---
title: "Why Stories: 10 Characteristics of Effective Stories"
description: Good communication is about great stories. Here are 10 Characteristics of Effective Stories
---

I hosted, along with Tim Snyder of [9 Lenses](http://9lenses.com/), the first of two storytelling webinars for the Leadership Institute.

[You can watch it here](http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/ActivismOnDemand/watch.cfm?ID=1534).

We came up with a top ten list for why stories are effective.

1. Stories connect to experience or values.
2. Stories have a subtle takeaway.
3. Stories force the storyteller to be concrete.
4. Stories bring the teller’s emotions to life for the audience.
5. Stories force you to focus your words on a very few points.
6. Stories provide structure to your data.
7. Stories entertain.
8. Stories are convincing.
9. Stories are sticky.
10. Stories seem real.

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Nathanael Yellis",
    "url" : "https://www.yell.is/blog/author/nathanael-yellis"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2019-03-30T00:38:08.217Z",
  "datePublished" : "2014-07-11T13:05:00.000Z",
  "headline" : "Why Stories: 10 Characteristics of Effective Stories",
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.yell.is/blog/2014/07/11/why-stories-10-characteristics-of-effective-stories",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://www.yell.is/hubfs/android-chrome-512x512.png"
    },
    "name" : "Nathanael Yellis"
  }
}
```