Some people either have it or they don't, the ability to tell and relate a story that you have either created or memorized yourself, to be a story teller there are certain qualities that need to be owned by the story teller, first of all being able to soak up lots of story plot points and the things that the characters say is a good skill to realise.

Really though you need a lot more than a good memory, you need to have that elusive quality of the gift of the gab, an inner confidence that comes naturally for some, but others it does not.

To tell a story there has to be an understanding of the high points and the low points of a story, as you are telling the story from the beginning you need to keep your audience interested or at least following your enthusiasm, so planning a good start to your story is the key to keeping people interested, the hooks to keep them entertained, it all depends on the story or the events that the speaker is talking about, if it's a true life story there maybe high points, such as a real life escape from a dangerous situation and this could be made light of by being humorous midway, which I have seen others do.

I've often found that good storytellers have that certain something that can be described as a lot of experience in life and they know a good amount of stuff, things like anecdotes and witty one liners, which captivate their audiences in the blink of an eye, I know that I've gotten better by observing good speakers who seem to do this nerve wracking event with ease and the more that I've observed I've noticed that they all have certain things that they do in their body language that more than likely helps them along.

For instance I've seen speakers who pace up and down on the stage while they are talking, I've seen some who stroke the microphone like they are doing something else entirely and some who hold a bottle of water like a baby, but they are useful aids I suppose, getting in front of any audience is rather nervous for any person.

But for those who are absolutely rubbish at memorizing a story or recalling an event that they wish to explain to an eager audience, then a prompt sheet is required, a series of sentences that explain or prompt you to remember, these are useful if they are a bullet list of key points that trigger a relatable event, I've found these quite useful for creating new blog posts and talking in front of about 8 people when I used to work a regular job.

Really though, nothing beats learning to tell a story than just practising talking to a group of people about yourself or anything, this is helpful for your own confidence building if it is at a very low level, like mine used to be when I was out of work for over 5 years.

The comparisons must be made between writing a story and telling one as they are essentially the same with one exception, you often write for yourself most times, to write your thoughts about something and present them in an order of your choosing, but when you speak to a group of listeners, then this is very different as you are telling your thoughts and ideas based off what you know and this also comes across differently.

So to tell a story, you need to:

• Have confidence
• Know where your story starts
• Know the high and low points
• Have enthusiasm to see it through