I’m on the board of directors of a film festival that features a lot of small-budget independent movies.  These films don’t pull people in by featuring 3-D or special effects.  They do it through great storytelling.

Like good filmmakers, some executives know how to use storytelling to connect with attendees.  Their technique starts with what expert Stephen Denning calls, “modeling your behavior on the concept of conversation—a conversation between equals.”  There’s honesty to it.  Here’s an example of how this worked beautifully for one high-tech executive.

At the company’s global conference, two years into the economic downturn, partner-attendees had expected to be shown real growth.  Instead they were being told that their expectations hadn’t been met, and were being asked to maintain loyalty despite disappointing news.

The executive was honest and forthcoming about the numbers.  Then he began to talk about the downturn as a storm—one that’s almost impossible to see coming.  He told a story about an unexpected blow down that had hit his home a month earlier, and showed photos of his whole family pitching in to gather piles of fallen wet branches.  He then asked everyone in the room “to all work together after this storm.”

I watched the audience lean in as the exec spoke.  They were resonating with his story and remembering similar experiences of their own.  The mood in the room shifted as the attendees began focusing on the company’s future recovery plan.  You could feel them agreeing that the plan was solid—it was the only thing one could do after an unexpected storm.

I learned something that day.  Presentation power doesn’t always require on-screen pyrotechnics.  Sometimes a good story, told with sincerity, can be just as powerful.