As a business executive (and more specifically, as a management consultant) I have to communicate with all sorts of people. Now, unlike politician, if people who listen to me do not do what I tell them, my purpose is defeated. The same is true for most leaders. They have to not only communicate but also motivate the listeners to do something.
As all of you are well aware, people come to meetings, barely listen to what you have to say, and then by the time they arrive back to their desks, they have forgotten 90% of what you told them. And what is forgotten can never be done.
So the key is that not only should people understand what you are telling them, it should be so engaging that they will remember it without even writing it down. Ever wonder why people remember stories and jokes more than their company's mission?
So I attended an excellent conference MiT4: the work of stories, organized by MIT. You might wonder what a business executive is doing at a conference on storytelling where most of the attendees were actually researchers and academicians. But my research has shown that even the dullest presentation if told as a story accomplishes both the goals described above - people remember the story and then they also act on it.
In particular, I want to mention a presentation "Visualization and Storytelling in Management Consulting" by Mats Bjorkin, who is an associate professor in film studies and head of the Department of Culture, Aesthetics and Media at Goteborg University in Sweden. His research shows that management consultants are only now starting to appreciate the role of storytelling in communicating with their clients.
How to tell a story in a business setting?
Whether we have doctorate degrees or we have no education, we all love stories. Here are a few tips on how to convert almost any thing that you want to communicate in a story form:
As all of you are well aware, people come to meetings, barely listen to what you have to say, and then by the time they arrive back to their desks, they have forgotten 90% of what you told them. And what is forgotten can never be done.
So the key is that not only should people understand what you are telling them, it should be so engaging that they will remember it without even writing it down. Ever wonder why people remember stories and jokes more than their company's mission?
So I attended an excellent conference MiT4: the work of stories, organized by MIT. You might wonder what a business executive is doing at a conference on storytelling where most of the attendees were actually researchers and academicians. But my research has shown that even the dullest presentation if told as a story accomplishes both the goals described above - people remember the story and then they also act on it.
In particular, I want to mention a presentation "Visualization and Storytelling in Management Consulting" by Mats Bjorkin, who is an associate professor in film studies and head of the Department of Culture, Aesthetics and Media at Goteborg University in Sweden. His research shows that management consultants are only now starting to appreciate the role of storytelling in communicating with their clients.
How to tell a story in a business setting?
Whether we have doctorate degrees or we have no education, we all love stories. Here are a few tips on how to convert almost any thing that you want to communicate in a story form:
- Bring real people, places in your speech by "humanizing" the presentation. Even a story on sales performance during a quarter can be humanized by talking about the type of customer that embraced the new product.
- Start with background and context. And to do that, include a short story of a supplier or a customer or a competitor.
- Let each point lead to another as would a story. It should flow like a continuous stream. If you have to talk about two unrelated topics, don't just jump and change the story; connect the two unconnected stories by another story.
And finally, test your presentation on a six-year old. If you cannot amuse that kid, chances are you will not be able to keep your audience of business executives interested.