How to Tell a Story That Is Appropriate for Your Audience

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How do people come up with a story that will hopefully resonate in an honest and authentic way with their audiences? So we're, we're finding stories. We're not creating stories. And so I, the way I come up with stories is, is I start with what story am I telling myself about my audience? Because if I tell myself that my audience is a bunch of hardasses who aren't going to accept anything, but you know, data, well, then that's not a very nice story to be telling yourself about your audience. The four buckets are: A story about a mentor, a story about a book or a movie, astory about a time I shined or

What is it about stories that make them such potent tools of influence and persuasion?

Annette Simmons would tell you that stories are largely about connection. When someone can see themselves in your story, that generates a sense of trust in the storyteller and the story they are telling.

As she writes in her bestselling book, The Story Factor, “Story is a pull strategy (rather than a push). If your story is good enough, people – of their own free will – come to the conclusion they can trust you and the message you bring.”

In this episode, we talk to Annette about her story, including her more than 30-year career listening to and telling stories, and helping others use them to effect change.

GUEST: Annette Simmons, Author, The Story Factor, Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins

BIO:
Annette Simmons is an author, keynote speaker, consultant, and founder of Group Process Consulting – a firm she founded to help others communicate better through stories. She started her career with a business degree from Louisiana University in the early 1980s and then headed off to Australia where she worked for 10 years in international business. Once back in the states, she earned a master’s degree in adult education and psychology and soon after launched her business to help others use storytelling as a communications tool. In addition to her consulting work, she is the author of four books, The Story Factor, Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins, A Safe Place for Dangerous Truth, and Territorial Games: Understanding and Ending Turf Wars at Work.

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