
Sometimes you present at your organization and all you get is a blank, apathetic, 5:00pm corporate faces from your audience.
If you are like me, that bothers you a little.
How do you inject some life into them?
How do you give meaning to what they are working on?
How do you make them respond to you?
One way to do this is to share a personal story to make your audience relate to you, even bond with you.
Yes, even bond with you.
That’s when they’ll zone in and listen to you instead of zone out.
The story will make them feel that you are one of them, and not just a corporate talking head. This will motivate them, inspire them and bring life to the presentation.
To demonstrate this, I have to use Barack Obama: I don’t use him because of any political affiliation, only because I am a student of influence and I like to acknowledge people who do it well.
Here is a snippet from Obama’s 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote:
“…let me express my deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention. Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack. His father, my grandfather, was a cook, a domestic servant…”
Obama acknowledges the fact that it’s unlikely for someone like him to be there; he is relating to all those who thought it is impossible. Then he continues with his story relating with every segment of the population, starting with immigrants as you can see above.
Sometimes to get people out of a rut, and to get them excited again about your ideas, you have to relate and bond with them.
Conclusion
I know sometimes in corporate life we avoid using our personal stories, even though we know that sharing our story is an effective way to engage and move people.
It’s sometimes because we are shy, sometimes we don’t know the professional boundaries and sometimes we just don’t know how and what to say.
If that’s the case for you, then I invite you to participate in the next Magnetic Storytelling Boot Camp: Where you will get over your shyness and learn how to tell the 7 stories every business leader must know how to tell.
After the training you will be more influential, more engaging and a better business leader.
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