How to Effectively Use Storytelling in Business Presentations

When it comes to executive presentations, business storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can use to convey your message. Storytelling allows you to hold your audience's attention and share the experiences that occurred. Actually, as humans we're hardwired for stories. 

Imagine your partner or family member asking about your day after you come home from work. You might share some of your experiences with them. Or perhaps you are talking with your family over dinner, and you want to tell them about an event that happened when you were a child.
Storytelling is a means of sharing experiences with another person. It allows you to connect deeply and empathise with the characters. But what does storytelling have to do with the business world?

What is Business Storytelling?

Business storytelling is the application of specific storytelling techniques in the corporate world. In business, most decisions might seem purely based on logic. However, recent findings have shown that everyone makes a decision based on emotion before rationalising the decision with logic. 

For example, you might partner with another business because the collaboration would be profitable. However, you would not have decided if you had felt the partner was untrustworthy or the wrong fit. 

The fundamentals of storytelling all apply in business. For example: You could share a character's struggles pursuing a specific goal. Highlight how the challenge changed the character for the better as they worked through this problem. After all the struggle, maybe they found success. Or perhaps they failed, learning a valuable lesson instead.

Business storytelling allows you to incorporate these principles into a narrative that strengthens your executive presentations. It helps provide more significant meaning to the ideas and ambitions that your company is pursuing. 

Why is Storytelling Crucial for Business Presentations?

Increased Retention of Your Message

Most business presentations rely heavily on data. Businesses want to show that they have done their research and know what they are talking about. It's essential to have this information in your presentation. However, including too much data can overwhelm and bore your audience.

Including a story in your business presentation helps you to break up this data. It allows you to showcase the human side of your company while still providing essential facts and figures. Businesses are made up of people who are striving to achieve specific goals. Storytelling allows you to share these experiences with your audience in a digestible and memorable way. Your audience is able to connect to your story and still recognise the meaning of your data. They feel more engaged and able to retain your message better.

Builds Personal Connections

For businesses to be successful, they need to build personal connections with their customers. People like to do business with companies they know, like, and trust. Businesses can use storytelling to create these personal connections. When you share a story, you are inviting your audience into a part of your life. You are sharing something unique with them that they can relate to. This creates a bond between the storyteller and the listener. Businesses can use this bond to build relationships with their customers.

For example, you could tell the story of how your company was started. Share the struggles and successes that you have experienced along the way. This will help your audience better understand your company and feel connected.

Encourages Action through Empathy

Empathy is one of the most essential emotions when it comes to making a connection with someone. Businesses need to be able to connect with their customers on an emotional level to create a loyal customer base. When you evoke empathy from your audience, you ask them to step into the shoes of your protagonist. They need to understand and feel what the character is experiencing. Businesses can use this technique to connect with their customers deeper.

People are much more likely to act if they feel emotionally connected to the cause. Businesses need to encourage their employees and customers to take action to increase sales and grow their company. Storytelling is an excellent way to do this. You ask your audience to relate to your protagonist when you share a story. The audience must learn from the protagonist’s successes and failures. This allows businesses to tap into the emotions of their customers and encourage them to take action.

For example, if you are launching a new product, you could tell the story of a customer struggling with the problem that your product solves. By the end of the story, the character has been transformed by your product. Your story will encourage your audience to purchase your product because they want that transformation for themselves.

Businesses can use storytelling to increase sales, build relationships, and deeply connect with their customers. Stories allow businesses to humanise their brand and connect with their customers on an emotional level. When used effectively, storytelling can be a powerful tool for businesses.

How to Use Storytelling in Your Business Presentations

Include Authentic Personal Stories

When crafting a key business presentation, try to include  one personal story with a link to your presentation goal. This could be a story about how your company started, a time when you overcame an obstacle in your personal or business life or even a light-hearted story about a memorable customer experience or a funny parenting moment. The critical point is that the story is authentic and has a powerful link. The narrative does not need to be grand in scale, but it should be told evocatively in less than three minutes. Authentic storytelling is a simple but not an obvious process and takes lots of practice. However, it's worth the investment as the impact on your audience is huge.

Draw your audience into the story

Once you decide which story to share, it's time to start crafting your narrative. When writing your account, be sure to paint a picture for your audience. Include details about the setting and the characters. Use all the senses by not only describing the visual setting but also the emotions felt, the smells and tastes, and the sounds heard. The more vivid you can make the story with your words, voice and gestures, the more your audience will be engaged. Be descriptive but concise. And really relive your story, so you can tell it with passion.
When you're sharing your story, it's essential to show, not tell. This means that you should use descriptive language to paint a picture for your audience. Instead of saying, "I was nervous," say, "My heart was pounding so hard that I could feel it in my throat." The more concrete and specific you can be, the better.

Build Tension and Create Suspense

Every good story has a plot with a beginning, middle, and end. To keep your audience engaged, you need to create tension and suspense. This can be done by slowly revealing information about the characters and the situation. Be sure to leave some unanswered questions so your audience will be eager to discover what happens next. Set the scene, tell the story and create the link. To keep your audience engaged, you may wish to begin the story at the start of your presentation and finish at the end, building tension and suspense.

Link Your Story to Your Communication Goal

Towards the end of your executive presentation, link your story to your communication goal. Perhaps your link is about the importance of teamwork, collaboration, trust, resilience, adaptability, perseverance etc.
So once you've finished your story you can link it with phrases such as:

• 'The reason why I'm telling this story is...'

• 'So why do I tell you this story at a leadership conference? I tell you this story because we need to ...'

If you are promoting a product or service, remind your audience how making a purchase will help them solve their problem. You might consider saying something like:

• ‘Let’s go back to the story of…. What could they have done differently?’

• ‘The reason why [Person or company] achieved a great outcome, is because they [describe action you want audience to take]’

Tell Stories in Your Business Presentations that Make People Feel and Think Differently

Business storytelling is a powerful skill that can take your executive presentations from good to great. It helps you deliver more robust points that motivate your listeners to take action. Storytelling is one of the best methods to build trust with your audience, opening them to your company's transformation.

Storytelling in business presentations is a skill. Therefore, it often requires much practice, and usually some guidance. Your audience deserves to hear your story. However, you should not let a lack of experience stop you from telling it.

If you want to discuss your organisation’s (corporate, NGOs, Associations and Universities) Public speaking or Presentation skills needs, I offer free 30-minute consultations through my site. I’d love to meet you.