One-on-One Storytelling: Making Personal Connections with Your Audience

I would love to hear from you! Send me a text

Join Mary as she delves into the fascinating world of storytelling. Drawing from personal anecdotes and nostalgic memories, Mary emphasizes the power of conversation in storytelling. 

Learn practical tips for making your stories resonate with your audience, whether on stage, in a newsletter, or video.

 Rediscover the intimate art of connecting through words, and transform your storytelling approach to inspire and engage hearts and minds effectively.

00:00 Introduction to Storiespire Podcast
00:20 Join the Story Spire Newsletter
00:58 The Lost Art of Conversation
04:41 Storytelling Tips: Engaging Your Audience
06:50 Reflecting on Family Stories
08:31 Setting the Stage for Your Story
09:45 Final Thoughts and Inspiration

Connect with Mary

Join Mary's Facebook group!
Join Mary's email list!
Follow Mary on Instagram
Connect with Mary on LinkedIn

Thanks for joining us on the StorySpire podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and review to help us reach even more speakers like you.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Storiespirepodcast.
I'm Mary R.
Snyder.
I am your host and storytellingstrategist.
I'm here with expert advice,actionable tips, and frameworks
to create the stories that willinspire hearts and minds because
stories change the world.
Let's get into it.

(00:20):
Hey, before we get started, Iwant to remind you of something.
Have you said yes to my email,my newsletter, the Story Spire
News?
It is a weekly newsletter with alink to one of the episodes, the
episode of the week, along witha storytelling tip, maybe
something fun, a resource Ifound, or an inspirational story

(00:45):
just to brighten up your emailbox.
And you can do that simply bygoing to storyspire.
com and clicking on Join Mary.
I'd love for you to join methere.
Let's get into it.
Love conversations.
I love talking with people.
I even love talking on thetelephone.

(01:05):
I know that's a lost art.
You see, I grew up before we hadsocial media.
A lot of us did.
And our way of communicating wasvia telephone.
Funny story.
I worked in the paging industry,if you remember that, pagers,
beepers, and we had some of thevery first text pagers.

(01:29):
You had to text us through theswitchboard.
So you had to go to theswitchboard and our switchboard
operator would text us like,Maybe our next sales call.
This was when I was in sales ormaybe I needed to go do
something for a client and shewould say, go to ABC hospital
and talk to Joe.
He needs to speak to you aboutXYZ.

(01:51):
Well, we had this onereceptionist and I just loved
her and she would text us, callme.
She completely missed thepurpose of the text of our
message beepers.
But she was a conversationalist.
She really wanted to tell youthe nuance of this, like, Hey,

(02:12):
Joe called from ABC Hospital andhe is not happy.
She wanted to give you more thanwe were allowed in these few
little lines.
And I think the art ofconversation is lost.
You see, I grew up around womenwho loved good conversation and
storytelling.
My mother and my Aunt Edna wouldsit at a table, my Aunt Edna

(02:33):
lived in California, we were inAlabama, and she would come home
once or twice a year.
Make that long trek across thecountry driving and they would
sit up to wee hours of themorning.
My aunt Edna would be smokingher Virginia Slims.
I can still see it they wouldhave their hair wrapped because

(02:53):
they had up do's and they wouldwrap their hair up in chiffon
scarves they would sit and talkand Edna would be smoking those
cigarettes, piling that ashtrayfull, smoke billowing around the
table.
My mother and her both would bedrinking day old coffee.
And telling stories.
Now these women love storiesalmost as much as I love that

(03:16):
day old coffee.
My mom would pert coffee on thestove if you have ever been
around somebody who pert coffee.
So the coffee grounds, the waterheats up, it boils, it goes up
to the coffee grounds and backdown.
And then she would leave thatsitting on the stove.
All day, so perk it at six inthe morning and drink it, and
then she would come back, turnit back on, that water would

(03:39):
perk again, go back throughthose coffee grounds, and I'm
telling you, you could stand aspoon up in it, it was like
syrup coffee, but they loved it,and they drank it black, these
were women who loved a good cupof coffee, and they loved a
great story.
I sat at that table inhalingthat secondhand smoke and
learned so much about my familyhistory in those conversations.

(04:04):
Storytelling is conversations.
When you stand on a stage totell a story, you're in the
midst of a conversation.
I can hear your wheels turninggoing.
I'm standing in front of 50people, 100 people, 500, 5, 000
people.
How is this a conversation?

(04:25):
Simply it's your turn to talknow.
So how do you stand up in frontof people and act as if it is
just the two of you?
You have a conversation with oneperson in that audience.
I'm going to give you a few tipsand tricks to make this a little
bit easier.

(04:46):
I want you to talk to oneperson, just one, not a room,
and use the word you.
Now, we're not going to use thatin an accusatory form like, you
said this, or you better dothat, or, you know what, if you
don't, That's not the power ofyou.
The power of you is I don't knowabout you, but this really moved

(05:12):
my heart.
Maybe you've felt the same way.
When you saw people living inabject squalor, maybe you
haven't walked this road, but Iknow you have overcome
difficulties in this life.
Do you see what I did?
Now let me do it a little bitdifferent.

(05:34):
Hey, has anyone here everovercome something?
We can make a difference, or youcan make a difference.
Right now, today, you can dothis thing, and it will change
these lives.

(05:55):
Right now, if we will all cometogether, we can make a
difference.
Do you see how you can dodge awe, but you can't dodge a you?
You can't hide from a youstatement.
Your audience can't hide from ayou statement and not that
you're trying to call them out,but you're trying to bring them

(06:16):
into the conversation.
So simple questions like, haveyou ever felt like that?
Has this ever been your reality?
Maybe you haven't experiencedthis, but I know you've
experienced that.
They then become a part of theconversation.
You can see the head nods in thecrowd as people nod as you talk.

(06:40):
And they lean forward in theirseat because they are waiting
for the next thing you will say.
That's the power ofconversation.
I sat around that table foryears and years.
Starting when I was probably sixor seven or even younger and I
grew up sitting around thattable.
I can remember being 12, 13, ayoung teenager and sitting

(07:04):
crisscross in a kitchen chairthat was incredibly
uncomfortable by the way, butlet's just take a moment and
say, wow, I could sit crisscrossfor hours and not be wounded.
That has not happened today.
But sit criss cross and listento these women tell the stories
of Ms.
Adkins.
Now, I never met Ms.
Adkins, but here's what I know.

(07:26):
Ms.
Adkins outlived four husbands.
And there is some rumor that Ms.
Adkins may have had something todo with those four men not
making it to senior adulthood.
No proof, but I can tell you thestories.

(07:46):
And as they would unpack thosestories, my mother might talk
for 10 or 15 minutes, tell myaunt all about what happened
that day at work, or someincredible thing that she had
experienced, in that season theyhad been a part of.
She might talk for 10, 15, 20minutes unpacking the story
while my aunt sat there andwent, oh yeah, mm hmm.

(08:09):
And she nodded, and she grinned,and she, ooh, wow, and she
cheered her on much like youraudience does when you are
standing on a stage unpackingyour story.
So I want you to think aboutthat.
I want you to consider thatwhile you're standing on that
stage unpacking that story.

(08:31):
You're very much sitting at atable.
Now, it may not be full ofVirginia Slim cigarettes and an
ashtray overflowing with buttsor two cups of incredibly strong
coffee, but it's a table thatyou've set.
It's the table that is aboutyour story.
Now, if it's my table, there'sprobably a really good cup of
coffee with a whole lot of greatcreamer in it.

(08:55):
No cigarettes.
There may or may not besomething sweet on that table.
That's my table.
That's how I'm going tocommunicate with you.
I'm going to talk for 10 or 15minutes I'm going to lean
forward so as you prepare yournext story for a stage, For a
newsletter, for a campaign, orfor a video, I want you to think

(09:20):
about this.
You're at your table.
What does it look like?
What's sitting on it?
Here's what I hope's not sittingon it.
Your phone.
Put that away.
Let's just have a conversationlike my mom and my Aunt Edna had
back when there weren't cellphones.
And they were uninterrupted.

(09:40):
hours of sharing life back andforth.
When you step on a stage, whenyou write a newsletter, when you
create a video, you're talkingdirectly to someone, you're
sharing your story with someone.
To connect with their hearts,tell it to just one.
And I promise you, you willnotice the difference.

(10:01):
I hope you have an incredibleweek.
I hope your stories inspirehearts and change lives in every
way possible.
Bye for now.