Tips And Techniques For A Captivating Story In Business Communication With Activity Training Ppt

Slide 1

This slide explains the different techniques that can be used by the speaker while sharing a story with the target audience.

Instructor’s Notes:

• Immerse your audience in a story: The best way to immerse your audience. This can only happen when you include clear and precise details that engages all our senses. The audience has to see, hear and feel the story. The story presented should be able to create a clear picture of the problem or the storyline in mind by using short but effective descriptions
• Tell a personal story: Originality in storytelling helps you make an instant connection with your audience. Personal storytelling is the most effective way of communication as it builds a connection with your audience 
• Create suspense: Several techniques are available that can increase the level of suspense of your story. One way is to chronologically tell a story and then build up to a climactic conclusion. Another way is to plop the listener in the middle of the action and then go back in time to explain how that occurred. The third way to create suspense in a story is to tell a predictable part and then surprise them with a completely different ending, completely at odds with the general expectation
• Bring characters to life: Characters are the core elements of any story, as their actions and reactions make people curious about a evoke curiosity. It is found that the most successful and influential stories have characters that are easily identifiable and have distinctive characteristics. The storyteller must focus on providing enough details of the characters involved to bring them to life in the audience's minds. Master storyteller Malcolm Gladwell once created a vivid picture of Howard in one of his storytelling presentations by mentioning his hobbies and interests and describing his appearance
• Show. Don’t Tell: Instead of telling a story, the speaker should show it off by converting the concept into a scene. For example, while introducing an article, I could simply tell you that I had a classmate who was an introvert, but one day wowed his whole class with a marvelous presentation. But this approach would not have been so influential; instead, I prefer to use descriptions of setting and conversations to make you feel in the middle of a scene. So, while delivering a story, a speaker should try scene-by-scene construction of events, use dialogues instead of plain narration to make the story more lively
• Build up to a S.T.A.R. moment (Something they’ll always remember): When used in storytelling, S.T.A.R. refers to "Something They'll Always Remember." Like a story's climax, the S.T.A.R. moment is something the audience will always remember and revisit. This moment can take the form of some shocking statistics or some dramatization. For example, Bill Gates, in one of his TED talks in 2009, used this technique when he mentioned the increasing investment in eradicating malaria. He supported his point by giving statistics to prove how serious the problem was and then surprised the room full of the audience by opening a jar full of mosquitos. His punchline was there is no rule which stated that only poor people should have this experience
• End with a positive takeaway: An effective presentation should include not only a conflict and a climax, but also a positive resolution. A story should deliver a message or advice that can help people overcome their problems and bring a change for the better. For example, in one of the talks on domestic abuse, a speaker mentioned that instead of blaming the victims, we as citizens should “perceive the survivors as wonderful and loveable people, each with full futures.”

Slide 2

This slide mentions the tips for telling a story effectively in business communication.

Slide 3

This slide illustrates an activity that the trainer can conduct with the trainees.