TJ Walker answers a student question about how to make stories stick in speeches and presentations. He advises testing stories on a few colleagues who resemble the target audience and asking specifically "What do you remember?" to confirm the story's message; he also recommends recycling stories that have been proven to work. Walker illustrates the point with an anecdote about Larry King retelling the same successful stories to live audiences, and closes with thanks and holiday greetings.
Chapters
Our question of the day comes from Michael, who is a student in my course, the Complete Storytelling Course for speaking and presenting. Michael asked what strategies can ensure your story leaves a lasting impression on the audience. He's of course, referencing the fact that I recommend anytime you're giving a speech, a presentation or a talk, illustrate your key points with a story. If you want insurance, I've got a way to give it to you, and it's ironclad. It's test if you got a story you're going to share with a keynote audience of 500 people on Thursday. Test your story to a couple of colleagues who have similar mindset, similar interests as your audience. Test it on Tuesday. Deliver your story, deliver your presentation. Then when you're done, don't say, what do you think? How'd you like my story? They'll say, oh, it was great. No, ask them, what do you remember? And if they say, oh, yeah, I remember your story about, and it reminded me of that, and then they tell you the message of the story, you know, that it works. That's how you can ensure your story work. Test it, prove it. I can't build a bridge. I can't call myself a successful civil engineer, build a bridge, and just hope that cars don't crash. I've got a test along the way. I need to have evidence that this bridge works. I can't just build a bridge out of straw, out of a gut impression. Too often people tell stories or they give presentations and they have no more evidence than someone building a bridge made of straw. It's pretty flimsy. It's going to fall apart. Now, I do want to save you time because I'm assuming if you're taking this course and writing to me, you are a serious, active professional or aspiring professional, and I'm not calling you lazy, but I do want you to be lazy in this regard. Recycle your stories. If you have a story you've told one colleague in your industry, a co worker, even a friend, and they're like, oh, wow, now I get it. That's fascinating. That's interesting. I can relate to that. And it relates to the point you want to make in a speech. Use the same story, reuse it, because you've already tested it. You know it works. Many years ago, 30 years ago, I was talking to a friend of mine, Jim Bohannon, who's a nationally syndicated talk show host, and he was telling me he used to work in the same office with Larry King, who's now no longer with us, a well known radio and TV talk show host. And Jim was saying, well, T.J. i used to get to hear Larry give speeches all the time. We worked out of the same office. And I said, really, Jim? That must have been fascinating. I hear he's great. What was it like? And he said, TJ it was so awful, it was boring. I'd go to the back of the room, find a table, crawl under it, take a nap. So, Jim, that's kind of disappointing. Would have thought Larry King would have been a better speaker. Hey, I'm just curious. What. What was the reaction from the audience? He said, TJ the reaction was always the same. Laughter, tears, cheers, lots of applause, standing ovation, and his $50,000 check on the way out. I said, wow, that's kind of a contrast. I don't understand why such an extreme difference in their reaction versus yours. He said, TJ he gave the same darn speech every time he's told the same stories. Larry King understood that it wasn't television. It was a live audience. And for those people, it was often the only time they would ever see him in real life. So he gave them his very best stories that exemplified the ups and downs and the lessons he learned from his career. He retold, he recycled his stories, and people loved them. So he didn't have to guess about the next national convention of watermelon growers or wherever he spoke, whether his stories would work. He knew it because it worked before. And that, Michael, is how you can ensure your stories will be successful and leave a lasting impression with your audience. Hey, I want to thank you for joining me today. Thank you, Michael. Thank so many of you for leaving comments and being regulars here. And I do want to be especially thankful on this day, regardless of what holidays, cultural holidays, religious holidays you choose to support or celebrate, or perhaps none at all. I do want to take this time to say happy holidays to you. I'm wishing the best to you and your family. And Merry Christmas for those who celebrate that. I'm T.J. walker. I'll see you tomorrow.
