Telling stories without a net

Today's New York Times has a great article on Garrison Kiellor and his 30 years of telling stories on Prairie Home Companion. One factoid we didn't know before reading the article is that Garrison makes up and tells all his "The News From Lake Wobegon" monologues without ever writing a script. He simply recites the story as it unfolds in his head during the performance. The fact he has done this week after week for 30 years simply shows the power and memorability of stories as a communications medium. Next time you are sitting down and working on a powerpoint presentation, start by asking yourself what story you want to tell and build the presentation around that. You may not be the next Garrison Kiellor, but at the very least, the presentation will be a lot more memorable.