Storytelling techniques that captivate your audience

Speaking
Written By Liam Sandford

If you want to capture people’s attention storytelling is something you have to incorporate into your speaking and writing. It is a way to make people feel what you are saying, not just hear it. That feeling makes your key messages memorable.

Let’s face it, most people are horrible at telling stories. They are longwinded, drowning moments in unnecessary detail and make it all about themselves rather than the audience. Too much context kills the momentum and you lose the audience.

Or alternatively you give the audience your main point and tell the story after. By doing this you have already given the information — they have no need to listen to the story. Use storytelling as a lead into your key points, capture emotion, receive peak attention and then bam — deliver your key message. You can do this effectively using these three techniques:

The Curiosity Gap

You will have seen this technique in films. You are shown a scene later on in the film then it will cut to, ‘3 months earlier’, and you find out how you get to that defining moment. By giving a preview of something that is going to happen, followed by going right to the beginning you get people curious. They cannot wait to find out how you got to that moment.

With the curiosity gap you gather attention if the end point you gave them captures emotion. They are in your story and they have to listen to the rest to find out what happened.

When using this technique, weave your key message throughout your story — that is where the peak attention is so use it to your advantage.

The Up and Down Story

This is really two techniques — an up story and a down story, but they work well together. Let’s define the two:

Up story — inspirational and makes people feel good.

Down story — highlights the problem and the downside of continuing on the same path.

You want to make your audience feel inspired and positive about what you are saying, but often inspiration does not lead to action and your message never truly lands. This is where the down story comes in — double down on the problem. Show the audience the negative outcome they so desperately want to avoid. Then deliver your main point.

Inspire your audience → double down on the problem → deliver your key message

The James Bond Storytelling Technique

When speaking in public you are playing the attention game. From the first second you should be capturing attention, not doing an introduction followed by an agenda.

You are fighting to win over the audience and compete against all the other things they are thinking, watching and hearing. Just like in a James Bond movie, create a hard open — starting with an opening sequence that immediately captivates the audience. It is like ‘boom, I must pay attention’.

With the James Bond technique, everything you say must either be a defining moment itself or it should move the story to its next key point. Your audience don’t need every details, just the ones that are essential. If you get this right, every time you open a presentation you will obtain the attention that will set you up to successfully land your message.

Actionable takeaways

  • Always deliver your main point at the peak of audience attention — you can intentionally direct this with stories.

  • Make your audience feel like you truly understand the problem they so badly want to avoid. If you show you understand them, you will more effectively land your message.

  • Stop opening with an introduction and agenda, instead come in with an attention grabbing open — think James Bond.

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Liam Sandford
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