How to writea brilliant story?

If you haven’t got a good, sound story to tell then you can’t produce a good presentation

好故事是演讲的灵魂。

写一个好故事的清单

brilliant do’s and don’ts

Don’t start at the beginning.

首先要决定故事的结尾是什么，然后一切为结果服务。

Start by deciding what the ‘end’ is – what the final point is that you want to make. Everything you do must lead up to this final point – everything.

Do limit your thinking to the ‘rule of three’ – in this simple technique you are never allowed to use more than three points.

不限于只说三件事，只要够好，你可以多说。

Try it and see how powerful it is. 

For example, there are just three things to say about creating a story – stories are designed to command the attention of the audience; stories are about people, things and events; and all stories are about change.

Do try to summarise the thrust of your story in just a few words.

试着用简短的话概述你的故事

For example, if you say ‘This presentation is about our growth, how we’ve achieved it and what we are going to do next,’ this will ‘fix’ in your mind the journey you are going to take. 

Many of us find it hard to say exactly where we are going, which probably accounts for the fact that so few of us actually get there.

Do make your story sound fresh and new – as if it has only just happened, and also as though it has happened to you.

让你的故事听起来新鲜

Do give your audience the setting for the story in graphic terms – time,place, temperature, ambience and so on – hook into people’s imaginations.

Do you remember those stories that started ‘It was a darkand stormy night’?

设定故事发生的背景

Don’t be squeamish about cutting out anything in your presentation,however nice you think it is, which doesn’t drive the story on.

毫不犹豫砍掉不能推动故事发展的情节

Do try to create a simple structure so that the presentational story has an order to it. Something like: 1 This is where we were; 2 This is where we are now; 3 This is where we want to be.

为故事创造简单的结构

Don’t only speak in the third person. Try to introduce first person experiences and anecdotes.

不要仅适用第三人称

Become a story student

学习

Listen to the stories that people tell at work, at home, in the pub– wherever.

Work out why some work and some fail.

Why someare brilliant and others not. 

Listen to comedians and watch thenews. 

Become a ‘story addict’. 

Learn what seems to work andthen adopt the role of storyteller and finally try to grip the attention of your audience through the simplicity, conviction and narrative drive of your performance.

Practise, practise, practise – it takes time but keep at it.

练习

And don’t forget to try it on your mother, a child or a teenager from hell.

Set yourself a ‘story test’.

Keep on asking yourself if the story you are telling contains the ‘brilliant story elements’.

检验

测试你你写的故事，让一些妇孺都能听懂你的故事。

The elements of a great story

It needs to be:

interesting;

relevant;

accurate;

involving;

clear;

well structured;

memorable; 

and make demands on your audience – you do want them to dosomething as a result of it don’t you?