Anecdotes

Anecdotes are great but they should be personal and relevant.  People sub-consciously get more lively and enthusiastic when they are talking about themselves.  By introducing anecdotes from your personal history, not only does it help to get your point across, you will do it in a more interesting manner.

Stories are also far more memorable than plain facts.

Of course, they have to be relevant anecdotes.  There is little point in telling an interesting and amusing anecdote, which everyone remembers, if it does not help them to remember the message you are trying to get across.

Don’t be tempted to repeat an amusing story that you have seen someone else telling as part of their presentation.  If it didn’t actually happen to you, it is very difficult to pass it off as your own. Telling stories third hand loses much of the enthusiasm, which was the whole point of introducing the anecdote into your presentation.

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