Political application seen just yesterday on a BBC web site: This is unfortunate because by not telling stories, these speakers are foregoing the use of one of the most effective tools in a speaker’s arsenal. And yet, many speakers shy away from stories, preferring instead to inundate their audiences with statistics and other bland details. It demonstrates just how powerful stories can be. Only 5% remember any individual statistic.įor me, this excerpt is a gem. The “remembering” statistics, on the other hand, are almost a mirror Image: When students are asked to recall the speeches, 63% remember the stories. In the average one-minute speech, the typical student use 2.5 statistics. Many draw a complete blank on some speeches – unable to remember a single concept.īut here’s where it gets really interesting in terms of the power of stories: And yet the students are lucky to recall one or two ideas from each speaker’s presentation.

Nor was there a huge amount of information to begin with – at most they’ve heard eight one-minute speeches. Keep in mind that only ten minutes have elapsed since the speeches were given. The students are flabbergasted at how little they remember. I’ll let the Heaths pick it up from here: He then abruptly asks them to write down everything that they can remember about the speeches they heard. or so they think.Chip moves on to something else and often shows a short video to distract the students. Half the students in the group must make a one-minute presentation in support of the proposition that non-violent crime is a serious problem the other half much each make a one-minute presentation arguing that non-violent crime is not a serious problem.Īfter everyone has presented, the students vote for the person in their group whom they thought was the best. For one exercise he divides the students into groups of six to eight and gives them some statistics on crime patterns in the United States. How well do we remember stories compared to other kinds of information? Well, Chip Heath teaches a class at Stanford University. Additionally, stories help to motivate our audiences to act.

According to Klein, stories are effective teaching tools they illustrate causal relationships that people might not have recognized before and highlight resourceful ways in which people have solved problems. The Heaths cite the work of psychologist Gary Klein. It is one of the most important things that we, as public speakers, can do to make our presentations memorable. Telling stories is the sixth and final way in which to make an idea “sticky” according to the Heaths in Made to Stick.

Chip dan heath made to stick