Develop Your Storytelling Abilities

Develop Your Storytelling Abilities
by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Patricia Fripp & Darren LaCroix at Lady and the Champs
Patricia Fripp & Darren LaCroix at Lady and the Champs

When we think of Hollywood, what we usually remember most are the moving, dramatic, and funny stories that movies tell. The screenwriter Robert McKee says, “Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.”

All actors recognize the value of great stories and the importance of making them come alive. I teach business leaders and sales professionals to use stories to train, lead and sell.

Some people are born street-corner, back-fence raconteurs for whom storytelling is as easy as a smile. Whenever a group gathers around the coffee pot for the midmorning ritual, everyone is eager to hear their latest personal stories. An audience of one or a thousand will always prefer a trivial story brilliantly told to a brilliant one told badly.

Executive speech coaching  is exciting part of my business. Often, a corporate speaker brings me sheets of statistics and says, “Here’s what I want to talk about.”

“Why should your audience care about all this?,” I ask. “Where is the excitement? Where is that currency of human contact, the STORY?” Then we set about turning the numbing data into stimulating descriptions of what it all MEANS. More than any words you say, people will remember what they “see” in their minds while they are listening.

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A Great Acceptance Speech Example from Bruce Phipps

Bruce Phipps delivering his APA Man of Year award speech
Bruce Phipps delivering his APA Man of Year award speech
Bruce Phipps on iMag APA Man of the Year 2011
Bruce Phipps on iMag APA Man of the Year 2011

A Great Acceptance Speech Example from Bruce Phipps, American Payroll Association 2011 Man of the Year.

Every year I help the American Payroll Association’s Man and Woman of the Year prepare their speech to be delivered at the APA national convention called Congress.
The Man and Woman of the Year deliver an eight-minute speech the year after they are named. When you have to deliver a short speech every word counts.

Even if this is not a position they would have asked to be thrust into, they have become role models to the over 21,000 APA members. The audience size listening to their presentations are 2,000 people.

It is appropriate to say “thank you”, share an overview of your career, acknowledge mentor and supporters, tell of your involvement in the association, and anything amusing as it relates to your career.

Please notice how I recommend you write your speech. Down the page one sentence or thought at a time. This is easier to “internalize” your presentation as you get it “into your body”. When you take your notes to the lectern it is easier to glance down and not read.

Take it away Bruce…
“It has been my distinguished honor to have been your 2011 Payroll Man of the Year.
Words cannot possibly describe the incredible year I have experienced.
Like many of you, Payroll was not my initial career choice.

My first job was as a bank teller for a small bank in the community where I lived.
In 1975, newly graduated from High School, and not knowing what I wanted to do with my life it seemed to be my best option.

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Create Clear, Concise, Creative Keynotes: 5 Ways to Make Every Word Count

1. Be conversational. A good speech, especially for today’s audiences, needs to sound conversational. However, there is a difference between a conversation and a speech that sounds conversational. An actual conversation involves back and forth. In a conversational speech, you imagine a crisp, concise conversation with your audience, avoiding unusually long pauses, run-on thoughts, and digressions of real discussions. Instead of words like “whatchamacallit” and “What was I saying?” you select the most appropriate, specific language, especially for your opening.

2. Script your opening phrases. Many content experts are not as pithy as we would like because they have become too confident about their material. They have their PowerPoint together, they have years of expertise, or they wrote a book on the subject. However, often they have not sat down and scripted the opening in short, specific phrases that intrigue us and invite us into the speech. However, once you get off to a good start, it is amazing how much this pithiness will carry through the rest of the presentation. Quality spreads.

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Improve Public Speaking with Three Techniques for Better Storytelling

Presentation skills guru Patricia Fripp
Presentation skills guru Patricia Fripp

Improve Public Speaking with Three Techniques for Better Storytelling

By Patricia Fripp, Presentation Skills Guru

Everybody loves a good story. No matter what our culture, we grow up knowing that hearing a story is somehow a reward. Stories are how we learn values and our family’s legacy. When we go to school, we discover that stories are a way to make history come alive. In business, we realize stories help us explain the complex and the best way to train our associates.

Wise leaders, managers, and sales professionals are well served to develop an arsenal of great stories and good examples. Good stories help differentiate us from our competition.

Steve Ball of Microsoft was in charge of finding the right music to be the boot-up sound for the Vista operating system. He brought in three professionals from the worlds of music and Hollywood – for six seconds of sound! Steve explained the importance, saying, “Part of the sound was also used in our email program. That translated into this sound being heard more than any other music ever heard, including the Beatles.”

The professional that was chosen was Robert Fripp, guitarist and founder of King Crimson. Steve explains how he came to the decision: “All the artists created a sound that would have worked. However, Robert told the best story of how his music best represented Vista.”

Sometimes, the most unlikely people tell great stories. Often a coworker in the break room will have you in stitches as she regales you with tales of what happened taking the bus to work. Then the head of Finance walks in, and halfway through his story everyone says, “It’s time to get back to work!”

Why is it so few have the skill? How often have you heard someone tell a rambling story that seemed to go nowhere, or you are left wondering, “What was the point?” These three techniques will help you turn simple stories into examples that will be remembered and frequently repeated.

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Public Speaking: Your Presentation Starts Before You Walk on Stage

Whenever you open your mouth, whether your audience is ten people or a thousand, you naturally want to get a specific message across. Whenever you set out to present, persuade, and propel with the spoken word you want to keep the audience engaged…from the moment you walk on stage or to the front of the room. Your goal is to have a long term impact and speak to be remembered and repeated.

IN ADVANCE

Your presentation really begins long before you open your presentation. You need to know who your audience is and what they do. Ask “What is a day in their life?” If possible in advance interview a cross section of your audience. Why you were invited to speak? What connection do you have to them? Why would they care about your subject? With this information you can tie your key points to their lives, jobs and goals.

SCHMOOZE FACTOR

Get to your meeting room early. Get organized and test your audio visual. Then walk around and engage your audience. Yes, just talk to them. Introduce yourself, ask them how they are enjoying the conference, congratulate them for sitting up front, ask about their experience with your subject, have fun with them if they are sitting in the back, “Are you going to leave early if the speaker is no good?”
Once you have connected with them they will feel obligated to give you their attention at the beginning. Then get off to a good start so that the audience will stay engaged.

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Female Relationships and Your Health

Patricia Fripp keynote speaker & speech coach
Patricia Fripp keynote speaker & speech coach
Female Relationships and Your Health

“It is very difficult to be a dynamic success if you don’t feel well.”
Famous quote by me…Patricia Fripp
My friends have always been great supporters and encouragers. They also keep me up with what I should be reading or aware of in the news. Or at least best selling author and in-demand keynote speaker Susan RoAne does! Five newspapers a day!

As a woman who has always been single by choice, one how has a strong emotional connection with my male and female friends, and my brother Robert Fripp I enjoyed these comments sent to me by buddy Susan RoAne.

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Who Do You Trust? Do You Sound Persuasive?

If you want to be trusted it helps if you are a powefully persuasive.
Patricia Fripp and Darren LaCroix can help you in our June Story and Structure Speaking School and Coaching Camp. June 15-17, 2012 in Las Vegas.

When it comes to trust I am sure you will find Richard Edelman’s article as interesting as I did.

Who Do You Trust?

Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman Worldwide, the world’s largest public relations agency, tips you off on who is most trusted.

Knowing who people turn to for information is invaluable as a PR practitioner. Since 2000, the Edelman Trust Barometer has measured trust in various institutions and groups of people. This annual survey of 25,000 people and 5,600 opinion leaders in 25 countries reveals some key findings about Aristotle’s concept of ethos or “source credibility.” Here are some significant trends from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer.

Trust in government has declined sharply.
Government’s inability to effectively manage political and financial crises has severely impacted the credibility of government officials. In 17 of the 25 countries surveyed, government is now trusted by less than half to do what is right. In Europe, trust in government dropped almost 10 percentage points. In Asia, trust in government dropped 13 points in China and 26 points in Japan, the latter resulting from its response to the catastrophic earthquake. In the United States, trust in government remained flat at 43 percent.

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Using Power Questions to Deepen Your Relationships

Andrew Sobel is a true expert on developing and sustaining long-term client relationships. He’s authored over eight acclaimed and bestselling books on the subject. Early in Andrew’s career, I was his speech coach. Now as a speaker, Andrew’s message is especially relevant to companies that need to standout in increasingly crowded markets:

Ask, Don’t Tell: Using Power Questions to Deepen Your Relationships

by Andrew Sobel

Once you have acquired a new client, the next challenge is to create a personal connection and deepen the relationship. The right power questions will help you do this. I like to ask what I call Passion questions and Depth questions.

Passion questions help you understand what the other person is really excited about in life. They enable you to learn what gets them up in the morning. For example, “Why do you do what you do?” is an excellent passion question. It’s simple but profound. Ask it and then be quiet—if you have the patience to allow the answer to emerge, it may surprise you.

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Using Power Questions to Build Peer Relationships

Ask, Don’t Tell: Using Power Questions to Build Peer RelationshipsBy Andrew Sobel, co-author of Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others

Andrew was smart enough to hire me, Patricia Fripp, as his speech coach early in his career. Not sure if you hired me you would be as in demand as Andrew but who knows?

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Using Power Questions to Engage with Prospects

Ask, Don’t Tell:
Using Power Questions to Engage with Prospects

By Andrew Sobel, coauthor of
Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others

One of my speech coaching clients and long time friends Andrew Sobel writes many great books. Enjoy this taste of Power Questions.

The CEO of a $12 billion company summed it up neatly when he told me, “When someone walks into my office and is trying to market to me or sell something, I can always tell how experienced they are by the quality of the questions they ask.”

A good power question helps you uncover a prospect’s most urgent needs. It cuts through the noise and gets right to the heart of the issue. It uncovers higher-level goals and aspirations. It shows, in the most convincing way possible, that you’re thoughtful and smart.
When you first meet with a potential client, you must establish your credibility and understand their goals. Our natural tendency is to do this by telling—by describing our company, our services, and the uniqueness of what we do. That’s boring.

The best way to build trust in your competence is to ask credibility-building questions. These are questions that implicitly demonstrate your experience while encouraging the client to talk about their issues. This is what the CEO was talking about.

It requires good upfront research and planning to develop strong, credibility-building questions. Your questions will vary based on your particular client and industry, but they should sound like these:
“How are you reacting to the new reporting requirements [i.e., to a trend or a new regulation]? Several of my largest clients have taken a wait-and-see attitude, but others are already conducting in-depth assessments…”
“Your CEO’s speech to last month’s industry conference certainly put a stake in the ground in terms of your international growth aspirations…how is this going to impact your talent acquisition and development efforts?
A credibility-boosting question, in short, explores the client’s issues while demonstrating your knowledge, experience, and preparation for the meeting.

A second essential objective with a prospect is to understand their issues—what I call their agenda. Every executive has an agenda of three to five critical business goals or priorities. Your job is to explore, understand, and add value to this agenda. One of the most direct agenda-sensing questions is, “How will you be evaluated at the end of the year by your leadership? What metrics will be used?”
A second type of agenda-uncovering question focuses on why. Clients often specify a particular intervention—“We need a training program” or, “We need coaching.” When they do, you must ask “Why?”: “Why have you decided that?” If you ask this, even four or five times, you will expose the underlying need or goal. By expanding the conversation you will expand the potential engagement.

Other agenda-setting questions could include:
“Where will your future growth come from?”
“How will you decide whether or not to…(make an important decision)”
“What organizational or operational capabilities do you need to strengthen in order to support your future strategy?”
“Who or what could be a disruptor in your business?”
“As you think about the future of your business, what are you most excited about? What are you most concerned about?”

Remember, one of the important ways you add value in a first meeting is by being thought provoking and helping your prospect think differently about his or her issues. Good questions are a great way to do this.

*****
Andrew Sobel helps companies and individuals build their clients for life. He is the co-author of the newly-released Power Questions as well as the author of the business bestsellers Clients for Life, Making Rain, and All for One. He can be reached at www.andrewsobel.com, where you can download a free set of Power Tools to help you get better at asking Power Questions.

If you would like to experience the coaching that helped Andrew
check out the Fripp LaCroix June Structure and Story and Coaching Camp.

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