Locked lesson.
About this lesson
Don't turn off your natural instinct to tell stories just because you're in a work setting - they work best because they are personal and memorable.
Quick reference
Don't Forget, You Are a Natural Storyteller
Storytelling isn’t something you have to learn from scratch — it’s how we naturally communicate. The key is to stop turning it off when you speak professionally.
Storytelling Is Already Part of How You Communicate
- Humans naturally tell stories — it’s how we relate everyday experiences to each other.
- Think of how you describe your weekend to a friend: you don’t list timestamps — you tell a story.
- We do this without training — it’s instinctive and effective.
The Problem Isn’t Learning Storytelling — It’s Remembering to Use It
- Most people switch off their storytelling instincts when giving a “serious” presentation.
- They default to listing data, bullet points, and reports — which are often quickly forgotten.
- Great speakers stay selective about data and attach a story to each point.
What Audiences Really Want (and Remember)
- Audiences don’t want a minute-by-minute rundown — they want the highlights that matter.
- When someone asks about your business or results, they want stories, not just numbers.
The #1 Problem in Professional Presentations
- It’s not nerves, or “umms,” or technical mistakes. The biggest problem is being forgettable.
- People walk away remembering nothing, even if the speaker was polished and professional.
- The fastest fix: use stories to make your ideas stick.
Why This Matters
- You’re already wired for storytelling — the challenge is to apply it in your professional communication.
- Stories solve the biggest problem in presentations: lack of memorability.
- So if nothing else, remember this: telling stories makes people remember you.
- 00:04 This course is about teaching you how to be a good storyteller and a better storyteller.
- 00:09 But don't forget, all human beings are storytellers.
- 00:14 That's how we communicate.
- 00:17 If you bump into a friend on Monday morning at the office or at a cafe and say, how was your weekend, they typically don't respond the way someone gives a PowerPoint speech.
- 00:28 They don't say, well, at 6:00 AM Saturday morning, I woke up at six O 2.
- 00:31 I went to the bathroom at six O 3.
- 00:33 I turned the coffee pot on at six O.
- 00:35 That's not how people actually talk.
- 00:39 Typically.
- 00:40 Someone might say, I had the worst Saturday afternoon.
- 00:44 I got a flat tire in the way to the mall.
- 00:47 This guy stopped.
- 00:48 I thought he was there to help and he wanted me to pay him $50.
- 00:51 I said absolutely.
- 00:53 We tell stories.
- 00:55 That's what human beings do.
- 01:00 And the challenge for most people is not that they have to learn a whole new way of telling stories.
- 01:06 It's that they have to learn to stop turning off the story button.
- 01:13 We tell ourselves.
- 01:14 I'm now giving a serious speech or a serious presentation.
- 01:17 So I have to take all my good stories, throw them in the trash can because I got to go through all the data.
- 01:24 That's not what great speakers do.
- 01:27 You've got to be more selective on the data you're going to present and you got to use a story for each one.
- 01:33 In the same way, your friend isn't going to tell you about every second of the day for the weekend when you say 'how was your weekend' when some business prospect or colleague says tell me what's happened interesting in your business or in your division for the last quarter.
- 01:47 They don't expect to be told sales data every single hour for the last quarter.
- 01:56 You got to focus on the most interesting story for your audience.
- 02:02 The single biggest problem most speakers, most presenters have is not that they get flopped sweat, or that they say too many umms or us, or that they forget something or they can't answer a question.
- 02:15 Those could all be problems.
- 02:16 But far and away the biggest problem most people have, they're so uninteresting.
- 02:23 Nobody remembers anything they said.
- 02:26 They just bored their audience to death.
- 02:28 They may have looked professional, smooth.
- 02:33 The slides were all expertly done.
- 02:35 The logo was in the right place, but if you went around the room and asked people what do you remember from this last speaker, the answer would be nothing.
- 02:44 That's the far and away the biggest problem most people have in the adult business professional world.
- 02:53 The single biggest fix-it to that: stories.
- 03:00 Now, I know at some level you've already bought into this idea of stories or you wouldn't be in this course.
- 03:05 But I just want to give you yet another reason to change your thought process when you're creating presentations and to put more of an emphasis and a primacy to these stories because they solve the number one problem, which is nobody remembers anything in your speech.
- 03:26 Put interesting, compelling, memorable stories in. You've solved that problem.
Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.