TJ Walker explains how to pick and polish stories for presentations. Test them by recording yourself, sending the video to trusted clients, and asking if they remember the story and find it relevant. Skip the ad-libs: stories should be practiced, not improvised.
How do you get the right story for your speech or presentation? Now everybody says they love stories and yet if you tell a story that leaves people scratching their heads or confused or thinking it's inappropriate or self indulgent, you haven't done yourself any favors as a speaker or a presenter. The best thing to do is test. If you're giving a presentation to 30 prospects tomorrow, practice your presentation with a story, record it on video and send it to a couple of clients who you already know and they like you and you like them who are willing to give you some feedback. Ask them what they think of it. Ask them what your story was, see if they even remember it and ask them if they think it is relevant and you should use it. Don't ask them what they think of your style. They'll tell you you look nice and fine. But ask them what they think of the stories. Do they work? Get comfortable with them. What you don't want to do is just top of your head in the middle of the presentation. Oh yeah, that reminds me. Because you may come up with a story that just doesn't work in that situation. Now the biggest problem of all with stories is leaving them out. The number one mistake most speakers make is let me just stick to the facts, let me stick to the data, let me stick. Stick to the numbers. There's no time for stories and their speech just goes. It lands with a thud. It's boring and unmemorable. So no, you don't want bad stories, but you do want stories to illustrate every key point in your presentation.
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