Unlocking the Secrets of Powerful Presentations by Great Leaders

Great leaders are constantly on the lookout for personal stories, things that really happen to them, especially with their family, to make larger points when they're giving presentations.

I remember my grandmother told how one day she was carrying a couple bags of groceries into her house. She was older in life, not quite as strong as she used to be. And she couldn't get the back door opened. It was a screen door with one of those automatic closures. And she was struggling and struggling, trying not to drop the groceries. And finally she got her elbow in the door and had it open maybe three or four inches. And she said, all of a sudden the door opened up on its own. She thought one of her neighbors had come up behind her and opened it for her. So she went to the kitchen table, quickly set the groceries down, and came right back out to thank that person. Not 10 or 15 seconds later, she told my father, John, it was the strangest thing. I looked up and down the street. Nobody was around. But I'm telling you, that door opened up on its own. And I realized that could have been a coincidence. It could have been something odd with the closing mechanism up top. But I'm also bold enough to believe it could have been the angel of the Lord assisting her.

Osteen is the master storyteller. He's personal. You can see his grandmother. You can see her struggling with the groceries. He's putting pictures in our mind. That's the beauty of storytelling. It's personal. He brings in the dialogue. You can see it, feel it, taste it, touch it. That's why audiences remember it. That's why it resonates. That's what leaders always try to do. They find personal stories, personal examples, to make a larger point.