By now, most of us realize what a powerful tool storytelling can be when conveying a message to an audience.  An idea can go from barely being understood to fully conceptualized given the right context a story can provide. Just knowing what stories can do is not enough though. One has to pick the right story at the right time to give ideas life. Couple this hard truth with the sometimes uncreative atmosphere of a business meeting and many are hard-pressed to come up with a relevant story to match up both with the idea and the environment. I found a great resource to help find a story to match the message: http://www.businessballs.com/stories.htm.

I was surprised to find one story listed that a previous manager of mine used to help defuse some tension in a cross-functional meeting with members of our IT department present:

A man in a hot air balloon is lost. He sees a man on the ground and reduces height to speak to him.

“Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?”

“You’re in a hot air balloon hovering thirty feet above this field,” comes the reply.

“You must work in Information Technology,” says the balloonist.

“I do,” says the man, “How did you know?”

“Well,” says the balloonist, “Everything you told me is technically correct, but it’s no use to anyone.”

“You must be in business,” says the man.

“I am,” says the balloonist, “How did you know?”

“Well,” says the man, “You don’t know where you are, you don’t know where you’re going, but you expect me to be able to help. You’re in the same position you were before we met, but now it’s my fault.”

Although some of the best stories can be gleaned from personal experience,  sometimes it can be hard to recall  one for every situation.  Having a few anecdotal stories in your repertoire can be extremely useful, and may just be enough to win your audience over.