What Do Storytelling and Sailing Have in Common?
Why is storytelling so effective when it comes to persuading skeptics, and why do data and facts often fail in this case? Nancy Duarte compares the art of storytelling to a sailing voyage—one that can actually benefit from a bit of headwind. On a sailboat, the skipper carries full responsibility, but without the crew handling the sails, the journey will not go far. The skipper determines the route of the voyage. He must know precisely where the journey begins and ends, and where the most important docking points lie along the way. Storytellers work in much the same way. They must know “ where the journey is headed ”—the starting point and the destination of their story. The audience does not need to know every detail of the route from the outset. But at key turning points in the narrative, the storyteller must remain attentive to the listeners, bring them along, and continually remind them of the destination of the speech. Storytelling can often appear to be a detour. Yet storie...
