this double-page from Business Spotlight 4/2015

Telling
a good story
Denken Sie bei „Geschichte“ an eine
Präsentation als moderne Form des
Geschichtenerzählens? Sicher nicht!
Im neunten Teil unserer Serie zeigt
Bob Dignen, wie Sie Ihre Präsentation
durch den Einsatz von Geschichten
medium
Series Part Nine
unvergesslich machen.
30 www.business-spotlight.de
Think carefully: what is it
that you want to say?
4/2015
PRESENTATIONS BUSINESS SKILLS
S
torytelling is an essential
part of human existence. In
ancient times, stories functioned as oral history, in
which the wisdom of the
past was passed on to future generations. Legends and fairy stories were
created to symbolize key human experiences and values.
Today, we tell and listen to stories
— from Hollywood movies to everyday gossip — in almost all aspects
of our lives. At work, presentations
are one of the most important forms
of storytelling. Presenters often use
data to create a sense of objectivity,
but they are really creating stories
that aim to convince others of their
picture of reality.
In this article, we look at ways in
which you can develop your identity
as a storyteller, in order to deliver
more memorable presentations.
TIP 1 Choose your flow
Many presentations offer both interesting data and analytical excellence.
But all too often, they are disconnected from a bigger picture. A story
is needed — combining logic with a
sense of flow — so that the audience
can make sense of all the information.
Presenters can build stories with
three main types of flows:
a)Past-oriented: First, this happened,
which led to this, and so now we have
to do this.
lAdvantage:
builds to a conclusion
clearly.
lDisadvantage: can take a long time
to get to the point.
This article is the ninth in our special skills series. Each article contains ten top tips for a key area of
business communication — and a
training plan to help you to structure
your learning (see p. 35).
In previous issues:
Part One: Listening (2/2014)
Part Two: Speaking (3/2014)
Part Three: Writing (4/2014)
Part Four: Telephoning (5/2014)
Part Five: Meetings (6/2014)
Part Six: Business Contacts (1/2015)
Part Seven: Negotiating (2/2015)
Part Eight: Teamwork (3/2015)
b)Present-oriented: We need to do
this now because this happened and
this will happen if we don’t act.
lAdvantage: gets to the point quickly with a clear call to action.
l
Disadvantage: ignores the historical background.
c)Future-oriented: This is our vision
and this is how we can get there.
l
Advantage: can be inspirational
and focuses on future change.
l
Disadvantage: may not convince
those who believe in current or
past realities.
For every presentation, choose a
clear flow that can be summarized in4
ancient: in ~ times im Altertum
[(eInSEnt]
audience [(O:diEns]Zuhörer(innen)
bigger picture größerer Zusammen[)bIgE (pIktSE] ifml.hang
call to action
Aufforderung zum
[)kO:l tE (ÄkS&n]
Handeln
conclusion [kEn(klu:Z&n]Schluss(folgerung)
fairy story [(feEri )stO:ri]Märchen(geschichte)
get to the point zur Sache kommen
[)get tE DE (pOInt]
gossip [(gQsIp]
Gerede, Tratsch
memorable [(memErEb&l]unvergesslich, im
Gedächtnis bleibend
summarize sth. etw. zusammen[(sVmEraIz]fassen
iStock
Presenters are really creating stories that aim to
convince others of their picture of reality
www.business-spotlight.de 31