I feel bad doing this, but it’s my favourite bit of the workshop

On stage at the front of the room, I’m scanning the people sitting at the tables closest to me; if I don’t find EXACTLY the right kind of person, this could go horribly wrong. Then I spot her: sensible looking blazer with cool, short curly hair, grinning at me. PERFECT.

I’m slap bang in the middle of leading my Write Captivating and Effective Presentations workshop for a corporate group, and we’re talking about the importance of using emotions in storytelling.

I’ve already explained that emotions are the most important part of any story, and have described the first two ways you can express your emotions:

1) Share your internal monologue — what were the words you were saying to yourself in that moment (eg “I can’t BELIEVE I wore these shoes, she hates these shoes!”), and

2) Name the emotion (“I was happy” “I was annoyed”)

We then ran an exercise to show them the final (and most powerful) way to express emotions in storytelling:

Describe the physical sensations of that emotion in your body.

In the room, the energy is buzzing. I can see a few people with huge smiles on their faces. It’s because I just led them through a visualisation where they imagined something exciting happening, and then described where and how they felt that excitement in their body. Then I ask three people to share what that was like. Reflecting those shares back, I say to them,

“You could say, ‘I walk into the room and I think, I can’t believe this is happening!’ — great. Better than most stories. Or you could say, ‘I walk into the room and I feel so excited’ — again, great, better than most stories.

“But if you said, ‘I walk in the room and it feels like there’s a ball of warm light in my chest radiating outwards’”

I see the woman who’d described that sensation to me beaming. I carry on.

“‘I walk into the room and I have tingles running up and down my body like electricity’; ‘I walk into the room, my heart is beating fast in a way that feels good, and my face hurts from smiling’ — do you FEEL how much more powerful that is?”

They smile and nod. Then I explain,

“That’s because of your mirror neurons, they’re the part of your brain you use for socialising. If I were to tell you about a stretch I did this morning for my neck, where I had to lift my chin and push my tongue into the back of my top teeth—“

I stop short and look out at the crowd,

“Is anyone doing that right now?”

Across the room, a bunch of people raise their hand and laugh. I continue,

“I didn’t tell you to do that, I just told you I did it. Your *mirror neurons* told you to do it!”

Now, I look at curly blazer. This is the part I need her for. I walk up to the part of the stage in front of where she’s sitting, hold my right hand out with the back of my fingers towards her and say,

“Look at fingers. They’re fine, right?”

Forehead wrinkled in confusion, she nods, “Yep”.

Then I turn back to the room and say,

“About two weeks ago, I was grating a carrot—“

I mime grating.

“—when I accidentally grated my fingers.”

I hear a sharp intake of breath from across the room and ask,

“Who just flinched?”

Laughing, a few people put their hands up. One of them is curly blazer, but she’s laughing.

I look at her as I say, “You know I’m fine now. And it didn’t happen to *you. But your mirror neurons still made you respond!

“THAT is the power of describing physical sensations in a story!

“I often say that, when you’re telling a story, what you’re trying to do is elicit a ‘Freaky Friday-style body swap, between the person listening to the story and you in that moment. And the brain science backs that up! So when you make their bodies feel the way your body felt, you do that! When you say, ‘I walked into the meeting and my stomach went into a tight knot’ — our stomachs go into a tight knot. And we’re right there WITH you.”

It is my favourite part of my storytelling and presentation-writing workshops. I worry that one day I’m going to make someone barf, but that’s why I always find the perfect person to show my hand to.

So, I’d like you to try this, the next time you’re telling a story.

Describe where you felt the emotion in your body, and see what happens.Then let me know in the comments below!

And if YOU work somewhere you think I should come in and run a workshop, LET’S TALK! You can book in a free chat here: yesyesmarsha.com/call or take a look at what they look like, here yesyesmarsha.com/workshops

You rule!

xx (Yes Yes) Marsha

PS if you’re here for the speaking/presentation advice, you can get my Ultimate Keynote Template, here: YesYesMarsha.com/Template

PPS Want me to help you make sure your next talk, presentations or keynote is AMAZING? Or do you work somewhere that might want to bring me in to run a training on writing excellent presentations or storytelling? I’d love to! Book in a free chat here: yesyesmarsha.com/call

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