How To use Storytelling for Presentation | mastermind Session | Confident Storytelling Hub

, and I will also give you the coach feedback. Okay, so let's talk about the power learning, which is presentation storytelling. How do you use stories in presentation? Number 1, where do you think you can use stories when you are doing, let's say, a proposal presentation, or you are having a presentation in front of a group of students or a group of professionals? Where do you think you can use stories? Please unmute yourself and you can share.

So Haritosh Srivastav, I would like to add, because I like be part of proposal discussions usually where we will be explaining customer their as-is state to the to-be state that we are proposing, right, for them. So there is, there I see there is an option that there is a possibility of telling a story to them.

Correct. Absolutely right. Whenever you're sharing, and, and for those of you not from IT background, a lot of time when you are presenting some idea or, or asking customers to buy something, you give them a picture of what is the current state of things, what is the current solution, what is the current landscape. And that's where you can, instead of just telling, okay, these are the facts and technologies and, and infrastructure platform, you basically can tell a story, weave the tale weave a story about what is the current state. Okay, where else we can use stories in presentation?

Whenever we do our demo presentation, right, to demonstration, we used to tell what is the problem statement of current IT industries or current way of working, right? And while, while we explain how the product is solving that problem, that, that's where we— I see another moment of telling a story. Yeah.

Absolutely, absolutely. Whenever you're proposing something and what is going to be the impact, absolutely. Okay, I want to hear from others as well. So Sanjay, where do you think we can use stories in presentation? Yeah, any kind of presentation. If you wanted to highlight some of the major point, that we must have to tell story because we want, want better impact on that highlight. So people will encourage about, about that and they will carefully listen and they grasp it.

So this is my opinion.

Very nice, very nice. Awesome, awesome. Alan, where do you think we can use stories in presentations?

Yeah, every presentation, like, you know, when we explain about any subject, we can always use a story which is related to the subject what I'm talking in the presentation, which would always, like, you know, have the most attention of the audience. In fact, a couple of days back, I have arranged one, like, induction training for the new joinings. I have narrated like small stories. They liked it really very much. I was talking about bamboo tree. Bamboo tree is a tree which doesn't give the result immediately. Rather, it takes about like, you know, 4 years. Then only after the 4th year, it starts like, you know, growing, and it grows up to 90 feet. So like, you got to keep learning, keep learning. The time will come where you can start performing it. So learning is important. That is the example I related to bamboo tree. It went on. Thank you.

Absolutely, very nice. Thank you. Okay, where do you think we can use stories in presentation?

In—

I think that in our cross-functional discussion, or whenever we have a new, new initiative, like something coming from regulator or something. So there we can create a story around how it will benefit the company and/or how it will improve internal control, internal processes. Or we can have a story as to what is the current state of affairs and what little bit of, little bit of more help or more effort can bring around the change in companies' processes or culture. I think that is one of the things. Other thing that I am being part of the finance team, so we have to build, show them presentation on the business planning side and all. So we generally give them an industry landscape, like how the other companies are performing and their various processes, numbers, balance, etc. So there also, that is the first step. So we can keep it simple and good.

Yeah, keep it simple, silly. Very, very well said, right? And as you said, and as others also said, we can tell a past story, we can tell a present story, we can also tell a future story which is going to happen if you take certain action, you do certain thing, this is how it is going to be figured out. And I don't know about you guys, but I follow a lady called Palki Sharma. She does a lot of videos on YouTube and she is basically a journalist. But what I love about her way of speaking is that, no, she's not telling that, okay, this country attacked this country, or this happened, this invention happened, or, or this stock market crash. Every time she's presenting even a 5-minute presentation, 5-minute news, It's in the weave, in the form of a story where she'll at many a time she'll talk about the, no, what was the history behind something, what is happening now, and what is the future state looks like. So whenever, even in the news, if you see a lot of good anchors and speakers are actually weaving a story about, even if it is a data or even if it is a stock market, they're not just telling you, okay, this is the number that it is.. It'll give you a background of what was happening, what, why it was going down, and then it goes up. A lot of case studies. Another guy, he does a lot of case studies on YouTube and his storytelling skills are very, very amazing. For every complex terminology, he will say, let me explain through a story. And when you go through that 2-minute story, you'll be like, yeah, now I understand what exactly is meant by debt ratio or what is meant by UPP and any other concept. So if these kind of things has got very, very practical implications and implementation that you can take.

Awesome.

So where can you use story? The answer is pretty much everywhere. But if we have to categorize, number one, you can start with a story. When you start your presentation with a story, it gives you— your audience a reason to listen to you, right? So when you're starting with the story, they are intrigued and they want to know what exactly is it that you're leading towards. For example, Ellen says that about this Chinese bamboo tree. Now, when you tell that story, then it is very easy for you to set a narrative that, no, the 4 years that you invest in a college degree, this is how you get the benefit. You won't get direct benefit in those 4 years, but after that you'll get a job, you'll get a promotion. And second thing is, when you tell a story, you can keep on reinforcing the message throughout your presentation. So every time you have something strategic, you can say, remember the Chinese bamboo tree I talked about? So that is where you are reinforcing the story, and in a way you are reinforcing your message. Number 2 is you can end with a story. One of the best ways to end a presentation is also with a story, where your audience member generally remembers the first and the last part of your presentation. And it has been proven by research, they may not remember the in-between, but the way you start and the way you end is remembered by the audience more. So that is why if you end with a story which is a relevant contextual story, it is highly likely that they will remember the point that you are conveying. And this is also called something called callback mechanism. And what do I mean by callback mechanism is Sometimes you have a story at the start and you will see at in various motivational speakers and sometimes in web series also, they'll start with a story but they will not finish the story. They will finish the story towards the end and that's how they will loop back or they will connect the start to the end. So this is what is called a callback mechanism where you're calling from the end the first part of it. The third, which is very obvious, is you can include stories throughout and There are some very, very important aspects when it comes to— one is called tell a story, make a point. If you are telling a story, make sure that you are having a takeaway or a message. I always call that, think about the takeaway message for the audience. What is it, the one message that you want them to take after you have told the stories? Because if you're not making a point for them, then they will make out point for themselves And that may not be the point that you want to tell. So always make a point. Number 2 is don't overload also with too many stories. Sometimes if you're adding too many stories, people think that you don't have anything else to say. You're only telling story. Now, as a storytelling coach, it may seem like, no, contradictory to what I am, what I teach, but it actually is not. It is all about having the right number of stories as well. So how do you define what is the right? Is typically for a 5 to 10 minute speech, you got to have one good story. If you have one good story, it can make an impact versus having 5 stories which is not related, not contextual, and, and going here and there. It is not going to look good on you. And the third thing is you got to include other factors as well. For example, the data, the evidence that will make your content or presentation more, no, more build more gravity and authority to it. If you just tell stories, which is great way for them to understand, but if you don't have evidence, then they may or may not agree to you. And I'll tell you one example of what happened in this community itself. So John is not joining today, but a few weeks back I was taking a session and I said that no, we We have been known to be a story listener and speaker since the time humans evolved. And he said that, with due respect, you don't have any proof. And at that time, I was kind of shaken back because there must be a proof. But because I had not given a data or proof, it, it seems like that, no, my point was hollow. So I went back to the board, I started doing research, and I found this place, uh Let me see if I have that browser open. If I know— if I don't have, then I'll probably show it in next time. I don't think I have it open, but I went ahead and did a little bit of research and found that there are cravings— there are mountain cravings which are 30 years back, 30,000 years back, in which there are depiction of people speaking and, and others people around that. And that is sort of a proof which shows that at least stories are 30,000 years old. Now when I tell you that, it is giving you evidence or proof that yes, stories were there for, there for humans for a really, really long time. So only stories may not get your point across. You also got to have the right data, right evidence as well. So this is where when you are presenting, you got to have the relevant data as well. So now I want to share a few tips for you to deliver the stories. So the first tip is, just like I said earlier, it's a skill, which means that you got to practice, practice, and practice. There is no shortcut to it. You have to practice. You got to own your story. That's where you will get it better. And the more you practice frequently, it will be better versus one day. You can't go to gym and say, okay, I'm going to do the exercise for 10 hours and then you don't do anything for 2 months, nothing is going to change, or you might actually fall sick. But if you go to gym every day for 30 minutes, it's going to build up the muscle. Similarly, storytelling, you also need to start doing it every alternate day or every day. That's where it will get better. And you don't need to have big bang stories. Even if you're including 1 or 2 stories every day, maybe talking to a colleague, maybe, you know, sharing with family, maybe coming to the community and sharing as part of Storytellers Gym, it makes it better. Number 2, don't do runaway storytelling, which is— and I have seen that happen a lot of time. What happens is a lot of us actually crave for an audience, and the moment we get an audience— and I don't want to take a name, but I've seen a few community members here itself— when they get the stage, they will keep on telling and keep on stretching the point beyond what is required. And what happens is if you do that, it's actually going to decrease the value of your story. So it has to have the appropriate time. If it is a 5-minute story, don't make it 10-minute story. Keep it 4 minutes or keep it 5 minutes. The, the crisp you make, the better it will be. Those of you who attended Alma's session, and Ellen is part of the community, Alma also says that you got to make it tight. The tighter it will be, the the bigger the impact would be. Now the third thing is stay in the moment. What happens is we need to relive the story. The best way to bring out the emotion, the best way to get the authentic expression, is by reliving the story. You want to go through what happened frame by frame, bringing the V.A.C.S., which is the visual, auditory, kinesthetic, as well as smell portion of it, to really build the scene. When you do that, that's when You're not telling a story, you are actually building a scene for your audience to go through it. So that means that you need to start including vivid imagery whenever you're speaking. Number 1, bring on the energy. You got to be a sometime bit larger than life. Sometimes you have to speak up even if you're not feeling comfortable or confident. When you just start speaking up, right? Who— okay, answer me, who speaks in the loud noise? Somebody who is overconfident or underconfident? Unmute, unmute, guys, you are on mute.

Overconfident.

So, so what is the secret? You want a 30-second, or even not 30 seconds, 5-second secret to having confidence?

Big voice.

Speak louder. Yes, speak louder. When you speak louder— come on, everybody, let's unmute ourselves and let's say Let us speak louder and clear.

Let us speak louder.

Let us speak clear and louder.

Now, how many of you are feeling actually very low that now that we spoke louder, I'm feeling underconfident? Probably none of you, right? And if you remember the great speakers, when you listen, they're actually sometimes screaming on top of their voice. As I'm not asking you to scream on top of your voice, you will hurt your vocal cord. But practice speaking every time you meet. I want all of you to do this experiment, right? And I've done it myself many, many times, that when you go to next meeting, somebody— don't do it with your seniors or boss or others, but with your colleague or sometimes, sometimes your subordinates— that no, next time you go and meet, say no, say hi Sanjay! Instead of saying hi Sanjay, just, just low, increase your volume by 50%. Say hi Hi Sanjay! And see their reaction and be like, what happened to you? What did you have? Right? This is what happens when you bring energy, right? So anytime you are having a presentation, instead of just saying, hey, good morning guys, yeah, this and that, I hope you're getting— just say, hello everyone, are you excited for this presentation? You can see people's voice. First of all, they will get surprised if they are not used to it, and you'll, you'll, you'll you'll get to have the fun, but then you will see their engagement also go up. So how many of you are actually going to do this experiment in next 1 week or so? And do share your story in the, in the group. I want to hear those stories of how these small things are impacting your communication.

Actually, Haritosh Srivastav, I would like to add a couple of things over here because we were the victims. Okay, I don't want to take a name or so. Whenever we go to a particular person's meeting, she'll be starting like, hey team, how are you? Like, we will be like, all the team members will be drenched, like going down. Even we were like active, then slowly we had to, so we had to change that. Like we had to tell to her or so something, then it slowly got changed. And literally, you know, like whenever we, somebody started the meeting with a low note, it's like energy sucking.

So we can't change others. But we can certainly change ourselves first. So when you go to the next meeting, you start with high energy. Even if it is going with small, low energy, you start with high energy. Hey guys, so what's going on? So much fun. Now don't do it, don't make it like a fake one. People are like, why are you doing? But that's why I said 50% is a good range for you to go. It is like if you go from 3x, 5x, people like, okay, this guy has gone crazy, stay away. So don't do that, but just a little bit more energy because it brings warmth. Every time you are talking to somebody on WhatsApp or phone or meeting in person, right, instead of just saying hello, how are you, just show the warm and it— you will feel the energy just like we just felt in this. Even though we are so much away from different places, we could feel the energy among ourselves. Agree everyone? Awesome. So this is what I want all of you to do. That whenever you go to a session, bring the energy a bit, little bit larger than life. Intensify your voice and facial expression. It's not easy. And we as humans are not natural vocal variation expert or facial expression expert. But let me tell you one more example which will really make a difference. All of us, many of us have kids, right? And when you talk to the kids, especially when they have done something in the school or coming back, just start observing their voice and facial expression. Like many a times when I bring my daughter from school, say, Daddy, do you know what happened today? I'm like, what happened today? And then she'll tell a story. So I'm not very much interested in what exactly happened, but when you start observing this Kids are an amazing communicator. We just have to open our eyes and ears and storytelling antenna to see that, no, how people are. Some people are very natural when they speak. Automatically their hands will move, their vocal variation will go. But for rest of us who are not natural, we can at least start observing. When you start observing, that's when you'll start making certain changes. Not sudden, but certain changes to your way of speaking or your projections or your, your body language, your vocal variation. So just try it out. Observe, especially the kids, when they are excited, how they are speaking, and then see how you can use that in certain situations. Making sense, everyone? Getting some practical advices today? Awesome! Now let's move on to the second last one. Which is vocal variation. We all— I think the rest two are vocal variation and body language. But see, remember, you can say the same thing in different ways. And I think I did this session, yeah, in one of the StoryThons I did. So I'll do this again. I'm going to speak one sentence and I want you to tell me what did you— what do you infer by that sentence, right? So everybody understood? I am going to say the same sentence in 4-5 different ways, and I want you to say what did you observe, right? So the, the sentence is called— and I'll write it in the chat— I saw a blue elephant. So this is the sentence that I'm gonna use, and the first way is I saw a blue elephant. That's number 1. Number 2, I saw a blue elephant. Number 3, I saw blue elephant. Number 4, I saw a blue elephant. And number 5, I saw a blue elephant. Now what do you think was changed? What, what did you infer from the first sentence?

I was the emphasized one, so intensity on I was high.

So it was me, it was me, it was not Gayatri or Uttam or Sanjay who saw the elephant.

Okay.

Let's hear from Uttam. So what was the second sentence leading you to? And I'll repeat, you didn't catch it, then I'll repeat. I saw a blue elephant. So the, the emphasis on the saw, right? So yes, yes, I, I saw the elephant. I didn't feel it, I didn't heard about the elephant going, I just saw. That's one of the sensory things. Okay, third sentence. So Ellen, What was the emphasis? I saw blue elephant.

One elephant. Elephant.

Exactly, one elephant, not a number of element. It was one elephant. Okay, Sanjay, I saw a blue elephant. What is the emphasis on?

The color.

Yes, it was a blue one, not a white, not a red. It was a blue. And let's see, Rajesh, if you are able to unmute. I saw a blue elephant. Or Alka, are you able to unmute? Then you can share. Yeah, you need to unmute.

Yeah, yeah, I missed something. What's the question?

The question is, what do you observe in the sentence the way I'm speaking? So I'm saying, I saw a blue elephant. It's about the emphasis and how do you infer that sentence.

So obviously there are no blue elephants, so it catches your eye, it catches your attention, and you get hooked on to that.

That means you were not paying attention. I understand. Yeah, so we are talking about the emphasis. So the, the— in this sentence, okay, who wants to answer? Let's see who else was listening to it. Who wants to answer? Okay, Elan rose the hand first, so go ahead, Elan.

Emphasis on elephant.

Yes, so I saw a blue elephant, not a blue horse, not a blue duck, not a blue sky. Correct. So this is how you can change you think about some of the sentences that you speak. Are you putting the right emphasis on the right part? Sometimes, because we are programmed to say in the same monotone, we're not putting the emphasis on the right part of the sentence, and that can actually lead to less sales. I mean, this might be far-fetched, but this is true. If you can emphasize on the right portion of the sentence, on the right words, it can actually change people's perception about you. So that is why focus on— just like, yeah, now Alka Ji will be paying more attention because we talked about that. But yeah, jokes apart, you need to punch up by emphasizing on the right keywords. And you can raise and lower your volume at different places based on the context. And you can speed up and slow down based on what you're speaking. And the last part is the body language. The That includes your facial expression, your hand gestures, and your stage movement as well. These are big topics. We're not going to cover all of that today because we're already, you know, 1 hour 15 minutes into the session, and I don't want to take away a lot of time. So let me do one thing. I'm going to actually take a screenshot of all of this and put it in the group so that if you want to refer You can refer that. In the meanwhile, what I want, any of you have a story that you want to share with the group, uh, put your name in the chat so that we can take that.

All right.