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“Today
I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No
big deal. Just three stories.”
That’s the way Apple Billionaire Steve Jobs began his
recent
commencement speech to graduates Stanford University.
What great way to grab an audience’s attention. Who doesn’t
love stories?
Indeed, Jobs
understands that a speech is not the place to bore an audience
with a lot of detail. Rather, it’s the place to motivate by
keeping a message simple and vividly bringing it to life with
stories.
His first
point was “trust your gut”. He told a personal story about
how he dropped out of college and founded Apple. The personal
nature of the story makes the speech even more compelling. If
you want to win over an audience, let them in and tell them
about yourself.
His second
point is to "love what you do". Again he told a personal story
about getting fired from Apple (another personally revealing
story). Getting fired from Apple made him realize just how
much he loved what he was doing.
The third
story was follow your heart. Again, he told about his own
life and his personal battle with cancer.
Oh sure, you
might say, "He was giving a speech to college students. He
can afford to tell stories. It wasn’t a true “business
presentation.”" Perhaps. But the best business presentations
motivate and connect on a personal level. And the way to
do that is to keep your message simple and tell stories.
Try it.
Before you know it, you might be a multi-billionaire.
At
Speechworks we help our clients learn how to communicate in a
way that connects and persuades. If you’re interested in
becoming a great communicator give us a call at 404-266-0888
or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net |
