By Ben Hanlin, Magician, Awards Show Host, Keynote Speaker
If your message is not landing, here is the first question I always ask when I am coaching teams:
Can you retell that information as a story?
Using storytelling in business meetings, presentations, and on stage is one of the most reliable ways to make a message stick. After years of performing, hosting, and speaking to audiences of every size, I have noticed the same pattern repeatedly. In short, our brains remember stories far better than isolated facts.
When you apply strong storytelling techniques, you turn dry information into something people actually want to listen to. As a result, your message becomes easier to understand and far more engaging.
Stories create emotion.
That emotion creates memory.
Ultimately, memory is what creates impact.
Whether you are leading a meeting, pitching an idea, or presenting to clients, storytelling in business gives your message weight. Instead of abstract concepts, your audience experiences something they can feel. However, there is one technique I return to time and again, because it is consistently overlooked.
Don’t tell a story about a thousand people. Tell a story about one.
This is where most people go wrong. They think scale impresses an audience. It doesn’t. If your story is too big or too vague, your audience disconnects instantly.
However, when you focus on one person – one client, one team member, one interaction, one moment – your message becomes human. Relatable. Memorable.
This is the heart of effective storytelling in business:
Give your audience a single person whose journey they can see themselves in.
Show me one individual, and I’ll feel something.
Show me a crowd, and I’ll forget it by lunch.
Make It Human. Make It Emotional. Make It Matter.
Whether I’m hosting awards, performing magic or speaking about communication, the principle is identical. Use storytelling techniques that make your audience care. Focus your story. Make it emotional. Make it specific.
That is how you connect.
That is how you get remembered.
And that is the true power of storytelling in business.
Ben Hanlin