Your story is

the why behind your business,

the passion behind your message

the foundation of your business and personal brand.

You need to Speak Your  Story

Your story can 

give you focus

reignite your motivation

+

inspire others

give them hope

give them guidance

You need to Speak Your  Story

Storytelling works.

It has been the foundation beneath human communication

and behind the SUCCESS of human communication for millennia.

Storytelling = success

Storytelling = connection, engagement, persuasion

Storytelling = sales

Hello, this is Bronwyn Ritchie, speech coach from Pivotal Public Speaking, and I am absolutely entranced by the value that storytelling adds to our public speaking and presentations.

I spent 15 years in the academic system and except in creative writing, the whole process involved facts and theories.  I specialised in history and it was all based on facts, dates, revolutions, cause/effect, kings, presidents and masses of people called peasants, or middle class or rulers or the population of an area.  I ached for the stories behind all of those facts, behind the theories and behind the groups of people.  I have had to turn to historical fiction and movies to really feel, understand and remember just what was really transpiring in any particular year, or historical movement or revolution. Who were these people?  What were they doing?  What were they thinking?  What was their story?

But because I did well and respected my lecturers and the system, I learned to write and communicate those facts, those theories and those dates and movements in history.  Then when it came to speaking and communicating to groups of people the automatic response I had was to support my messages with those same things - facts, data, theories.  And that same aching disconnect was there all the time.  I managed to overcome it with personal asides and huge numbers of techniques involving body language, facial expressions, voice, idiom, but always dismissing stories as unscientific, less than professional, unsuitable to proper speech-making.

What a relief, then, when I studied under a speaking mentor and learned his storytelling techniques and the power of storytelling, when it is done well. 

Since then two things have happened. 

I have studied storytelling through all the means I can lay my hands on.  I have learned its history.  I have studied the neurological processes involved.  I have watched storytellers of all sorts, and speakers using story in all sorts of ways.  And I have found the answer, the filling, for that aching gap that was there all through my years of study and speaking.

The second thing is that it seems society is running parallel with my own transformation.  We are moving away from the focus on science and scientific proof, perfect professionalism and the use of statistics and fact.  And we are moving to an understanding of the power of connection through story, the need to add this to the mix - if we are to have an audience feel, understand and remember a message.

It really is a beautifully powerful, authentic way to connect with an audience, to gain their attention and engagement and to take them with you into your message ... into your "story".

And what I want for you, is the same transformation that I had when I studied storytelling with my own mentor.  Maybe you don't have as far to go or as much to learn as I did.  But what I want to give you is the blueprint for storytelling that will make it easy for you to use it time and again whenever you speak. Too many people are making too many mistakes when they use storytelling, and they water down the wonderful impact the stories could have on their communication, their connection and their message reception.  Your story matters. It has the power to inspire you and to inspire others.

It's time for you to Speak Your Story!