Think of a  presentation that you liked.  Consider for a moment what you liked best about it?

Was it the timing?

The facts and figures?

The presenters poise and charisma?

Now if you would, bring to mind one thing you remember specifically from the presentation?

To this question many people start telling me a story, about a story the presenter used.  According to brain science our minds think in pictures.  If I say word Tiger, you immediately see the letters, T-I-G-E-R, floating across your mind, right? No, you probably bring to mind a picturing of a tiger, black and orange or maybe white and black but it’s a picture that represents a tiger.  Our minds think in pictures.  Our short term memory holds facts and figures but it fills up pretty quickly.  For most people after 6-7 characters.  Think of your telephone number or your social security number, and, we usually chuck those down to sets of 3-5.  Our long term memory can hold much more information and that part of the brain codes in pictures.

So tip number one -use stories to paint a picture in your audiences mind.  This will up retention and be more pleasing to your audience’s mind.  Tip number two keep your stories limited to about two minutes or less for most business presentations.  It’s important to up the retention but in business we are all on a tight time frame.  The story has to be short, relevant and to the point.  Tip number three, start your story with, When, Where or Who.  This helps anchor your story in geography and time and will satisfy the left side of the brain for your audience as you anchor the rest of the information into their long term memory.

For example:

When I was in the meeting, last week, in Austin Tx with Ernst and Young, we discussed the three main points relevant to our merger for 2012.

When I was 14, living on a farm in Iowa, my father told me “son you always take care of the horses first.”  I have always remembered that piece of advice and that’s how I run my company today.  I always take care of my people first. …

It doesn’t have to be flashy it just needs to be formated for best retention.

Stories are the backbone of a great presentation.  So Tell’m a story!