Who is the best storyteller of all time

This doesn't mean that you have to write out everything you will say word for word. Use your talking points as a reference and then ad-lib the other parts of your story to make your story seem natural like you are having a conversation.

When storytelling flows naturally, it helps create a greater connection between you and your audience. People will invest more into your story when you add your personal touch to it.

Talk about your personal experience as it relates to your storytelling topic, and your audience will be more likely to care about what you are saying.

For instance, a speaker may talk about how they had an experience with unclean drinking water as a child to link to the reasons why they promote clean water initiatives now. Your story should be adapted based on your audience. The story should be personal, but it should also resonate well with the audience you are speaking to or writing content for.

For instance, your story will change when you are talking to investors versus when you talk to your customers because they are interested in different outcomes. If you don't use your main points throughout your story, you will lose your audience.

Keep them interested by providing them with main points at the right time to pace your story well. The best storytellers don't want their audience to know exactly what to expect. This means you must hold back some of your most pertinent information to surprise the audience with awesome information later on. As your story unfolds, throw a plot twist into your story to recapture your audience's attention.

To help you understand storytelling better, let's take a closer look at some of the best storytellers of all time. Study what they do, and try to develop your storytelling strategy based on some of their best skills. Although she's gone now, Anita Roddick was one of the greatest storytellers in business.

She built the Body Shop on a great story and inspired millions through the stories behind her products, its support against animal testing, her belief in basic human rights, ethical trading, the arts, and the environment. She was a great archivist, and she took the history of the Body Shop and created the stories that grew her brand, shaped its strategy, and identified what made her organization great. From her, we learn that our history is who we are.

Telling the stories of our values , our successes, and our failures can influence the direction of our business and build a brand. Whether you're watching one of his films or visiting his theme parks, Walt Disney told stories that transcended age to create experiences that immersed people in his fantastic worlds. Disney understood that creating an unforgettable experience meant focusing on the minute details and how those details contributed to the full story.

What we can take away from Disney's magic is that using details can create an immersive experience. Just make sure that the details don't detract form the story you're trying to tell. He got that way by never shying away from a conversation and an opportunity to tell stories about the remarkable moments of his life and the lives of others.

He freely shares what he thinks, what he has seen, and what he does. That openness is reflected in the Virgin brand. He understands the power of nuance, even if it's not polished, that makes a story captivating. The takeaway? The flaws are what make your stories interesting and memorable. Don't polish every detail: Just tell your story, flaws and all.

Great stories have villains and heroes, they have conflict, happy endings and sad endings, and sometimes, no ending at all. The stories Bruce Springsteen tells are often inspires by the stories of other people. Because his stories are so deeply personal, they have the ability to draw you into the song as a character living the experience. His talent is making the listener feel like their story is communal — a shared history, and that makes you feel less alone.

Great storytelling brings us together by touching us on an emotional level and creating a shared experience that makes us feel like a part of something bigger. It leaves us vulnerable and it touches us.

So we wanted to take a moment to celebrate storytelling as we know and love it — storytelling that comes from people, whether they are writers or actors or directors or poets or musicians. Answers spanned continents and genres, and crossed mediums and disciplines.

Many entrants found it difficult to pick just one. One video. Nonprofit organizations face the difficult task of telling stories that hit an emotional chord, but don't teeter into guilt for their audience.

Great stories have heroes. They have villains. They have conflict. They have happy endings, sad endings, and sometimes, no ending at all. Bruce Springsteen, "The Boss," has for decades painted pictures of the American experience through his music. The stories he tells often stem from other people's stories -- "The River," as just one example, has been said to be inspired by his sister's relationship with her husband.

But these deeply personal anecdotes have the power to transport you into that song, as one of his characters living that experience. His songs have recurring characters, specific locations, and intense levels of detail that take you from rock bottom, to flying high. They make listeners feel like their story is part of a communal story, a shared history that makes you feel less alone -- in your misery, hope, or elation. Lesson: Great storytelling brings together a disparate community through shared experience, making one individual feel part of something bigger.

People often buckets storytellers with creatives, and data geeks with Nate Silver , statistician and writer, is where those worlds intersect. After developing PECOTA, the forecasting system for predicting the success of MLB players, he was able to apply his methods to predicting other things like, you know, the results of the presidential election in 49 out of 50 states. No biggie. In , he got all 50 states correct, for the record.

His statistical savvy has led to an entirely new angle on political reporting -- a facts-based approach that, even without a statistical or political background, Silver makes easy to understand through his superb writing and blogging. Lesson: Numbers can help you tell your story more succinctly, and when dealing with emotionally charged subjects, more objectively, than mere words. Ellen DeGeneres' storytelling ability comes in her ability to get others to tell their stories -- and make them sound hilarious, no matter how seemingly banal.

She has the perfect mix of empathy, humor, and self-deprecation that makes anyone speaking with her feel comfortable enough to open up and share their experiences -- and tell them truthfully, without fear of judgment. Her ability to find the best angles and coach interviewees to those points results in a deluge of uplifting, hilarious, and diverse stories that show everyone really does have something remarkable to share.

Lesson: Whether they know it or not, everyone has a story to tell. If you approach conversations with an open mind, you can find those gems and make them interesting. His stand-up, which is really just on-stage storytelling, taps into the worst parts of ourselves. The gross things we do, the awful things we say, the things we shouldn't think but do He is constantly on the lookout for untold stories in people through his foundations. Disclaimer: This list is based on the opinions of the writer.

In case you disagree or would like to provide feedback, please write in to us at editor tell-a-tale. I am a resident of Bangalore and a native of Kundapur. A self-confessed book worm, I always found any activity that involved reading and writing interesting apart from my academics. Reading is something that came quite naturally since my schooling days and that continued to grow over the years.

Writing to me is not a hobby, but something that I pursue passionately. A graduate in Textile Technology and a designer by profession, I find writing as an effective medium to convey my thoughts and opinions on anything and everything.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Written by Madhu Bairy. You may also like. Madhu Bairy I am a resident of Bangalore and a native of Kundapur. View all posts.