Public Speaking Tips: Great Speaker - Great Storyteller

Great Storyteller: Great Public Speaker.

Why do I make this statement? Why do I link the two together? It is because every top speaker knows that he or she is up there not only because of their message, but because it is backed up by stories, particularly personal stories. The after dinner speaker is almost obliged to tell a tale or two. Such an audience doesn’t want to be lectured. They want to be entertained. The top speaker realizes this and gives the audience what it wants. And what it wants is to be entertained.

Most organizations which regularly call on people to present at their meetings have in their possession either the name of a speakers’ bureau or some sort of list of creditable speakers. What is meant by creditable? Well, quite obviously, a presenter who will meet their requirements. Being more specific, the anticipated requirements of their organization’s audience. For example, the writer has been presenting to Probus Clubs (retirees) for many years. In his possession is a copy of the list of speakers that are held by all Sydney based Probus Clubs program officers. The list runs to twelve pages and profiles 132 speakers. Only 36 of these fall into – in my opinion- within the Entertaining category. Most are simply people or organizations peddling whatever they are selling. That could be anything from raising money for a particular charity, to Health Advice, to Funeral plots in a Cemetery. Is it any wonder, then, that those three dozen entertaining speakers are so much in demand compared with the others?

The great storyteller, the great speaker is the one who is sought after simply because he or she is not selling anything the audience really has no interest in. They are not creating a demand and then attempting to appease the very demand they have created. They might well be salesman or women. But if they are, they are selling their ideas, their message within the context of a great story or stories. They might have ‘lived the life’ and are trying to advocate others do the same: or avoid doing the same – depending on the message.

So, if you want to become one of the world’s top speakers – if that is your goal – then keep putting together those presentations which put incidents from life stories, preferably your own life story, before your audience. Tell stories. Tell storyteller stories from your own experience, from your own yearnings and longings, your own heartfelt beliefs. Do that and you can hardly fail to have your popularity increase.

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