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“Discovering storytelling is like life after Google. You don’t know how you lived without it!”
This week on the podcast, I’m very excited for you to meet the wonderful Yamini Naidu.
Yamini is a speaker, trainer, writer and expert in helping leaders master business storytelling. She works with leaders giving them business storytelling tools so they can engage people and deliver commercial results.
I met Yamini during the School of Hard Knock Knocks stand up comedy course, of which we were both students. I discovered not only is Yamini a seasoned keynote speaker, she constantly challenges herself through performing at open mic nights and other speaking events like The Moth. Amazing!
In this conversation, we discuss why storytelling in business is so important to the effectiveness of your communication, and what it actually looks like. Yamini also shares some excellent public speaking tips.
This episode is for you if you want to want to use storytelling to engage your team, clients, and other stakeholders more effectively – and if you tend to get stuck in the data when delivering presentations! (Or you may have colleagues who could use some help with injecting more personality and story into their communication…in which case, forward them this link ;))
Notes from the episode:
- Ten years ago, as a business leader herself, Yamini realised storytelling was the ‘missing piece’ for leaders – yet no one was teaching it. This led her to starting her own business teaching storytelling!
- “Data appeals to the head, but story and emotion appeals to the heart.”
- As a keynote speaker, it takes time to hone it down.
- “Discovering storytelling is like life after Google. You don’t know how you lived without it!”
- When speaking, aim to deliver 3 key messages per presentation. DON’T try to share everything you know in that one presentation. You WANT them to want to have you speak again!
- First keynote piece should addresses the WHY of your topic.
- Stories are the contemporary tool of influence. We went from ‘hard power’ to ‘soft power’ to what Yamini calls ‘story power’
- Why are people afraid to tell stories? There is a fear we don’t have any stories, and that they’re not professional.
- “If you have a pulse, you have stories.”
- Don Keyote method
- A good story MUST be authentic, it MUST have a purpose, and it must have a relevant message
- Stories supporting data are great – use facts, statistics, then share a personal story
- Before choosing a story, ask yourself: “How does this serve the room?”
- The similarities between business storytelling and standup comedy
- Pareto’s Principle: 20% of your effort that gets 80% of results. With speaking, that 20% is humour and storytelling.
- When speaking, the importance of managing your state and blocking out the rest, so you can turn up 100% for your audience.
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