I once sang Happy Birthday to a bear. It made my presentations better.
Mar 18, 2026
How to use storytelling in presentations to make people actually listen
A beginning, a middle and an end. People will try to sell you a new scroll-stopping framework, but that structure has stood the test of time for a reason. Most presenters default to data when they get up to speak. It feels safer but it isn't more memorable. Twenty minutes after your presentation, your audience almost certainly can't recall your first statistic. Tell them a story, though, and you've created a neural shortcut straight to their memory.
A few years ago, my mum and I were hiking in Canada when we spotted a bear crossing the path. At first it seemed majestic. Then it turned, revealing a cub, and we realised we'd just become a threat. Our nervous systems switched instantly into survival mode. We'd been told that in bear country, steady human noise is safer than silence, so there we were: two slightly panicked Australians slowly backing away while loudly singing "Happy Birthday." We survived. And nobody who hears that story forgets the point that came with it; under pressure, we don't rise to our best thinking, we fall back on what feels familiar.
You don't need to face bears in the wild to create memorable presentations. The most powerful stories in professional settings are often small ones. A leadership mistake, a moment of self-doubt, a habit that changed your performance. These types of stories build trust quickly because they show the person behind the expertise. Workplace stories give audiences a way to see ideas in context: a difficult conversation that shifted a relationship, a moment when listening rather than speaking changed the outcome. Micro-moments are just as memorable as dramatic ones. The story doesn't need to be dramatic to be effective, but it does need to be honest.
Build your story bank
When you sit down to put together a presentation, you can't be expected to recall every relevant moment on the spot. Start capturing them now. Look for moments involving challenge, emotion, learning. Anything that made you rethink something or grow.Keep a running note on your phone. Carry a small notebook with you. Over time it becomes a library you can draw from in presentations, leadership conversations and workshops. The stories are there. You just need to start noticing them.
