Storytelling in Public Speaking

00:00 The difference is not the eye contact or the gestures or even the humor.

00:04 The biggest difference is that great speakers consistently illustrate every single key point with a story, not necessarily a funny story or a dramatic story, but they do it with a story.

00:18 Human beings are programmed to listen, understand, visualized stories before there was text, before there is chipping away at stones and cave walls, people told stories.

00:34 It's still the most compelling way to get people to a pay attention, be, understand and see.

00:42 Remember. Now average speakers below average speakers.

00:46 Oh, yeah, yeah. TJ. You know, I love stories.

00:49 They're great with motivational speakers.

00:50 But you know what? I'm a tech guy. I can't do that.

00:53 I'm a finance got baloney.

00:56 It doesn't matter what industry you're in, it doesn't matter your position.

01:01 Great communicators consistently tell a story.

01:04 Warren Buffett does it.

01:07 Steve Jobs did it.

01:09 Ronald Reagan did it.

01:10 Bill Clinton does it.

01:12 So if you want to be a truly great communicator, you have to tell stories now.

01:16 You don't have to tell award-winning stories that are going to get turned into movies.

01:21 All you have to do is have a few simple elements.

01:24 I'm going to walk you through these elements in the next videos on this playlist, so pay close attention.

01:31 But the first thing you've got to do is get over this emotional hurdle where a lot of people tell themselves, Oh, I can't tell stories.

01:38 I don't know any stories.

01:39 Well, if you've ever had a single conversation with one person about a real problem and how it was resolved, you have a story. That's all it is.

01:50 People ask me all the time, T.J., can I make up stories? You could, but that's really hard.

01:57 I don't want you to work harder.

01:58 I want you to think smarter.

02:00 The best stories for your presentations come from your own real life experiences, conversations you've had with clients, customers, colleagues.

02:12 That's where you should draw upon for your story database.

02:17 Not from a book, not from a movie, not from you.

02:21 Having creative writing inspiration.

02:24 You need to draw upon your own real life experiences.

02:28 I'm going to tell you more details of how to tell stories in the following videos in this sequence.