Most of the entries in this blog contain speaking tips, and many of those touch on the topic of using stories more effectively. Good storytelling lies at the heart of good public speaking.
“But,” you may be thinking, “where do I find these stories?” Answer: the best stories come from your own life. And the best place to go for stories, the next time you start working on a speech or presentation, is your story file.
Every speaker should have a story file. Whether you keep it in a notebook that is always with you, or in a document on your computer, you need to write down ideas as they come to you. Don’t worry that they’re initially incomplete—just write down enough to recall the incident to mind later. I prefer to keep my story file on my computer, for ease in searching its contents, but it’s a personal choice.
Can’t think of anything interesting that’s happened to you? Sure you can. Sit down and start writing with one of these prompts:
- Once upon a time, I…
- I’ll never forget the time I…
- People love to hear me tell about the time I…
- I wish I could forget about the time I…
A word about this last one is in order. Why try to remember a painful, forgettable incident in your life? Because that’s where you find your struggle, and in it perhaps the best lesson for others. What did you have to overcome? Who helped you? How was the obstacle removed? Or, if it hasn’t yet been removed, what change can you look forward to when it is?
When you start your story file, it may not be at all clear how you will use these stories. That’s OK—that insight can come later, as you gain more practice in using stories. For example, years ago I wrote in my story file, “Once upon a time I…was a clown in a circus.” That’s all I wrote. Years would go by before I gained the key insight that made that story worth telling—that I was struggling to avoid embarrassing myself in public.
You’ll know when a story is ripe for the telling when you can say, at a minimum, what you were striving for and what obstacle you had to overcome. We all have desires, and I can’t imagine anyone going through life without some of those desires being thwarted by obstacles at some point. That’s why I can say with complete confidence: yes, you do have a story. Now tell it!
