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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Sprache: Englisch
Learn to influence audiences with storyopia: Stories that take them on a journey from what is to what could be: Storytelling in Presentations For Dummies shows you how to develop and deliver a presentation through storytelling, keeping audience interested, and most importantly, making them heroes that take action towards change. You'll learn how to cull stories from your own experiences, and before you know it, you'll have more stories than Aesop has fables. You'll learn about the latest presentation software, so you can integrate visuals into your presentations and avoid the dreaded "Death by PowerPoint." You'll also learn how to deal with challenging on-the-spot situations, deliver investor pitches and executive briefs, and present a paper at a conference. Additionally, find out how to deliver someone else's content and make it your own. This book will help you level up anywhere you need to present information by mastering the art of savvy presentations--the most effective business communications tools of our time. * Identify experiences that can be molded into stories that drive change. * Prepare powerful openings to hook your audience right away whether delivering in person, online, or hybrid * Have your audience get the most from your presentation with an effective call to action * Prepare a storyboard, which is like a frame-by-frame roadmap, that will mesh together what you'll show and what you'll tell * Leverage software like Canva, Prezi, and Storyboarder to tie your presentation together * Enjoy the colorful 8-page mini-booklet, "Storytelling to Storyboarding" This Dummies guide is perfect for any professional who needs to present, and at some time all professionals do. It's also for entrepreneurs who want to build community and grow their business, in addition to students who want to wow teachers and classmates.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Storytelling in Presentations For Dummies®
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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Martians, Stories, and Heroes
Chapter 1: Sizzle Your Presentations with Stories
Storytelling Isn’t Just a Buzzword
Storytelling Is Your Axe; Sharpen It
Setting the Stage
Avoid Defaulting to Slides
Firing Up Your Audience’s Imagination with Storyopia
Using the Story Arc
Pitting the Heroes Against the Villains
On to Storyboarding…
Chapter 2: Storyopia: Sharing Stories from What Is to What Can Be
Taking Your Audience on a Journey
Mapping Out Your Storyopia Journey with Storyboards
Learning from the All-Time Storytelling Greats
Part 2: Nuts ’n’ Bolts
Chapter 3: Knowing Your Audience to Make Them Heroes
You Must See Your Target So You Know Where to Aim
Do You Aim at the Needs of Your Audience?
Using the Start-Up Brief to Target Your Audience
Chapter 4: Mining and Crafting Great Stories
Examining Ways to Mine Stories from Experiences
Avoiding Story Overload and Clutter
Morphing Stories from Data
Crafting Your Own Repertoire of Stories
Introducing the Four Pillars of Storytelling
Including a Call to Action
Refining Your Stories
Coining Your Own Word (Becoming a Neologist)
Chapter 5: Starting Strong for a Groundswell Response
Grabbing the Audience’s Attention as They Enter
Opening your Presentation with a Story
Introducing Yourself and the Program
Appreciating the Power of the Pause
Taboo Openings
Avoiding Openings that Lack Confidence
Presenting an Opening Activity
Previewing the Audience on Q&A Expectations
Chapter 6: Ending Memorably
Letting Them Know You’re Wrapping Up
Combining a Call to Action with a Story
Exploring Other Powerful Closings
Ending Gracefully and On Time
Giving Them Something to Remember You By
Staying in Touch to Build Your Network
Chapter 7: Storyboarding: Bringing Stories to Life Frame by Frame
Storyboarding in Business
Before You Start Storyboarding…
Considering Different Storyboarding Formats
Building Transitions and Breaks into Your Storyboard
Stepping Back and Looking at the Big Picture
Outsourcing to the Pros
Storyboarding for Sales Presentations
Part 3: Adding Flourishes
Chapter 8: Slideware: Buying and Applying
Life Before Death (by PowerPoint)
Buying: Meeting the Cast of Presentation Players
Using and Sharing Slideware During Virtual Meetings
Giving Your Presentation an Enticing Title
Appreciating the Power of an Opening Slide
Knowing How and When to Use Bullets and Numbers
Formatting Text
Adding Sizzle to Your Presentations
Creating Slide Accessibility for All
Proofreading Until Your Eyes Hurt
Chapter 9: Slide Sense: Using Slides Effectually
Don’t Lambaste Slides
Getting the Most from Your Slide Real Estate
Showing Statistics to Your Advantage
Incorporating Images
Living in a Visual World
Chapter 10: Handouts and Workbooks: Kick ’Em Up a Notch
Preparing Handouts
Crafting Workbooks
Writing the Copy
Printing and Binding
Chapter 11: Your Bio: The Story of You
Showing You Have a Personality, Not Just a Pulse
Creating Your Infomercial
Developing Your Online Persona
Knowing What’s Out There About You
Chapter 12: Requesting Feedback: Evaluation Forms
Making On-the-Spot Visual Assessments of Your Audience
Audience Evaluation Forms
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
Part 4: It’s Showtime
Chapter 13: Poised to Present
Making a Great First Impression
Practicing the Art of Practicing
Getting in the Zone
Looking Them in the Eyes and “Listening”
Being Sensitive to Diversity and Inclusivity
Dealing with Technology Snafus
An Ounce of Prevention …
Embracing the Benefits of Public Speaking
Chapter 14: Collaborative Team Presentations
Meeting the Team
Completing the Start-Up Brief Together
Storyboarding as a Team
Delivering Formal or Informal Presentations
Using Technology to Aid Collaboration
Giving and Getting Peer Feedback
Scenario: Setting the Stage for a Purchase
Chapter 15: On the Spot: Fielding Difficult Questions and Delivering Bad News
Dealing with Grinches
Fielding Questions
Delivering and Owning Bad News
Chapter 16: Adding a Splash of Humor
Invigorating a “Bored” Room
Giving a Little Giggle
Sliding in Lightheartedly
Fashioning a Funny File
Popping Out a Prop
Ferreting Out Punchlines or Quotes
When in Hesitation, Skip the Citation
What to Do if Your Audience Left Their Funny Bones at Home
Trying 30 Days of Chuckling
Chapter 17: Vive la Différence: Diversity and Inclusion
Presenting Skillfully to a Diverse Audience
Presenting in a Foreign Country
Knowing Conversions
Storytelling Across Multiple Generations
Accessibility for All
Chapter 18: Journeying from In-Person to Virtual
Storytelling to the Rescue
Getting to Know You
Being Ready for Your Close-Up
Creating a Culture of Inclusivity
Conducting an Interactive (Synchronous) Presentation
Being Savvy On Screen
Following Up with Your Audience
Part 5: Specialized Presentations
Chapter 19: Structuring a Training Session or Workshop
Understanding Your Audience and Making Them Heroes
Performing a Training Needs Assessment (TNA)
Arranging and Organizing Your Session
Mining Session-Related Stories
Crafting a Storyopia Journey
Accommodating Different Learning Styles
Evaluating the Success of Your Session
Training, AI, and the Big Bang
Chapter 20: Nailing an Executive Briefing
KISS-ing the Message (Keeping it Short and Sweet)
Executive Beef-ings
Welcoming the Chance to Shine
Executive Sales Briefings
Chapter 21: Presenting a Paper at a Conference
Presenting at a Conference
Stories, Science, and Conferences
Developing an Abstract
Getting Ready for the Conference
Avoiding Boos and Taboos
Taking Center Stage as a Keynote Speaker
Networking at a Conference
Evaluating the Results
Chapter 22: Presenting Someone Else’s Content
Making This Your Time to Shine
A Nip Here, a Tuck There
Making the Presentation Your Own with a Story
Don’t Catch ’Em by Surprise
Dealing with the Elephant in the Room
Don’t Try to Wing It!
Adapting a Presentation from the Corporate Office
Preparing as You Would for a Substitute Teacher
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Chapter 23: Ten Hints for Combatting Stage Fright
Think of Elvis
Greet People As They Enter the Room
Remember You’re the Star
Build a Memory Palace
Practice — Practice — Practice
Make a List of Specific Worries
Visualize Your Success
Say Bye-Bye to Butterflies
Use Notecards
Join a Group
Chapter 24: Ten Tips for Telling a Relatable Story
Keep a “Resource” File
Don’t Open with a Slide Unless …
Start with a Compelling Story or Hook
Take Your Audience on an Adventure
Embellish the Story
Personalize the Story
Start with One of the Five Questions
Make Sure Your Story Is On Point
Circle Back to the Original Story
End with a Call to Action
Chapter 25: Ten-Plus Ways to Make Your Presentation Interactive
Ask Questions
Move Around the Room
Get the Audience Moving
Gamify the Presentation
Do a Host-Guest Interview
Give Your Audience the Steering Wheel
Get a Debate Going
Group for Scenario-Solving
Create a Human Barometer
Initiate Lightning Talks
Speed Network
Incorporate Technology
Chapter 26: Ten Reasons Presentations Can Fail
Opening
Audience
Verbal language
Body language
Technology
Slides
Storytelling
Questioning
Closing
Feedback
Part 7: Appendixes
Appendix A: Presentation Checklist
What to Bring
Stories, Slides, and Props
My Appearance
On the Morning of the Presentation
Other Speakers
At the Event
After the Event
Additional Checklist for Virtual Presentations
Miscellany
Appendix B: Glossary
Index
Author’s Journey
Supplemental Images
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 3
TABLE 3-1 Questions to Ask When Preparing for a Presentation
Chapter 4
TABLE 4-1 What’s Your Story?
Chapter 7
Table 7-1 Tell Column of Storyboard (Draft)
Table 7-2 Final Storyboard
Table 7-3 Storyboard for a 30-minute Sales Presentation (Draft)
Chapter 8
TABLE 8-1 Examples of Weak and Strong Titles
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
FIGURE 1-1: The story arc.
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2-1: Granddaughter relishing a story with her PopPop.
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3-1: Rate your presentation skills.
FIGURE 3-2: Use the Start-Up Brief to know your audience.
FIGURE 3-3: Know your target audience, so you know where to aim.
FIGURE 3-4: Dial in to WIIFM to listen to your audience.
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4-1: Attributes of active listening.
FIGURE 4-2: Inequalities in education based on ethnicity.
FIGURE 4-3: Four pillars to give your story structure
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5-1: This slide is on the light side, yet it gets the point across.
FIGURE 5-2: Enjoying early retirement with gusto.
FIGURE 5-3: Making music at a young age.
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6-1: A very appreciative audience!
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7-1: You don’t need to be this talented to create your own comic-style s...
FIGURE 7-2: Sticky note storyboarding which can be stuck to any flat surface.
FIGURE 7-3: Wall-paper editing.
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8-1: A home with wow appeal!
FIGURE 8-2: Word cloud rating chocolate as the best snack. Do you agree?
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: Think of a slidezilla as an overly cluttered desk — too much stuff ...
FIGURE 9-2: How can anyone get useful information from this slide?
FIGURE 9-3: Simplification is definitely not the first thing that comes to mind...
FIGURE 9-4: You need to pare this down so it’s readable and useful.
FIGURE 9-5: Rather than use a slide like this one, just turn off the projector ...
FIGURE 9-6: This simple image gives you a clear picture of the object’s size.
FIGURE 9-7: It’s always a good idea to let the audience “see” the benefits as w...
FIGURE 9-8: When you include an agenda at the beginning of a meeting, start eac...
FIGURE 9-9: It’s fun to insert some humor into your slides! Why not?
FIGURE 9-10: Word clouds can simplify data in a witty way.
FIGURE 9-11: Overlying text on a photo can call out what you want the audience ...
FIGURE 9-12: Point of interest is centered and not very dramatic.
FIGURE 9-13: Point of interest is to the right third, creating a more dramatic ...
FIGURE 9-14: Sometimes, clipart says it all!
FIGURE 9-15: This photo says it all — “jumping for joy” isn’t just a cliché.
FIGURE 9-16: Artistic infographic that tells a story, step by step.
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10-1: Leaving space to take notes makes your handout useful to your audi...
FIGURE 10-2: Saddle stitching.
FIGURE 10-3: Variety of wire bindings.
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11-1: My bio with hook, humor, accomplishments, and interests.
FIGURE 11-2: My bio with hook, humor, accomplishments, and interests.
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: Common closed-ended evaluation questions.
FIGURE 12-2: One-page evaluation form.
FIGURE 12-3: Do others see you as you see yourself?
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13-1: This presenter is dressed comfortably and confidently.
FIGURE 13-2: Will this tedium ever end?
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14-1: Collaborative team storyboarding with sticky notes.
Chapter 15
FIGURE 15-1: Stop briefly and think about the best way to answer.
Chapter 16
FIGURE 16-1: Is this you? Harried? Always putting out fires?
FIGURE 16-2: Do you ever feel like a puppet and everyone is pulling your string...
Chapter 17
FIGURE 17-1: Faces of today’s workforce.
Chapter 18
FIGURE 18-1: Using a virtual background means no one sees the dishes piled up i...
Chapter 19
FIGURE 19-1: Working at tables in small groups.
Chapter 20
FIGURE 20-1: The widest part at the top is the most important information.
FIGURE 20-2: Your end game is having them seal the deal.
Chapter 21
FIGURE 21-1: Place your name badge on the right side where people can easily se...
Chapter 22
FIGURE 22-1: I’m the elephant in the room and deserve respect!
FIGURE 22-2: Kintsugi pottery is unique and more interesting than before.
Chapter 24
FIGURE 24-1: Why not tell a story instead of showing a boring slide?
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Begin Reading
Index
Author’s Journey
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Storytelling in Presentations For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
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Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2023942992
ISBN 978-1-394-20100-6 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-394-20101-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-394-20102-0 (ebk)
Introduction
Stories are how we learn best. We absorb numbers and facts and details, but we keep them all glued into our heads with stories.
— CHRIS BROGAN, AUTHOR, MARKETING CONSULTANT, JOURNALIST, SPEAKER
Join the sensibility of today’s industry giants who are renouncing slidezilla-type, data-laden PowerPoint monsters (and their clones). Instead, they’re energizing audiences with storyopia. Storyopia, like utopia, represents the ideal. It’s the ideal story that takes audiences on a journey from what is to what could be. Storyopia will make your audience feel like heroes and will lead to amazing results for them and for you. Your audience will see your presentation as personal, and you’ll become a valuable resource.
This book will help you develop your own tales of adventure that will take your audiences on journeys to greatness through your insights, leadership, and storytelling, coaxing their brains into thinking they’re experiencing the incidents themselves. And they’re right there with you — engaged. Whether your presentation is in person, virtual, or hybrid and whether it’s streaming or zooming into the metaverse, it all starts with storyopia. Then a storyboard maps it all out with what to tell and what to show.
About This Book
This book is the culmination of my many years of exploring the art of storytelling. I cherry-picked from an enormous body of the greatest raconteurs of all time — from Aesop to Lincoln to Jobs and others. Their quotes and stories are filtered throughout this book. Thus, the pages are somewhat like a big-picture briefing of storytelling in presentations — from preparation to presentation to a standing ovation. Here’s a quick overview of what you’ll find and where:
Part 1
: Martians, Stories, and Heroes
Your presentations are stories. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end — that’s a story. This part introduces you to the art of storytelling. It shows how your audiences can be heroes just like the heroes you read about in the news, fiction, and real-life situations.
Part 2
: Nuts ’n’ Bolts
This critical part takes you through the process of understanding your audience, starting strong, ending with a bang, and bringing your presentation to life with storytelling and storyboarding. It will help you pinpoint what you want your audience to do, think, learn, or feel.
Part 3
: Adding Flourishes
This part shows you how slides can enhance your presentation with visuals when they speak more loudly than words. It also discusses how to kick handbooks and workbooks up a notch, how to write and present a stellar bio, and how to prepare and use evaluation forms.
Part 4
: It’s Showtime
When you get to this part, you’re ready to take your show on the road. Find out how to be poised when presenting bad news and fielding difficult questions. Understand how to talk with a diverse audience. Journey with ease from the in-person world to the virtual world.
Part 5
: Specialized Presentations
This part embodies specialized presentations from structuring a session, acing executive briefings, delivering a paper at a conference, and presenting someone else’s content to make it your own.
Part 6
: The Part of Tens
This part is a
Dummies
classic. You’ll find tips for combatting stage fright, becoming more relatable, being interactive, and learning reasons presentations fail (with solutions so yours won’t).
Part 7
: Appendixes
Here’s a checklist that will guide you from your presentation to preparing for a standing O, as well as a glossary of terms.
As you read through this book, you’ll notice that each chapter abounds with best practices, including the following:
Storyopia Archives are real-life accounts that I or others have experienced — all ending with the lesson learned.
Visuals in each chapter enhance the narrative as well as stand alone when they speak louder than words.
Each chapter opens with a quote that ties into the theme of that chapter. In addition to stories, quotes are one of several suggestions for openings to make presentations engaging from the get-go.
Strong headlines and subheads give key information at a glance. They grab attention and provide a quick overview of the section.
Foolish Assumptions
I try not to make assumptions because everyone knows what happens when you ass-u-me. So, rather than making any foolish assumptions, I looked through my crystal ball and discovered that you probably fit into one of these categories. You’re …
On the verge of closing a major contract and need a compelling presentation to seal the deal.
New in the job market and are making your first nail-biting presentation.
Presenting a revised budget to executive-level managers that will have a negative impact on the bottom line.
Looking for a consensus for a new idea.
Teaching hardware, software, or a new concept.
Applying for a large grant and your presentation will be the deciding factor.
Delivering a paper at a large conference, and this is your moment to shine.
Giving a presentation that was prepared by someone, and you want to make it your own.
Shaking like an unbalanced clothes dryer when you have to make a presentation.
Whatever your reason, you’ll want to wow your audience to ensure they heed your call to action and leave your presentation doing, thinking, feeling, or learning a pre-determined something.
Icons Used in This Book
Scattered throughout this book you’ll find icons in the margins to highlight valuable information that call for your attention. Here are the icons you’ll see and a brief description of each:
Grab your sleuth’s magnifying glass to scrutinize the Start-Up Brief and gather all the clues you can about your audience.
The nagging little voice in your head that won't let you forget anything, even if you try to ignore it like a pesky flying insect.
If I had a chance to speak with you personally, these are the things I’d say.
Find nifty tips that may be timesavers, frustration savers, lifesavers, or just about any other savers.
Avoid these pitfalls to save yourself headaches, heartburn, and humiliation.
Beyond the Book
Beyond this book is a Cheat Sheet I’ve prepared that will get you rewarded (not busted). Here’s what you’ll find when you go to www.dummies.com and type Storytelling in Presentations For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the search box.
Guidelines to rock your next presentation
Avoiding the seven deadly slide sins
Starting on the right foot with the Start-Up Brief
This Cheat Sheet is available as a handy reference at all times. Keep a copy on your wall, computer, tablet, and smartphone. And share it with your team.
Where to Go from Here
I realize you won’t read it like a suspenseful mystery novel from cover to cover — but I strongly urge you to read Part II, Chapters 3-7 sequentially. These chapters offer the nuts ’n’ bolts for casting your audiences as heroes through storytelling … bringing life to your presentations. For the remainder of the book, jump around to whatever topic interests you or applies to the presentation challenge you face. You may find something in one chapter that resembles something you read in another. (It’s not a memory lapse or sloppy editing.) It’s just that I don’t know where you’ll drop in, and there are certain things you shouldn’t miss.
From here, you’re on your way to becoming a presentation pro and giving top-notch talks that make you and your audience heroes.
Part 1
Martians, Stories, and Heroes
IN THIS PART …
Create audience heroes with stories that sizzle, jettison slidezillas, use the story arc, and fire up your audience’s imagination.
Take audiences on storyopia journeys from what is to what can be, get pointers from the all-time storytelling greats, and realize that everyone has a story (yes, even you!).
Chapter 1
Sizzle Your Presentations with Stories
IN THIS CHAPTER
Sharpening your axe
Avoiding PowerPoint autopilot
Beginnings, middles, and endings
Storyopia to create audience heroes
If history were told in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.
–RUDYARD KIPLING (ENGLISH WRITER, POET, AND STORYTELLER)
Good storytelling can make your presentations sizzle in ways that slides can’t.
Whether you realize it or not, you’re already a storyteller. When you meet a friend, have dinner with family, or spend time with a colleague, you share small amusements and calamities of your day or week. It’s in our nature to tell stories and share our life’s events. And you probably use hyperboles (exaggerations) to make your stories more engaging — peppering them with statements such as, “I nearly died of embarrassment” or “My feet were killing me.” While this casual sharing is different from being in front of an audience, you do know how to tell stories. You have lots of them. After all, you started telling stories when you made babbling sounds as a baby.
Storytelling Isn’t Just a Buzzword
Storytelling has existed for eons, and it’s more than a business buzzword. It’s the way get your point across memorably. Think of your presentation as a story. It has a beginning. It has a middle. It has an end. That’s a story! Aristotle is credited with having introduced this basic storytelling structure with his three-act plays.
The opening is the setup, laying out the plot.
The middle, which is typically the longest, introduces complications, twists, and turns.
The third act brings the production to a close.
Throughout your lifetime, you’ll likely give many types of formal and informal presentations: sales, educational, training, lectures, problem-solving, or simply a talk to a group for pleasure. Even giving toasts at weddings or delivering eulogies at funerals are types of presentations. They can all benefit from storytelling.
Storytelling Is Your Axe; Sharpen It
Abraham Lincoln is perhaps one of the best-known orators and storytellers of all time. He said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first few sharpening the axe.” Relating that to presentations, when you spend the time to prepare compelling stories, your presentation will be relevant and memorable, and you’ll be able to chop through the clutter.
When you spend time planning properly, you’ll become a confident and influential presenter, and you’ll get the results and recognition you deserve — perhaps even get standing Os.
Whether presentations are live, virtual, or hybrid, they’re one of most effective business communication tools of our time. Strong presentation skills are a hallmark of strong leaders and people who aspire to become leaders. When you want to be seen as a subject matter expert (SME) or knowledge source, a presentation can showcase your skills and potential. Each time you pitch an idea, discuss solutions with a client, or interact with colleagues, you’re presenting your skills. This can lead to
Higher visibility
Improved confidence
Better communication skills
Career growth
Extended networks
Setting the Stage
At the outset of my signature workshop, “Storytelling and Storyboarding: Building Blocks to Influential Presentations,” I divide the group into teams of two or three people and present the following scenario. (Although this may seem a little hokey, there’s a method to my madness, so please bear with me and give it a try.)
It’s the year 2050 and a group of Martians is scheduled to visit your facility. You plan to be at the space pad to greet them, but an important meeting has called you away. You know the Martians will be hungry after their long and arduous journey, and you’ll be out of the office when they arrive. So, you hire a driver to bring them to your location. You need to prepare a presentation teaching them to make something easy — a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They do speak English.
Grab a pen or pencil and a sheet of paper and briefly show how you’d approach this.
Welcome back … Did you start with a slide presentation? If so, you’re in the majority. Most participants spend 5-10 minutes outlining what would become a slide presentation. They begin by instructing the Martians to put down two slices of bread. Open the jar of peanut butter. Smear some on one of the bread slices, etc. On occasion, I’d overhear someone say, “I don’t think slides will work. Perhaps a video would work better.” While that’s insightful, few have thought through the details they take for granted when giving instructions. Here are just a few of the things you may take for granted:
Although the Martians speak English, would they necessarily know what peanut butter and jelly are? (We only understand the words we’ve been exposed to.)
Would they understand how to remove the lids from the jars? (Hmm… hit them with a sledgehammer?) If you said twist the lid, would that be clockwise or counterclockwise?
How should they spread the peanut butter? (With their fingers?) If you told them to smear the peanut butter with a knife, would they know how to use the knife safely without spewing blood?
Then … once you’ve identified the level of detail you need to share, the next step is to identify the best means of communicating it. A live, interactive presentation would work best. If that’s not possible, a video could be a viable substitute.
When you’re faced with a presentation you need to prepare, sharpen your axe. Consider your audience and the best way to present. Think of relevant stories they’ll relate to. Chapter 3 offers a full discussion of knowing your audience and how to focus on their needs.
STORYOPIA ARCHIVES: PAIRING PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY
The history of how peanut butter met jelly is a little uncertain, but one thing is for sure – they’re a match made in heaven and are meant to be together. In the early 1900s peanut butter was a delicacy, bought and eaten only by the wealthy. At the time, peanut butter was frequently paired with pimento cheese, celery, cucumbers, and crackers.
Today’s beloved pairing of peanut butter and jelly (PB&J) were first mentioned in the Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science and Domestic Economics written by Julia Davis Chandler in 1901. But the impetus that took the PB&J sandwich over the top came after World War II and the Great Depression. Here’s the backstory:
PB&J were on the U.S. military ration menus in World War II. Peanut butter is high-protein, rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Peanut butter also contains healthy fat, but the sweetness comes from the jelly’s sugar. These sandwiches were easy to pack for long marches and were yummy to eat due to the bread that holds this dynamic duo together. Thus, after the war, soldiers craved PB&J sandwiches, and they became an American standard.
This sandwich is so ubiquitous that in the U.S. the average schoolchild eats about 15,000 PB&J sandwiches before the end of high school. (The growing number of kids with peanut allergies, however, is now threatening the popularity of this lunchbox staple.)
Lesson learned: Getting back to Kipling’s quote, your story (or stories) can become part of your presentation’s history — making it unforgettable.
Avoid Defaulting to Slides
Throughout this book I use the term slides to represent any presentation software.
Old habits die hard. When people hear the word “presentation,” most of them automatically plummet into the slide abyss. When you ask these same slide-abyss people to describe the last presentations they attended, they use words like boring, humdrum, uninteresting, waste of time, too many slides, too much text, no interaction, and other negative phrases.
Poll everywhere, real-time audience response software, estimates that …
30 million PowerPoint presentations are shown each day.
500 million people view PowerPoint presentations every day.
The average presentation lasts 4 hours.
The average slide has 40 words.
If you think slides don’t get in the way of good conversation, try showing a few at your next dinner party and see how well it goes over.
Eliminating slidezillas
Slidezillas are the presentation equivalents of Godzilla. Just as Godzilla is the towering, reptilian monster that plagued Japan, slidezillas are the data-laden technology monsters that plague audiences.
It’s the twenty-first century. Don’t continue inflicting boring, linear, static, text-laden slides on your audiences. Every presentation should be a conversation — a sharing of information — with active participants (the audience) and a facilitator (you).
As mentioned in the introduction, industry giants such as Amazon, Google, Apple, Starbucks, Airbnb, Netflix, Zappos, Facebook, LinkedIn, GlaxoSmithKline, and others have banned slidezilla-type slides from their meetings. Their presenters must use a narrative (or conversational) format, which means talking WITH the audience, not AT them. Too many presenters use slides as teleprompters. They have their backs to the audience much of the time as they read from their slides. They may as well have sent the slides to the audience and stayed home.
Whether your presentation is for training, fact finding, problem solving, brainstorming, selling, building consensus, or takes the form of instructor-led, online, mobile, gamification, or microlearning — tell stories. Sharing stories allows you to establish a good flow of communication so your main message reaches the audience in a way that engages and drives the call to action.
Here are a few reasons why slide presentations are not effective:
Slides are a crutch for the presenter, not a learning tool for the audience.
They steal the limelight from the stars and heroes of the presentation — the audience.
Displaying words and graphics on a screen while speaking decreases engagement, comprehension, and retention.
There’s always the risk of a technical glitch.
The audience may be reluctant to ask questions or provide their own valuable insights because they know the presentation must end in the allotted time.
Visual storytelling can be exceedingly powerful
Visual stories are not slidezillas. They’re stories communicated through visual content in the form of photographs, illustrations, slides, clip art, memes, jpgs, gifs, videos, charts, tables, graphs, infographics, word clouds, live demos, or more. The main goal of visual storytelling is to convey complex thoughts and emotions to hook the audience and drive storylines, emotions, and the call to action (CTA).
Why is visual storytelling so powerful? As humans, we’re visual creatures. Ninety percent of the information transmitted to ours brains is visual, so it’s no surprise that visual storytelling catches our attention in a way words can’t.
Add visual storytelling to your repertoire of stories. You can find out more about visual storytelling in Chapters 8 and 9.
STORYOPIA ARCHIVES: STORYTELLING FROM THE CRYPT
While writing this book, I had the remarkable experience of making a long-awaited visit to Egypt where stories of Ancient Egyptians come alive through wall art. Like descriptive novels from one of the world’s oldest and greatest civilizations thousands of years ago, the visual art shares narratives about the people and the times.
Egyptian tombs were intended to be secret art galleries. Stories on the walls were to help the pharaohs and the people buried with them on their journeys to the afterlife. Scribes wrote the tales on the walls, and then craftsmen carved and painted them. The tombs were never meant to be opened or viewed. However, with today’s technology, tombs are being unearthed in Luxor’s Valley of the Queens and Valley of the Kings. Thus, these venerable stories live on today and will continue sharing this rich history thousands of years from now. This photo is from the tomb of Rameses in the Valley of the Kings. This is visual storytelling at its finest!
Sailingstone Travel / Adobe Stock
Lesson Learned: Tell your stories. They’ll live on, and you never know what will resonate with someone and have lasting impact.
Firing Up Your Audience’s Imagination with Storyopia
This book is all about the game-changing storyopia. Storyopia, like utopia, represents the ideal. It’s the ideal story that takes the audience on a journey from what is to what could be. A journey to where they see themselves as heroes along that same path.
Try to recall presentations you’ve attended. What drove the presentation? Bullet points? Charts? Tables? The monotonous drone of a facilitator plodding through a dry rendition of data? My guess is all of them. (A pretty tedious experience.)
Since people began to communicate, storytelling has been the lifeblood to getting points or ideas across and making them memorable. Stories make ideas and words come alive. They explain examples or points of view in a way that resonates. People naturally connect emotionally with stories, associating their feelings with their learning.
Stories aren’t meant to be objective. They’re meant to sway emotions, generate suspense, add surprise, create wonder, facilitate the call to action, and take your audience on a journey to success.
If you’re intrigued by this concept of storyopia, head to Chapter 2 for more details.
Using the Story Arc
Figure 1-1 shows the typical story arc (also known as dramatic arc or narrative arc). It represents storyopia. When creating a story using the arc as a guide, your story will have a natural, connected flow.
Cite the incident (the plot) telling what is.
Build rising tension toward the climax.
Work towards the resolution, which is what could be.
Always create tension in your story. It’s critical but often overlooked. If the tension isn’t obvious, this is a good opportunity to embellish with a story. After you’ve filled out the Start-Up Brief, which you find in Chapter 3, you’ll have a good idea of your audience’s pain and what matters to them. Focus on storyopia — the gap between what is and what can be. Take them on that journey so they see themselves as heroes on the same path.
FIGURE 1-1: The story arc.
Your story will have characters: people, companies, or things, such as processes or equipment. There will be goals, struggles, challenges, and a positive or negative outcome. Either outcome serves as a valuable lesson. Let’s see how beginnings, middles, and ends can become a story:
Beginning:
Introduce characters with the same challenge, problem, complication, or issue your audience is facing — the reason they’re attending. You’ll hook them because they’ll feel like they’re in the same situation. Edit the details to keep the story simple and relatable. You may start with, “One of my customers was dealing with your exact issue(s).”
Middle:
You’ve already sparked their curiosity. Now focus on the characters’ problems and how your solution brought the change they needed. Don’t merely go from Point A to Point B. The long cuts and shortcuts are what make the journey interesting, worthwhile, and relatable.
End:
This is where you tie it together, targeted to the CTA. Deliver the main takeaways and lessons your audience should remember based on the success of your characters. Let your audience see the happy ending where they imagine themselves as heroes achieving these same positive outcomes.
Always give your characters names to make them more relatable, but change the names for the purpose of anonymity. People don’t identify with words such as attendee, coworker, colleague, or manager. Also, provide a vivid description of your main character and the setting so your audience can envision the scenario and place themselves in the situation.
For example, if you’re presenting to a group about sales strategies because sales have been slumping, you may share a story of [name] who worked for [company for x years] and how he was able to bring his sales and commissions up to a much higher level by [strategy].
Pitting the Heroes Against the Villains
From bedtime stories when we were kids to great novels and movies as we became older, a good story draws us. We love heroes. They display qualities we admire. They show us how to overcome challenges. We can recall superhero caped crusaders: Batman, Batgirl, Superman, Zorro, Shazam, Wonder Woman, Scarlet Witch, Thor, and others. We all want to be superheroes and live happily ever after in our worlds of family, friends, and business.
Are there heroes in business presentations? Absolutely — the audience! This is how heroes and villains play a role in happy endings:
Heroes: Think of the character Yoda from the Star Wars series. Yoda was the legendary Jedi Master who trained Jedi Knights for 800 years. Yoda was cool. He was a hero in addition to being a mentor and instructor. He unlocked the path to immortality in characters such as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and others who became heroes in their own rights. You can be the Yoda in your presentation, unlocking the path to slaying the villain and guiding your audience toward success.
Heroes can even be antiheroes — people who display true human nature. People who make poor decisions that may harm those around them, intentionally or not. Some are even well intentioned, such as Robin Hood, the classical literary antihero. He stole from the rich (bad) and gave to the poor (good). Even Donald Duck has been labeled antihero for his short and often explosive temper.
Villains: Without villains (often the most interesting characters) there would be no stories and no heroes. For example, if not for Cruella De Vil, 101 Dalmatians would merely feature lots of spotted canines running around. Without Scar in The Lion King scheming to be next in line to seize the throne, there would be no story, and Simba wouldn’t have become a hero.
In business, the villain is the problem or challenge. That can be unscrupulous people, anti-technology diehards, a combative person, the competition, and so on. A villain may also be a non-person: a specific event, befuddled communication, meager lead generation, declining customer base, poor cash flow, inability to retain valuable employees, failure to balance quality and growth, software that isn’t producing as expected, and so much more.
Happy endings: You don’t want the victory to be too easy or too predictable — it kills the interest and suspense. At the beginning of every story the villain must be strong, the victim’s problems must seem insurmountable, and the hero’s task must seem challenging. Your story needs an imagined future where the audience puts themselves in the place of slaying their villain and making themselves heroes.
Perhaps your audience will use the knowledge they learned from you to
Add $$$ to their bottom line.
Become more innovative.
Discover the right tools or technology.
Take a leadership position.
Communicate with impact.
Get the big contract signed.
Procure a grant.
In Chapter 4 you find a process for mining your own stories from people, places, and things in your life — past and present.
STORYOPIA ARCHIVES: DITCHING SLIDES AND TELLING THE STORY
Carter came into one of the Storytelling and Storyboarding workshops I was facilitating at a major Boston hospital. He was very excited. He walked right up to me and said, “Hi, Sheryl, I’m Carter. The timing for this workshop couldn’t be more perfect. I’m one of five finalist seeking a very large grant. We were each asked to prepare a PowerPoint presentation to strengthen our cases. And I present a week from now … I printed out the 25 slides I prepared and hope you’ll have time to critique them. I really need this grant to continue the research I’ve been doing.”
After a quick scan of 25 data-laden slides of charts, tables, and graphs, my response to him was Yikes! So I challenged him with the following idea:
“Imagine this: It’s the day of your presentation. You walk into this large conference room with three stern-looking grantors sitting in black leather swivel chairs around a long, mahogany conference table. The room is modern, almost sterile looking. White walls. The only thing hanging is a white board that spans one entire wall. There are no windows, just bright lights. The five finalists are seated facing the projector and large screen in front of the room. (Pause) Let’s assume that you’re the fifth and final presenter. Do you think the grantors will still be listening attentively by the time you present? Or will they have been so bored by the data-laden presentations of your competitors, they’re mentally packing for a trip to Hawaii? Then I asked him, “Have you ever seen the popular TV show Shark Tank where a group of investors hears pitches from people who are seeking funding from them? Think of your presentation as your shark tank.”
He was quite taken aback by my comments because he was planning to blend in with the pack using slides, as he was directed. I encouraged him to see that the villains in this story were his competitors. I encouraged him to do three heroic things:
Ditch all his slides.Prepare stories and deliver a narrative in conversational format.Generate a dynamic handbook for each of the grantors.At the outset Carter was reluctant. But after going through the workshop, he agreed to deliver a narrative telling stories of the successes of many recipients of his former grants. He left each grantor with a handbook of the stories and other information that made his research worthy of additional funding.
Rather than being the last to present, Carter was the first. The grantors were so impressed with the high bar Carter had set, that all the other presenters (who showed data-laden slides) paled in comparison. Carter was memorable. He was awarded the grant! He brought home the gold. Carter was the hospital’s hero!
Lesson Learned: When you use a narrative approach to presenting, your audience pays attention. Don’t burden them with slides, unless they’re necessary to drive home a point. Tell your story, and they will listen.
On to Storyboarding…
In Chapter 7 you find out everything you need to know about storyboarding, which is basically a visual outline that incorporates your spoken and visual stories. When you use a storyboard to incorporate stories into your overall narrative, you’ll engage your audiences. Storyboarding helps you in the following ways:
See the continuity of your message.
Identify any gaps.
Discover if you told too much or too little.
Turn your ideas into a narrative.
Incorporate visuals when and where needed.
Get your audience actively involved and keep them involved.
Use your time efficiently.
Chapter 2
Storyopia: Sharing Stories from What Is to What Can Be
IN THIS CHAPTER
Sparking minds with stories
Picking up pointers from the all-time greats
Becoming a great storyteller
Speaking in the first person, present tense
Spanning industries with storytelling
Stories create community, enable us to see through the eyes of other people, and open us to the claims of others.
–PETER FORBES, AUTHOR AND PHOTOGRAPHER
This chapter takes you on a journey to understanding how storyopia plays a part not only in presentations but also in our everyday experiences. For example, note the oversaturation of journey-based ads that inundate our TVs, smartphones, computers, and tablets. They’re brief, impactful stories — combining words and visuals — aimed at pre-determined audiences taking us on journeys from what is (before) to what can be (after).
Companies pay ad agencies huge sums of money to target audiences with the appropriate messaging in order to create awareness, consideration, and decision. Here are just a few examples:
Financial organizations take us on journeys from saving our nickels and dimes to retiring as intrepid travelers hobnobbing around the world. These images of carefree, vibrant seniors stick in our minds.
Acclaimed celebrities (who are never seen without being professionally made up and looking years younger than they actually are) are selling beauty aids. The call to action is, “Buy the product and you too can look this awesome.”
Pharmaceutical ads claiming to clear blotchy skin (among other conditions) open with a person disgusted with an ugly skin condition. After using the product, that person is part of a loving couple sitting on a sandy beach enjoying the sunset. The optic is alluring. Viewers tune out the litany of side effects that are jabbered quickly because they’re focusing on what they see — the loving couple with beautiful skin sitting on the sandy beach watching the sunset.
The wonder remedy that will give you energy so intoxicating, you’ll imagine that it’s you sucking the marrow out of life by participating in unusual or even daredevilish activities.
These journey-based ads work remarkably well. Otherwise, the world’s largest companies wouldn’t dedicate so much of their marketing and advertising budgets to bombarding us with them.
Taking Your Audience on a Journey
The most effective storytellers frame the journey to convince their audiences to identify with the outcome. The stories — whether verbal, visual, or a combination — should grab attention, be memorable, relatable, persuasive, and evoke emotion and imagination.
Storytelling begins with filling out the Start-Up Brief, covered in detail in Chapter 3. It will help you to know your audience so you can incorporate clear signposts by gauging what’s important to them. Who they are? What problems are they trying to solve? What compelling call to action will they relate to? Here are a few examples:
You’re a financial planner trying to convince a group of millennials to let you manage their investments. Their concerns are saving for their children’s education, having enough money to retire early, leaving money to the next generation. Take them on a journey of how successful your strategies have been with other clients to reach those goals.
You’re delivering sales training to a group of neophytes recently hired by a company. You’ll want to tell rags-to-riches stories of how other salespeople have made tons of money in the competitive world of sales.
You’re presenting complex semiconductor equipment to a senior-level audience — potential customer. This company can add large sums of money to your company’s bottom line if they select you. Stories can range from a journey of exactly how a customer implemented your solution and became successful. Or you can go in the opposite direction and share a story of a company that didn’t implement your solution and things went awry.
Not all stories are positive or have happy endings. However, there are still lessons to be learned. Don’t shy away from them. A perfect example is George Orwell’s Animal Farm written in 1945. It’s a story about animals, but adult readers would recognize it to reflect the Russian Revolution of 1917, drawing attention to the unfair structure that exists in societies. The book is about corruption and oppression, and how one person in total power will eventually become corrupt.
Understanding why people respond to stories
There’s a scientific reason why people respond so strongly to stories. People are biologically and neurologically wired to connect with stories through a feel-good hormone called oxytocin. Oxytocin lifts our feelings of trust, compassion, and empathy.
When you supercharge your presentation with stories that are well told, shown, and relevant to the goal of your presentation, you trick your audience’s brain into thinking they’re experiencing the incident themselves. And they’re right there with you — involved.
Remembering that stories can be visual
When people think of storytelling, they often think of words only. However, visuals can be used in conjunction with the narrative, or they can stand alone. Visuals can range from simple diagrams, charts, or tables to infographics, photographs, memes, jpgs or gifs, videos, word clouds, props, and more. No matter the medium, the goal is always the same — to make complex stories easier to understand and, as a result, deliver a more impactful message.
Note how even a simple photograph (see Figure 2-1) can bring a story to life, making it imaginative and relevant for readers. If you merely said, “A grandfather is reading a story to his granddaughter,” that wouldn’t evoke the same heartwarming imagery you see in the photo. It just wouldn’t. To find out more about visual storytelling, head to Chapter 9.
Photo courtesy of author
FIGURE 2-1: Granddaughter relishing a story with her PopPop.
Slidezillas, or data-laden slides, guarantee that your presentation will sink under the weight of overload. Examples would be an endless deck of spreadsheets or slides with so many bullets they’d be hard to read without a magnifying glass. Easy-to-read slides (whether text and/or graphics) that drive a point are not slidezillas.
Knowing that everyone has a story (Yes, even you!)
At the outset of the storytelling and storyboarding workshops I facilitate, I often hear people say, I don’t have any stories. That isn’t true. Stop and think about it. Stories are merely experiences — experiences you or others have had. Just by virtue of the fact that you’re alive, you’ve had lots of experiences; therefore, you have lots of stories. Everyone has a story — in fact, everyone has loads of stories.
Check out Chapter 4 to discover how you can morph your experiences into stories so that you’re engaging your audiences, not lecturing to them. As a preview, make connections between the people, places, and things in your life. Then tie them together into engaging stories. For example, perhaps you’re giving a talk on mentoring. You may share a story of how you mentored a colleague at your former company, and that colleague went on to create an effective process that was very valuable to the company. That colleague even got the process patented. The lesson learned is the strong impact a mentor can have on a mentee.
Also think of storylines from popular movies or books that relate to your audience and your topic. They can be encounters and adventures that challenge the hero, occasionally giving a new perspective on life and on the world. Even stories of tragedies can have redeeming qualities, relaying how people rise above tragedy to do great things. You can use an endless amount of storylines that have lasted through the ages. This list offers you a few ideas:
Rags to riches
Voyages and returns
Overcoming monsters or other evils
Tragedies
Comedies
Thrillers and adventures
Pursuits and rivalries
Search and rescue
STORYOPIA ARCHIVES: SEEING IS BELIEVING
When my husband first heard I was writing a book on storytelling for presentations, he wasn’t convinced of its efficacy. He’s an engineer-scientist and is steeped in the world of data and analytics. (His slides reflect that.) We’re a left-brain, right-brain couple, so I wasn’t entirely surprised. Opposites attract and often clash (or at least disagree).
Then the January 13, 2023, issue of SCIENCE
