Of the two significant takeaways I brought home from my time in New York last week, I only want to share one with you.

The takeaway I want to share was the reinforcement of the power of stories to build credibility and connection. It’s an opinion I don’t need to be persuaded about, but some people still do.

The second takeaway that I brought back from New York that I don’t want to share with you is a cold/flu/sore throat/raking cough. I don’t know what I’ve caught but it has stopped me in my tracks… more on that later.

Stories Build Credibility and Connection

One of the conference speakers was Lan Guan who is the Chief AI Officer (it’s a thing!) from Accenture. Towards the end of her speech, Lan shared a story starting with “I built my first robot when I was 16”. She went on to explain that while she had lived in America for decades she grew up in China. At the age of 16 Lan’s parents borrowed money to send her to an exclusive science bootcamp for a few months. And exclusive is an understatement as in a country the size of China there were only three people selected. The robot Lan built was to teach English to rural children in China.

Stories like this do three very powerful things.

1. They build credibility because they immediately show passion in your area of expertise.
2. They create an instant connection with your audience – my suggestion would be to share stories like this much earlier in your speech.
3. They are the most memorable part of your presentation because they tap into emotion.

After the session, I made a point of asking some people what they would remember most about that presentation, and they all said the story.

Fighting Illness

Back to my sore throat and raking cough. I did my best to fight it off but failed. It meant I had to reschedule our podcast recording and the public Powerful Presentations workshop.

The good news is that I have now fully recovered.

Another bonus is that if you wanted to attend the Powerful Presentation workshop but could not make last week, the new date is the 20^th June and you can register here.

And if you are fan of the podcast Keeping it Real with Jac and Ral, then don’t fret as we record a few episodes at a time. So, we had an episode ready to go and they’ll be no break in the schedule.

Make sure to catch next week’s episode for a very, VERY special announcement and a brilliant offer only for our Keepers… especially if you like good wine!