The Use of Storytelling in Your Presentation

The Use of Storytelling in Your Presentation
 
We’ve all been there: spotting a bored audience member yawning during our presentation. Immediately, you may blame the person for being unattentive, but have you ever reflected that maybe this is an immediate warning to your work?
Ask yourself, “What’s wrong with my presentation and why is it putting people to sleep?”
What if the core problem lies on your presentation? If you were to put yourself in your audience’s shoes, would you find your presentation appealing?
Consider this effective strategy to engage your audience: storytelling.
Our lives are constantly flooded with a stream of stories that we are willing to hear and share. We want to be inspired by a leader’s successful journey. We are somehow moved by videos of cats failing to jump on a roof. Our brains naturally respond to stories.
Understanding that a story is a powerful tool to grab attention, you should take advantage of the storytelling element to create an attractive presentation. A creative delivery of your message will not only motivate your audience to listen but also helps your audience to remember your highlights. Moreover, a high-impact presentation is one that can touch emotions.
Besides adding stories to support your ideas, another way to enhance your presentation is to adapt storytelling as part of your delivery. Your presentation is a story itself. What story would you like to tell? Your presentation should be designed to tell that story.
The two most basic storytelling mechanics include choosing the character and setting the plot.
  • 1)    Choosing the character refers to the person or people directly involved in your topic. Rather than focusing on objects, things, and data, your audience will associated more with a person who has an interesting and relatable situation.
    For example, if your company is launching the newest camera version, your presentation could describe your brand’s target audience as the chosen character. Who are the users? How can your audience relate to the character’s description? Alternatively, exposing the engineers behind the design of the camera is also possible, as this brings another perspective of the people who went an extra mile for launching the new design.
  • 2)    Setting the plot refers to the story flow and the experiences of your character. Your story should have a beginning, development, and an ending.
    A family of 5, for example, is searching for an affordable family car, and your brand perfectly fits their needs. From the start of your presentation, deliver the type of problems your character is facing. The story should be developed into how the character’s problems are solved by the brand that you offer.
You can improve your presentation skills by signing up for a Business English Class at English Today, Bandung’s leading English training service. Our trainers are committed in helping you boost your presentations skills, from preparing, writing, and even to a successful delivery of your presentation. 
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