How do you create a presentation that is both timely and timeless? It can be tough to speak into trends, to display modern sensibilities, but to also craft a presentation that will stand the test of time. But you can do just that if you infuse your message with new stories and old narratives. Here’s how.
Stories Versus Narratives
Presentations involve both stories and narratives. If you are thinking, wait a second, I thought stories and narratives were pretty much the same thing, it makes sense. They are often used interchangeably. But there is a difference. Stories are brief snapshots, singular threads that fold into the longer, bigger tapestry of narratives. Stories have beginning points and ending points. Narratives, on the other hand, are continually changed and shaped. They are always unfolding.
For example, say you get hired at a new company and you begin hearing stories from your new coworkers of the CEO dropping in and out of their offices unannounced to critique their performance. As you begin to hear more and more of these individual accounts, you begin to understand the larger narrative of fear the employees live under, holding their breaths and hoping the CEO doesn’t visit them that day.
In that way, a series of stories shape a larger narrative. We use both and crave both as human communicators, but for different reasons. Here’s how to use them both in your presentations.
New Stories
We all love stories. Few things will connect you to your audience better than a well-told story. Research has shown that the brains of storytellers and their audience members actually mirror each other. This creates a real-time connection. The audience hears the story together and it bonds them to each other and with the speaker who tells it.
You’ll also want to use stories to create current and relevant content. Timely stories show that you are aware of the current culture of your company, field, or topic. In this way, you’ll offer up-to-date content that interests your audience. And you begin to help shape the narrative through the stories you tell.
Old Narratives
While stories function to demonstrate timeliness, narratives work to show timelessness. In the same way that we love to hear a new story, we also love to hear a familiar narrative. As a presenter, you should always help your audience see how the current moment fits into the larger picture. That’s because we as humans desire to be part of something that is bigger than ourselves. We want to know where our actions and efforts are leading.
This is where narrative comes in. The Narrative Initiative says, “A narrative reflects a shared interpretation of how the world works.” So when you give a presentation, you are always actively helping to shape the interpretations of the narratives you address. When you show how your content fits into the larger narratives, you connect your current moment to the past and also to the future.
When developing content, share stories that highlight the current moment. But also explain how your current moment is part of the larger narrative of the world that you are trying to help shape. In this way, you’ll create presentations that are simultaneously timely and timeless.
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