IMPORTANT: Make it a Personal Story!
Here’s the time tested Formula for the Body of your Speech.
Make a Point – Tell a Story Make a Point – Tell a Story Make a Point – Tell a Story
Do this three to five times.
Each Point, and the accompanying Story, should support your main theme.
Stories are a great way to communicate a point. We all relate to being read stories when a child, reading them ourselves, and, if you have children, grandchildren, and younger siblings – reading stories to them. Stories make things ‘real’.
As an example: If I were giving a talk about the ‘The Three Ps of Selling’, I might talk about:
Product Knowledge
Prospecting
Persistence
I would make each point, then tell a story to support it.
When I come to Persistence, I might tell the story about Thomas Edison and the great persistence he showed in inventing the light bulb. The way I heard it, is that it took him 10,000 trials before he found the correct formula. Asked by a reporter how he felt about failing 9,999 times, the genius from Menlo Park exclaimed, “I never failed! I successfully found 9,999 ways that didn’t work. With each experiment I got closer to my goal.”
That’s a great story. But there’s a problem with it: Many people have already heard it. Some, more than once. I heard it myself, twice one day when back-to-back speakers told the same Edison story!
The Solution: Tell Your story! No one else can tell your story.
For the Persistance ‘P’ of Selling, I tell my story.
It’s a story from the days when I was in the Coffee Service business. There was a specific bank headquarters that was in the upper half of my prospect list. They had a coffee bar in the lobby, where banking customers and clients, as well as employees, could get free coffee. I figured the volume was high, plus it would be a great opportunity to showcase a new fresh brew, single-cup system we were introducing to the market.
I won’t go into the entire story here (please read my book, or attend one of my speaking engagements for the complete story), but it took a lot of persistence to land this account. As a teaser, so you’ll want to hear the whole story, during the demonstration in the coffee bar of the bank, the president got in my face and asked very pointedly, “What are you doing here?!” (If any of you are in Sales; this is not a buying signal!)
My persistence paid off. We installed not only a coffee system here, but a filtered water machine, also. Additionally, we went on to place equipment in two other branch offices of the bank.
The ‘Coffee Service in the Bank Story’ is my story. No one else can tell my story!
Here’s an important point: Each and every one of you have your own stories of: overcoming adversity, helping others, honesty, hard work paying off, and getting knocked down and getting up again.
The key here, is to be, as they say in Yoga; always present and in the moment. When those stories occur in real time – capture them and put them in the hard drive of your brain. Then, when you’re composing a speech and need a story to demonstrate your point, you’ve got a file you can pull out!
Then, Make a Point and Tell Your Story!
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About the Author Fred E. Miller is a speaker, an international coach, and the author of the books, “NO SWEAT Public Speaking!” and “NO SWEAT Elevator Speech!”
Businesses, Individuals, and Organizations hire him because they want to improve their Networking, Public Speaking, and Presentation Skills.
They do this because they know: Speaking Opportunities are Business, Career, and Leadership Opportunities.
They also know: We perceive really great speakers to be Experts. We like to work with Experts.
He shows them how to: Develop, Practice, and Deliver Fantastic Presentations! with – NO SWEAT!
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Lessening The Fear of Public Speaking with – NO SWEAT!
Crafting Your Elevator Speech, Floor by Floor with – NO SWEAT!
Speaking Opportunities are Business, Career, and Leadership Opportunities.
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My books can be purchased on amazon.com. “NO SWEAT Public Speaking” “NO SWEAT Elevator Speech!”
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