I seem to wind up with quite a few people people talking to me. Politicians seeking my vote, executives sharing their thoughts, con men trying to sell me something, famous people discussing their success, and regular people doing presentations on no end of topics for often obscure reasons. And then there is the normal conversation of people just sharing ideas and experiences as they go about their daily lives.
Often I think back on my day or week and what stuck out as the most interesting and important things I heard as well as those talks or conversations that were the most fun. Take a minute and think back on your week just past before reading further.
What do you notice? Probably the same thing as I, what you remember is mostly stories.
There is a lot going on in all our lives. We are bombarded by information and surrounded by the noise of people talking and attempting to catch our attention to share their important ideas. Mostly it passes through our minds and rapidly dissipates. A week, a day, an hour, or even a few minutes later and it’s gone, never to be retrieved.
But some things linger. Some speakers you heard years ago are still right there easy to recall. More importantly, their message is still there, captured in your memory. Which things do we remember? The stories. Charts and graphs and long monotonic recitations flee our thoughts almost before the speaker is done talking.
The same with powerpoint or other presentations. Most flee our thoughts as rapidly as they enter. They have no stickiness, nothing to grab our memory and attach themselves firmly.
But stories, stories are sticky. Pictures either painted in words through story or visually in presentations are sticky. They last and last and each time remembered reinforce the idea they express. They overwhelm dry facts and enthusiasm without substance.
Even a less than spectacular speaker becomes more memorable if telling stories to express their ideas rather than reciting a collection of facts. Notice how different you feel and how you act when told of suffering of poor children in Africa by someone sharing reams of statistics than when you see that picture of one malnurished child. Which has the most impact? And which lasts longer in your memory?
Be memorable. Speak stories.
Take your ideas and turn them into an engaging narrative that captures the essence of what you want to express and builds a picture in their mind of how it looks. Stories take things from abstract to concrete, from ignorable to unforgettable, from fleeting to embedded.
Great leaders are great storytellers. They know how to capture the imagination and engage the emotions by sharing stories that build from simple beginnings and end with engaging pictures of the ideas they want you to hear. They embed emotion, imagery, movement, and ideas in one intermixed whole that stays with you and guides your thinking along lines they have laid down.
Story stays with you.
Be memorable. Speak stories.
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