Boring talks/presentations are a crime! And they’re usually boring because there’s zero relatability, no story.
I once sat through a presentation that was technically excellent: clear structure, strong slides, impressive data, and it was good, but I couldn’t tell you what it was about.
Later that same day, someone stood up and told a short story about a mistake they had made at work. It was slightly awkward at first, but then very funny. They were lightly self-critical, and very human; no polish, no performance, just honesty and a lesson learned the hard way.
I remember that one perfectly. We laughed a LOT.
Stories give ideas a pulse; they allow the audience to feel something, which is the part that sticks once the meeting ends and everyone pretends to check their emails (while actually thinking about lunch).
If you want your message to hit home, don’t just explain the idea; tell them where it showed up in your life, what changed (even better – what went wrong), and what you learned.
One honest story will always beat a bunch of flashy slides.
[Image by Brett Jordan on unsplash]