Have you ever heard a Core Story that resonates with you?
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go down to Denver for Joe Sabah’s Meetup Group, Speakers In Colorado where the featured speaker was Kevin Knebl.
Did I know who Kevin was before signing up? Not really, but I know Joe and Diana Hall have a knack of finding the right speaker to help us along in our journeys at the right moment. (It’s a little uncanny…Here’s the link to the program advertisement.) So I made the 1.5 hour journey down the mountain…
Speakers all have core TOPICS that we speak on. I help groups learn presentation skills and I help organizations grow through marketing/public relations and building on the strengths of their employees/membership. (FYI – I can get a little excited when helping you…) Kevin educates businesses and organizations on how increasing their “Like-Ability” leads to increasing profitability. What we don’t always speak about are some of our core Personal Stories. We got a special treat when Kevin spoke on his background leading up to becoming a Professional Speaker.
You may be wondering why I felt compelled to even write a blog about this?
Core Stories resonate. We need to hear the core stories of others to help us to the next level.
Are core stories appropriate for every presentation? This depends on what the story is. Does it support the action you want the audience to take? Kevin’s objective yesterday was to inspire us to take the next step…get past whatever may be holding us back personally or professionally and just do it. (You may notice I didn’t say Motivate…Read the book Drive by Daniel Pink on this if you haven’t already.)
Even if it isn’t your Core Story, your presentations should have a story, an analogy, something to help the audience relate to the point that you are trying to get across.
Example: (This is not my core story, but I do …)
In the spring, I enjoy helping the Muscular Dystrophy Association as a Jail Bird. While no one in my family has muscular dystrophy to my knowledge, I used to work as an in home assistant for a colleague who was quadriplegic from a college sporting accident. When you have worked as an attendant or assistant, you learn about many of the challenges a person with disabilities (along with their family) faces. Anything that a person can do to help the families, the individual, even the assistants and attendants is greatly appreciated. When I contact friends and associates who may not have this background, I break their donation down to something that they can understand (and this changes each year).
- By giving up X cups of coffee from Starbucks or X meals from McDonalds you help the individual with X.
- By doing X, we can send X number of kids to camp for a week.
The point…for a few dollars, you can really make a difference in a person or child’s life here in Colorado.
Stories help us relate. Core stories can help us inspire others to take the next step, whatever that may be…
- Take a moment and think about what your core story or stories are.
- Write it down.
- Think about presentations it may be appropriate for (maybe a office meeting, maybe during a mentoring session, maybe it will help another organization, maybe it will help you relate to a client organization.)
- If appropriate, incorporate it.
How will your core story help somebody else?
If interested in Kevin Knebl’s core story, you can contact him at 719-650-7659 or email address kevin@kevinknebl.com. His story was videoed.