How to Structure a Story to Win Your Audience Over

When you think of your favorite story, there are probably several that come to mind. Whether they are fictional stories from your childhood or true-life stories from your past experiences, stories are an important part of the human experience. When we tell stories, we connect with each other on deeper levels, which is why storytelling can be very effective when crafting your webinar messaging.

Telling stories allows you to relate to your audience in a way they likely didn’t expect, and this is how you can get them to rally around a cause, a service, a product, or a solution. But, in order for it to work, you’ve got to do it right.

Here’s a few steps you can take to ensure you’re using storytelling in the right way during your webinar:

If you’re not certain exactly what story you’ll tell during your webinar, give yourself some time to brainstorm. Perhaps set a timer for 20 minutes and write down all of the different ideas you can think of without editing yourself.

Once you know the story — or stories — you want to tell during the webinar, really think about the structure of how you’re going to tell it. The beginning part of the story should hook your audience in and make them curious about where things are going.

The middle of the story should grapple with a problem and its solution, and it should do so in a way that the audience can relate to. Finally, create the ending. The last few parts of your story should resolve the problem mentioned in the middle of the story.

The story’s conclusion should help the audience clearly understand points you were making in your webinar. You’ll have to make this connection clear by telling the story within a framework that relates to the webinar’s topic.

A very simple way of thinking about the structure of a story is:

  • People or characters
  • Hopes and values
  • Challenge or problem
  • Solution

When you are thinking of all of the different ways you can tell your story (such as the different words, descriptive language, or what parts to include or leave out), remember that it needs to evoke emotion. Because you have the advantage of a webinar, you can use images and video to back up your story.

Another thing you can do while you’re crafting your story is to think about your audience while you work. Consider what questions they might ask and answer them within the structure of the story.

Once you’ve pieced all of your ideas, descriptive language, and images together, consider practicing. Get a friend or a co-worker to listen to your story and provide constructive feedback to make sure it will fit within your next webinar.

Adding a story (or stories) into your next webinar will do several things for you: it will allow your audience to connect deeper to your topic, it will get them excited about the cause or the solution, and it will leave a lasting memory.