Using Stories to Engage Your Audience

Using Stories
to Engage
Your
Audience
Bill Smith
Chief Storyteller,
Leading Edge
Process Consultants LLC

October 2012

All slides in this
presentation are

Copyright 2012,
Leading Edge Process
Consultants LLC

Ground Rules

’til noon

at the end

About Me

74 Intro to CMMI classes taught

Presentation Awards

NDIA CMMI
Conference
2008
2009
2010

Instructors?

You want
motivated
students

Presenters?

You want
powerful
presentations

Salespeople?

You want
effective
sales calls

So… why
do you need
STORIES?

“Storytelling is
and always was
the essence of
business
presentations.”
Presentation Secrets
Alexei Kapterev

Today I’ll share

20
presentation tips
by talking about…

Bob
CMMI Instructor,
Lead Appraiser

Well, Bob delivers slides like…

Bob doesn’t get
many students
nowadays…

…because of
the economy.
NOT!

Everyone’s
just going
somewhere
else.

Bob has been
chosen to
speak…

Abstract #410258

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turpis.

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consequat malesuada est eget ornare. Vestibulum mollis, sapien vitae pretium dapibus, nunc dolor adipiscing odio,

…based on his
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writing ability.
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mauris justo. Duis rutrum elit id arcu molestie pellentesque. Aenean vel nunc posuere dui imperdiet ullamcorper in
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Donec euismod dictum justo, ac consequat mauris commodo ut.

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He
quickly
assembles
his slides…

Because
they’re so
happy
he’s finally
freakin’
done!

…and conference
attendance
declines
yearly…

Attendees have been turned into

by speakers like Bob

Finally…

Bob
is asked
to talk…

He delivers his standard pitch…

“People, Process, Technology…”

Corporate Background Briefing
• About Us
• Our Mission and Vision
• Corporate Values
•
•
•
Worldwide Headquarters
Regional Offices
Quality Statement
ZZZZ!!!
• Our Services
• Key Facts and Figures
• Our Competitive Advantages

Copyright 2012 Company Name Corporate Background Briefing 1

Bob doesn’t get the business…

The client picked someone else…

Beth!
CMMI Instructor,
Lead Appraiser

Rock’n
Storyteller

Whose

Rock’n
Stories

result in…

Motivated Powerful Effective sales
students presentations calls

Bob sees Beth speak at a SPIN
meeting…

Wow!

…and they arrange to have coffee.

And
this is
when Beth
starts rock’n
Bob’s world.

…to make facts more memorable.

“Don’t address their brains. Address
their hearts.” – Nelson Mandela

Elements of a Story

1• Structure
2• Slides *
3• Delivery

* for business presentations

Developing Your Structure

4. Develop the plot

3. Identify the conflict

2. Brainstorm key points

1. Focus

Developing Your Structure: Focus

4. Develop the plot



1. Focus

“And by the way,
you know, when
you're telling these
little stories? Here's
a good idea - have
a point. It makes it
so much more
interesting for the
listener!”
Neal Page (Steve Martin)
Planes, Trains, and
Automobiles

My goal is to
inform people… We can do better
than that…

“The only
reason to give
a speech is to
change the
world.”
John F. Kennedy

IDEA: Storytelling -> GOAL: You ->
Effective presentations Better presentations

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they
would have said faster horses.” – Henry Ford

Developing Your Structure: Key Points

4. Develop the plot



1. Focus

This is when you
dive into
PowerPoint?
Not so fast…

Or you’ll obsess over details…

Developing Your Structure: Conflict

4. Develop the plot



1. Focus

Conflict:
What makes
your story
interesting!

Types of Conflict
another entity status quo challenges

Consider Using a “Hero”

Your Company

Your Client You Your Audience

“Me” Presentations: Be Careful

“Audience
detests
arrogance and
self-
centeredness.”
Nancy Duarte,
Resonate
Solution: Reveal
weaknesses

Developing Your Structure: Plot

4. Develop the plot



1. Focus

“All stories are a form
of communication
that expresses the
dramatic code. The
dramatic code,
embodied deep in the
human psyche, is an
artistic description of
how a person can
grow or evolve.”
John Truby,
The Anatomy of a Story

Can’t I just use
the facts?
If you do, then…

Expect this.
Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah
• Blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
blah
blah
blah

blah
blah
blah

“Storytelling is nothing but
putting facts in a sequence
and making connections.”
Presentation Secrets
Alexei Kapterev

Logic doesn’t stimulate action.

STORIES DO.

A Story’s Emotional Arc

solution
conclusion
exposition

comfort zone threshold
problem

Emotional Arc: Exposition

solution
conclusion
exposition

problem

Emotional Arc: Problem

solution
conclusion
exposition

problem

The
problem
is your
emotional
hook!

Emotional Arc: Solution

solution
conclusion
exposition

problem

Ways to organize a solution:

L ocation
A lphabet
T ime
C ategory
H ierarchy

Emotional Arc: Conclusion

solution
conclusion
exposition

problem

Sample Conclusion Slides

Patience,
young
Padawan!

Relative Duration

exposition problem solution conclusion

Relative Emotion

exposition problem solution conclusion

Why Use Slides?

Reminder

“Pictorial superiority effect”

Yet, Most Slides Are Awful!
• They ignore the “pictorial superiority effect,” and have no
pictures or maybe just a crappy one.
• And as far as reminding the presenter what to say?
– Many slides go overboard, using complete sentences when really only
a few words would do.
• The result is a slide like the one you see now.
– The information on it is difficult, if not impossible, to process.
– And you find yourself wondering whether you should be listening to
what I’m saying or reading the slide. It’s really hard to do both at the
same time. Humans just don’t multi-task like that.
– Plus, did you really come here just so you could hear me read bullet
points to you?
• Okay, next slide.

• 9
•
•
•
•
•
•

This series of slides

Started out like this

I wouldn’t have
the time for Some of your
that! competitors make
time for that…

And they’re the
ones that are ...

Schedule Issues?

Missed commitments

My boss says to
keep it to 20
slides. Your boss is
wrong.

Measure Your Presentation By…

Time Not number of slides

“Inappropriate
measures can
cause unintended
behavior”

I swear I’m not
making this next
slide up.

And yes it’s
ONE SLIDE

Google Cautiously

Relevant? Copyrighted? High quality?

But don’t use Happy Call Center Girl!

Is it really that fun to work in a call center?

Need I Say More?

12 points

18 points

48 points

The talk you

Planned
Will
The talk you
never
Gave be the
The talk you same
Wish you gave

Delivery Matters!
indifferent VS enthusiastic

WIN!

Delivery Success Factors *

Clarity 59%

Pace 52%

Voice 47%

Engaging w/ Audience 43%

Addressing Questions 34%

Humor 11%

* for “scientific” presentations [Carlos Estrada et al, 2005]

But I’m not a
great speaker. That’s okay.
There’s one little
trick…

PASSION
is all about
ENERGY…

…which may come from an
INTERNAL CONFLICT

I hate boring I’m afraid this
presentations could be one

Old school

Be an expert

New school

Be yourself!

But…

You need to
love what
you do

I’m not sure I
love what I’m I’ll try to say this
presenting. nicely, but…

Then you shouldn’t
be presenting.

…and maybe you need a new job.

Use words
you’d use in a
NORMAL
CONVERSATION

Jobs vs. Gates, Round 1
Words Per Sentence
10.5 21.6

[Todd Bishop, 2007]

Jobs vs. Gates, Round 2
“Difficult” Words

2.9% 5.1%

WIN! [Todd Bishop, 2007]

Strong Language is Interesting!

“High fructose syrup and sugar are
exactly the same; they are equally
bad. They are both dangerous
dangerous,
they are both poison.
unhealthy.
Okay? I said it. Poison.”
Unhealthy.”

Robert H. Lustig,
YouTube speech on nutrition

Offend People

Or you’re not
doing your job!

How can you
CHANGE THE WORLD…

…if you don’t
ROCK THE BOAT?

But Eye Contact Is Hard!

“Looking at faces is
quite mentally
demanding… So
when we are trying to
concentrate and
process something
else that’s mentally
demanding, it’s
unhelpful to look at
faces.”
Dr. Gwyneth
Doherty-Sneddon,
University of Northumbia
at Newcastle

I don’t always
have time to
rehearse.
I’ll say it again…

How to Rehearse

Out
loud

Realtime, > once

Why?

Confidence

Memorization

Hey, this has
been a big help.
Thanks!
No problem!

Bob starts weaving
anecdotes into his classes
and treating his
presentations like stories.

Review: Key Story Elements

1• Structure
2• Slides
3• Delivery

This is a time of change for
everybody in this room. We can
grow our business, but only if
we don’t bore our customers to
death. Let’s deliver classes,
presentations, and yes even
sales meetings that absolutely,
positively, 100%...

ROCK THE
WORLD!!

Bill Smith
bill@cmmitraining.com
www.CmmiTraining.com

Using Stories to Engage Your Audience

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