1. Set the stage and define the characters: scene, location, atmosphere, challenge, people, amount of determination that was required.
  2. Actions speak louder than words: what did you/they do, encourage, who did you have to persuade, how did you get it done that was different or special in any way?
  3. Not too much detail: try to be as concise as possible aiming for the right balance between too little detail to cause the audience to fail to appreciate the situation and too much detail to bore them or cause confusion.
  4. You’ll have to exaggerate the critical points a wee bit…to make them “larger than life”: help the audience to determine why this is such an accomplishment or important event.
  5. Provide information in digestible bites: I use the rule of pausing briefly after every sentence with a slightly longer pause, but not too long, after every second sentence.
  6. Have a point. Don’t just ramble. Start somewhere. Arrive somewhere meaningful. Don’t leave your audience guessing at the point of your story.
  7. Practice pauses, delivery, eye contact to get your timing down pat. This is more appropriate for longer stories and stories meant to entertain or raise emotion.
  8. Don’t try to make them laugh: just convey your story in an interesting manner. If laughter ensues, then fine. It is tough to try to be humorous, so, aim to tell a story not to create laughter.