it. A good story will usually make at least two or three insightful points. And with a good arsenal of stories, you'll be able to support almost any point you want to make.

You can come up with great stories just by being alert to everyday events. I recommend zeroing in on the following five areas when looking for story material:
Look for difficult and traumatic events. Obviously, these events aren't funny when they happen, but sometimes an event will generate a thought like "Someday I'll laugh at this." I wasn't laughing the night I was stranded in the flood waters! But after the ordeal is over, I look for the humorous twists. The process of always being on the lookout for stories often becomes a helpful coping device. When a challenge hits you, you might think, "What a speech this will make!"
Focus on lessons learned and personal growth that resulted from tough times. These provide story material you can use to teach others.

 John Kinde