Have you convinced yourself that storytelling is a skill you simply don’t possess? That you’re a competent public speaker, but telling true stories is beyond your grasp?
You’re in a meeting, a presentation, or introducing yourself to someone new, and you notice that people who command attention don’t just share information, they tell stories.
And when it’s your turn, your mind goes blank, and you default to explaining, summarizing, or reporting. You walk people through the details, step by step, point by point, and cover all the bases, yet their reaction is bland. There’s no connection, no emotion, no boost in energy in the room.
You may think: “I’m just not a storyteller.” That’s not true. There are dozens of stories unfolding in your life every day. You may not know how to identify them right away, and “capture” them to enliven your communication.
The Story that changed the room
One of my clients, the director of a performing arts center, came to me to prepare for a critical donor presentation. He had the facts, numbers, impact metrics, and a beautiful PowerPoint filled with images of young musicians his organization supported.
But there was a problem. Those young musicians were anonymous, just faces on a screen. When he rehearsed, he did what most professionals do. He explained the program, summarized outcomes, and walked the audience through the slides. It was polished but relatively forgettable.
I challenged him: “Pick one of those students. Tell me about them.”
He did not hesitate and spoke enthusiastically about a young violinist who practiced in a cramped apartment, sharing a room with two siblings. About the moment she first held a real instrument that wasn’t borrowed. About how her posture changed, not just physically, but emotionally, when she realized she belonged on a stage.
Everything shifted because now his presentation wasn’t only about “youth development programs.” It was not about her. And as he did the same for other students, the donor presentation was transformed without changing one slide. It changed because of a better entry point into the story and the reasons for supporting the program.
From explanation to experience
Another client, a helicopter pilot turned safety engineer, brought to life the same lesson in a very different context. When he first shared his background, it sounded like this:
“I’ve been a pilot for X years and transitioned into safety after gaining experience in aviation risk management…”
He was technically correct but emotionally flat. I asked him, “What made you change?”
He paused and started speaking about a moment that changed his life. Suddenly, we were no longer in a résumé; we were in a cockpit. He described a close call, how it sounded, smelled, the tension, the split-second decisions, and the realization after landing that things could have gone very differently.
That moment didn’t just explain his career choice but gave it emotional heft. It made his audience understand, not intellectually, but viscerally, why safety became his mission.
Stop explaining. Start zooming in snippets.
Most people think storytelling requires an elusive creative gift. But in my experience coaching executives, educators, and leaders, the issue is far simpler. When asked to tell a story, people zoom out and start narrating, giving chronology and too much background. But most powerful storytellers do the opposite. They zoom in to go to the story snippet, a moment that mattered most, and they let us experience it with them.
These snippets are not timelines but turning points and snapshots of a human moment that changed everything.
Pro Tip: Build Your Story Bank
Start a Story Bank, your personal library of meaningful moments. Write them down as they happen or as you remember them later. They don’t have to be dramatic, but they must be human.
- A moment of tension
- A small win
- A mistake you learned from
- A big or small turning point
Your stories can be about you or someone else, but they are always about people. Over time, this becomes your go-to resource. When you’re preparing a pitch, keynote, podcast interview, or panel discussion, you’ll have a rich reserve of context, color, and texture at your fingertips.
That’s what transforms your message from informative to memorable.
The Shift that changes everything
Here’s the practical shift I teach my clients: Instead of asking, “What happened?” ask
“What was the moment?” The moment you felt something, when you realized, decided, or understood something new.
That’s your story snippet. And here’s the discipline:
- Don’t start with backstory
- Don’t explain everything
- Don’t try to sound impressive
Start in the middle of the action. Let us see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt.
Every experience is a story if you let it
A big misconception about storytelling is that your life needs to be extraordinary. What makes a story powerful isn’t the scale of the event. It’s the specificity of the moment.
A donor sees a program but connects to a single young musician. An audience hears a career change but remembers a near-crash in midair. A colleague listens to your update but engages when you share the moment something clicked or didn’t. Every day, you live through moments worth telling.
Your next step
The next time you’re at a meeting, a presentation, or even a casual conversation, try this: Instead of explaining what happened, pause. Pick a moment and take us there.
The most compelling communicators don’t pull stories out of thin air. They have them ready, in their “back pocket.” And they know where and when to put them to work to dazzle an audience and make their arguments more meaningful.
