Presentation Secrets: Do What you Never Thought Possible With Your Presentations

NOT ALL STORIES ARE CREATED EQUAL

Not all stories are created equal; some stories are better than others. “Better” can mean at least two things. Some stories are more popular. They spread better than others, sometimes very rapidly, like wildfire. Urban legends are like this. They stick. (Chip and Dan Heath explored this concept in great detail in their highly successful 2007 book Made to Stick.) But after a period of time they might fade away just as quickly as they spread—or mutate beyond recognition. Some stories stick in a different way: they just don't die. They aren't hugely popular, but somehow they are always around. They become history. Myths and other great classical art fit this category. Both types of stories can be considered successful and therefore “good.” Depending on your sensibilities, you might prefer one to another. I believe both are worthwhile goals.

But most stories just disappear, almost instantaneously and without any fanfare. TV broadcasts, news articles, blog posts, conversations between friends—the moment people stop talking about them they are dead and forgotten. Nobody ever remembers these stories or acts according to the idea or the bottom line of the story. Why is that? Well, the simple answer is that people don't act according to the moral of the story because the storyteller never bothered to formulate the moral of the story in the first place. I am not saying that you always need to do this explicitly, like in a fable. This looks pompous and unnecessary. ...