I'm reading posts on all the social media sharing this great idea about adding stories to your business presentations. The conventional wisdom is that stories really grab the audience and the most magical words connected to stories are the words "for example." This simple phrase lets the audience know you're about to tell them a story. And this is hailed as a breakthrough?
Great movies provide the best model for grabbing attention and keeping it. Can you imagine what would happen to the attraction level if in the Hurt Locker every 5-10 minutes someone stopped the action and said "for example"? You'd be bored to tears or worse.
What great movies do is subtly and very deliberately craft the content so that you are grabbed once and then drawn inexorably along through to the closing moment. Your speech or presentation should do the same.
You can do this by keeping the movie model in mind and applying two specific techniques while you're crafting your speech or presentation content. 1) Know your destination perfectly and clearly. This is the end of your speech, your call-to-action, the final moving thought you want the audience to take away with them. When you know your destination, everything else you do will lead to it. 2) Mimic real life: you rarely have warning when something dramatic is going to happen--that's why it's dramatic, memorable or powerful. So don't warn your audience--just jump in and let them feel the full force and power. You may be telling a story that is an example, but don't preface the story with those two words. Just launch it!
Think about your favorite movies and copy their best attention-getting elements as you prepare your speech or presentation. You may think "for example" but don't say it!
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