Storytelling is a great technique to use in communication, particularly in presentations. There are so many advantages.
Once you’ve taught students about the benefits of storytelling and maybe shown a few examples from great presenters, how do you get your students to integrate stories into their presentations?
Well, the answer is simply get them to tell you a story.
Here I’d like to outline my favourite and most productive exercise to introduce students to telling stories.
This exercise works with a group of around 12-15 students – your organisation will depend on your teaching situation and the time you have available. Students should have at least a B2 level in English so they have the ability to tell a narrative story. If possible, I recommend doing the exercise with students who have known each other and you for some time.
- Teach the benefits of storytelling in a previous session and/or use this video as a self-study exercise:
2. Do not tell the students about this exercise in advance of the class. If you are doing the exercise with several groups, ask the groups not to discuss the exercise with peers in other groups.
3. At the beginning of the session, give the students their instructions:
- Tell them each individual is going to tell a personal true story in front of the group.
- This story is the story of something that happened in the student’s life or something the student experienced that changed the way they think, act, behave or do certain things. The story should conclude with an outline of the lessons the student learnt as a result of the event or experience.
- Clarify the students are not going to give a presentation in this case – they don’t need to make notes (they know their own stories), prepare a presentation structure, prepare slides or other visual material, or think about integrating rhetorical techniques or other devices. Students should simply concentrate on “TELL YOUR STORY”.
- Inform students that information shared in this session is confidential and will not be discussed outside the session. What is shared in the classroom stays in the room.
- You don’t need to set a time limit for the stories. Students will tell stories of slightly varying length but will probably not take more than 5-6 minutes each.
4. Give students around 5 minutes to think about the story they wish to tell. Students select the level of story they want to tell and the amount of personal information they wish to reveal. Some will skirt around deep emotions and others will tell deeply emotional personal stories. The choice is theirs and you should not influence this.
5. As the students are thinking about their stories, have students randomly select a card from you that has a number on the reverse. So, if you have 12 students, there are cards from 1 to 12 which determine the order in which students give their story. I feel it is important that the order of students is selected randomly and that you do not set it, maybe (subconsciously) going from what you feel may be strongest to weakest or weakest to strongest as it is difficult to predict the outcomes of this exercise.
6. When the students are satisfied they have a story to tell, inform them that each student will get up in the order selected, tell his or her story to the group and sit down again. There will be no feedback or discussion after each story.
7. Each student tells his or her story.
8. Once all the stories have been told, tell students to make any comment they wish.
When you ask students to make comments at the end of the exercise, they will do so and make many of the points that you wish to make:
- The more personal a speaker is, the more you get to know him/her – students often comment that they now know some of their peers better than before – it’s about relationships and this is important in business.
- A story can be very personal indeed – the speaker takes a risk and opens up the door – this is human and endearing – it can be worth taking that risk.
- A true story makes a speaker authentic and credible – s/he expresses true emotion (sadness, happiness, empathy, fear) and the listeners feel this emotion too.
- The story is from the heart and it has natural pacing, intonation and pausing.
- Stories connect the heart and the brain.
- Telling a story can be an easier way of presenting – you know your stories but it is harder to remember and tell 1,000 unrelated facts.
- Storytelling is a human activity and it helps us to connect as human beings.
- Storytelling can be a much better way to convince, persuade, inspire and motivate.
- It’s good to be vulnerable – you connect with the listeners – it’s not showing your weakness but rather your strength.
- Listeners react to vulnerability – they tend to be on your side.
At the end, thank the students for trusting you and the other students and having the courage to jump in and do the exercise. (I’ve only ever known one student refuse to do this exercise). You can also mention that you have learnt a lot too.
It is useful to give a few words too about vulnerability. The students have put themselves in a vulnerable position and come out the other side – it doesn’t matter that they cried, broke down, laughed all the way through, left the room or found it difficult to finish a story. They faced the fear, showed their vulnerability and completed the exercise. This can only help them to face any future challenge successfully.
Some students will find that they are natural storytellers and discover that this is a technique that they want to adopt and integrate into their future presentations.
Some of the stories I have heard over the years have been incredible. Many remain with me and affect my attitudes to certain issues today. You will be amazed at the experiences your students have had and what your students will reveal. I have known the atmosphere to shift in the room as this exercise progresses and everyone involved to feel this. This is an extremely powerful exercise on many levels and I can recommend you try it out.