Storytelling is an art used in every culture. It aims to hold one in a spellbound and is an age-old tradition that has been passed down to generations. People have been engaged in the storytelling profession too, be it a storyteller amusing an emperor in his court or a Ted speaker trying to win his audience with his skills. A good story engages various parts of the brain and draws people in, grabbing their emotions, evoking empathy with the characters, and allowing them to visualize the story elements. Research has shown that humans are hardwired for storytelling.
Here are several tips that you can use to create a lasting impact with your storytelling skills.
1. Understand your audience
Understanding your audience is the key to win hearts over. It would help you inform the design and content of slide decks. For instance, if you have to share a story from a field with which your audience is not an expert, you should break the jargon and help the audience digest concepts in bite-size. Similarly, it is essential that you follow a golden rule of presentation-giving, which is to use visuals that supplement your story rather than repeat what has already been said. One should also consider creating a common ground between oneself and the audience, which would help them embark on the journey with you.
2. Know your structure
Storytelling requires thought and well-crafted composition. The thought process could take several forms. One such example is of a nested loop where one starts from the core and extends that by quoting several examples. This strategy could help one recapitulate the audience’s attention and help them create a mind map.
3. Be visual
Countless studies reveal that using visuals helps improve engagement and retention.
Visual storytelling allows complex data to be broken down into smaller digestible and memorable chunks of information.
Give your presentation a new dimension with relevant images, animated GIFs, or short videos that guide the narrative of your story. PowerPoint decks could serve as a great tool to convey your message. We have covered PPT deck tips & tricks earlier in our blogposts.
4. Connect the dots
It is crucial to converge your ideas to a central core now and then in your presentation so the audience can connect the dots. It is also known as a petal structure, which is a way of organizing multiple speakers or stories around one central concept. It’s useful if you have several unconnected stories you want to tell or things you want to reveal – that all relate to a single message.
