It's Springtime! And it's time to promote your summer programs and events. You find yourself up in front of a group of parents or pastors. You've planned for this night for weeks and gotten your presentation honed right down to the last powerpoint slide. You've promoted this event from one end of the state to the other and now you have a room full of just the right audience.
You look out across the crowd and notice they are leaning forward…they're just waiting for the words you've come to tell them. You believe they're waiting for you to come and tell them about your camp or conference center. But you're mistaken.
Let's say that before you begin you ask for a show of hands. "Raise your hands if you want me to talk about our facilities and our program and our long history."
Those people in that room want you to tell them a story. But here's the deal. They don't want you to tell them YOUR story. They want to hear THEIR story. They want to hear about the things they care about.
Let's say that before you begin you ask for a show of hands. "Raise your hands if you want me to talk about our facilities and our program and our long history."
Then you ask, "Now raise your hands if you want me to talk about parenting, building strong, life-long relationships, and how to build strong families." Which subject do you think will get the most votes? Which story do you think they really want you to tell them?
When you start talking about YOUR facilities and YOUR history and YOUR program it's just that…it's YOUR story. But when you are talking about building relationships and strong families you are talking about THEM. You are telling them a story they WANT to hear. And you can provide a solution. Once you have them convinced that you can speak their language, then (and only then) have you earned the right to talk about your stuff.
Wow, that was great. I have to give a seminar on Fundraising for church leaders next month. These people need help, so this posting help me figure out how I am going to shape this workshop. thank you.
http://tinyurl.com/afw2my
The Power of Story – Great read!