In my last post I talked about the power of stories to engage people. While we all agree on this point, one of the common questions many people have when it comes to stories is, "Where do you get your stories?". Believe it or not most of the stories I tell are about myself. Personal stories accomplish two main things.
- They communicate vulnerability to those I'm speaking to. The last thing I want to do is to come off like I have all the answers or that I'm the expert. I don't have all the answers and I'm certainly no expert. I want people, especially guests to recognize that I'm just like them.
- They allow me to communicate with more passion and emotion. Because I'm the one who has gone through the experience myself, I'm able to communicate personal stories with more passion and emotion than if I were telling stories of other people.
So where do I get my stories? Stories are going on around us all the time, we simply don't pay attention much of the time. In my book bag I have with me a small notebook where I keep a list of things that happen to me and around me that are worthy of recording. At the end of each day I simply think back over the day and if something happened that was noteworthy, I answer these questions in the book.
- What happened?
- Who was involved?
- How can people connect with what happened?
- What is funny?
- What are the messages or life lessons that can be drawn from this story?
In the front of the book I keep an index of all my stories (Page #; Date; Lessons; Story) for quick reference. Even though I'm fairly new at this, this system has worked well so far.
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