Stories are used in public speaking to get and keep the audience attention, to illustrate and to prove a point. They can also be used as the sole basis of a speech for entertaining purposes.
Good stories told in public speaking have certain characteristics and share many of the same qualities found within a good literature. There are additional requirements that the effective public speaker includes in their delivery so that the stories will support their speech.
1. Interesting Stories
A good quality story can overcome many of the short-comings in the telling of it. But no amount of techniques can save a dully story. An interesting story will include conflict, drama and suspense.
2. Elements of a Good Story
Like a good short story in the literary world, the public speaking story includes interesting characters, a setting, plot and a climax. Concern and tension are used by the speaker to build up the suspense until the outcome is explained and the audience moves from expectation to relief. A technique to build up suspense is to tell part of the story early on in the speech and then to interrupt the story delay the conclusion until the latter part of the speech.
3. Drama
Create the feeling you want to convey through your tone of voice, facial expressions, choice of words, body language, and speed of delivery. For example, if you are discussing confidence, you will want to speak with confidence to convey this feeling.
4. Choose your language
Use words that will create vivid pictures in the mind of the audience. Choose the words that will paint pictures in the mind of your listeners, for example saying "I stood there open-mouthed" creates a specific image, compare this with the expression "I was surprised" that leaves the canvas blank.
Other techniques to use are similes, exaggerations (for effect only). Choose the words with care and use to season and support your story, not to mislead your listeners
5. Order of Story
Take time to think through what is the best order to tell the story . The most straightforward way is to tell the story in that the events occurred. An alternative to consider is to use flashbacks. The storytelling begins towards the end of the story to get the audience's attention and flashbacks to the beginning of the story are used to create suspense and tension.
6. Self Explanatory
The story must be clear and told in a way that it is obvious to the listener what is being illustrated or the point that is being made. There should be no need to explain the outcome.
7. Right Size
The story should be the length required to tell it adequately. Too long and it can bore your listeners with too much detail. Keep the pace that the events happening quickly enough so the audience maintains interest. You can slow down the delivery to increase suspense but ensure the pace is quick enough so as not to lose the audience.
8. Relevant
The content of the story needs to be related to the speech and the message, an unrelated story will take away from your message and reduce the effectiveness of the speech because it may confuse your audience.
Stories give context to the information being provided in your speech. People enjoy stories because they can visualize the events as they unfold. Because your audience will listen and enjoy stories, you will discover that by using the art of storytelling in public speaking you can get and hold their attention easily and quickly.
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