The greatest communicators have unknowingly used a story pattern. They not only use anecdotes effectively, but their communication followed a persuasive story pattern of tension and release. That tension and release is created by contrasting [what is] with what could be as a structural device.

Personal stories are the emotional glue that connects your audience to your message.

When someone says "that resonates with me" what they are saying is "I agree with you" or "I align with you." Once your ideas resonate with an audience, they will change. But, the only way to have true resonance is to understand the ones with whom you are trying to resonate. You need to spend time thinking about your audience. What unites them, what incites them? Think about your audience and what's on their mind before you begin building your presentation. It will help you identify beliefs and behavior in your audience that you can connect with. Resonate with.

The greatest communicators have unknowingly used a story pattern. They not only use anecdotes effectively, but their communication followed a persuasive story pattern of tension and release. That tension and release is created by contrasting [what is] with what could be as a structural device.

When ideas are communicated effectively, people follow and change.

Structure is what makes communication hang together. It's like the rails that a train runs on. Without them, things wouldn't move very far. If you only have time to do one thing in your presentation, make sure it has a clear and identifiable structure. Without this, you'll have no credibility. Once you've organized your ideas, if you step back and look at it, many times we've organized topics. We've strung together a structure with organized topics. At this point, change your topics into messages.

Words that are carefully framed and spoken are the most powerful means of communication there is.