What do you want your life to look like in five years? What goal have you set that will take some time to accomplish?

Take the first step today. Make a phone call. Do some research. Send an email inquiry to someone who can help you.

Ask. Step out. Confront your fear.

Take the first step today.

The other characters in your stories, however, are equally important to making your story work. Think of them as your supporting cast. They’re also some of your best opportunities for humor because we can all relate to the relationships that you describe and the interactions that you act out as IN moments.  (For more information on IN moments, refer to the book, Doug Stevenson’s Story Theater Method, pages 221- 233; or see below for the 72-Hour Product Special  for two free articles about IN Moments.)

Bring Your Characters to Life with Colorful Descriptions

The way you describe your characters, physically, allows your audience to form a mental image of them. This gives them an opportunity to SEE the characters in their imagination as you move through your story. When your listeners see the other characters, they relate to them specifically rather than generically. Believe me, it makes a difference.

Don’t stop with, “My friend Mark was supposed to pick me up at the airport.” Go deeper. For example: “My friend Mark is about 6 feet, 3 inches tall and about 150 pounds. We used to call him “Daddy Long Legs”… with a mustache. He was a real string bean of a guy who worked as a computer tech  - a real nerd, an absolute genius with computers. So Mark, this lanky, nerdy guy, was supposed to pick me up at the airport and bring me home after my long trip.”

All I did was to go beyond the normal description to give the story more texture. I used a colorful description, perhaps with a little embellishment for effect, to help you see Mark. Chances are, most people in your audience know someone who resembles Mark, so they can now see him standing next to you at the airport. This description is especially helpful if you’re a tad short. Now we have an image of two mismatched buddies walking through an airport. It’s a funny visual.

I also used metaphors to aid the description: “Daddy Long Legs” and “string bean”. Both of these metaphors add to the colorful description. In addition to metaphors, I encourage you to get out your trusty Thesaurus and find some fun words to describe the characters in your story.

Mimic Them Physically

One of the best ways to make your characters come alive is by mimicking them physically. People love it when you mimic someone else. Most of us do it naturally when casually telling stories to our friends. Showing how your friend Lisa walks or uses her hands when she speaks is far better and often funnier than simply describing her.

Different characters can be created very easily.

• By simply dropping your shoulders forward a little, you can become an older person.
• By moving your shoulders up and back, you tell the audience that the character is very proper, confident or perhaps, stuck up.
• When you walk as the other character, you can simply shorten or lengthen the distance between your steps to transform them into someone taller or shorter, older or younger.
• Does the other character talk with their hands in a certain way? By creating a contrast between the way they talk with their hands and the way you talk with your hands, you can make it easy for your audience to differentiate the two of you in a two-character conversation. (For more info on the Two-Character Two-Step, see pages 245-257 of Doug Stevenson’s Story Theater Method.)
• Facial expressions are also very effective. If the character scowls, squints or smiles, mimic their facial expressions. It’s easy to make a face when you are portraying that character.

If you want to study how professionals do this, watch comedians. Be forewarned however, in order to make your characters come alive physically you must commit. You can’t do this halfway. It requires a willingness to play, to have fun and to take yourself and the other characters in your story lightly. The payoff is worth it.

Once you’ve decided to use a physical choice to create a character, practice the transition from you to them. Do it many times. It is the transition from one character to the other that is most challenging. I memorize their posture and practice repeatedly moving my body from me to them, almost robotically, to teach my body what I want it to remember. It’s like learning a dance step. Once your body remembers, it’s much easier to replicate while you are telling your story.

Have Fun with Voices and Inflections

Another great way to create memorable characters is vocally. Give them a character voice. It doesn’t have to be a huge difference from your voice, but it needs to be enough to sound different.

• Raise or lower your volume.
• Give them an attitude. Do they sound angry, dismissive, perky, tired, eager…?
• If they have a slight accent, have fun with it.
• Change the tempo. New Yorkers speak faster than southerners.

Often, my coaching students will tell me that they are not good at doing voices.  When we work on it, we discover that the problem is only their hesitancy to sound foolish or condescending. It’s not a technical problem; it’s a perception problem.  When you’re telling a story, you’ve stepped into another realm. Your audience immediately gives you permission to be broader, sillier, more emotional, more outrageous, more colorful and less realistic. The very form of storytelling is playful and imaginative. It’s supposed to be fun!  Therefore, the audience is very forgiving if you sound foolish.  They even want to go there!

In theater, there is a phenomenon called “the suspension of disbelief.” People suspend their logical brains for a period of time - and suspend their analytical faculties - and allow their imagination to take the lead. Even though we’re standing right there in front of them, we can create all kinds of imaginary worlds and realities and they willingly go along for the ride. They WANT to go along for the ride and they WANT us to take them on that ride. So take them there. Don’t be tentative. Go for it.

What About Being Offensive?

This is a very real and valid concern. You don’t ever want to be condescending or mean. You don’t want to offend. However, as you have no doubt discovered, some people are offended by the most ridiculous things. There is almost no way you can express yourself freely and not offend someone. If you have a strong personality at all, someone will find a way to find you or something you do or say offensive. The danger of being “watered down” in your presentation, for fear of offending someone, is a greater risk than that of offending someone!

Having said that, here are a few things to consider:

• If you are not an offensive person on a daily basis, it is not likely you will be an offensive storyteller. Don’t fear the one person who may be offended.
• If your colorful characters are true to life, they will be accepted as an integral part of the story. If a character had a southern accent, and you do a southern accent, that’s simply being true to life.
• Avoid ethnic or regional stereotypes simply for effect, but be true to the facts.
• If your tone is playful, you will generally be given the benefit of the doubt that you are not being mean, but rather you are exaggerating for comedic effect.

When describing the other characters in your story, vary your inflection and attitude to communicate how you feel about them. If they drive you nuts, let us hear it in the way you describe them. If you are in awe of them, let that come through in your voice.  Some of my students are better at using their bodies to create characters than others, but they all have had success using vocal inflection and attitude.  Inflection is like a spice. It colors your words with emotional context.

As you craft the narrative of your stories, remember to make the other people in your stories vivid and colorful. Give yourself a strong supporting cast and your stories will be more memorable.

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© Doug Stevenson All Rights Reserved

Contact Doug Stevenson at 719-573-6195 or visit his website at www.storytelling-in-business.com

Doug is a motivational keynote speaker, corporate trainer and speech and story coach. Check out his book, CD’s, DVD’s and other learning resources and learn more about his keynotes and training courses, Story Theater Retreats and small group coaching workshops and watch videos of Doug in action on his website.

Some of Doug’s past clients include Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Aetna, Century 21, The American Medical Association, The National Education Association, The National Association of Realtors, Amgen, Bayer Canada, Glaxo Smith-Kline, Eli Lilly, National Cattleman’s Beef Association, Lockheed Martin, The Department of Defense and many more

As a child watching movies, I dreamed of being an actor in Hollywood. And then one day…I found myself acting on a movie set at Paramount Studios.

After 16 years, when my acting career didn’t work according to plan, I set out for points unknown to find a new place to live and a new direction in life. That journey of discovery led me to Colorado Springs and a career as a residential real estate broker. Real estate led to keynote speaking, which expanded to training, and later included coaching.

As I look back and analyze what I had to do in order to get to where I am today, there are three things that I had to do over and over again.

• Decide what you really want - even if it doesn’t make logical sense
• Let go of the past in order to step into the future
• Take the first step, regardless of how knowledgeable or prepared you are

What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you do it? Did you even attempt it? Or did you let other people talk you out of it because it was impractical, illogical or unrealistic? Or did you talk yourself out of it for the same reasons. Perhaps you pursued your dream, (like I pursued my dream of becoming a movie star), and at some point along the way found yourself disillusioned with the results.

I find the life I’m living in the year 2010 is one that I never would have imagined. I have a thriving speaking, training and coaching business. My wife, Deborah, and I work together in the business and get to travel all over the world. Our life together is better than what I had ever dreamed of. But it would never have happened, had I not followed the three steps above.

As many of you know, I’ve taken up running to get in shape. I run three or four times a week with the goal of running several half-marathons each year. In other words, I’m in training. Every time I workout, I chart how many miles I run in my logbook. Runners call it putting miles in the bank. The more miles you put in the bank, the better you’ll do in a race.

Putting miles in the bank is a metaphor for putting life experiences in the bank.

Looking back, I’ve utilized my simple three-step formula every time I wanted to move to the next level of achievement in my life. At every turning point, the decisions I made, letting go and taking the first steps were like putting miles in the bank - my life experience bank. And with each mile, I got stronger.

My first big life decision was to make a serious commitment to becoming an actor. So after one year of college, I let go - dropped out - and got involved in the acting scene in Chicago.  The first step I took was to enroll in a Second City improvisation workshop. Someone in that workshop told me about a Method Acting class, so I studied there for 2 ½ years. And someone in that class told me about an audition for a new musical. I auditioned and was cast as Danny Zuko in the world premiere production of GREASE. I then decided to go for the big time in Hollywood, and I let go of the acting scene in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles.  Then one step led to another and the rest is history. But it never would have happened had I not decided what I wanted, been willing to let go, and taken the first step

Thirteen years later, having done everything I could think of to make it as an actor, it just wasn’t happening. I’d had limited success in movies and TV, had some great experiences doing plays and singing in a rock band, but it was clear to me that my acting career wasn’t going to take off.  Once again, it was time to decide what I really wanted and to let go of what wasn’t working.

At that point, I decided that what I wanted more than anything else was to be happy. And I wanted to be married and have a family.  To do that, I felt that I needed to let go of my Hollywood dream of becoming a rich and famous actor.  It was time for another first step:  to pack my bags and head east.

I believe the hardest thing to do when things aren’t working, is to admit it and let go. When you’ve invested your heart and soul into something that isn’t working, the numbing pain you’re living with seems less frightening that the excruciating pain of letting go and moving on. Having invested 16 years of my life into being an actor, I didn’t want to let go. Being an actor wasn’t just what I did, it was who I was. But I summoned my courage, and just as I’d done when I left my past behind in Chicago for an uncertain future, I make a decision, let go and took the first step into the future. 

You cannot move forward in life while holding onto everything from the past. Something’s gotta go. And sometimes, someone’s gotta go. For me that something was Hollywood and an acting career. And that someone was my old identity as an actor.

• Let go of beliefs that have been proven false
• About yourself and who you are
• About the way life is supposed to work
• About needing to know how before you begin
• Let go of people who are holding you back
• People that you love that are negative
• People that want you to stay the same for their sake, not yours
• People who have a world view that is not in alignment with yours
• Let go of fear of the unknown. When you step out, you will make it known.
• Let go of believing you have to do it all by yourself

Each bold new decision is accompanied by the need to take another first step. In my experience, each first step is almost always accompanied by fear. At the beginning, the fear is huge. But every time you take a step, you put miles in the bank. And with each mile you run, the fear diminishes and you become stronger.

It takes courage to change. Every time you make a change however, you become more courageous. With every mile, every life experience, you get stronger.

You’ve made thousands of decisions that have brought you to where you are right now in your life. Are you happy? Or do you want more:  something else, the next level of achievement? I thought acting was going to be the entire book of my life. I was wrong. It was simply a number of amazing and unforgettable chapters. Are you ready to start writing the next chapter in your life?

What do you really want? Forget about being practical and rational for a moment and let yourself say it. Let yourself dream it. If you want your life to be different in 2015, you need to start training today. Decide what you want, let go of the past and take the first step. 

• There are over 5000 subscribers to this newsletter. I took the first step in April 2000.
• This is the 83^rd Story Theater Newsletter. I took the first step back in May 2000.
• I just hosted my 96^th Story Theater Retreat. I took the first step in August 1996.
• I’ve given over 700 hundred keynotes and trainings. I took the first step in October 1987

What are you in training for?

• Your first book? How many pages did you put in the bank today?
• A full time speaking career? How many speeches did you put in the bank this month?
• A new job or career? How many inquiries did you put in the bank today?
• A new certification or degree? How many classroom hours did you put in the bank this month?
• A job promotion? How many “above and beyond” actions did you put in the bank this week?
• Running a marathon? How many miles did you put in the bank this week?

And finally: what are you going to have to let go of in order to move into your new and exciting future? What are you holding onto that is holding you back? Who are you holding onto that is holding you back?

Take the first step. Today.

Step 1 - Set The Scene:

A good deal of my work involves giving storytelling workshops for large corporations. They’re usually one-day workshops at some remote location like a conference resort or a fancy hotel.  When you combine the natural stress that accompanies airports, shuttle busses and hotels with the physical work of being on your feet for 8 hours, it’s pretty exhausting.

A year ago, after one of these workshops, I went back to my room and laid down on the bed. I woke up four hours later at 9 pm in the same clothes I’d worn for the workshop.  It was dark outside and for a moment, I didn’t know where I was. It was at that point that I realized I had to make a change. Either I had to stop doing one-day workshops, which I love, or I had to get in better shape and develop more stamina.

Step 2 - Introduce the Characters

(There are no other characters in this story.  In the Nine Steps of Story Structure, introduce the characters when they naturally appear in the story. This step is not necessarily Step 2.)

Step 3 - Begin the Journey

In March 2009, I made the decision to get back into running. I’d taken up running many times in my life, but never very seriously. At 59, I knew it was going to be like starting from scratch. And it was.

I found a running path near my house along an abandoned railroad track: the Rock Island Trail. It was 1.9 miles to the end, 3.8 miles round trip.

On my first run, I had to stop and walk after about ¼ mile. It was pretty bad. I walked and jogged for maybe a mile total. But it was a start. After a couple of weeks I was really getting into it. I could run farther and faster and longer. I bought some serious running shoes, subscribed to Runner’s World magazine and, because I’m deadline oriented, I decided to sign up to run some races.

Over the years, I’ve met and coached at least 70 people who have run marathons. After listening to their marathon stories of great pain and amazing endurance, I just couldn’t fathom running 26.2 miles for 7 hours and hurting myself. So I set a goal to run two half-marathons in 2009.

Step 4 - Encounter the Obstacle

Now that I had a true stretch goal, I knew I had to be more serious and knowledgeable about my workouts. For the first six weeks I kept running on the old railroad bed because it was flat. Right next to the railroad bed was a paved walking, biking and running path that the city had put in. But it wasn’t flat; it had a couple of hills. I didn’t want to run on the hills, but in the running magazine articles I was reading, the authors kept talking about how essential hill training was. No pain no gain right?

So the next time out, I decided to take the road less traveled, at least by me, and run on the path with the hills. And I hated it. It was painful enough getting back into running at 59, but the hills were killers. Within seconds of running up the first hill, my calves were burning and my lungs wanted to explode.

I kept saying to myself, “I hate this. I hate these hills,” but I ran them day after day; and when I was finished running for the day, I felt great. Mixed in with the soreness and exhaustion, there was a euphoria that I couldn’t explain. Runners understand. And I couldn’t wait to run again.

Step 5 - Overcome the Obstacle

A few weeks later I added an extra mile to my run. I was now running 4.8 miles on a regular basis, with hills, and sometimes I could even sprint a little at the end. I was in the best shape of my life. It was fun - except for those darn hills. I cursed them every time I ran them. And that bothered me.

One day, as I was lacing up my running shoes, I made the decision to practice what I preach. I teach that when you change your thinking - you change your life. So I decided to change my thinking about the hills. Instead of cursing them, I decided to thank them. As I started to climb the first hill and my calves started to burn I said aloud, “Thank you hill for making me stronger. Thank you for strong calves and powerful lungs. Thank you hill. Thank you hill.”

The hills were still hard. But now they were my friends and allies. I started looked forward to the hills.

Step 6 - Resolve the Story

About two months after I had started running, I was doing a one-day storytelling in business workshop for a client. After the workshop, I got back to my room, changed into my workout clothes and went down to the hotel gym. I was about 20 minutes into my workout on the treadmill when it occurred to me that I wasn’t upstairs passed out on the bed. I still had energy. My plan to get in better shape was working and paying off dividends.

I ran my first half-marathon in Portland, Oregon on July 4^th. It was extremely painful, but I finished in 2 hours 48 minutes…at sea level on a flat course.

I ran my second half-marathon in Colorado Springs in September 7^th in 2 hours 46 minutes, at 6000 feet in elevation. There were a number of small hills and it wasn’t nearly as hard or painful as the race in Portland. Now, when I’m on the road, I run a few miles after my keynote or workshop. I can honestly say that at 59 years of age, I’m in the best shape of my life.

Step 7 - Make the Point

Change isn’t easy. But what I learned from my experience with running is this: Thank the Hills. Rather than cursing the obstacles and the pain, thank the hills.

Step 8 - Ask the Question

How about you? Are you trying to make a change in your life but you look out in front of you and you see that hill, that pain, that challenge, that uphill climb? What is the hill for you?  Who is the hill for you? It is much easier to make changes and accomplish things in your life if you stop cursing the hills, and thank them instead.

Step 9 - Restate the Point

My challenge for you is: Thank the hills. Thank the hills in your life for making you strong. Change your thinking and you’ll change your experience. Thank the hills!

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To watch a video of another of my stories, with the Nine Steps of Story Structure outlined for you, go to my website: www.storytelling-in-business.com, click on Media Gallery, then click play on the first video entitled: The Story Theater Method in Action.  Here is a direct link:

http://storytelling-in-business.com/media-gallery

Doug Stevenson, president of Story Theater International, is a storytelling in business expert. He is the creator of The Story Theater Method and the author of the book, Doug Stevenson’s Story Theater Method.

His speaking, training and executive coaching clients include Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin, Oracle, Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen, Volkswagen, Century 21, The Department of Defense, The National Education Association and many more.

His 10 CD - How to Write and Deliver a Dynamite Speech audio learning system is a workshop in a box. It contains an 80-page follow along workbook. Learn more at: www.dynamitespeech.com

Doug can be reached at 1-800-573-6196 or 1-719-573-6195. Learn more about the Story Theater Method, purchase the book or Story Theater audio six pack, and sign-up for the free Story Theater newsletter at:  www.storytelling-in-business.com.

I recently gave the luncheon keynote speech for a state association. In the program that I presented, Emotional Eloquence, I usually tell three stories, which I call: The Oscar Story, The Chicago CEO Story and the Dagger Lady Story.

Because I was speaking after lunch, I knew I needed to keep the energy high and work in a little more interaction.  I decided to take out the Dagger Lady Story and replace it with my Airport Story, because the Airport Story is funnier.

Have you considered not only what stories to tell, but also when to tell them? When you’re designing a presentation, consider the time of day, the mood of the audience and the content being presented. Use strategically chosen stories to manage the energy of your audience while continuing to inform and influence. Certain stories are great openers and others are great closers. Stories that are more serious and emotional belong in the middle third of a presentation.

Don’t just tell a story for the sake of telling a story. Storytelling in business is serious business.  Stories are strategic tools. My Airport Story, which I’ve been telling for over 13 years, is a story that I use to create some fun and laughter, while at the same time making a very serious point about change. I know exactly when and how to use it.

My Dagger Lady Story, on the other hand, is more serious and contains some tender emotion. It makes a very powerful point about standing in your power as a speaker. When I use this story in a speech, I usually place it in the middle of my speech.  My Oscar Story is a great opener because it lays the foundation for the main point of that speech. I only do about 30 to 60 seconds of material before I’m into my Oscar Story.

Many of my students are under the impression that all of their stories need to be funny, as if stories are a substitute for jokes. They are not. If that were the case, all movies would be funny movies. People like funny stories, but they also like serious ones.  Stories can do many things. They can teach, inspire, and entertain. They can make complex ideas easy to understand. They can take an intangible concept, like change, and make it tangible and real.

In an hour keynote, I suggest that you use a couple of light and funny stories, because humor is essential in every presentation. I also suggest that you craft one or two stories that are more serious and emotional. These stories of real life challenges reflect the reality that people face every day. They also show that you are a serious speaker who takes your subject seriously.

Regarding story placement, here is one lesson that I have learned the hard way:  Don’t start your presentation with your funniest or most dramatic story. Place your best material in the last two thirds of your speech.  The reason for this is simple: People need some time to warm up to you and your subject. They need to get to know you. In the first three minutes, they’re getting used to your style, your rhythm, and your personality. Once they have accepted you, you can take them somewhere a little more challenging.

Your best stories are going to be personal stories. They tell the story of something that happened to you where you learned a lesson. Find the story that fits the lesson you want to teach in your presentation. Then the question is, when do you tell it?

One option is to start your presentation with a statement or a question that engages the audience’s attention. You can use that statement to lay the foundation for your first point. Then, use a story to illustrate that point. If it’s your first story, make sure it’s a “feel good” story.  If it’s funny, all the better!  It does not necessarily have to be funny, though, as long as it is warm and sincere.

Another possibility is to create a clever 30 to 60 second bridge leading into your first story. In my Emotional Eloquence keynote, I open with a bridge leading up to my Oscar Story. Oscar was a great leader and I use his story to illustrate inspiring leadership.  My first 30 to 60 seconds is spent talking about how I love my job because I get to meet some great people in great companies.  By talking about meeting nice people, I’ve created an opening that is positive, upbeat and conversational. So to make my segue into the Oscar Story, all I have to say is, “One of those great people was named Oscar.” That’s it. Within 60 seconds I’m into my opening story.

My Chicago CEO Story is about something more serious, so I place it in the middle of my speech. By then I’ve earned the right to be more challenging. I would never put it up front because it’s too confrontational. I’ve learned that I need to get them laughing and feeling good before I present anything that strong.

Take a look at your stories and place them into one of these three categories:

• Funny and light - get a laugh and make a point
• Cerebral and instructional - make sense and make a point
• Serious and emotional - make them feel and make a point; might be challenging

Now, design your speech as if it were a roller coaster ride. Take them up and down, to the left, and then up and down and to the right, and so forth.

Use your stories strategically. They are powerful communication tools. As a matter of fact, they are the most powerful communication tools in your tool belt. Remember, storytelling in business is serious business.

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Doug Stevenson, president of Story Theater International, is a storytelling in business expert. He is the creator of The Story Theater Method and the author of the book, Doug Stevenson’s Story Theater Method.

His programs include: Get Out of Your Own Way - A Rock and Roll Keynote; Storytelling in Business is Serious Business - Engage, Influence and Sell; Emotional Eloquence - The Lost Language of Leadership and; It Was A Dark and Stormy Sales Presentation - The Serious Business of Selling with Stories.

His speaking, training and executive coaching clients include Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin, Oracle, Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen, Volkswagen, Century 21, The Department of Defense, The National Education Association and many more.

His 10 CD - How to Write and Deliver a Dynamite Speech audio learning system is a workshop in a box. It contains an 80-page follow along workbook. Watch the preview video at: www.dynamitespeech.com

Doug can be reached at 1-800-573-6196 or 1-719-573-6195. Learn more about the Story Theater Method, purchase the book or Story Theater audio six pack, and sign-up for the free Story Theater newsletter at:  www.storytelling-in-business.com.

Subscribe to the free Story Theater Newsletter

“Have you ever been speaking, and you look out into your audience and see ’screen saver eyes’?  You know - that glassy-eyed look that let’s you know you’ve lost their attention?”

They all laughed and nodded in agreement!

If you’ve ever seen “screen saver eyes,” the two most important questions to ask yourself are:

• What did you do to lose them?
• How do you get them back?

This is an age-old problem. It is made worse by the need to teach vast volumes of information in short periods of time, and even more compounded by one of the most dangerous technological breakthroughs in history: PowerPoint!

Don’t you think PowerPoint is inappropriately named? Shouldn’t it be called WimpyPoint? PowerPoint has no power at all. The speaker has power. PowerPoint is a visual aid. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of intelligent audience members have been lulled into sleep by the fourth slide. Why?

Many speakers put almost every word of their presentation onto slides and then read them. It’s as if the speaker has relinquished his intelligence and memory to the slide show.  The entire presentation is on the slides.  Here’s what I have learned:

• Overly wordy slides are boring
• No eye contact is boring
• Not speaking extemporaneously is boring

If you must use PowerPoint, or if PowerPoint serves a specific purpose in your presentation, you can find more advice and tips in my eArticle: Powerful PowerPoint That Doesn’t Steal the Spotlight.

If you’re guilty of losing your audience’s attention it’s because you’re not stimulating their whole brain. People lose interest when all you do is deliver content, without making it interesting or stimulating. In other words, when you speak from your left logical brain to their left logical brain, you are simply delivering content - disseminating information - and that is boring.

People want stimulation. Right and left brain stimulation. Whole brain stimulation.  They want an experience!

We are all stimulation junkies. We want action. You know what I mean: lights, sound, action! Like in the movies. If you can make any part of your presentation like a movie, (auditory, visual and kinesthetic), and make your movie relevant, you will regain their attention.

How can you make a movie? Tell a story. Stories are inherently auditory, visual and kinesthetic. They activate the listener’s movie screen - their imagination - and engage their attention.

One of the primary principles of The Story Theater Method and the Dynamite Speech System is that you can’t teach anything if you don’t have people’s attention.

The bottom line is not about teaching - it’s about attention. It’s not about delivering content - it’s about engaging people so they care enough about what you’re saying to listen.

There are a number of ingredients that a story must have for it to engage someone’s attention and live up to its promise as an interesting mini-movie. They are:

• A clear and easy-to-follow narrative that flows logically forward
• Interesting characters that we can relate to
• Real life situations that we can relate to
• An obstacle or problem that must be dealt with for a successful outcome
• Drama (tension) and possibly comedy (release of tension)
• Resolution
• A relevant point (lesson learned or moral of the story)

As you choose your stories, choose them strategically to fit the situation or topic you are speaking on. They must fit seamlessly into the speech or training. If they are simply used for filler, they may seem like a waste of time. Make every moment in front of your audience count.

Once you have identified a story that makes the point you need to make, craft it using my Nine Steps of Story Structure template. Then memorize and rehearse it out loud and on your feet. Don’t make the mistake of practicing sitting down or by going over it in silence in your head. You must hear it and “physicalize” it for it to come alive.

To study Doug Stevenson’s  Story Theater Method, purchase his book and audio Six Pack or study with him in person by attending a 4 person Story Theater Retreat in Colorado Springs. If you’re interested in hiring Doug to present a keynote or workshop for your company or association, call Deborah Merriman at 719-573-6195 or visit www.storytelling-in-business.com.

The Story Theater Retreat in Colorado Springs

The Story Theater Method

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This was my first time presenting Story Theater in Germany and we weren’t sure what to expect. However, after doing two Story Theater Retreats and giving two speeches to audiences of Germans, Austrians and Swiss (many of them listening to me through an interpreter), the verdict was clear and overwhelming. The Story Theater Method works as well in Germany as it has everywhere else. Whew! We were in the right place. What a relief. And a blessing.

We also had some time for fun and vacation on this trip.  For my 57^th birthday present, I got to see William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, at the Globe Theater in London. The Merchant of Venice was the first play that I ever acted in, back when I was 19 years old.  Seeing the play at The Globe was a dream come true.

After our work in Germany, we had 12 days to wander the countryside in a rented car. Our only plan was to drive until we felt like stopping, find a hotel and rest for the night. On a bright Saturday morning, we headed south from Cologne to Koblenz, and then along the Mosel River. Finding a hotel on our first night was pretty challenging, because it was wine festival season and we did not have reservations.

Every hotel we went to was booked. At one, the receptionist, a wonderful old grey haired Grandma type, told us she was sold out, but got on the phone and found a room for us in another hotel. This became the first instance, but not the last, of German kindness and hospitality. We were greeted at our hotel with a welcome glass of wine and had a wonderful meal before bedding down for the night.

The next day we continued to wander south along the lovely Mosel River, then headed southeast towards the Black Forest.  Deb picked out a town on the map that looked good for our next night - right on the Rhine River. If it’s on the Rhine, it must be quaint, right?

By the time we stumbled into town it was dark and I was getting cranky. I was getting used to a frothy German beer at dinnertime and it was well after 7:30 pm. After driving around in circles for another 30 minutes, we realized that this was not the quaint river town we were expecting.  We finally saw a hotel, but it was not good. We found another one a block away. It was shut down for the night. Things were looking pretty grim. It seemed like we’d made a mistake and were in the wrong place. But, there was a Greek restaurant across the street and we needed food.

I had to look through the window of the restaurant to see if the place was still open. I saw one couple eating and one waitress at a counter, so we went in.  We struck up a conversation with the couple at the next table. Lucky for us, the husband spoke great English. He said, “Ask me anything. I’ll help you any way I can.”

Not only did he help us find a hotel two blocks away, but he also told us about some old castle ruins that are not in the tourist guidebooks, and an idyllic old German town called Wissembourg (which happened to be in France). Plus, he gave us his own map of the region, one that proved indispensable for the rest of the trip.

As we walked out of the restaurant, I said to Deborah, “That was interesting. It’s like we’re on a scavenger hunt and he just gave us the next clue for our journey.” To which Deborah replied, “We were in the right place after all.”

The ruins of the castle were up on a hill overlooking the vineyards. To get to it you had to ride an old, and I mean old, ski lift through a lush grove of trees just starting to turn into their fall colors. Wow!

Later that afternoon, we drove down the Weinstrasse (Wine Road) to Wissembourg and boy was he right. This was the classic old German town of your dreams. We spent two nights there and enjoyed a wonderful day wandering the streets, taking photos and shopping.

Heading east across the Black Forest was beautiful. The two lane mountain roads wound through quaint little villages that sold Cuckoo Clocks. Deborah kept reminding me that we needed to find a place to take a hike in the woods while it was sunny and bright. So we drove and drove and when it was lunchtime, I pulled off the road at a little Bierhaus.

Deborah ordered the fish from the river that ran through town and I had a Wurst with Kartoffle (sausage and potatoes). While we were lunching, I noticed a lady pull in to the parking lot, look at a sign and then disappear up a path beside the restaurant. When I investigated further, I discovered a 2-kilometer wellness walk right there behind where we were sitting. This was our hike!  Furthermore, it was an experience that we had never had before. This trail was designed for walking barefoot, over mulch, sand, pebbles, mud, pinecones and grass.  A foot massage in the woods!

Once again, we were in the right place to find the next clue.

Back in Munich, after experiencing Oktoberfest and drinking 1-liter beers (without getting tipsy) we decided for our last night to walk over to the Marianplatz and watch the famous Glockenspiel do its thing at 5 o’clock. We found a seat at a table next to two Americans. It turned out that one of them lived in Denver, 60 miles north of Colorado Springs. By the end of the conversation we were exchanging emails and considering the possibility of how my Story Theater Method could help his company.

And again, we were in the right place.

This wonderful trip was just like my life: full of hundreds of times when meaningful coincidences, (Carl Jung calls then synchronicities), have happened. Not only are these synchronicities happening all the time, they can be counted on. It’s as if life is a mysterious scavenger hunt and you have to live each day to discover the next clue. But the lesson is this: Know that you’re always in the right place to receive the next clue.  Even when it is not obvious, we are actually in the right place all the time.  At each turn, with each encounter, we get the clue for the next piece of the journey.  The trick is to look for the clue - expect it - and then, do what the clue tells you to do.

It’s absolutely amazing to me that I just returned from speaking in Germany. Years ago, when I was beginning my speaking career, I marveled at how people got to give speeches in Seattle or Atlanta, much less in another country. I realize that all along the way, I have received clues for what to do next to lead me on this journey.  Sometimes I made the decision to follow the clues, and other times I didn’t even notice them or I rejected them.

My revelation from this journey is that you are always in the right place to receive the next clue, and even if you ignore or reject the clue, it will come back around until you finally recognize it as YOUR next clue.

Many years ago I got a clue that I was supposed to be speaking about Story Theater rather than customer service and change.  I had to get that clue many times before I finally GOT it. Once I recognized the clue and made the change, it eventually led to me speaking in London and Singapore and Australia, and now Germany.

Know that you’re in the right place to receive the next clue.  Is there a clue that you are ignoring?  Are you holding onto your current “right place?”  Being in the right place is not a permanent place.  You are in the right place to receive the next clue that will take you to the next right place.

Know that you’re in the right place. Follow the clues.

(Note:  The above story demonstrates theme weaving and using a Phrase That Pays.  For more information on these Story Theater principles, refer to the index of topics for the past issues of the Story Theater Newsletter.)

The Story Theater Retreat in Colorado Springs

The Story Theater Method

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