How I Overcome My Queasy Fear and Gave a 3 Minute Talk

This image captures how I felt at the prospect of giving a short talk.Urrrgh! I felt my stomach drop down to my toes as I remembered when I said YES.I am a woman of my word so there was absolutely no backing out.Urrrgh! It was time to take a large tablespoon of my own advice.The advice that goes something like this.Push yourself to the edge of yourself to the edge of your comfort zone. You can grow and develop if you try new things. Sweet Heavens above – Urrrgh!Delivering a training session to groups of over 20 individuals in half day or full day sessions – not a problem.Leading the company’s orientation / induction programme for new hires over 2 days – can do.Giving a 20 minute address to a gathering of 150 leaders and core team members at an annual employee Pow-Wow and recognition event – a breeze and even fun.What is the common thread here?I had done each of these many times before over a 20 year period and I was super comfortable.Urrgh! Self-disrupting is not only uncomfortable but scary too.I said YES to the honour of being of the storytellers at Hub Dot’s 3^rd Anniversary celebration in London in February of this year.Hub Dot is a global community for women to be inspired and connect through telling and sharing stories. At each Hub Dot event storytellers share short stories.I was feeling the pressure and the fear. But the excitement of doing something new and different had me hooked.I am not fearless.But I am determined.So I did it anyway.It was a thrilling 3 minute 5 second roller coaster ride. Then the music played to usher the next storyteller on to the stage.“Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones.” Benjamin Disraeli

 How to Engage and Inspire Your Audience with a Short Powerful Story

I had received short story crafting guidance from Hub Dot.This piqued my curiosity.My short storytelling experience and drove me to dig deeper into finding out more the power of storytelling.I wanted to find out the ingredients of a story that engages, entertains and inspires; instead of a talk that was endured like some kind of penance.7 Powerful Elements of Great Storytelling. These are my topic picks of what I learned and resources that resonated with me.Dive in …1. Frame your talk as a journey with a clear beginning, a middle and an end. Along the way be sure to inject an Aha! moment, a challenge to overcome and a resolution (e.g. a lesson learned) for maximum audience engagement.

“To find the right place to start, consider what people in the audience already know about your subject—and how much they care about it […]

The most engaging speakers do a superb job of very quickly introducing the topic, explaining why they care so deeply about it, and convincing the audience members that they should, too.” Chris Anderson, Curator and Head of TED

TED Talks are a masterful execution of the short story. Each talk is an 18 minute journey, jam-packed with brainpokes that stir your curiosity, lock you in and expand your mind.

2. Answer the 5 Ws: As you take your audience on your story’s journey, add meat to the bones of your talk by answering ‘Who’, ‘What’, ‘Where’, ‘When’, ‘Why’.  Add a dash of ‘How’ too.3. Share Your Emotions: Here we go again, stepping to the edge of our comfort zone. But it will help you connect with your audience. It is worth the discomfort.Use emotions to stop your talk from sounding sterile and leaving your audience cold. Gift a piece of your authentic self - as little or as much as you like.Be provocative and evocative in a useful way.“Be vulnerable: dare to share the emotion of your story. Be unafraid to ask your audience what you questioned along the way so they share your doubt, confusion, anger, sorry, insight, glee, delight joy and epiphany.” Bobette Buster, ‘Do/Story How to tell your story so the world listens’. Bobette lays out The 10 Principles of Storytelling. Each principle is 24K gold. Get this book!4. Avoid Jargon-Monoxide Poisoning: Make your message easy to absorb. Communicate each idea, concept and sentence in easily digestible morsels.Simplify your message but don’t dumb it down. You want to engage rather than alienate your audience.Aim to make your story a conversation starter; one to be picked up, added to and continued after your talk has ended.5. Eye contact: In my first short talk I read from a sheet of paper. It was my safety net. But I interrupted the connection with my audience.Next time I will ditch the script and use cards instead. It will be my first step on the way to doing completely without.6. Be a painter and a chef: Lift your audience and make your story zing. Paint pictures with your words. Add vibrant colour to your talk with anecdotes and metaphors.Season your story with words that appeal to the senses. Sensory words are descriptive — they describe how we experience the world: how we smell, see, hear, feel or taste something.7. Practise! Practise! Practise! The only way to improve your storytelling and public speaking skills is to practice – and not in front of a mirror. You need to test your existing and then newly acquired skills and ideas in front of a live audience or group.Test your material and ask for feedback.Check out this Heroic Public Speaking course by Michael Port and Amy Mead on Creative Live. This course teaches you a system for engaging, persuading, and inspiring your audience, no matter the size.I took a sample course and was blown away by the practical insights and real-world usable tips.Here is a hot reminder! A talk is a generous gift to be shared and exchanged. Your audience, not you, is the star of the show. Go all out to make them feel that way. Be a crowd-pleaser and entertainer, your talk is a performance.I am going back for more.Use these 7 elements to help you set up the scaffolding around which you can craft, then tell your story.These are mini launch pads to get you started in crafting compelling talks and memorable stories. The kind that hook your audience, invites them to become willing companions on a shared journey, gets them thinking and in the end, leaves them wanting more.Go on give them a try!What elements and tips are you using to add the connective and transformative power of stories in your talks and/or presentations?Share your storytelling tips in the comments.I am already putting these tips into practise in my own talks and presentations. Even more interestingly, I am using these insights to help individuals craft compelling speeches and their own short storiesI am super excited and will let you know how this is going in future blog posts.Until we meet again down the HR Rabbit Hole...