Brian Tracy explains why stories work in speeches: audiences are 22 times more likely to remember content told through stories. He gives five practical tips including breaking up your speech with stories for each main point, starting with a strong hook, tailoring personal stories to your audience, adding humor, and using current events and props.
Hello, I'm Brian Tracy, and today I want to talk to you about using storytelling in a speech. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable. This will show your listeners that you trust them and let you form a connection or a bond on a deeper level. If you're like most people, you love to hear a good story. Stories capture our attention. They activate our emotions and are much more memorable than hearing a list of facts or statistics. I've given more than 5,000 talks and seminars over the years, and I've learned over time to always open up with something that grabs people's attention. And stories do that better than anything else. The best speakers use storytelling in all of their speeches. We often begin with a story to draw the audience in, and we add stories throughout to illustrate the most important points. Storytelling in your speech offers your audience great value. Storytelling engages your audience and motivates them to want to listen to you. It makes your audience feel connected with you by creating a humanizing effect. Instead of you solely being the expert, you become relatable. You become one of them. Storytelling gives you credibility, it builds trust, and it makes you memorable. It also makes your audience 22 times more likely to remember the content of your speech as if you didn't use stories. And storytelling persuades your audience to take action by eliciting emotions and demonstrating how to get something done. Adding storytelling to your speech is easier than you may think. There are five tips on how to use storytelling in a speech so that you can nail your next public speaking presentation. And by the way, public speaking can be just to one or two people. They can be just to your friends and associates. They can be to one potential customer. So first, use storytelling to break up your speech to pieces. You always have the option to take advantage of the power of storytelling by using it to open your speech. A relatable, relevant story will capture your audience's attention from the beginning and give you instant credibility with the people you're trying to influence throughout your speech. Be sure to break it up with storytelling. For every main point that you want your listeners to remember, add in a short story, whether it be a personal one or not. What I always do is I say, let me give you an example or let me tell you a story, or let me tell you something that one of my students told to me, and you just break it up. And people just love to hear what you're going to say and the message that follows. So a good pattern to follow is to make your point, add a story to illustrate it, and then circle back to Your point? My second tip is to have a good hook without telling your audience that you're about to tell them a story. Give them a good hook to pique their interest and then lead them into the story to satisfy their curiosity. One of the things I do with a large audience is I say, because before we start, let me ask a question. How many people here would like to double their income in the next six to 12 months? Every single person in the audience raises their hand. They can't stop. I mean, their hands all go up. And I say, well, that's good, because I'm going to give you three proven ways to double your income over the course of our time together. Would that make our time worthwhile? And everybody nods and smiles and I say, good. So let's get going. So choose an essential fact or take away from your speech and then present it to your crowd in a sentence or two. Leave them wanting more and then come back to it, driving your point home with a compelling story. Remember, don't tell a story just to tell 1. Ensure that there's a relatable point to be made that gives purpose to your audience. That brings me to my next tip. Relate to your audience. Know who your audience will be while you're preparing your speech and then tailor your stories to their interests and experiences. Research current topics that your audience would be interested in based on their career field, their age, their gender, life stage, and other interests. Base your stories on topics and that they can relate to. Sharing a relatable story will allow you to have optimum engagement with your audience as well as give you credibility with them. Whenever possible. Share your own personal stories. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable. This will show your listeners that you trust them and let you form a connection or a bond on a deeper level. The fourth tip for using storytelling in your speech is to add humor. Laughter not only puts your audience at ease, but also improves learning and memory so that they can recall and act on what you have shared with them. Don't be afraid to tell a joke that will resonate well with your audience members and include humor in the stories you tell. This will add character to your speech and leave your audience with positive feelings about you as well as your message. My fifth and final tip is for you to use current events. The stories in your speech don't always have to be personal Anecdotes. Stories you've heard or read about can be just as compelling, including timely stories and circumstances that people are familiar with in the news. I had a good friend who, when he went to a city to give a speech. He would buy all the newspapers in that city and take them home and study them, and then he would take the pieces that overlapped each other and he would open up his speech and let's say there was a sports team in that city that was doing very well. He would say, aren't these people doing such a great job? Wow, I've always loved that team. And the whole audience would explode with applause. And so therefore, reading up and learning about your audience enables you to relate to them and enables them to relate to you. The best current events and big news stories are those that relate to your topic. Find ways to relate human interest stories, world events, local happenings, and natural occurrences to your content. To offer visual storytelling to your spectators, bring in a news article, props, or a slide presentation of images that add interest to your story. Now, to be a good storyteller in your speech, you must first recognize that you have stories to tell. Everyone has life experiences and emotions that connect us to others. Just talking about yourself and how you got to where you are and the things that you have learned and the things that you've practiced are all stories that people love to hear. Your audience will relate to you and the message you're sharing as you tell stories about yourself and others that they can connect with. Use the five tips I've shared with you to practice telling stories and you'll be a better storyteller every time out. And for more ways to wow your audience during your next speech, download my ultimate list of 44 speaking tips for free now. I'd love to hear from you. So my question today is what is the most memorable speech you've heard, and which of these five elements of storytelling did it include? Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you. If you enjoyed this video and feel that it was valuable in teaching you about how to use storytelling in a speech, subscribe to my channel like this video and share this video with your friends. Don't forget to click the button on the screen for a free gift. Thanks again for watching.
