Compelling stories are what makes the difference between a nice informative keynote speaker and a speaking engagement that you never forget. Storytelling speakers are why the business of live events is having record setting years. People want more than data. Conference participants who want strategic storytelling in an engaging and interactive style. A storytelling speaker will always make a live event more memorable. There is power in story.
Long before Thom Singer became a professional speaker and master of ceremonies / emcee, he attended events. A long and successful career in sales and marketing put him in the audience at countless live events. While all presentations have information, the storytelling keynotes were the ones that challenged him to take action. He was inspired by storytelling speakers.
It was 20 years ago that Thom decided he wanted to impact others by being a good speaker. He did not know that it would become a career, but he did know that the spoken word has power. Thom joined a local Toastmasters Club to learn to be a storyteller speaker. He watched hundreds of others present on stages. He took notes on what it was that made the great speakers the most memorable. The answer – STORIES.
We Are Wired For Stories
Thousands of years ago ancient men and women did not sit around the fire and pass out Excel spreadsheets and show pie charts. They told stories. It was these vivid word pictures that helped educate the following generations. The human brain is wired to hear and learn from stories. Thus, anytime you want people to retain your data, you need to be a storytelling speaker. If you only have statistics and graphs, people will forget the information and you.
Business storytelling has been all the rage for the past few years. Amazing speakers like Kindra Hall have touched the soul of corporate and association audiences about this topic. She (and others) have popularized the message that stories are the secret weapon to success.
As a storyteller speaker Thom Singer has built a decade plus career sharing compelling stories that support his research on potential and human engagement. In the early stages of his venture into the world of professional motivational speaking, he had a “signature story” that was unforgettable. The story of how he and his wife found the doctor who saved his daughter’s life is a one-of-a-kind message that people remember for years to come. Known in his family as “the Kate Story”, repeat clients still ask him to make sure he includes that story. (A version of “the Kate Story” kicks off Thom’s TEDx Talk, “The Art of Giving Small”).
Hire Storytelling Speakers
If you are planning an meeting and are seeking a storytelling speaker who can and will engage your audience through use of the spoken work, add Thom Singer to the short list. As you consider plenary speakers, make sure you look at his topic offerings. Many companies praise his content, but reuse him again because of his abilities as a storytelling speaker. Thom will combine the use of detailed data, interviews with business leaders, and personal stories to anchor the motivational message into action for your audience.
No matter who you select as your keynote speaker, make sure they understand that the storytelling matters. No matter what topic is being presented, a speech without story is like two pieces of bread pretending to be a sandwich. There is power in storytelling for speakers! A presentation by a storytelling speaker will be memorable and get your audience to lean in and listen.
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Thom Singer is a storytelling speaker and professional master of ceremonies. To improve his skills as a presenter, he took up stand up comedy at age 51. His goal is doing 100 stand up sets at open mic nights and comedy showcases in less than two years. In taking on this challenge Thom Singer has done something few other speakers attempt. Comedy is scary. Humor is the hardest use of the spoken word. To to craft words as a comic learn, to engage an audience, translates to better stories in the business storytelling world.