As I said before, there is something about stories that makes us remember them with great ease. There are 7 different story plots that have been used historically: The Quest, Voyage and Return, Rebirth, Comedy, Rags to Riches, Tragedy and Overcoming the Monster. Believe it or not there is no story or movie you remember that does not follow one of these plots.

So how do we make our presentation into a story? Let’s take a look at The Quest.

The quest is the most typical plot of all and partially present in almost every story. It pictures a hero who must set off on an adventure, usually a journey to achieve something or retrieve an object. Think of Homer’s Odyssey or any Indiana Jones movie. These stories are timeless and burn into your mind because they transmit something; it’s something that typical, every-day presentations just don’t convey.

An example of a presentation based on The Quest could be an NGO that wants to bring fresh water to a village in Africa. You have the problem, a village with no clean water, this is what makes the hero embark in the adventure, be it an NGO or Indiana Jones; you have your objective, fresh water/Holy Grail; and you have problems along the way, be it changing a river’s course or monkey-brain-eating tribes. Now you have all the ingredients for a fascinating story. Finally, all you need is to tell the tale of how the hero overcomes the obstacles to reach his goal. This will probably be done in a few steps: journey, facing the obstacle, finding the Holy Grail; or informing people about the problem, raising money, bringing fresh water to people who need it.

That easy! You’ve spread your message as a story, it’s catchy, and people remember it! There is no need for long explanations. What you are trying to do is convey a message, don’t get lost in the details or you might as well write a book like El Quijote, which is also a quest, by the way. Nowadays, when attention spans are much lower, these resources can really help us promote our ideas. Another example of a quest-like presentation could be a company’s move into a new market; there are many other types of presentations you can make using The Quest, I’m sure you can come up with many.

Don’t miss the next post! We’ll be discussing Overcoming the Monster.

Until next time,

Byron Stanford for Project Presentation.

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