Narrative is important to how we remember stuff. You remember the story behind Lord of the Rings because there's strong narrative. Sure, it's a big book and there's songs, poetry, history etc. all in there, but there's also a narrative thread pulling you through the whole thing (The Ring is dangerous, it needs to be destroyed in order to stop Sauron's rise to power, Frodo the hobbit takes the ring into the middle of the enemy's lands and destroys it even though to others he is a small and seemingly insignificant person). Long after you've forgotten the song of Tom Bombadil, you'll still remember the gist of the story of Lord of the Rings.

Lack of narrative makes stories much more difficult to follow - your brain has to work that much harder to recall the sequence of events later. Exhibit A - Ice Age 2. Chris Atherton (Finite Attention Span) points out that your brain has a better ability to recognise gestalt principles of similarity, connectedness etc. and so it seems natural to suppose that narrative helps us recall the content of presentations better.

BUT (and it's quite a big but) how do you construct narrative in technical presentations? There's no "story" right? This isn't "The adventures of Mike's data". Well, this is where it gets tricky. You need to think laterally.

Mike Smith addresses a common problem with technical presentations--since they lack a story, they're hard to remember--at Posterous. Read the whole post for Mike's solution.

Later today, Lisa Braithwaite offered these suggestions for storytelling as she recounted her experience at a specialty food trade show

1. Tell stories that engage your audience and make them want to stick around for more. 
2. You, the speaker, are your brand, and you are a human being. Make a connection like a human being, not like a salesperson. 
3. When you're trying to get people to notice you and hire you, you have to notice them. If you're too important or too busy, they will move on to someone who pays attention.

This video features the device I use to walk, the hospital where I learned how to use it, and the therapist who taught me to use it. Thanks to all.

I haven’t been a member of Toastmasters for many years, but I can spot a Toastmaster on one of our courses almost instantaneously (people who’ve done debating are even more obvious!) The Toastmaster program and culture tends to encourage people to develop a certain rather “stagey” style. When I made the transition from Toastmasters to real-world presenting I had to make the transition from my Toastmaster style to a more conversational style. If you’re in Toastmasters break out of the Toastmaster mould this year – start talking in a conversational style to individual members of your audience (see this post for more on How to get the most out of Toastmasters.)

Olivia Mitchell offers a tip for Toastmasters. The whole post has tips for many other kinds of presentations.

And yet, even as business has slowed, we have been speeded up, and the dead giveaway was the growth of laptops in paradise. Five years ago, in Barbados, none of us consulted a computer. Three years ago, in Costa Rica, a few family members walked to an Internet cafe and checked our e-mail one afternoon just for the novelty of being online in a faraway place.

This year I stood in a long line in the lobby of this resort in the Dominican Republic, to wait my turn to sign up for 25 hours of Internet service for $25. Several in the family brought laptops and we checked our work e-mail daily.

From a pretty good, and pretty telling, essay in the New York Times. Read the whole essay to appreciate the writing of Michael Winerip and to enjoy a wry conclusion.