Great speakers are the ones that are also great storytellers. All great storytellers are also great artists when it comes to their craft. Storytellers, like artists, are painting pictures with words instead of paint for their audiences. The storyteller starts with a blank canvas and starts painting with their words so the audience “sees” in their mind’s eye what the speaker is telling them. At the conclusion of the story, the listeners will have the whole “picture” from the speaker. Great stories will affect the listeners in a variety of ways; intellectually, emotionally and even physically. Finding the keys to the listeners’ minds and hearts is the first step in creating a memorable speech. As the speaker paints the words on the minds and hearts of their audience they are connecting with the listeners on a variety of levels. Professional speakers know that laying the groundwork for their speech is crucial to getting their point across. They will sometimes spend hours doing research and tweaking their stories and speech to create just the right picture for their listeners. These speakers know the steps leading up to a stellar ending. Starting with the end in mind and crafting the speech to cover the storytelling basics, speakers follow a general pattern that they use over and over again, with minor variations.
Star Maker Speaker Steps to Crafting a Story:
Start with the background- Rough in the outline
- Add color and interest
- Have a few surprises
- Use contrast
- Fill in the details
- Have a strong conclusion
Using the above steps, review all of your stories that you use for your speeches to see if they follow these steps. Do your stories meet these artistic criteria, touching your listeners mentally and emotionally? If you aren’t sure if your storytelling is touching all the points, ask some trusted friends who have heard you speak for feedback. When you aren’t getting the results you want from your speaking, it may be time to seek some assistance. Need some assistance taking your speaking and storytelling skills to the next level? Book a Strategy Session.