Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Corporate Stories

I'm sure that if you're in a corporate environment and have read my articles and blogs about the importance of storytelling, you've probably asked yourself, "Who does this girl think she is? I can't get up in front of my boss and colleagues and talk about playing little league baseball to make a point about teamwork! That's just silly."

Well if you feel as though you don't want to pull from your personal life-experiences to make a point in your business presentations (which there is a way to do it and do it well, but we'll focus on that another day), I have a few questions that you can answer to find some great stories for your business presentations.

1) Why did you start/join the company?
2) Has anyone in your company taught you a lesson? What was it? What did they say?
3) Have your clients or customers given you some powerful insight?
4) Who has been a good example of great managing? Who has been a poor example?
5) Was there a project that got you excited?
6) When has your team helped you?
7) When did you think you couldn't reach a goal, but then did?
8) Who has motivated you?
9) Who have you seen that puts in extra effort?
10) Who would you like to be like?

As you can see, each of these questions can be answered in many different ways. They will send you down a train of thought that will lead you to a great story to make a great point in your next business presentations.