I’m as guilty as the next person of multi-tasking. Often when I’m walking the dogs, I’ll use that time for testing out conversations, presentations, training. In between throwing balls and calling back dogs in a squirrel hunt, I’ll run through what sounds good, crafting a story (or even a post like this one) It works. […]
Archive | Stories
How to tell a story in a presentation
I come from Yorkshire and there’s a phrase often used there relating to how people tell stories – “from t’thread t’ needle”. In other words, every detail is included, every side street, every nuance, every deviation… It makes for a great conversation and a good night out over a beer or glass of wine but […]
Spooky happenings and getting into the flow of presentations
My 7 year old son came home from school the other day and announced he wasn’t sure who had written his story in his school book. He remembered starting it but it was almost as if it wrote itself! Spooky? Or maybe he was just ‘in flow’ I have been thinking about ‘ease’ recently and […]
Why telling your business story can win you loyal clients, raving fans and happy staff
It’s one of the hardest questions you will get asked in business. ‘What do you do…?’ Sounds so innocuous doesn’t it? But beware…if you answer it blindly, without thought, you could get into hot water! What do you do…? Well behind the questions is a whole range of questions the asker might want answers to: […]
Boring, boring, boring – the truth behind most people’s rendition of their business
Death by vol-au-vent is what my husband calls some of those networking events – you know the ones- where you juggle a wine glass and a plate in one hand while trying to accept a business card from some over zealous networker with the other? For every wonderful, charismatic and engaging person you meet at […]
Stories don’t just tell themselves you know – how to craft your business story
Mum rang the other day. Muriel had called and embarked on telling her a story of some happenstance at the supermarket. Half an hour later, Muriel had still been on the phone, telling the story from ‘Thread ‘t Needle, as Mum put it! And that is all too common isn’t’ it? We ask people, ‘what […]
Chicken and Egg – what came first?
This is a question that as we grow into adulthood we know we can’t answer: my six year old though has just discovered the question and keeps trying to engage us in a conversation as to why he thinks one came before the other. I was asked recently by a client about what came first […]
It’s not just when we stand up to speak in public – getting our message across.
Another networking event: another example of how tricky people find it to talk about their business. For every person who was clear and confident about their introduction, there were others who were wary, nervous and even embarrassed about speaking to the group. I wonder what it is about about the question, ‘What is it you […]
Memory as Story-teller…changes & endings
Daniel Kahneman was talking in his TED talk about the power and the constraints of memory. He concludes probably most of our memories are reconstructed memories rather than the ‘truth’ and he explores what is it that makes things memorable, what is it that about moments that allow us to create or recreate ‘stories’ in […]
Should I tell a personal story in a presentation?
Some one asked me recently whether they should tell their personal story in a presentation. He was concerned that it might not be relevant, that people might not be interested and that he would be vulnerable by sharing such information. My answer was ‘Yes…with provisos’. Stories are powerful ways of sharing with others your experiences. […]
