Stories Make Great Speeches

• 00:04 What's the biggest difference between great speakers, great speeches,
• 00:09 and all of the others, the average ones, the mediocre ones?
• 00:16 It's not the use of hands.
• 00:18 It's not eye contact.
• 00:22 It's not having slides that are just so, oh no.
• 00:25 The biggest difference between great speakers and
• 00:29 great speeches that really stand the test of time,
• 00:33 and are remembered, versus ones that are instantly forgotten?
• 00:37 Stories.
• 00:39 Great speakers use stories to illustrate every single point they make.
• 00:45 Bad speakers, average speakers, mediocre speakers say, I love to tell stories,
• 00:50 but there’s no time.
• 00:51 I’ve got too much data to cover.
• 00:55 One of the most memorable speeches the late Steve Jobs ever
• 00:58 gave was his graduation speech at Stanford University
• 01:03 where he told the story of his upbringing, how poor he was.
• 01:08 How he had to take bottles of Coke to get returns or
• 01:12 the $0.05 deposit just to buy food in college.
• 01:15 How he had to live on the floor of other people's dorm rooms,
• 01:20 all that he overcame to become the massive success.
• 01:23 It was the story of his life and all that he'd overcome that was so
• 01:29 memorable that people still talk about today.
• 01:33 Now here's the thing about stories, people will tell you,
• 01:36 we don't want someone coming in here giving us a bunch of war stories.
• 01:40 We just want the substance, we want the meat.
• 01:44 People will tell you that, but, if you ask people
• 01:49 who are the best speakers you've seen in the last year and what do you remember?
• 01:53 The one thing I hear again and again and again, it's the story.
• 01:57 People remember the stories.
• 02:00 But, here's the thing about stories, they have to be relevant to
• 02:04 an important message that's consistent with who you are and
• 02:08 what's important to the audience and the issue at hand.
• 02:12 It can't be just you trying to be funny.
• 02:16 It can't be, well, let me tell you a funny story about my way here today.
• 02:20 And people think you're trying to sound like Jerry Seinfeld or
• 02:22 some other famous comedian or story teller.
• 02:26 If people are wondering, why is he telling me this?
• 02:30 Then you've lost them.
• 02:32 Then it does seem like wasted time.
• 02:35 It can't be a generic story about a starfish or
• 02:38 the steps on the sand disappearing and then reappearing.
• 02:44 It needs to be a story that is relevant.
• 02:48 Preferably you're talking about a real conversation
• 02:52 involving a real problem in a real setting with real dialogue.
• 02:59 That's what's going to make it real.
• 03:01 Talk about what you know.
• 03:02 Share experiences you've had with colleagues, customers,
• 03:05 clients, family, if it's relevant to what you're talking about.
• 03:11 You can't just be, oh, my daughter made this little poo today and I,
• 03:16 no one cares about that.
• 03:18 You've got to make it relevant.
• 03:21 But if I had a choice between someone being perfectly immaculate in their dress,
• 03:27 their speech, no ums and ahs, but had no stories,
• 03:31 versus someone who may be a little messy, and their tie or dress is askew.
• 03:37 And they have ums and ahs, but they have good stories that are relevant.
• 03:41 I guarantee you the speaker who has the good relevant stories
• 03:45 will be viewed much more favorably by the audience.
• 03:49 And the audience, more important, will remember their stories and
• 03:53 therefore their messages.
• 03:55 So, before you do anything else, before you waste another second
• 04:00 redoing your PowerPoint slide or changing the fonts,
• 04:03 make sure you have a great story for every single point in your presentation.
• 04:07 Do that, and you've solved 99% of your battle right there.

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