SMART Volunteering-Storytelling Guide

Four main axes to encourage the connexion with the public To talk to the head, you have to touch the heart first! As we said earlier, emotional remedies remain more convincing than argumentative logic. When you stimulate emotion, you encourage memory... Paul J. Zak, a researcher in neuro-economics, has been working on these questions. He discovered that our brain, listening to an engaging story, releases two types of hormones. On the one hand, cortisol or stress hormone, and on the other hand, oxytocin or attachment, love and empathy hormone. To become exciting and create empathy, any story must therefore, according to Paul J. Zak’s research, integrate two main elements. The same is true for storytelling. First of all, a story must succeed in attracting our attention by arousing our interest and keeping us on our toes. It must then allow us to identify with the characters and succeed in transporting us into a universe that awakens our senses. To do this, here are five essential axes to connect the public to your history. Target your audience It is essential to adapt your story to your audience. The tone, vocabulary used, story elements and approach angle must be consistent with your audience. A time of reflection is therefore necessary when you prepare your storytelling. Thanks to this «targeting» work, the message sent to your audience will be relevant and they will be able to adhere more easily to your story. Create an emotional connection with your audience by including humour and personal aspects. Evoke an emotion that will create a relatable experience for each person. Be authentic Be yourself! To do this, feel free to talk about your failures and how you have overcome them, the lessons you have learned and how you have progressed. Think about how you felt when your story actually happened. What was motivating you? What troubled you? How did you feel about your surroundings? How do you feel now about what happened then? If you can express that, you can create connections with your listeners, and trust that they will be hanging on every word. A person is admired more for their attempts than for their successes. The auditor will identify themselves as a human person with strengths but also weaknesses. Authenticity will strengthen the audience’s identification with your story, increase your credibility and allow you to establish a relationship of trust and sincerity. Real-life stories are remembered better because they resonate better with the audience. -10-