Introduction.
Think about the last presentation you delivered. Can you summarize it concisely in one minute? Now, do you think your audience would be able to do the same?
If you answered “yes” to both questions, you likely already master storylining. If you hesitated, keep reading.
Storylining is the process of organizing your isolated ideas around a common guideline. It is a methodical approach of structuring individual insights in a way that guides your audience through a clear, logical, engaging and persuasive narrative. Every good book or movie follows a clear storyline. Learning storylining is basically learning how to write a story, in the business world.
In this article, I will explain the value of storylining in business presentations, and the reasons this process of often overlooked.
Storylining is an essential component of an impactful presentation.
Impactful presentations share three characteristics, including a good storyline.
Strategy consulting firms (McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.) are known for building great PowerPoint presentations. Their presentations are different in many ways.
Top consulting firms know that even the best ideas are useless if they aren’t communicated efficiently. In addition to pertinent insights, a good presentation needs to be visually well-designed (I will tackle the visual aspect in a future article) and have a great storyline.
Engage your audience.
The reason consultants spend so much time structuring messages around a logical flow of information is that it is the best way to spread your ideas and engage your audience.
A well-structured story helps your audience grasp complex ideas quickly and effortlessly. By presenting information in a logical flow, you reduce cognitive load and help your audience follow along without getting lost.
It also makes people more likely to remember information that is presented. We are wired to remember stories better than disconnected facts, making storylining a powerful tool.
Focus on what matters.
Making sure you have a good story forces you to focus on what’s important for your audience. Good stories are not a collection of facts and data, individual insights must connect. You can’t include an analysis in a presentation only because you worked on it, it needs to add value to the story.
However, storylining is rarely applied in business presentations, mostly because it is rarely known.
Storylining is rarely applied.
Do you often meet colleagues valuing building a story as much as having the right insights on a slide? Probably not. Storylining is often overlooked, much like slide writing, even though it’s crucial to effective communication. Professionals prefer to focus on getting their facts right, rather than on how they will communicate them.
Chances are that if we take a random business presentation:
- Insights presented are very pertinent
- The overall flow of information feels disjointed
- There is little to no layout consistency (”unfortunately, given the limited time frame we had, we had to prioritize real work over the look and feel”).
Storylining is rarely known.
Storylining is undervalued because it’s not taught. Professionals don’t realize the value it can bring, or simply have no clue there are best practices to apply. Besides strategy consultants, most professionals have never learned how to create a strong narrative for a business presentation. Just like there are rarely any training for slide writing, there are rarely any available training on storylining.
Conclusion.
Storylining is an essential component of a powerful business presentation. However, most professionals don’t pay enough attention to it, because they have not been properly trained on this matter.
Fortunately, the storylining process is not rocket science, you can learn it by yourself. Inslidr’s four-step method is based on top strategy consulting firms’ best practices. Follow the guidelines in the complete consulting storylining guide and you’ll significantly enhance the impact of your presentations.
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Happy storylining!
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