Chapter 1 - Is Storytelling fact or fiction?
To what extent is story or storytelling currently used in events, meetings or conferences in your business?
I don’t believe storytelling is used widely as yet. There is a tendency in business to show and tell. With that I mean with the presenter or speaker usually has something to sell, their product or services and therefore they have an agenda. You can’t blame them as this is how any kind of presenting is mostly done, we are conditioned by examples and training in society. When I create whiteboard animation videos for my clients, I often have to coach them and help them to prevent their tendency for using a selling narrative and instead share a story. Here is a fun video I created to explain this message in a memorable way!
But how can a story or storytelling create or enhance the effectiveness of business messages and an audience’s perception of leadership from a speaker or presenter?
We all love stories, we learnt about stories when we were knee high and it filled our imagination with all sorts of wondrous images. When we grow older we still love stories, we read books, we watch films, we watch TV, we watch the adverts, we listen to the radio or podcasts. When we read books we have to fill our brain with images in order to make sense of the storyline, as otherwise we wouldn’t remember the book at all. Therefore when we share stories, it is significantly more memorable because we create an emotional attachment. In fact in our every day communication, when we speak with our families, friends and colleagues, we mostly share information in a story format, just pay attention next time you are speaking to your best friend or your mother.
Chapter 2 - The benefits of Storytelling
What are the benefits and challenges of using storytelling more and how does technology play a role in this?
The benefits are very significant. If we are teaching or presenting and we wish our audience to remember what we have said or spoken about, just presenting the facts isn't memorable at all. It is a well known researched fact that we forget 80-90% of what we have heard within hours of leaving a meeting, an event or a conference. Check out the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve, which confirms this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Ebbinghaus
The challenge is, we live in a world where we are all being bombarded by thousands of advertising and social media messages everywhere we look and therefore it’s getting tougher to stand out from all that noise and get noticed. And worse still actually getting remembered.
Technology does play a massive part in this. I believe we are predominantly visual learners, which means anything visual, images and video are both excellent mediums where you can grab someone’s attention. We only need to witness the popularity of YouTube and TikTok, but I’m not just referring to talking head videos, animation is going to continue to grow exponentially and grow in importance. Animation using cartoon drawing appeals to our inner child brains.
The objective and out come is about being 'more memorable' or in other words 'not forgettable'. Most brands are forgettable although they continue to spend millions getting information into our minds on a macro level. It’s actually not surprising that brands are now regularly using animals in their ads to evoke an emotional response from us. I call this the ‘Awww factor’. When we have an emotional response to something we see or experience it will be memorable for longer. Equally the animal in the ad will be memorable and it delivers a hook to the product.
Chapter 3 - The barriers to Storytelling
What do you consider to be the key hinderances that stop people (speakers and presenters) from using story and storytelling methods more?
It's generally because they can’t think of any stories, believe it is hard work or you need some special qualifications and of course they are stuck in a paradigm of using sales speak, using Powerpoint presentation methods, we're all familiar with death by Powerpoint and someone's desire to prove to the listening audience that they are credible and important, have a lot of knowledge to share and wish to impress. Because if they impress, the listener will ‘buy them’. Unfortunately what happens is the content and the presenter will be forgettable.
The best example of great storytelling and presenting I can think of are TED talks. The presenters in the main are sharing stories, that’s why TED has been so successful.
Watch this great Ted Talk by film maker Andrew Stanton of Toy Story and WALL-E fame, who shares some clues to a great story.
What can you do to make your messages be more meaningful and memorable for your audience’s ear?
If it was made compulsory for speakers at meetings, events and conferences to only be allowed to share a story, then they would. Guidelines could be issued to any speaker to detail how they could make their presentation more engaging by sharing stories. Here’s another great video that explains brilliantly why stories need to be told instead of presenting bullet point lists.
The video maker has the following description under the video:
A list is great at stating raw information, but raw information alone never changed anyone. Robots love raw information, but humans respond to stories. You know, information that’s wrapped in something they can understand and that has meaning.
So, when you need to explain what 'your' something does, be careful that you’re not just making a list of the features. Give your audience something to believe in. Give them something to care about. Give them a story.
chapter 4 - TALKING HEAD VS WHITEBOARD ANIMATION
So how can we use storytelling and animation to increase memory retention?
In 2013 around the time when I started producing whiteboard animations, I came across this fascinating research. RSA Animate is a series of whiteboard animated videos from lectures or talks by prominent, let’s call them ‘thought leaders’. This in fact is how I first fell in love with whiteboard animation, it’s thanks to them that I am involved with it.
Acclaimed popular psychologist Richard Wiseman joined celebrated RSA Animate illustrator Andrew Park to unveil new evidence that shows that RSA Animate videos not only entertain, but educate in a surprisingly effective way. They did an online experiment, they created two videos, a talking head one and an animation one and asked some memory questions of their control groups, which resulted in some very interesting stats.
You can watch my summary, in a whiteboard animation of course, below and if you’d like to watch the full interview you can do that too.
Chapter 5 - The science behind Storytelling
So do you actually know what takes place in your brain when you hear a story?
Let’s compare these 2 short paragraphs and you decide which one is more memorable?
‘Using my smart phone makes me more efficient and allows me to get back in touch with my colleagues, family and friends in a way I have never been able to do before’.
Alternatively...
‘Last week, I was travelling in Europe away from the office and away from my young family. I have a 2 year-old daughter who misses me terribly when I’m away. Anyway, the scenery was great and I was in the middle of some gorgeous snow peaked mountains. Obviously I was working! I managed to have a really good signal on my smart phone and was able to easily get back in touch with my colleagues, family and friends and even Face-timed my 2-year old, whose face just lit up when she saw me on screen. I love it that modern technology allows me to do this in a way I have never been able to do before.
You may wish to think about the images that appeared in your brain for the 2 different paragraphs, which one do you think is more memorable?
Below is a handy infographic for you that explains in a bit more detail what actually happens in your brain when you listen to stories.
CLICK IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD - This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
How do you think authors, script writers and film makers become so famous?
There’s a native American proverb that says, ‘The one who tells the story rules the world’. The only reason they rule the world is because of their ability to move us emotionally. We are already storytellers as explained in Chapter 1 above and therefore we will know a story when we hear or see one. It’s automatic, our conditioned brain is already hard-wired for stories.
Therefore it’s not difficult for storytellers to rule the world, they have the ability to draw us into a world where we will empathise, mirror and literally and neurologically pit ourselves in the shoes of the character. That’s why we are so absorbed by stories.
In the video below they explore the science of storytelling and the power of stories to shape our minds - how stories make us human, why stories matter, and why stories are important in our lives. Books are incredibly powerful. They look at what happens inside the brain when you read.
Do you think it's time for you to start sharing stories?
Please discuss...
Take my free Storytelling Workshop or download my storytelling e-book, Why is Storytelling so important?
Michael de Groot
Chief Storyteller - Staying Alive UK
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stayingaliveuk
Twitter: @stayingaliveuk
Video playlist used in this article: Are Your Storytelling Yet?
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