Storytelling Top Tips
- Prepare a good personal story that explains your central values
- Make your story as real as possible; there's no reason to lie or embellish
- Look for opportunities to practice your story with friends or associates before telling it to the world
- What is the key moment that put you on the path you're on today? Use this as your starting point
- Give your story a good "plot" with beginning, middle, and end
- Create your story around a problem or challenge you faced and explain how you overcame it
- Streamline your story, cutting out any unnecessary details so that it's concise
- Pay attention to your listener's reaction when telling your story and use this feedback to make changes
- What are some other people's personal stories that have had an impact on you? Use these for ideas
- Let your story change and evolve over time as circumstances demand it
Most Common Storytelling Mistakes
1. Making up a story or embellishing; tell the true story of how you came to be
2. Promoting while you're telling your story
3. Telling an oft-told tale or stock story rather than creating something unique
4. Boring your listener with stories that are overly long or too fact-filled rather than emotional
5. Creating one story and never brushing it up or improving it
6. Trying to make a story more shocking, amazing or impressive, but only making it less real
7. Giving too much information when it should include only the essentials
8. Hiding failures in an attempt to appear successful when failure is often the key to a good story
9. Creating only one story for all situations and for all audiences
10. Telling your story where it's inappropriate rather than finding the right opportunities to tell it