Tap Into The Power Of Stories
Stories have the ability to captivate audiences.
As children, fairy tales scare us and delight us.
Whether its wicked witches casting evil spells or big bad wolves disguising themselves as grandmas, they grab and hold our attention.
They get us hooked on stories at an early age.
As adults, all kinds of stories capture our attention – whether it’s the story of a last-minute sporting comeback, the story of who is in front in the election campaign or the story of who wins the Eurovision song contest…
Even crazy and shocking stories captivate.
An example of this is the one about the man who draped himself in an Australian flag – and not much else – and ran on stage at Eurovision to bare his backside before the live audience in Kyiv and the world’s TV cameras.
Important Note 1: Despite the flag, please note that it turned out to be a local Ukranian backside, not an Australian-made backside, that was unfortunately put on display!!!
Important Note 2: If you need to get attention for yourself or your idea in the business world, there are more civilised ways – such as telling the right story – to achieve this aim!!!
The underlying truth is that stories have power.
Stories can entice people to pay closer attention during your presentations.
Stories can help you persuade people when you’re answering questions in media interviews, sales conversations, boardroom discussions and beyond.
Stories can take your audiences on an amazing roller coaster ride of emotions.
Stories can help you get your message across.
THE STORY OF “THE REDEEMING”
One totally gripping story is brilliantly conveyed in a forthcoming movie called “The Redeeming”.
It’s a psychological thriller – and one you can expect to hear more about as 2017 progresses.
“The Redeeming” is a feature film that draws you in, unsettles you and provides totally absorbing entertainment throughout.
The star of “The Redeeming” makes an appearance in a video produced for this ezine, as you’re about to get the opportunity to witness.
“The Redeeming” is a meticulously crafted independently-made movie which deserves to hit the big time and to be seen everywhere.
It’s a story where the action, mood and power balance between the two main characters continually shifts, surprises and enthrals.
Will the psychological problems affecting one character – a disturbed single mother in an isolated cottage – tip her completely over the edge?
Will one of the two main characters murder the other?
Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud to have made this movie.
See it when you can, but don’t tell anyone how it ends.
If you’re brave enough, you can watch a video promotion for “The Redeeming” here:
http://www.theredeeming.co.uk/
And if you want an early opportunity to witness just how talented the star of The Redeeming – Tracey Ann Wood – is, then here’s a true story…
AND HERE SHE IS…
One exciting day in a studio in London the star of The Redeeming kindly stepped into a video about giving great answers to tough questions.
Tracey Ann Wood plays the role of a fictitious businesswoman called Miss Freeman at the imaginary XYZ Company.
She demonstrates how to give atrocious answers to tough questions.
Then she demonstrates how ugly duckling replies can be transformed into more graceful swan-like answers by changing the content, structure and delivery style.
You can witness the magical makeover of Tracey Ann Wood’s responses here:
And if you want to know more about how you can effectively deploy stories in your great answers, this interview – conducted by the “Sticky Marketing” guru, Grant Leboff – will help.
DOING IT WITH ENHANCED CONFIDENCE
Have you noticed how giving media interviews and presentations make many people very very nervous?
The good news is that when you take part in Michael Dodd Communications one-to-one sessions or master classes on presenting or giving great media interviews, you will find that it’s a confidence-enhancing process.
In group sessions on improving your presentations or media interviews, there’s usually at least a couple of participants who, at the beginning, are particularly unsettled about it.
Group sessions can involve my Professional Speaking Association colleague Nicci Roscoe – a one-time health and fitness presenter on TV who now speaks to audiences and in media interviews on confidence-related issues.
Nicci is, among other things, a confidence coach.
She has ways of quickly helping people build their confidence – and to perform all the better as a result.
One day we were working with a large group of aspiring head teachers who needed to do more effective presentations for parents and prospective students on those all-important school open evenings.
One teacher, who was due to give an early demonstration presentation in front of the group, had an anxiety attack about it just before the session started.
She declared there was no way she could go ahead.
Nicci, who is a master of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, reassuringly took the teacher aside and went through some confidence-enhancing techniques with her.
The teacher then came back and did her presentation in front of her colleagues and was happy to have it critiqued.
Then, along with the others, she worked on the content, structure and delivery style of her presentation when we broke into smaller groups.
Towards the end of the day she heroically did her new-look presentation – at a greatly enhanced level – in front of the whole gathering.
She won considerable applause.
Through the learning-by-doing process she hugely increased her prospects of becoming a head teacher and presenting happily ever after.
Presenting effectively and confidently is a learnable skill – and a skill for life.
There are details about “Presenting With Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz” here: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/presenting-with-confidence-impact-and-pizzazz/
There’s more on “Making Your Team Look, Sound and Feel Great” at: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/improving-your-team/
And there’s more on sessions on “Giving Great Answers To Tough Questions” at: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/give-great-answers-to-tough-questions/
You can read the first chapter of “Great Answers To Tough Questions At Work”, published by Capstone, free online at:
Here’s to your prospects of presenting and answering tough questions with greater competence, enjoyment and confidence happily ever after!