Why Audiences Ignore And Quickly Forget Your Personal Story

I was listening to an interview featuring a Hall of Fame speaker. She said something that on the surface sounded harsh. But, as a storytelling coach I agreed with. She said:

“Quit thinking that anyone cares about your personal story.”

The idea of sharing of your personal narrative has become popular in business. I make my living helping people tell their stories. Yet, I also believe we have to stop telling yet another personal story.

The Caveat To This Belief

People don’t care about another life-changing story, unless:

It’s wrapped around tips, strategies or processes that can improve their lives.

Too many people are taking valuable audience time. They’re sharing narratives without giving listeners value.

Why?

1) They’ve heard it’s the thing to do, and,

2) They haven’t discovered the steps to crafting meaningful stories.

If you want to watch a ‘motivational’ talk or heart-warming story, you can go to You Tube, TikTok, or other platforms 24/7.

Appeal To One Of Their Desires

Want to Stand OUT as a presenter?

Create exceptional word-of-mouth?

Be asked back time and time again to share your message?

Consider this – people today want help in one of ten areas. They want to know how to create:

1. More sales
2. More profits
3. Improved team dynamics
4. Higher levels of employee retention
5. Increased market share
6. More effective leadership ability
7. Improved productivity
8. Less painful change
9. More effective and influential communication
10. Higher quality of life

That’s it!

Audience interest is self-serving, and it should be. If you don’t appeal to one of these ten, you won’t get buy-in.

Questions Your Narrative Should Answer

Look 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 they will care about your story.

People don’t want to hear another narrative without a purpose. Those are available from too many other outlets.

Wrap your story around lessons learned. Show people how they can save time, money or energy. Let them see how they can experience painful setbacks or obstacles.

Then you’ll have a story people WANT to hear.

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