Rating: 
Summary: A great guide to telling your story
Review: As a business owner, I have a story to tell to our customers, our vendors, my co-workers, my financial partners and our industry. It's important that the people I'm talking to understand the point I'm trying to make and that they believe in my credibility and that of my organization.This book is a great guide to discovering what the story is behind the facts and figures, and then creating illustrations to help those facts and figures come alive to the person listening to the story. It contains numerous examples and tips that have helped me make my point in a more interesting and more compelling way. It's an easy book to read and digest, and will leave the reader with practical information that can be put to use immediately. Definitely worth the time!
Rating:
Summary: A great guide to telling your story
Review: As a business owner, I have a story to tell to our customers, our vendors, my co-workers, my financial partners and our industry. It's important that the people I'm talking to understand the point I'm trying to make and that they believe in my credibility and that of my organization. This book is a great guide to discovering what the story is behind the facts and figures, and then creating illustrations to help those facts and figures come alive to the person listening to the story. It contains numerous examples and tips that have helped me make my point in a more interesting and more compelling way. It's an easy book to read and digest, and will leave the reader with practical information that can be put to use immediately. Definitely worth the time!
Rating:
Summary: The Power of Storytelling Explained
Review: From the moment I started reading The Story Factor I was satisfied. Finally a book that explains why stories are such effective communication tools. As a trainer and communication consultant I was looking for the deep structure behind storytelling. It's all here: how stories move and motivate people, the six kinds of stories you need to tell, the psychology of influence and how a good story trumps the facts. The author includes her own stories and draws upon those from other cultures as well. Nearly every page is complete with examples and anecdotes you can take into the classroom or boardroom. It's a practical book. For example, chapter seven deals with convincing the "unwilling, unconcerned or unmotivated." While there are no surefire remedies for every situation, Ms. Simmons provides a common-sense overview of resistance and some skillful ways to work with it. Even if you're not telling stories regularly the psychology lesson is valuable. True, this is not a paint-by-numbers book because good story telling is too subtle for simple how-to formulae. You learn the art of storytelling by telling lots of stories. The Story Factor provides solid structural principles and the tips and ideas to stimulate creativity. Start telling stories and use the book as a guide. The style is fast and readable with catchy phrases and subheads. My copy is thoroughly underlined and annotated so I'll never be able to resell it! If you're interested in how to craft stories that sell, motivate, inspire and persuade you'll be glad you bought this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Power of Storytelling Explained
Review: From the moment I started reading The Story Factor I was satisfied. Finally a book that explains why stories are such effective communication tools. As a trainer and communication consultant I was looking for the deep structure behind storytelling. It's all here: how stories move and motivate people, the six kinds of stories you need to tell, the psychology of influence and how a good story trumps the facts. The author includes her own stories and draws upon those from other cultures as well. Nearly every page is complete with examples and anecdotes you can take into the classroom or boardroom. It's a practical book. For example, chapter seven deals with convincing the "unwilling, unconcerned or unmotivated." While there are no surefire remedies for every situation, Ms. Simmons provides a common-sense overview of resistance and some skillful ways to work with it. Even if you're not telling stories regularly the psychology lesson is valuable. True, this is not a paint-by-numbers book because good story telling is too subtle for simple how-to formulae. You learn the art of storytelling by telling lots of stories. The Story Factor provides solid structural principles and the tips and ideas to stimulate creativity. Start telling stories and use the book as a guide. The style is fast and readable with catchy phrases and subheads. My copy is thoroughly underlined and annotated so I'll never be able to resell it! If you're interested in how to craft stories that sell, motivate, inspire and persuade you'll be glad you bought this book.
Rating:
Summary: What's the Story?
Review: Have you noticed a renewed interest in storytelling throughout public life? More and more people are weaving their message into a narrative rather than just telling the unadorned facts. I think this represents more than people simply exercising their poetic license. That being the case, what we need is an analysis of what stories are, how they are constructed, and why they work. Annette Simmons gives us this account. The key to the role of stories comes from a saying that she quotes: People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. People are looking to interact with those they can trust, and their willingness to trust depends on their perception of reciprocal caring. Stories are the best way to demonstrate care, and build trust.
Annette also identifies six kinds of stories:
* Who I Am stories
* Why I Am Here stories
* The Vision stories
* Teaching stories
* Values-in-Action stories
* I Know What You Are Thinking stories
These are the themes for demonstrating care, building trust, and seeking cooperation. Good storytelling can be learned. But authentic stories must be based on sincerity. More and more people can spot fakes sooner and sooner. So the storyteller must respect those in the audience. Never, never, never tell a story to someone you don't respect. The only message they will receive is your lack of respect. What they are looking for is a meaningful account of their situation. In a complex environment people listen to whomever makes the most sense -- whomever tells the best story. So tell it like it is, but with flair and heart -- if you tell it, they will listen! Annette explains how and why.
Rating: 
Summary: We need a good book on storytelling - but this ain't it!
Review: Having seen the previous reviews, I came to this book with high hopes. They were never realised. Obviously the author has hit the nail squarely on the head for some readers, but I'll be hornswoggled if I can tell why. When I got to the end of the book I was still waiting for something, Anything, that would turn my dissatisfaction into a feeling that it had all been worthwhile. But my hopes simply weren't met. OK. Do you see a pattern in those first two paragraphs? Lots of tantalising "odours" but nothing to get your teeth into. That is how this book was *for me*. The book starts well.
Chapter 1: The Six Stories You Need to Know How to Tell. Great stuff - for the first 26 pages, But somehow that seems to be the nearest we come to anything concrete regarding the art of storytelling. It is followed by over 200 pages of text, but those 200+ pages concentrate almost entirely on "what" you should do, with far too little on "how" to do it. Things weren't helped by the story at the start of Chapter 6: Sound Bite or Epic. I was already halfway through the book, and still wondering when we were going to get to the meat and potatoes, and the "Somali tale from Ethiopia" about a woman going to a shaman who tells her to get hold of a tiger's whisker, really pulled the plug.
Firstly Somalia (where Somali's come from) and Ethiopia are two separate countries, next-door neighbours, who spend much of the time at each other's throats. Secondly they don't have "shamans" in Africa, they have witch doctors, etc. Thirdly, there are no tigers in Africa, only lions (tigers are found on the Indian subcontinent). Now you might think this is nit picking, especially since the story itself does illustrate a valid point.
My problem is that this kind of presentation strikes me as being thoroughly disrespectful. It confuses Somalia and Ethiopia, it lumps all "wise men" under the trendy label "shaman", and it shows a basic ignorance of nature. In short, *to me* it says: "I'm telling a story, I don't have to go to the bother of actually getting the factual bits right - not even in the attribution." Fine, but if an author want me to pay them for what they're offering then I believe they DO owe their readers sufficient respect to avoid making such basic errors. My biggest concern, however, is that the book simply doesn't "walk its talk".
If storytelling - "or just "story", as the author whimsically insists on calling it through most of the book - is supposed to be so effective, shouldn't the book actually *illustrate* this fact rather than just telling me about it?
Why, for example, are a number of the stories included in the book presented in cut down form instead of allowing the reader to savour - and learn from - the full length version? This author apparently runs workshops on various aspects of storytelling, and for all I know these may be incredibly stimulating and effective. Unfortunately, I found no such excitement in this book, just the same few messages - "storytelling is wonderful", "storytelling builds bridges", etc. - repeated over and over and OVER again. For my money, just about ANY book by Idries Shah will give more insight into storytelling than "The Story Factor" - even the books that (apparently) contain nothing but stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely helpful!
Review: I coach and consult with lawyers on improving their presentation skills. In doing so I am always looking for new ways to give them insight into how best to communicate. That's the reason I read The Story Factor, by Annette Simmons. It was extremely helpful to me in putting the subject into perspective. Many lawyers have told me that the most successful trial lawyers they have encountered were successful because they told good stories. Stories that grabbed the jurors and judges attention. As the saying goes; "Facts get people to think, emotion gets them to act!" This book was very helpful in learning that. It's an art that can be learned. Obviously not everyone looks at this book the same way. But for me it was a great read, and I learned a lot! As the saying goes,you can't judge a book by its cover, just as you can't judge it's contents by one negative review! Read the Story Factor!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book for speakers and trainers
Review: In my role as a leadership instructor in a large engineering organization, I have found that crafting and telling stories is a meaningful way to connect with my audience. I found The Story Factor to be comprehensive, directive, - and fun. I have used the book in multiple ways. First, it became the core reference book for my Master's thesis, which was about the use of storytelling in New Employee Orientations as a way to quickly assimilate new people into the culture. Second, I have developed an in-house workshop for managers and executives on how to use storytelling as a leadership and presentation tool. And third, I have referred to the book when I am developing my own stories to ensure that I have a solid structure around which to weave the details and characters. One of my favorite guidelines from the book is, 'the counterintuitive secret of effective stories is that the more specific the story, the more universal the connections'. So I make sure that I include colorful and descriptive details and really have fun with the telling. The Story Factor has provided me with tangible tools for education, training, and leadership, and I highly recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: Spirit of the Story
Review: Ms. Simmons makes a clear stement in the Introduction that hers is not a prescriptive "how-to" book of rules for successful storytelling. She reveals beauty in the spirit of the story rather than in the details. As a former participant at one of Ms. Simmons' seminars, I would like to emphasize an important point about the book's title. The book is about stories and how everyone has one to share. The book is not simply about telling the story but also about listening to and grasping the deeper meaning of others' stories. For those in the marketing and sales arena, is your success based soley on spinning clever pitches about your products and services? Isn't it also about understanding your prospective clients' stories (e.g., past experiences, special needs, desired growth)? The Story Factor helps to unveil these important stories which are too often not told or not recognized. The Story Factor can help you begin to remove the shell that masks your story and your ability to hear others' stories.
Rating:
Summary: Spirit of the Story
Review: Ms. Simmons makes a clear stement in the Introduction that hers is not a prescriptive "how-to" book of rules for successful storytelling. She reveals beauty in the spirit of the story rather than in the details. As a former participant at one of Ms. Simmons' seminars, I would like to emphasize an important point about the book's title. The book is about stories and how everyone has one to share. The book is not simply about telling the story but also about listening to and grasping the deeper meaning of others' stories. For those in the marketing and sales arena, is your success based soley on spinning clever pitches about your products and services? Isn't it also about understanding your prospective clients' stories (e.g., past experiences, special needs, desired growth)? The Story Factor helps to unveil these important stories which are too often not told or not recognized. The Story Factor can help you begin to remove the shell that masks your story and your ability to hear others' stories.
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