The importance of the story

- See if you can remember this series of facts. Two legs sits on three legs eating one leg. Then along comes four legs and steals one leg from two legs. Two legs then gets off three legs and gets his one leg back. What do you think? Could you do it? Well, maybe, but it would probably take a bit of time and practice, and I'll bet a bit of repetition to remember it accurately. Now, see if you can remember the same set of facts when I share it in the form of a story about a boy who has two legs, a dog, four legs, a stool, three legs, and chicken bone, one leg. A young boy sits on a stool eating a chicken bone. Then along comes a dog that steals the chicken bone from the boy. The boy then gets off the stool and gets his chicken bone back. Okay, chances are, you can now recite the list of facts about the legs perfectly, and after a hearing the story only once. And, why? Because the story creates a meaningful scene in your mind that the simple list of facts doesn't. That scene is easier for your mind to remember than a list of facts. Stories create scenes, facts don't. My name's Paul Smith. I'm a storytelling coach and trainer, and the author of the books, "Lead With a Story" and "The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell." Storytelling helps learners remember what you've taught them. In fact, a number of studies have shown that learning is more likely to be remembered and for far longer when taught with stories than simply with facts. And the reason is that storytelling connects with all three types of learners. Visual learners, auditory learners and kinesthetic learners. So now, I'm going to take you through the basics of storytelling, so you can start including it in your training programs. Ready? Let's get started.