239.How to Make Any Story Unforgettable

Links for today:
Kathie Owen Links: https://www.kathieowen.com/links
Blog Post for today: https://www.kathieowen.com/blog/how-to-tell-stories-that-stick-at-work
Book Stories That Stick by Kindra Hall: https://amzn.to/3K1hwDT

In today’s episode, we discuss:

Mastering the Art of Storytelling: Elevate Your Speeches with These 4 Key Elements

In this episode of Kathie's Coaching podcast, host Kathie Owen shares an impactful education session from Toastmasters on the art of storytelling.

Kathie discusses how to craft a compelling story using four essential elements taught by Kindra Hall in her book 'Stories That Stick': identifiable characters, authentic emotion, significant moments, and specific details.

Through personal anecdotes and practical tips, Kathie illustrates the power of storytelling to captivate and influence an audience, making your speeches more memorable and effective. Tune in to learn how to make your stories stick!

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Storytelling in Toastmasters
01:22 The Power of Emotional Connection
03:39 Key Elements of a Great Story
07:26 Applying Storytelling Techniques
08:11 Conclusion and Recommendations

Transcript

0:00

Today's episode is about the education seminar that I gave inside Toastmasters the other day, and it's all about storytelling and how to tell a really good story whenever you're trying to talk about anything in general, and especially when you're giving a speech. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. You are listening to Kathie's Coaching podcast. I'm your host, Kathie Owen. So today's episode is an education session that I gave inside Toastmasters that has gotten a lot of feedback on it. In fact, when I talked about this education session the other day. In Toastmasters, there are evaluations that take place at the end of this meeting, and those evaluations are so beneficial for so many reasons. But what happened on these evaluations of the three speeches that were done that day is each speech included all of these elements that I'm gonna talk about in storytelling and. Which are very good elements to use to make an impact and have influence in your storytelling topic. So without further ado, let's get into the lesson. I want you to think of a movie, a movie that actually evoked a lot of emotion and just a simple scene that happened inside of a movie is enough. And while you're thinking of that, I'm going to share mine. So remember the movie Marley and Me. Marley and me star, Jennifer Aniston. And. Owen Wilson, and they bonded over this dog and there was a couple and they ended up getting together and all of that. Well, as fate would have it, the dog had to be put to sleep, and that evoked a lot of emotion. But I'm going to share. One step further and share my own story that had to do with this movie. So at the time when the movie came out, my boys were very young at the time, and I guess my youngest was about six or seven. And at the time in the movie when they were putting the dog to sleep, my son grabs my face and he says,"mom, are you crying?" At the top of his lungs and the whole movie theater, who also was crying at the same time, burst. Out laughing and it kind of broke the emotion, but I will never forget that moment. And the reason why this is so impactful when you're telling a speech or telling a story of any kind. From the book by Kindra Hall, Stories that Stick, I will have links to that in the show notes and description below. The book is called Stories That Stick. How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business. So the reason I even picked this as an education session for Toastmasters is because when I first joined Toastmasters. My speech bombed. It is speech bombed like crazy. Well, one of my fellow Toastmasters gave me this book and told me to read it, and when I did, I got her point. She didn't even have to tell me. I was not telling stories. And there are four elements that Kindra teaches us to teach a really impactful story and to include in every speech that you do because it will make an impact. And honestly, that's all you want is to make an impact whenever you're giving a story or a speech. So. What are the four elements? Kathie I'm so glad you asked. Number one is identifiable characters. Stories need someone we can see ourselves in, not just a man, not just my neighbor, but. My neighbor Joe, who always wore cowboy boots to the grocery store. That is an identifiable character. And if you think of the movies, Marley and me, the identifiable characters in that story were. Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, and if you think about my story even further, then I am the identifiable character. My son is also an identifiable character. Number two element that we need is authentic emotion. Emotion is what connects us. Neuroscience proves that. And if you can use authentic emotion when you're telling a story, you are going to connect with your audience. It's almost like a given. So the authentic emotion in this story is when we were all crying because the dog was put to sleep. And if you think about the movie that you were identifying with and the scene. The emotion is most likely was what connected you, and it was authentic emotion. I took it one step further with my son, having everybody in the movie theater laugh because of his innocence. Mom, are you crying? And everybody in the movie theater was crying at that time, but he connected it with authentic emotion by helping everybody get a laugh. And number three element that is important for a great story is a significant moment. Every story needs a turning point. It's not the whole history, it's the one moment that everything changed. For example, putting the dog to sleep, of course, that's a significant moment. Or my son grabbing my face and saying. Looking at me in the eyes and saying, mom, are you crying? That was a significant moment. And then finally we have specific details. Details. Make it stick. Stories that stick, get it. Pun intended. You want these specific details to really hang in there. So that. The audience is engaged. I mean, if you saw the movie Marley and Me, you probably remember the specific details when they were at the vet. The dog is laying down. Everybody's crying, everybody's sad. Those details made the story stick, so. Do you see how that story works? You know, you, you get all of those four elements. You give us a character that we recognize. You let us feel something real. You take us to one specific moment and you make it vivid with details. Do those four things and your story won't just be heard. It will actually stick. You know, I love that my lesson in this class made such an impact because even the table topics utilized this as well, and we had a guest who got up and spoke at the meeting. And actually pulled this off as well. And if I had known this when I first joined Toastmasters many years ago, my first speech would've been totally different. So I highly recommend the book Stories that Stick because it does help with your captivating your customers, captivating your audience, you influence your audience, and you transform whatever you happen to be doing. Alright, that's my episode for today. I trust that you found it helpful, and if you know someone who can benefit from this, please share with them. And until next time, I will see you next time. Peace out and namaste.