Story-Telling Wisdom from a World Class Speaker
Connie Podesta is a world class speaker – one of the best in the world – who knows how to tell a memorable and meaningful story. In a recent tele-seminar, she made a bold statement….
“Quit thinking that anyone cares about your personal story.”
It caught me off-guard, but then, I thought, “She’s right!”
What? How can a storytelling coach agree with such sentiment?
Think about it. People don’t care about yet another life-changing story, unless…..
You tie the lessons learned from that experience into tips, strategies or processes that can improve their lives.
Far-too many people are taking the valuable time of audiences and not giving them value, all in the name of sharing a powerful story.
As was also stated on that tele-seminar, if you want to watch a ‘motivational’ talk or heart-warming story, you can go to You Tube, 24/7.
If you want to Stand OUT as a presenter, create exceptional word-of-mouth, and be asked back time and time again to share your message, heed this advice from Ms. Podesta. She suggests that people today want help in one of eight areas. They want to know how to:
- Increase sales
- Increase profits
- Increase their levels of teamwork
- Increase marketshare
- Increase their leadership abilities
- Increase their productivity
- Increase their ability to change
- Increase the quality of their lives
That’s it! Your audience interest is self-serving, and it should be. The reason most speakers or salespeople fail to receive buy-in from their audiences is that they’re not appealing to one of these eight desires.
If a story is really good, and has far-reach, it will appeal to at least one of these eight. Look carefully at lessons you learned from your experiences. For example, if you went through a bankruptcy, what did you learn? What steps have you taken to be better at handling money? What have you done to increase your income? What types of debt will you not incur in the future? What type of support did you receive?
These are the questions people want answered. Offer them the insight, tips, and new ways to solve their problems, and then they will care about your story.
Connie Podesta is correct. People don’t want to hear your tale of difficulty and struggle simply to hear another story. Those are available from too many other outlets. Wrap your story around lessons learned, and how you can save other people time, money or frustration. Then you’ll have a story worth hearing, and repeating.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE OF THE WEEK
‘THE Book on Storytelling.’ Master the craft of storytelling and:
- Increase your confidence
- Accomplish more, faster
- Create deeper levels of trust with prospective clients
- Have more fun when you speak
Learn how the best speakers, storytellers and presenters develop and deliver stories that immediately grab audience attention, keep them on the edge of their seats, and inspire them to act on your message. This step-by-step ‘playbook’ will give you the skills that save you time, money and frustration and help you become better known in your industry.
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Michael’s mission is to help leaders, managers and sales professionals communicate with more confidence, impact, and influence. This passion is born from his own communication difficulties early in his career.
Fortunately, he discovered that public speaking is like riding a bike, swimming or driving a car - it’s a learnable skill. Once he discovered this ‘secret’ he became a voracious student of the craft. He took courses, studied some of the world’s best speakers and storytellers and continues to study presentation and business storytelling skills.
He is hired by companies and organizations, leaders, managers and sales professionals, and TEDx speakers to help them become more confident, impactful and influential communicators.
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