It’s a technique which creates a memorable section of your speech which audiences love and remember.

Here is the speech writing technique:

Tell a personal story and then share two or three lessons or tips.

Read this real world speech example of how I used the technique:

Recently our family went on vacation. We were anticipating the fun and relaxation, but dreading the airport security.

We approached security lugging five carryon’s, a laptop computer, a stroller, an active 18 month old, and two bottles of apple juice over the three ounce limit.

After clearing the initial identification checkpoint, you know what happened next. The security-check dance began.

Belts are removed. Wallets and shoes tossed into tubs. All the while seeking to keep an 18 month old corralled.

My wife and I make it through the scanner, start collecting our personal belongings and keep an eye out for anyone accidently grabbing one of our bags.

A tall dark haired TSA agent approached.

In one hand he held our daughter’s pink diaper bag and in the other hand he held two bottles of apple juice. Clearly more than three ounces.

Busted.

The TSA website claimed the that having a toddler allowed us a green pass on the juice.

Mr. TSA looked at me and said, “Sir, you can either open the apple juice and let us test them for explosives or we can pat you down and search all your bags.”

I paused.

Glanced at our overstuffed bags, the blue gloves, and made the no brainer choice.

“You can test them!”

Surprise, surprise. The apple juice was found non-explosive.

This experience illustrated of three tips in getting people to do what we ask.

1. Be polite and treat people with respect.

We like to be treated with respect. Politeness makes us more willing to follow the another person’s wishes.

Combining a respectful attitude with “please”, “thank-you”, “Sir”, “Ma’am”, and other polite words increase our persuasive powers.

2. Give people a choice

Mr. TSA did not order me to open the apple juice. He gave me two choices. I may have internally bulked at the thought of opening the sealed Juice, but suddenly it seemed like a great choice when compared with a pat down and search.

A friend of mine used to work as a babysitter. She said she would give the kids choices instead of orders.

“Would you like to read this book or that book?”

“Would you like to go to bed now or stay up and washes the dishes with me?”

This is a powerful persuasive technique for adults and children.

3. Make requests instead of orders.

Earlier a TSA agent said, “Could you take your daughter out of the stroller?”

Sounds better than, “Take your daughter out of the stroller!”

Requests can still have the same authority as orders, but are much more palatable to us.

Turn your orders into requests.

“Could you pick up this report?”

“Would you have time to…”

I’ll never forget that experience nor the persuasion tips it illustrated.

Do you see how this technique will keep the audience’s attention?

When you get stuck in speech preparation or want to spruce up your speech, choose a personal story and then share several lessons from it.

Your audience will love it.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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Are there things we can do as speakers to encourage response? Yes. Here are six ways to connect with the audience and elicit responses.

Play Music Ahead of Time

Pop in a motivational music CD and have it playing as people enter the room. Turn it up enough so people have to talk a little louder. This raises the energy in the room. Darren Lacroix taught me this and it is very effective. Seek to use music with no words.

Movies use music to significantly alter your mood. You can do the same to prepare people for your presentations.

Plant Questions

Getting the first question from the audience can be like pulling teeth. Help this process by giving out a couple questions to different people. Make them good questions that relate to your speech. Instruct these individuals to ask them within 10 seconds of the Q/A period staring, unless someone jumps in first. This will get ball rolling.

Start with a Personal Story

Start with a personal story that the audience can relate to. This helps connect you with the audience.

Give Out Free Gifts

“I have a question for you. There are several good answers, but one I am looking for. The person who gives that answer will get a free copy of my book.”

I recently tried this and it was like offering free lemonade on a hot day. Responses came flying in. The first person gave the answer I was looking for but I took 4 more answers, before I gave her the book.

Tell People Ahead of Time there will be Q&A

Let people know they will have a chance to ask questions and they will have time to think of them.

Don’t Wring Question out of the Crowd

After washing dishes my mom would wring out the dish rag. She would squeeze it to get every last drop of water out so that it could dry.

Sometimes as speakers we can do the same to our audience.We try to wring out questions from the crowd. Avoid long pauses and continually saying “Any Questions.”

“Surly you got questions.”

Not good.

By the way, never, never end with a Q/A session. Instead put the Q/A before the 5 minute conclusion. You want to control what people hear in the last five minutes.

Lets wrap this up.

One weekend I was doing several workshops. With one group I used these techniques and the other group I did not. The difference was tremendous. Use a few of these public speaking or workshop tips and you’ll get more response from the audience.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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As you watch notice three story telling tips:

• The use of the “pause”
• Details to set the scene in our mind
• A good point

Enjoy!

 

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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Presentation Tip #3: If the Audience is bored, the problem is not the subject. It may be you.

Ouch! A good speaker can make any subject interesting. Sure, some subjects are more interesting that others, but you can hold the audience's attention with any subject. Use effective story-telling techniques. Speak with passion. Speak to one person. Apply other speaking tips.

Do this and you will wake'm up and your message will hit home.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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I sure do. Thats why I recently listened to Craig Valentine’s Edge of Their Seats Storytelling Home-Study Course*. Before I listened, I wondered if it was worth a couple hundred dollors to learn how to tell better stories. I was pleasantly surprised.

The Edge Storytelling Creator: Craig Valentine

Craig Valentine is the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking. Out of 25,000 competitors he won all the competitions and took the title. He is also a trainer and speaker. Is he good? I have heard him several times on CD, watched his DVD’s and read a lot of his content. He is the real deal. Don’t take my word for it, watch this video.

The Edge Storytelling Product

Here is what comes with the Edge of Their Seats Storytelling Home Study Course*.

1. Six audio CDs with more than 7 information-packed hours of step-by-step “mile-deep” processes you can use immediately to enliven your very next speech.
2. A 56-page Workbook to help you internalize the information and form the habits of a masterful storyteller.
3. A Storytelling Compass™ you can use as a mini-workshop or guide to create EVERY story you give in the future.
4. Ten Pages of my Edge of Their Seats Storytelling Model (diagrams) to make sure you add the elements that make your stories shine.

Craig uses numerous live audio story clips to illustrates the principles he is teaching. It was easy to follow and the content was in depth. Before I listened I expected Craig to cover the standard story telling principles like suspense, using visual language, etc. Craig covers that, but he went way more in depth.

There is truly an art to storytelling and Craig reveals it all. On my next speech, after learning a few of these principles, a man walked up to me and said, "We felt like we were right in the story." That has never happened to me before, so I knew these principles were working.

Who is this Product For:

Craig Valentine’s Edge of Their Seats Storytelling Home-Study* course will benefit anyone, who wants to become a storyteller who tells gripping stories that make points hit home.

It does cost a couple hundred dollors and will take 7+ hours to go through. This is not a problem if you are serious about improving your story telling abilities. (All speakers should be.) If you want to just brush up on the basics, read the other articles here on the site or check out some books from your local library. When you can afford to make it part of your personal collection, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Conclusion:

If you want to become a top storyteller and keep audiences on the edge of their seats, Craig’s home study course will give you the tools to do that. 

Click Here to Learn More about the Storytelling Home Study Course*

 (C) Arlen Busenitz

* We only recommend products that we have used and feel are helpful to our readers. On some products, including this one, we receive an affiliate commission on products purchased through this link. 

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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Just five hours ago, I was listening to a speaker who grabbed my attention and held it. Yes, he was good, but it was not because he was using a lot of slick or advanced public speaking tips.

He was using one of the most powerful public speaking formulas a speaker has in his/hers arsenal.

Tell a Story and Make a point.

Hour after hour, this speaker would tell stories and make points. Sure, he took time to define his content, use quotes, and make some humorous comments. However, He probably had a different story every 5 minutes or so.

After telling a story using effective story telling techniques, he would pause and drive home his point. Next, he would pause to let the point sink in.

Did it work? Yes.

Why is this public speaking tip powerful? Stories automatically hold people’s attention, especially if we use some good story telling techniques. All we have to do as speakers is weave our point into the story or bring it home at the end in a powerful way.

However, we must be careful not to make the mistake that many advertisements make. Do you remember the commercial about cowboys herding cats? How about a more recent one that features a white duck? Here is the million dollar question: what are those stories/scenes representing or selling? I must confess I have no clue about the herding cats commercial and just recently remember what the duck stood for.

We must tie the story and point together so well that if the audience remembers the story, they’ll for sure remember the point.

How can we apply this tip?

• Use stories throughout our presentations.
• Tie the story and point together so people remember both.
• Use effective story telling techniques to help our stories hit home.

(C) Arlen Busenitz – 2011

http://www.SpeakingInfo.com

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

More Posts - Website

As you know junior-highers have a short attention span. A distraction or three sentences of boring content can cause the attention to be diverted away from the speaker.

The great thing about kids this age is that we know if we have have attention and if we have lost it. Adults may be polite and still pretend to listen, but kids often let you know through body language when they are no longer paying attention.

To make this situation more challenging, I spoke in an open air building with a roof and open sides. Bugs buzzing, heat simmering, and tired campers all led to a greater challenge to hold attention.

To keep attention with this kind of audience and any audience, I seek to use the 7 speaking tips below.

Tip #1: Tell a Story, Make a Point

Have you noticed the following.  A speaker is droning on and on, but then says, “5 years ago I was walking behind my house…” Attention gets snapped back.

Stories, even poorly told stories, hold attention and quickly grab attention.

In addition to giving a healthy dose of stories, I keep some in reserve. I may need to tap into them when attention wanes.

Keep the stories coming and the attention will stay glued to you.

Tip #2: Tell a Story, Make a Point

I heard one speaker mesmerize the audience with dozens of personal stories. Later, I turned to my brother-in-law and asked, “What was the point?”

Where was the life changing content? Where were the tips or truth that we could hang our hat on and improve our life?

There were none.

Have a main point with every story. You may make the point and then tell the story. Or you may tell the story and then make the point. Just have a point.

A couple examples from this week:

- Story about nearly failing 7′th grade in school.

- Point: Stop blaming, start changing.

- Story about starting my rock business and nearly quitting.’

- Point: Keep on Driving

Tell stories and add points.

Tip #3: Tell a Story, Make a Point

Outlines. Our English teachers railed on the importance of having an outline. Speech coaches do the same.

I push the Speech Tree™ in Become a Better Speaker in One Evening.  It allows people to quickly create speeches.

However, just throwing main points out is like tossing  your coat against the wall and expecting it to stay there. It won’t. It’ll slide right down and the points will zip past the audience with next to zero retention.

If we package the point with a story, that story acts like a hook. The points are retained and remembered.

Tip #4: Tell a Story, Make a Point

Great speakers use this formula.

Jesus used it with his parables. Mark Twaine used it. Bill Gove, the father of Professional Speaking, popularized the the phrase.

My father always told me, “Find out what works and do it.” This formula works. Use it.

Tip #5: Tell a Story, Make a Point

Do these stories have to be complex? Nope.

Patricia Fripp said, “It is better to tell a simple story well, than a complex story poorly.”

Write down a past experience from your life every day for a month. Now you have 30 stories.

Tip #6: Tell a Story, Make a Point

Many speakers bury their head in their notes and rarely come up for air. By telling stories, especially personal ones, you can easily tell them from memory.

On your little note card just list:

Story:
Point:
Link:
Story:
Point:
Link:

You can look like a pro and use minimal notes.

Tip #7: Tell a Story, Make a Point

Stories stick in our minds like a glue trap to cats fur (I know from experience). If the point is properly attached to the story, the point will stick also.

I still remember stories speakers shared from ten years ago. Many of the points are still stuck in my mind.

You can become a speaker who holds attention and has a sticky message. Learn more by reading Made to Stick.

Lets wrap this up.

Many audiences have short attention spans. You can hold attention and communicate effective by using these 7 tips and telling a story  and making a point.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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Then it happened.

He shared a story that he said happened to him. Problem? This probably did not happen to him since I have seen this story many times on email and the Internet.

Using other people’s content is OK–if you cite it or say, “I read about…” Telling stories like they happened to you when they did not, hurts credibility.

From that point on, I was not sure which personal story belonged to him and which was rehashed content from the internet.

As speakers it is best to:

• Use original content
• Or make sure we cite where it came from.

Want original stories?

Here is a three step process.

1. Open up a document on your computer and save it as “My Story File”

2. Write down one past experience that has happened to you. It could be from college, work, etc.

3. Repeat step #2 for 30 days.

You now have 30 fresh original stories you can use. Next time you speak, just look through the file and pull out a couple good stories.

Do this and you won’t have to rehash content from the Internet.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

More Posts - Website

But how do we tell interesting stories when speaking? A simple way to improve your storytelling is to make sure each story has suspense.

Suspense means the audience feels a strong desire to hear the outcome of the story. Do this and you will become a gripping story teller. Consider this example

At 11:30 on a cold February night, my wife and I were sound asleep. Suddenly, I was jolted awake by a crash in the next room.

Are you curious what happens next? Do you feel the suspense?

When telling a story, you and I want the audience to feel suspense almost immediately. Next, we seek to build that until it is revolved by the climax of the story. Suspense keeps the audience interested in the story.

Tension Building Tips to Start your Story

- Launch right into the story.

- Start with a suspenseful question. “Have you ever been so scared you were ready to call 911 or pickup a baseball bat?”

- Give a tease line right way. “I was scared. At 11:30…”

Once the suspense is started, you want to follow Craig Valentine’s advice and stir up the conflict and increase the suspense/tension.

Thoughts flashed through my mind. Is it an intruder? No one else should be here. Should I call 911? Where is my self defense weapon? Should we exit through the window?

This all builds suspense.

Use Pauses to Build the Suspense in your Stories

As you tell the story, use well placed pauses. Pausing will increase anticipation and suspense.

Suspense is very important, but so is the resolution.

Resolution relieves the tension and completes the story. If you don’t its like being at a movie theater and the owner kicks everyone out 20 minutes before it is over.

Suddenly I realized what likely caused the crash. I grabbed the baseball bat and inched out of the bedroom on a reconnaissance mission. In the dim light, I saw the shadow of the intruder. Mixie, the new cat….

See how powerful suspense is? Put it in your stories and you will tell interesting stories.

(C) Arlen Busenitz – Speaking Info.com

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

More Posts - Website