�����г���Ƶ

The difficulty with telling stories is that we overthink it. The word story can mean different things. The Effective Communicator likes to make a distinction between Story-with-a-capital-S and story-with-a-little-s. For the sake of clarity, we’ll refer to the former as narrative, and the latter as anecdote—it’s not a perfect comparison, but it’ll get the job done.

When people say, “Tell a story,” what they mean is, “Craft your presentation as a narrative.” By all means, add a personal anecdote to connect with your audience, but try thinking of your whole presentation as a story.

Before writing came along, narratives were the way we stored and shared information. They’ve been helping us make sense of this chaotic world ever since. According to the communication theorist , narratives provide order to our lives by helping us connect different experiences into a coherent whole. Narratives tie up loose ends.

Fisher calls us “story-telling animals.” This is where the overthinking part comes in: since story-telling is in our evolutionary make-up, it comes naturally. The key is to adjust your perspective to take advantage of this natural ability.

Think of it this way: Your presentation is the story . We’ll show you how.

Narratives have a structure that you can map—and since you can map it, you can use that same structure to create it. The Oregonian’s former writing coach, Jack Hart, provides a useful model for thinking about how we can structure a narrative. Hart’s model is directed at journalists, so we’ve modified it for presenters.