Thanks Jeff, some good advice there. I agree that starting off with short fun stories is the way to go while learning to calibrate and connect to the audience. Holding the feeling of an outcome as a goal is also key to being able to lead your audience where you want them to go. Your whole bodymind state is itself an anchor and a driver for their experience. As skilled hypnotists will recognise, one way of inducing trance is simply to pace your subject and once you have unconscious rapport, simply take yourself into a deep trance!! Of course for this to work you have to be able to maintain your hypnotic skills while in deep trance!!!

Off the top of my head I can think of one source that mentions the importance of gut feelings in choosing which story to tell next- Sidney Rosen in his notes to “My Voice Will Go With You- The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson”

First off, let me tell you how excited I am about this blog. This is a very difficulty skill to get a handle on! A person can get a lot of mileage out of this posting alone.

It’s funny that you mention “gut feelings.” Many sources on this kind of story telling delineate precise, conscious steps and techniques, but this is very much a subconscious process, for the teller as much as the listener, and I don’t think I’ve seen that mentioned elsewhere.

Here are a couple of observations I’ve had regarding this skill:
For people who don’t usually tell a lot of stories, they should start just telling short, fun stories to get the feel of calibrating and connecting to the audience.
Hold the feeling of the outcome as a goal, not necessarily a particular phrase. That way, one doesn’t get hung up in the words.
Also be aware of the feeling of the words & images you chose along the way. All that stuff goes right to the subconscious.

What do you think, Robin?