“Story” is a funny word when used in a business context. It sounds soft and “touchy-feely.” Many business leaders will discount the concept of telling a story in a presentation as not professional.
“Just give ’em the facts,” they might say.
But they couldn’t be more wrong. Their clients, customers, workers, peers, bankers, stockbrokers and just about everyone else they will ever deal with are human. And humans respond powerfully to stories. We are wired for stories. It was how we communicated and survived millennia ago. And it is how we connect most directly today.
I like to think there is a natural wall that separates us as presenters from our audience as we begin. They see us as “not one of them.” It is one of our primary tasks as we start our presentation to get them to see us as on their side of that wall– to have them feel as though we are with them and have their best interests at heart.
And we can do that most effectively through stories. Your audience might have a natural skeptical response to your first words. But they will tend to believe what you say in your stories unless you break that trust. (Important note: Don’t break that trust!)
So until big, stuffy, no-nonsense business leaders can get comfortable with the word “story” let’s just call them “case-studies” or “examples.”
Their power will be the same and it will be our little secret.
