After learning about the various storytelling concepts this week, I was inspired because I have always believed that storytelling is an essential tool that can be used in all walks of life, not just in education. When we know how to convey information to our audience through storytelling effectively, we also output our charisma and values ​​to our audience. The advent of the Internet era has changed the traditional teaching model, which has also given more people the opportunity to speak out, which was hard for people to have in the past. Therefore, if a speech is good enough, it can affect more listeners, and those affected can affect more people. This is why we need to be good storytellers if we want others to feel our values.
The video below gives us some tips on improving our public speaking skills.
This week, the reading material, 7 Storytelling Techniques Used by the Most Inspiring TED Presenters, features six charismatic speakers who impact every audience through storytelling. Among them, the one that touched me the most was the speech, I See Something, by Dananjaya Hettiarachchi in 2014. The speaker’s message was that everyone is different and has different energy within. During his presentation, I found that he used many different techniques to make his presentation more engaging, for instance:
1) Include Active Learning:
First of all, what I find very interesting is that the speaker stimulated the audience’s curiosity by showing a flower at the beginning of the speech. It shows that proper use of body language can be more effective at engaging the audience sometimes in the conversation. According to Merrill’s First Principles, the speaker asks the audience to think so that the audience can pay more attention to the content of the speech while thinking about the answer to the question.
2) Use a Conversational Tone:
As Mayer’s Personalization Principle stated, Dananjaya’s tone is natural and enthusiastic throughout, as he was chatting with an acquaintance rather than giving a boring speech. I think such a tone can shorten the psychological distance between the speaker and the audience, making it easier for the audience to empathize.
3) Keep it Short:
Regarding Mayer’s Segmenting Principle, Dananjiaya kept his speech under ten minutes because concise content is more likely to keep the audience engaged. Overall, I think this speaker has been very successful in delivering positive values — each person has a different value; it is just that some people’s potential has not been discovered yet.
References:
“4 Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking – How to Captivate an Audience.” YouTube, YouTube, 19 Aug. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=962eYqe–Yc.
Hettiarachchi, Dananjaya (2014, September 22). Dananjaya Hettiarachchi – world champion of public speaking 2014 – full speech. YouTube. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbz2boNSeL0&t=57s
Mayer, R.E. (2001). Multimedia learning. London: Cambridge University Press.
Merrill, M. D. (2002). First Principles of Instruction. ETR&D, 50, 3. pp. 43-59.
Jialong
2022-10-23 — 3:14 pm
Hi, Jiahao. You are doing great. After reading your blog, I agree with you that the speaker’s message was that everyone is different and has different energy within. As you said if a speech is good enough, it can affect more listeners, and those affected can affect more people. Recent research has shown that people who read, watch or hear stories have a greater capacity for this theory of mind, and with it, an enhanced ability to navigate interactions with other people (Oatley & Mar, 2009). Video storytelling is a powerful tool that can break down language barriers. The video combines sight, sound, and motion to evoke emotion. Video allows you to show and tell in ways that still images cannot, and can convey a story in seconds – arguably making a greater impact than any other form of communication. Thanks for your post.
celiahan
2022-10-23 — 8:02 pm
Hi Akira – I agree that a good storytelling person will affect more people, affecting the audience’s values, behavior, and lives. Active learning is effective. When I listen to a speech, if the presenter can apply his story to the real world, that will make more sense. Besides, keeping the story short can attract the audience’s attention and help them concentrate on the limited time. I didn’t think about this before. In my previous before, I tried to explain my idea clearly but didn’t pay attention to the time. Under ten minutes is a wise choice. I learned a lot from your post. Thank you for sharing!
ariehl
2022-10-25 — 1:35 pm
Hi there!
That you for your blog post; I enjoyed reading how you were inspired by the topic of storytelling. It is very interesting that you have brought up public speaking strategies for compelling storytelling. Typically the better the speaker who is sharing the story, the more we are captivated and enriched by the story. In conjunction with the Personalization and Segmenting Principle, one can also use graphics in conjunction with speech to help learners truly understand the story’s reality. This is otherwise known as the Redundancy Principle, which “suggests that humans learn best with narration and graphics, as opposed to narration, graphics, and text” (Mayer, 2014).
What other principles or learning theories do you think it takes to employ effective and powerful storytelling?