Use Your Personal Story to Craft a Compelling Stage Presentation
Use your story to spark the stage.
Your story deserves to be told. In today's episode, Aleya uncovers the power of sharing your personal story to inspire and motivate others. She walks you through a step-by-step framework to help you craft a compelling stage presentation using your own crises and challenges. As a professional speaker and Strategic Storytelling Consultant, Aleya Harris brings her expertise in sharing radically authentic stories that resonate with audiences. In this episode, you'll learn how to make your story relatable, captivate your audience's attention, and articulate a clear path forward. Get ready to embrace the transformative experience of becoming a professional speaker and leaving a lasting impact on your audiences.
Key Takeaways:
Importance of Sharing Personal Stories
Framework for Crafting a Crisis Story Presentation
Impact of Crisis Stories in Public Speaking
Spark the Stage
This episode is brought to you by Spark the Stage, the program that will teach you to become a radically authentic professional speaker. During the on-demand course and live sessions, you will become a more confident speaker, develop your signature talk, and understand how to get paid (whether the event organizer pays you or not).
Sign Up for Spark the Stage at https://www.aleyaharris.com/spark
About Aleya Harris
Aleya Harris is the spark for your spark™. A trailblazer in purpose-driven story crafting, she is a former marketing executive and ex-Google Vendor Partner who brings her dynamic experience to her role as the CEO of The Evolution Collective Inc. Aleya is a StoryBrand Certified Guide, international award-winning speaker, and the host of the award-winning Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast. Her unique approach as a Strategic Storytelling Consultant has revolutionized the way businesses communicate, transforming workplace cultures and market positioning. With her dynamic energy and proven methodologies, she guides clients to unlock their potential, articulate their radically authentic stories, and achieve unparalleled success.
Sign Up for a Free Workshop
Each month, Aleya hosts a free 90-minute, hands-on workshop to help you use the power of radically authentic strategic storytelling to improve your personal growth, career, and company.
Register at https://www.aleyaharris.com/workshop
Book Aleya to Speak
To book Aleya to edutain your audience at your next event as a keynote speaker, please visit www.aleyaharris.com/speaking to check out her speaking topics, reels, and why. Click "Schedule a Call" to secure the speaker with "that something new" you've been looking for.
If you are a Corporate Event Planner, Employee Experience Professional, Head of Marketing, Learning & Development Professional, Executive Assistant, Speakers Bureau Destination Management Company, or Destination Management Organization who is looking for a top-quality, energetic speaker, you should definitely hop on a call with Aleya.
Connect with Aleya Harris
Speaking & Media: https://www.aleyaharris.com
The Evolution Collective Inc.: https://www.evolutioncollective.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleyaharris/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleyaharris/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thealeyaharris
Links Mentioned on this Podcast
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Aleya Harris [00:00:00]:
You. The most helpful lessons come from personal experience. But people don't get to learn those lessons if the people that have those experiences don't share them. Secrets don't help anybody. In today's episode, I'm going to walk you through, step by step by step, through a framework that will teach you how to share your story, the story of your ups, the story of your down, the story of your crises, so that you can help inspire and motivate other people. Today is the day where we unearth the magic that is you. And yes, people want to hear your story. All right, let's go.
Yuliya Patsay [00:00:53]:
Welcome to the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast with Aleya Harris. If you're looking for actionable ways to overcome communication and differentiation challenges by sharing radically authentic stories, you are in the right place. Listen in and learn how to stand in the power of your unique narrative to transform your personal life, business, and workplace culture. And now, your host, award winning international speaker, strategic storytelling consultant, and japanese whiskey lover, Ruby Coral's mom, Aleya Harris.
Aleya Harris [00:01:43]:
It's so funny to me because at this point in time, I've helped many a person go through and share their stories, and each and every single one of them say, yeah, but do people really want to hear my story? There can't be that many people that want to hear a story of a single mother again, or people who want to hear the story of an entrepreneur again. To which I say, yes, people want to hear your story, because it's not that they need to hear yet another entrepreneur story or another single mother's story, but they need to hear from you, particularly how you overcame and the lessons that you learned, so that they can overcome a similar situation or one that has a related moral. If your story about being a single mother, for example, is all about resilience, well, there's a lot of situations in which people need to be resilient in their lives, and there's a lot of connection that can be built by you telling your story of resilience. So, yes, you have a story to tell, and people need to hear your story. Your personal story not only is great for building a business, but it's great for building a signature talk and just adding a little bit more humanity and authenticity to your overall brand. So today, I'm going to walk you through how to tell your crisis story so that you never let a good crisis go to waste. It is such a shame when you go through something, and yeah, you might have learned a lesson, but nobody else gets to benefit from it. So why did you even go through it.
Aleya Harris [00:03:32]:
Why did you even deal with those hard times if you can't help anybody else? Avoid them, go through them, survive them. That's the whole point of being humans here. Having a spiritual experience, is that we get to support and love and uplift each other. And that's exactly what the power of a good story does. When you're talking about your own crisis story, I want you to realize that it's not just your personal saga. It's a beacon of empathy, inspiration and understanding. And, my friend, the world needs that. The world needs that, especially right now.
Aleya Harris [00:04:14]:
And guests, especially from you. I was on a call today, actually, with somebody who said, I mean, here are the, like, three things that I did or learned. They're not much. And then when I heard them, I heard actually five amazing key points that I was very curious about her diving more deeply into that I could learn about them. And when I read them back to her, she goes, oh, my God, that's amazing. I would want to hear that story. Yes, of course you would want to hear that story, because it's fascinating. We often just don't know how to tell a story that makes it fascinating because we underestimate the power that our story has.
Aleya Harris [00:04:55]:
So we're going to talk about building a crisis story here in three steps. First, you're going to get real. So you're going to need to take stock of everything you've overcome, especially the messy bits, the parts that are like, ooh, does she really want me to talk about that? I don't really want to talk about that. Yeah, that part. That's the one. That's the one I'm talking about. The thing that you've overcome, the thing that you can dig deep and the thing that you say, oh, that makes me slightly uncomfortable. But I've also been feeling the urge and the push to talk about it, and I've been avoiding it.
Aleya Harris [00:05:28]:
That's the thing. That's the thing right there. The thing that just came into your mind, that story. That's the one we're talking about. After we get real, we're going to get clear. We're going to dive into that crisis and pull the lessons you've learned or the moral, because that's the whole point of you telling the story. That's why you're going to be of service. It's almost like the first part of the actual details of the story are just ramping up to get me to the moral.
Aleya Harris [00:05:50]:
So I know why I'm listening to you. And the third thing we're going to do is get connected. We're going to mold these experiences into a narrative using clear storytelling tools and techniques. Just a note. We're going to tell stories. You're going to build a story. You're going to craft a story. It's going to be great.
Aleya Harris [00:06:10]:
It's going to be wonderful. It's going to be awesome. I'm going to be excited about it. However, you need to be prepared to share the story. If it's a story that you can't yet share because it's so emotional, every time you open your mouth to think about it, talk about it, be about it, you cry. That's not the one. That's not the one. Because tears on stage are manipulative.
Aleya Harris [00:06:32]:
Because when a speaker cries on stage, unless someone asks them a question, something unexpected happens. But when they cry through a presentation, I immediately turn off. Is it because I'm a cold hearted bi. Whatever? No, it's because they've practiced that presentation multiple times. They wrote it, they put it together. At this point in time, if they are crying through it, it either means that they should not be telling this story or they're forcing themselves to cry to manipulate me as an audience member to have a reaction, and I don't like it. So you need to be prepared to share. So if it's a story that you cannot share, don't share it yet.
Aleya Harris [00:07:05]:
If it's a story that you're just really being pushed to share and you just need to write it down and get it out, that's the one. Because if you can't share it now with yourself, when you read it, you won't be able to share it from the stage, which is ultimately where you can help people at scale, where you can love people at scale, where you can help inspire, motivate, encourage people at scale from the stage. Okay, let's dive in. Let's get real. The first thing I want you to do is to collect your crises. I'm not trying to be a Debbie downer, but these are the things that make you you. When you go through a crisis, what it does is it sets up a comparison. It sets up something for you to react to.
Aleya Harris [00:07:48]:
It illustrates for you what you don't want so that you can understand better what you do want. However, we often don't look at it like that. But you, my friend, do. I know you do. Because if you have a story in your mind, it's a story that you've overcome something. And in that overcoming of something, that means that you've gotten to the other side and can tell the tale. So you found the lessons, you found the value. Now it's time to collect them and put them all in one place so that we don't waste them.
Aleya Harris [00:08:20]:
We allow you to share them as they need to be shared with other people so you don't have to write them all out yet. These are just quick bullet points. So some examples of my crisis stories that I would bullet point would be postpartum depression, physical disability due to stress and burnout, failed membership launch that cost me $30,000, on which I made $0. Being laid off twice. Some other ones that have come from previous spark. The stage participants have been falling off their bike as a kid, divorce, loss of a loved one. These are all the crises. Just list them all.
Aleya Harris [00:08:53]:
Set a timer, even for five minutes. List as many of them as you can and see what you got. See what you got. And then if you're not done yet, keep going, but see what you got after five or ten minutes. If you can really get down into the number of crises that you have available to you, the more that you get out in this stage and you're not putting a whole lot of thought into it, the more that you get out into this stage, the more as we funnel it down, you'll have to work with your. Crisis stories could be stories that you share in your presentation. They could be the foundation of an entire presentation. They could be the foundation of your entire work methodology or framework that you're going to be developing, and they can be used to inform your why.
Aleya Harris [00:09:37]:
So, human beings are often searching for purpose, and it's really hard to figure out what it is because you came here, and we have this innate feeling, like we came here for a reason, for something to do. It's not just happenstance. It feels too well designed to be a fluke. So we're constantly looking for our why, but often we look externally for our whys, and we buy things. We talk to other people. We try to see what everybody else is doing, but our whys are very internal, and they end up manifesting if we're paying attention throughout the crises that we live through in our lives. So, as you look at your crises, you will begin to see, wow. My why is to help people realize that no matter what happens to them, they are worthy.
Aleya Harris [00:10:32]:
My why is to help other people, like my why love people into the highest versions of themselves, helping them craft their story, helping them realize that they are wonderful and beautiful and fabulous. Depending on what you've gone through, you'll start to see inklings, whether it's in how you overcame your crises, the types of crises that you find yourself in, et cetera, et cetera. What your why is, why is this important as a speaker? Because as a speaker, people are often focused on I'm going to get up on the stage, I'm going to look fabulous, I'm going have to the mic in my hand and I'm going to say some type of presentation, but they're less focused often on having something good to say when you get up on stage, if you are hypothetically a financial planner, you think you're getting up on stage to let people know all about the 401 ks, the IRAs, the savings, the insurance and all of that loveliness. That's what you think you're getting up on stage to do. And if that's all you get up on stage to do, you have wasted the stage, because I could have read that in a blog post. What you should be getting up on stage to do is to make me feel something about having an IRA, a 401K, insurance, a savings plan, a budget. I should feel something and you should be telling me a story that makes me feel something. And the stories that you tell me should be related to something that you have experienced.
Aleya Harris [00:12:02]:
So then, now, not only am I feeling something about my life, but now I'm connected to you and the feelings that you've had regarding the same subject. That's why people get up on the stage. You have something to say that's relatable, that I can't get in a blog post. I can't share that energy with you unless I'm standing or sitting in front of you in a room in an audience, and you are giving me something else. When you are excavating your crisis story, you are figuring out what that something else is, your purpose, the thing that you're saying, your whole reason for communicating through any medium, but especially from the stage, once you gather your stories, I want you to look at them and look at all the crises that you've overcome and realize how amazingly resilient you are. Congratulations. Congratulations. Because you have endured each crises and you're still here.
Aleya Harris [00:13:06]:
You are still here to tell the story. Now that's the getting real part. Let's get clear. Let's figure out what exactly we're saying here, because your crises are important, not because they happened, but because they taught you something. And even more importantly, they have the ability to teach other people things. So you're going to go through your list, and I want you to pick the three crisis stories that jump out at you the most, and I want you to answer a couple of questions. One, what did I learn from this experience? Two, how did it change my perspective or approach to life? Three, what strengths did I discover in myself through this crisis? And four, what are the common threads across these three crises that are clues to my higher purpose? Rewind it if you need those questions again. But those four questions, if you can answer them, you're going to start pulling out elements that you're going to use to craft your crisis story a little further out.
Aleya Harris [00:14:10]:
Because, again, it's all about what you learn. But you have to get clear. It can't just be this nebulous feeling. So, for example, from my postpartum depression, what did I learn? I learned a cult. So many things. One, I learned that having knowing is better than believing. I had a knowing that God's spirit is real, and I knew that I was going to be well taken care of. Knowing is better than believing, because believing requires faith.
Aleya Harris [00:14:44]:
Faith in something that you can't see. Knowing is just. It is what it is. I know that it is true. And I had done the work before I had gotten pregnant and during my pregnancy to develop a strong relationship with God, strong relationship with spirit. So I had a knowing. I no longer required belief. And because of that, I knew that I was going to see the other side.
Aleya Harris [00:15:06]:
There were times where I was like, what the heck is going on? But I knew that this was one for my highest good, even though it sure as heck didn't feel like it. And two, that I was going to come out of this because I was so loved. I am loved, and so are you. That's one of the lessons that I learned. How did it change my experience and approach to life? It had me chill the f out a little bit, right? If I know that things are always working out for my highest good, no matter what, and that might require me going through some things so that I can better relate to an audience, I can better help someone else, I can better refine something in me, then it's really just about breathing through it and having patience as opposed to trying to push, trying to strive, trying to make it work no matter what. Don't have to make anything work. I can just live and just be knowing that things are working out and follow intuitive movement rather than forcing everything with strength that I discover in myself. Through that crisis, I discovered that I am just in general, physically stronger than I thought I was.
Aleya Harris [00:16:14]:
I'm mentally stronger, and one of my biggest fears, not necessarily fear of dying, because that's going to happen, so why be scared of it? But I really don't want to have Alzheimer's. One of my fears is, and I try not to put too much energy to it, so I'm just going to say it and drop it. One of my fears is that I will lose my brain, and I won't be able to think and process information. And I prize my intelligence and my ability to connect using my brain and my words. And so, for me, that's something I really don't want to have happen. And during postpartum, I obviously didn't have Alzheimer's, but I was not able to think and process. I was for real mental illness. I couldn't think, I couldn't process.
Aleya Harris [00:17:01]:
I was extremely forgetful. I didn't trust myself. I didn't even want to drive because I felt so uncomfortable with the way my brain works. And you know what? I made it on the other side. And you know what? I figured it out. And you know what? I recovered from that, and everybody still loved me anyways. So the strengths that I discovered is that myself, as Aleya, I am strong even without all of my mental capacities there. Right? And what are common threads across crises? Through my life? It's always been about, I have to do it, you can tell me about it, but I have to do it.
Aleya Harris [00:17:38]:
I have to experience it, because otherwise, I won't learn from it. And that's a damn shame. It really is. I would love it not to be that way, but throughout my life, that's what it's been, and it's allowed me to better relate to people, better relate to my clients, better relate to my audiences, because if I had never gone through things, I would never be able to help other people go through things. And I say that I am trying to love people into the highest versions of themselves. Well, in order to make that true, I have to know what the lowest versions look like or even touch them, understand them, right. Even just for a little while. So if I went through that exercise and just a small portion of it, that's how I would pull it out.
Aleya Harris [00:18:23]:
Once you have those three stories and you really start to clarify them using those questions, I want you to find your path to victory for those three crisis stories. What are the three steps you took to go from crisis to success? This is your rags to riches story, but I need you to tell me what you did very specifically. For my postpartum depression, I asked for help and accepted help. I shared my story and I clarified and obsessed over my vision for the future. Those three things helped me go from being incredibly depressed to the woman who was able to talk to you on this mic and hold a full sentence in her brain at one time. Right. So without these steps, you're not painting a bridge for people from where they are to where they want to be, and it still makes them feel lost. The three steps are incredibly important.
Aleya Harris [00:19:15]:
Okay, we've gotten real, we've gotten clear. Now let's get connected. This is where the so what comes in. Remember, you're dealing with narcissists with short attention spans. Is it about me? Can you make it about me? Was it about me five minutes ago? Can you make it about me five minutes from now? Because I don't remember if you made it about me yet, and I would love it to be about me. That's who you're talking to. Even if they're the most lovely people, when anybody is sitting in front of an audience, that's what they are interested in. So your story has to include a so what? What's in it for me? And that's where the construction of the story really helps.
Aleya Harris [00:19:47]:
So I'm going to break down for you the crisis story framework. It has four parts, and it will help you captivate their attention, articulate their path forward, and the whole time making it really about them. Even though you're telling your story, the first thing I want you to do is to set a time and place. For example, it was a hot summer day in 2003, but my hands were cold as ice. Step two, articulate the problem that caused the crisis. Don't just say this is what it is, but describe how it makes you feel and why it was just plain wrong that you had to deal with that issue. Three, you're going to outline those three steps that we just talked about and how you resolve the problem and the outcome and the moral. You're going to share what you learn so your audience can benefit from your perspective.
Aleya Harris [00:20:31]:
And four, you're going to relate it to the overall context. It could be the overall presentation. You could have it just be a key point in the presentation you're relating it to. A section of the presentation could be your overall brand. Whatever you do, you're relating it to the context because otherwise it's just you talking about yourself. And as cool as that is, we need you to relate it to the person you're talking to, because otherwise it's not helpful. Let me give you an example. So step one, setting the time and place.
Aleya Harris [00:21:06]:
This is from my postpartum depression story, right? I would say I died in a cold operating room on November 7, 2022. What does that do? It opens it up with a hook, and it makes you interested, because clearly, I'm not super dead because I'm talking to you right now. So you're kind of like, well, what happened? And did they bring her back to life? What is going on? And that curiosity gap that you open hooks people in and makes you ready to tell the rest of the story. Step two, articulate the problem that caused the crisis. I would go on to say I had just simultaneously given birth to my beautiful baby girl, Ruby coral, and watched the woman I had become up to that point fall into darkness. Over the next ten months, that darkness consumed me, and I slipped into the bowels of postpartum depression. I felt ashamed of my feelings, as if I was failing at the very first step of motherhood. This internal conflict was compounded by a practical crisis.
Aleya Harris [00:22:05]:
As a business owner, my mental state directly impacted my work. My revenue dwindled, adding financial stress to my already heavy burden. Step three. Outline three steps on how you resolve the problem and the outcome and the moral. These are the three steps that I told you about already. I would go on to say I was able to see my way through the darkness by doing three things. One, I asked for and accepted help. Two, I shared my story.
Aleya Harris [00:22:30]:
Three, I clarified and obsessed over my vision for the future. Step four is relate to the broader presentation context. So let's say that this was something, a story I was telling at the very beginning. That line, I died in a cold operating room on November 7, 2022. That's the first thing that came out of my mouth when I was on stage. So then I would go and say, today I'm going to talk to you about how asking, sharing, and clarifying the three steps that I told you can help you become a more resilient entrepreneur no matter what you face. Step one, step two, step three, step four. And all of a sudden, you have a story, and you have captured the audience right from the beginning.
Aleya Harris [00:23:10]:
They are into it. They are into it. So again, set the scene, articulate the problem, outline the three steps, and relate to the broader presentation context so that you can share your story. When you share your crises and challenges openly, you pave the way for presentations that are not just informative, but transformative. You're not just on that stage, just, I don't know, talking about yourself and picking your belly button lint. You are actually doing something. You're not just filling a slot between eight and 08:45 a.m. We're going to have so and so come and speak.
Aleya Harris [00:23:46]:
It's way more than that. It's way more than that. You have an opportunity to touch and transform the lives of other people, and you've been given the gift and the blessing of a microphone and a platform to do that. Use it to your advantage, take it to the next level and don't just stand up there and read from some slides. So now that you've developed your story, or you're in the process of developing it, you're going to use your crisis stories, this one that you're thinking of in your head and others, to develop your signature talk. Then you're going to build your on stage confidence because you're going to have to say these stories in front of people. You'll develop your pitch so that you can get on those stages and you're going to find strategically aligned speaking engagements that match with who you want to talk to, who you want to sell. You also are going to need to understand how to maximize your ROI from each speaking engagement, whether the organizer pays you or not.
Aleya Harris [00:24:42]:
And finally, you will share your story from the stage. Becoming a professional speaker, a radically authentic professional speaker. And golly, I really hope I get to be in the audience when you do. If that all sounded like okay, that sounds great, but I really could use some help on doing those things. I invite you to join my program Sparkthege Spark the stage is a six week on demand and live taught course that helps entrepreneurs and executives become radically authentic professional speakers who can deliver a compelling signature talk from stage. If you're interested in signing up, go to www.alayaharris.com spark. Aleyaharris.com Spark Spark the stage helps you grow your thought leadership brand, add a revenue stream, and leave an enduring legacy. By the time you are done, you will know how to communicate your authentic, unique message.
Aleya Harris [00:25:42]:
By using energy, healing and storytelling techniques, you will have developed your signature pitch outline and presentation. You will build your onstage confidence. You will embrace the performance aspect of public speaking. You'll know how to get the gig and get paid. Get some money and you're going to maximize your Roi whether the organizer pays you or not. We're not requiring them to pay you, but you're going to get this money. Okay, you don't get this money. I already have run a beta for this program and it went really, really well.
Aleya Harris [00:26:11]:
One of the students, Coquise Moore, who was based in Paris, France, is an after school program, curriculum developer, and a dancer. And she said, I would highly recommend anyone aspiring to use their voice to make a difference in the lives of others to sign up for Spark the stage because they will get all the tools they need to set them for success. Aleya left no stone unturned. She managed to lay all her cards on the table within each session, holding nothing back and sharing her approach to becoming a professional public speaker. I really appreciate that testimonial. And I mean, believe me or not believe Koqui, she was in the program and I also can corroborate her story. I think that it was absolutely true and I know that each and every person was able to be successful. Spark the stage is a program that has open enrollment, and at the time of this recording, enrollment is open.
Aleya Harris [00:27:02]:
So now is your chance to go and take advantage of it. Through six weeks, through on demand and live taught courses, you will become ready to be a professional speaker. It's truly, truly a transformative experience. Go ahead and sign up@alayaharris.com Spark and make your mark on the hearts and minds of your audiences. All right, I can't wait to see you inside of Spark the stage. And if you have any questions, just send me an email directly. Aleya, aleya@alayaharris.com all right, that's it for this episode. My name is Aleya Harris.
Aleya Harris [00:27:41]:
This is the flourishing entrepreneur podcast, and I'm sending you lots of love and love and love and love and love and light and abundance. All right, bye for now.
Yuliya Patsay [00:27:54]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the flourishing entrepreneur podcast with Aleya Harris. Vibing with what you hear, leave a five star review to spread the love and be sure to click subscribe. We wish you love, light, and abundance. See you next time.
