I was always the worse storyteller. If I was just with a couple of friends, I could sort of get a story out but with more than four people, my shyness and self-consciousness over took me. I would eliminate so much out of the story to make it shorter to tell, that I ended up with no story, no point, no nothing.
Three Techniques Brought on
the Storytelling Groove
Technique #1 - PRACTICE SPEAKING
First I had to get comfortable with speaking in front of people. One day, as I was having lunch in a health food store cafe, I watched as a Toastmasters banner was being raised in the adjacent workshop area. I wandered over with my salad and carrot juice and asked if it was ok to watch.
I was asked during the meeting to answer a question. I shook my head NO! Then I was asked to just come up and READ a question and call on someone. That I could handle that and I even received applause for that first step.
I joined that day and haven't regretted a moment. It is hard to stand up in front of people and talk but Toastmasters allows a safe place to practice and I've improved greatly.
Technique #2 - SEARCH FOR THE STORYTELLER YOU'D LIKE TO BECOME
In Toastmasters, I started to put together talks on my life - MY life stories. Some were actual stories with a conflict and resolution but most were vignettes - small pieces of life, an observation, an ah-ha moment long overdue.
I joined a local storytelling guild and watched how they wove together their stories. They often told me to start out finding an existing story and learning to tell it well. I was still too shy to do either my own stories or those of others.
I needed someone that I could relate to as a mentor, as an example of the type of speaker and storyteller I'd like to be. I finally found that person - Craig Valentine. Craig won the International Speech Competition in Toastmasters but he also put together his life stories into a form that allows him to speak professionally by using those stories to convey a bigger message.
Craig uses stories, uses vignettes, is funny, is engaging and knows how to connect to an audience. I purchased his courses and saw the improvement.
Technique #3 - LEARN THE BASICS OF GOOD STORYTELLING
Craig Valentine and Darren LaCroix (also an International Champion in Toastmasters) put together a wonderful storytelling course using the "9Cs of Storytelling" (available at StagetimeUniversity.com). A basic story needs Characters, Conflict, a Cure and a Change in the person. The other Cs are Curiosity, Circumstance, Conversations (dialog), Carry out Message and Call backs.
Using these Cs, you can model your story to be more dynamic, more engaging and you can uncover the humor.
I am still getting over my shyness but each moment I spend sharing my stories with others, I take a step forward. Even the way I share stories with friends has changed. The storytellers that have been around awhile all say to keep telling the story until you've told it hundreds of times. By then, you'll have worked out most of the kinks and be so comfortable with the story that it will flow as it should.