Telling Personal Stories in LDS Talks
Most talks benefit from the sharing of personal experiences. Using a personal experience in a talk or lesson, however, requires preparation and sensitivity.
Those who speak or write collect inspirational personal stories. Over the years, I've trained myself to look for the lessons in the things that happen to me. Write these down when they occur and catagorize them by topic. Once you train yourself to watch for these moments, they will begin to happen more often.
Never reveal serious sins in your stories. If you tell about something you did wrong, it should be something mild that won't impact the way others see you. It is acceptable to tell of a time you neglected to pay your tithing and learned a lesson. It is seldom wise to reveal you were in jail or that you are a drug addict. Your stories should also not put others in a bad light, particularly if they can be identified. Never tell something negative about your family or ward members.
Be certain the story doesn't contain sacred experiences that shouldn't be widely shared, and that you're sharing them to help your message, not to make yourself look good. (You might look good, but that shouldn't be the purpose.)
Stories should never be told only for entertainment value. They need to teach an importance principle directly related to the topic of your lesson.
It can be tempting, when telling a story, to include far more than is needed. A story needs to be brief and include only those details necessary to make the story understandable and interesting. I often share a story about my first calling in Primary. It's a rather complex and long story, but I never tell all of it. I only include the details needed to make the point of that particular talk or lesson. Depending on the details I include, the story is about teaching with love, understanding priesthood blessings, leadership, faith, or the value of callings, but it's never about all those things at once. The details are what direct a listener to the specific message. As an example, when I'm telling the story in a talk on priesthood blessings, I tell about the blessing I received when I was set apart. I was new in the church and didn't understand how blessings work, and this led to challenges. However, if I'm giving a talk about faith, I leave that part out, because it has nothing to do with that message. That version of the story is much shorter, since I need only explain how young and inexperienced I was and how challenging the class was. Then I need to tell how I lost control of my preschoolers and what I learned from one of the children that day. No other part of the story impacts that lesson and so it is not included.
If you're telling a story from the past, there may be details you've forgotten. Don't take time to debate it with your listeners. Just pick something and stick with it. I don't remember if I was seventeen or eighteen when the above story happened. Instead of saying, "I was seventeen...no wait, maybe I was already eighteen, since Primary was on a different calendar then. No, I must have been seventeen..." I simply pick an age. Whether I was seventeen or eighteen makes no difference. What does matter is that I was very young and new to the church. Either age will make that point.
To prepare your story, write it out as you remember it. (Add it to your personal history when you're done.) Cross out anything not essential to the story. Make sure each detail sets the proper mood and leads your listener closer to the point you want to make. Then practice telling the story in your own words. Periodically check your telling against your notes to make sure you're getting the story right and not wandering away from the point.
Your story should be truthful. It may not be entirely factual, because memory isn't always accurate, but it should be truthful--it should be true to the message of the story. However, it is best to also be as factual as you can, given the fragile state of memory.
When you give your talk, try to tell the story, rather than reading it. This makes the story more personal.
Do you need more help understanding how to tell a story in different ways to make a point? Would you like to read some true stories? Follow me to see how the story I've been hinting at plays out in talks. On the next page, I'll outline the entire story and then I'll give you samples of two ways I tell it. From these, you'll be able to see how I focus the story.
What do you want to do next?
Learn how to focus a story.
I get it. I'll just go to the LDS topics list to start preparing my talk.
Terrie Lynn Bittner - All Rights Reserved