My husband is an avid surf fisherman. When we holiday at our property in Bermugui he will often wake up early, head off to the surf and come back 4 or 5 hours later. Sometimes with some Australian salmon or flat head but most of the time …well let’s just say we are eating chicken that night.

Today is Steve’s birthday and this is the card I gave him.

Storytelling and Fishing

Now some may say this is harsh (funny but harsh) but it pretty much reflects reality. I see this ‘white line’ in business storytelling also (how is that for a segue!). Many people assume because we use storytelling naturally in our personal lives, it will be easy to use in business. It isn’t, otherwise everyone would be doing it well.

Common Mistakes with Storytelling

There are several common mistakes people make with storytelling in business, which results in their attempts backfiring. Here are three typical examples:

1. Stories going too long, which results in people tuning out before you finish talking.
2. Not having a clear purpose to your story so people walk away thinking ‘What was that about?’
3. Insufficient preparation and practising of stories, so you go off track with the story and miss the point.

Avoid mistakes – Invest in Storytelling Training

So if telling better stories in business is not something you want to leave to chance then it is worth investing the time to learn how to do it properly. Check out my public storytelling workshop in Melbourne on March 14^th or contact me about an in-house workshop for your team.

Trust me when I say, there is a fine line between telling a story and sounding like an idiot.

P.S. Early bird ends today 6^thFebruary in honour of Steve’s birthday.