Public Speaking - Get Your Audience Interested With The Right Stories

Any normal speech can be enriched with stories. Finding and selecting interesting will take some time and effort but the results make it worthwhile.

Where to Find Interesting Stories

The primary source of human interest stories will be from your own life experience. By being a keen observer of life you will build up a storehouse of stories that can be used in your speeches.

In addition to this the speaker can use stories they have heard, read or watched. The daily newspapers are an excellent source, and in most cases they can relied on to be true. The stories that will probably be most useful for public speaking engagements will be the smaller items, not those that make the headline news. Other great sources are biographies, literature and history.

The internet can be another great source of stories. But two cautions are that the stories maybe too well known to be effective and the internet can be an unreliable source as regards to accuracy.

Select Stories That Fit Your Subject

The stories chosen should be relevant to your speech, illustrate or prove the point that is being made. Stories that do not relate to your topic or point will distract the audience and confuse your message.

Use Fresh or Unusual Stories

The stories used do not have to be unique to your speech but avoid stories that have been told and re-told many times. For example, if you wanted to illustrating determination and courage the story of Columbus would appear to be a great story for that purpose. It has the potential to fall flat because it has been told so many times that your listeners maybe over-familiar with it. An alternative story to illustrate this would be Fridtjof Nansen's 3 year battle to find the North Pole.

Please Tell Us More!

The stories told should leave the audience wanting more. Don't use stories that leave your listener's saying "so What?" For example a story along the lines of

"A boy meets a girl. They fall in love. They are getting married next month." The listener's reaction is "So What?"

But by adding the following to the story:-