Telling Stories

I made it through the last (and biggest) of our annual sales meetings today. Another two days solidly packed with crucial information, another two days attempting to equip our representatives with all the knowldedge and all the tools they will need for the coming year. It went really well, and I have a good feeling that everyone involved would heartily agree this was our best one yet. And that's what we strive for every year. To do it a little bit better, perfect it just a little bit more than the previous one. To always be learning and growing and striving and reaching.

We had an exceptional guest speaker, one we will invite back year after year because he is so good. He keeps our audience entranced an energized. He is so relevant, so timely, so sincere and so relatable. I've always been impressed by the way he customizes his delivery, the way he makes everyone in the room feel like he's sharing something that is meant just especially for them.

Something else I noticed for the first time this morning was his use of story. At first I thought it was just that his presentation was peppered with stories, just chock-full of entertaining anecdotes that kept our attention and made his words memorable. But then I realized it was more than just that. The stories weren't side notes to highlight the points of his presentation. Instead, the story was the presentation, and the information and points just helped to serve the purpose of the story, in a way that made it actionable and inspiring. Normally, attendance at one of our meetings is a lot like trying to drink from a firehose. It's just a crazy, intense, non-stop spew of information, information, information. Our guest's presentation created a wide river that we could all jump right into and follow the flow.

I am so committed to the value of Story, the importance of it. I feel driven to tell stories, called to relate that way. I am fully convinced that Story is the most effective means of human communication and connection. I know this, I believe this, I am passionate about it. And yet, I have never thought to put this into practice in my presentations, never come at things from quite that angle. I normally focus so much on myself and on the information- what do I need them to know, how can I state it clearly, how can I keep it brief and to the point. He does something naturally that I've been completely neglecting. He tunes in to that deeper and essential Story aspect and lets the information work for him. And I keep wondering, how did I miss that? It's seems so very clear and obvious now.

So that will be my goal in the future. To sit with the information and figure out the story it's telling, to flesh out that story, and to tell it in a way that is meaningful and memorable. To take Story, that thing I love and believe in so much, and make it more a part of my actual life. To embrace Story in a new way that allows me to really live it out.