Why Stories Make 1 Speech Better

Here’s a story about stories.

I recently gave a speech at a networking group of which I have been a member for eight years (and am quitting this month, but that’s not important right now). I had 10 minutes to talk about ghostwriting, since we were expected to talk about our business.

I had previously talked about the importance of ghostwriting and the value proposition I bring to telling your story, and it had gotten me some business. But because I am nearing the end of my time with this group, I decided to simply tell a bunch of stories and call it “Lessons I’ve Learned in Ghostwriting.”

I had eight stories, but when I practiced the speech, it ran 15 minutes, so I cut it to my best four stories.

Typically, the networking group president watches from the back of the room, and when he wants you to wrap up, he makes his way to the front so he’s standing almost next to you when you time is up.

When I gave the speech, the president didn’t come up, so I kept going. I told the final four stories, and the president still didn’t come up. I had nothing else prepared, so I called out to him and brought him up.

As I gave the speech, I noticed something: Nobody was on their phones. Everybody was paying attention. In a room of 40 people, I saw one guy checking his phone for 10 seconds, and then he put it down. Even the people I always see on their phones were paying close attention. One guy even admitted that he usually is on his phone, “but your speech kept me interested,” he said.

It’s no secret why I was so successful: Stories, especially the personal ones, sell.

Nobody’s interested in hearing somebody drone on about statistics or the minutiae of the business. Nor do they care about how great and famous the speaker is if the speaker is boring. Audiences want to listen to people they trust who can entertain, engage, inform, or inspire them, and stories are the best way to do that.

Stories demonstrate that the speaker has credibility and experience to accurately talk about the topic. Stories are easy to follow and convey because they have a beginning, middle, and end. People can relate to stories; no one in my audience was a ghostwriter, yet many could relate and understand the need for a contract with protections and the need to be tactful with clients. These were two of the stories I told.

This might seem obvious, but everybody’s heard speeches that either weren’t memorable or were memorable for the wrong reasons.

I once went to a wedding in which the Best Man’s Toast was all about him, and the Maid of Honor’s Toast (which didn’t exist when I got married 30 years ago) was all about her. There were not any stories about the bride and groom. I remember my annoyance. My wife turned to me and said, “They could’ve used your help.”

The networking group speeches are usually boring, and the number of people get on their phones is so noticeable that the president and another board member have chided, begged, pleaded, and demanded everybody pay attention. Even I have been guilty of this from time to time.

After being annoyed with what I considered an incredibly boring speech about gardening and various plants the landscaper had knowledge about, I addressed the board and offered to give a speech about how to make a speech interesting. I planned to stress the need for stories.

“I don’t know,” one board member said. “I thought David’s speech about plants was really interesting.”

“Yeah, I learned so much,” another said.

I started to laugh, realizing that this group was hopeless.

Instead, it became a story I’m telling in this post—and I’m positive it’s infinitely more interesting than plants. However, if you’d like to have me write a story about plants, I’ll do it–providing you’ve got the stories.

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