Today, at the NC Center for Nonprofits Conference in Concord, I spoke on "telling your story so people will listen and respond."

Many thanks to the conference for inviting me to speak, and an extra big thank you to all the amazing nonprofit leaders who came to "Listen Up!" to tell their stories.

As promised, I have uploaded the presentation to Slideshare. You can view it here. If you want the lazy person's guide to the story, here you go:

Your donors are busy. They're tired. At the end of a long day, the last thing they want is to sit down and listen to you jabber on and on about yourself.

Think about it. Have you ever been to a party where some guy tries too hard to be interesting, and so he goes on and on and on (and on) about himself? In all likelihood you aren't stuck there, drink in hand, thinking, gee, I really want to learn more about this wonderful, self-centered bloak.

Your donors are busy. They’re tired. At the end of a long day, the last thing they want is to sit down and listen to you jabber on and on about yourself.

Think about it. Have you ever been to a party where some guy tries too hard to be interesting, and so he goes on and on and on (and on) about himself? In all likelihood you aren’t stuck there, drink in hand, thinking, gee, I really want to learn more about this wonderful, self-centered bloak.

If we had a single soap box over here on the No Bull Fundraising blog, it would likely be storytelling. I can’t say it enough: stories are the heart of your fundraising. And by heart, I mean they are the core, yes, but they are also what bring feeling and emotion to your cause. Without good stories, your donors see only the dry facts. And, let’s face it folks, the dry facts are usually pretty grim. But a good story on the other hand is full of hope, triumph, and humanity.

I’m not alone on my soap box. Other experts are saying the same thing. And when we all sing in harmony, you probably want to listen.