The Key to Engaging Presentations: Lessons from Successful Leaders

9 Jun 2008 · 0 min

Watch on YouTube

0:23

A short instructional video (by TJ Walker) on making leadership presentations engaging by using concise storytelling rather than formal speeches. The chunk emphasizes that effective leaders "tell stories" with characters, dialogue, conflict and resolution; it includes a 20-second anecdote told by Joel Osteen (a minister-in-a-car joke) as a model of tight, humorous storytelling that makes presentations more engaging.

Great leaders realize there's no such thing as giving a great speech. Great leaders don't give great speeches. Instead, they tell stories with interesting characters and dialogue.
It's like that minister I told you about. He was driving down the road and he looked down. He veered off, went through a ditch and crashed into a telephone pole. The man behind him pulled over and ran up to him and said, sir, are you okay? The minister said, yes, I'm fine. The angel of the Lord is with me. The man shook his head and said, you better let him ride with me. You're about to kill him.
Note how Osteen tells a great story here in only 20 seconds. He brings in characters, conflict problems, location resolution, and he gets a chuckle all in under 20 seconds. That's good storytelling. That's how leaders make presentations.