One of the recurring meetings I have is for a whole department where each team provides an update. Six teams give presentations during the hour-long meeting. A few hours after the meeting, I hardly remember what anyone talked about. There is a spree of content and it is impossible to remember it all.
Today I had to present at this meeting. To make my content more interesting, I opened with a story that framed some of my content.
I referenced a story from The Culture Code about how the SEAL Team Six operates. In intense combat situations, the commander is silent on the radio. He knows that his team will communicate and figure out what to do. He doesn’t need to be remotely micromanaging everyone.
I related this story to some recent events to make a more memorable presentation. A few hours later, that seems to be the only thing that stuck in my mind.
Using stories makes presentations more exciting. More important, it makes them more memorable. If I cannot get an idea to stick, presenting was a waste of my time.