“Tell stories”. Common advice aimed at helping someone to communicate better.
But what does this mean?
Years ago, I realised this advice wasn’t all that helpful. Instead of inspiring someone to communicate better they would instead get bogged down in the minutiae of a concept, project or product. Even worse, it would leave them feeling deflated and thinking “I’m no good at telling jokes”, or “I don’t have time to tell a story”.
Even if you have very little time to make a point to an audience telling a story should be central to what you say and how you say it.
As well as being memorable for your audience, they are far easier to remember for you too. After all, isn’t telling a story about you, your company or something you are really interested in simpler than remembering a list of statistics that link to a bunch of facts that matter to this particular data set?
But I understand that many need something more specific than to “tell stories”.
A good way to get started is to build the story you will tell around three core elements.
1. Make your story easy to follow.
2. Connect by using emotion.
3. Follow a simple structure.
Here is how to do this.
How to make your story easy to follow.
Use every day and relevant examples. Or even better, specific situations that your audience have experienced themselves. Straightaway you increase your chances of being understood because you are adding to previously held knowledge. And you increase your chances of being listened to because you have built a connection. You and the audience have a shared experience. No longer is it ‘you’ and ‘them’ but ‘we’.
This might be about having children or getting married or learning to drive. It might be an analogy about last minute Christmas shopping. The important thing is that it helps explain the point you are making and is understood quickly.
How to connect by using emotion.
The earliest examples of human storytelling are cave paintings thousands of years old. We’ve been telling stories via word of mouth, writing, art, and – for 130 years – film ever since.
Neuroscientists have studied what happens to our brains when we listen to great stories. They discovered the same part of the brain will ‘light up’ whether you are the one doing the telling or listening. From the world’s religions to epic sporting rivalries, via children’s books and fairytales what makes a story ‘light up’ our brains and be memorable is emotion.
There are six basic human emotions - anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness and sadness. Or if you want to simplify things then fear/surprise, anger/disgust can each be seen as two sides of one coin so making it four. Whatever the number, you should be looking to build your story in a way that creates one of these emotions in your audience.
How to follow a simple structure.
Never be afraid to simplify to become understood. A story can be as short as six words. But really the best way to simplify is to think carefully about the structure you are using to create your story.
Story structures such as a story spine are understood as they surround us, educate and entertain us from our earliest days. Fairytales follow a ‘problem-solution-benefit’ structure. Brands use a ‘heroes’ journey’ structure where someone overcomes adversity to thrive or transform their lives. Or the ‘What-So,What-Now,what’ structure is great for those in science needing to explain complex ideas to a non-scientific audience.
A final point. All communication should lead to your audience taking action. That is why stories matter. Stories connect, explain, inspire better than anything else. So next time someone advises you to “tell stories”, please do.