Engaging Your Audience: Using Storytelling in Public Speaking

Storytelling is a fundamental form of human communication and a powerful tool for entertaining, informing, and/or persuading audiences. This unit introduces students in public speaking or other introductory-level communication courses to key concepts and techniques for crafting engaging and effective oral stories to enhance connection with—and impact on—the audience. Through two class sessions and a culminating oral assignment, students explore storytelling theory and apply it by preparing and performing their own personal stories. Public Speaking, Advanced Public Speaking, Speaking for Social Change, Fundamentals of Communication. In this unit, students will: develop confidence in speaking publicly; compose and tell a story that uses key elements of storytelling (i.e. character, plot, place, time, sensory imagery, universal themes, and emotion); construct a story from personal experience that conveys meaning, change, or insight; use storytelling effectively to achieve a specified goal in an oral presentation (e.g. support their core theme/message, enhance their desired impact, or build trust in their listeners); and build community by learning about the experiences, families, and cultures of classmates.