Thanks to Victor Lombardi for his post How to Tell a Story and a great summary of elements of a good story. The post illustrates the viral nature of great stories. It starts with a story about how Victor got interested in stories:

"I remember the first time someone impressed upon me the usefulness of storytelling. Back in 2000 a researcher came to Razorfish to study how we worked in order to improve our knowledge sharing. He told me how Secret Service agents studied storytelling so that, if they suddenly found themselves in the back of a car with the President for 5-minutes, they could quickly summarize all the pertinent facts about a situation in a format that was more likely to be absorbed."

Now, think about your last presentation. I bet there was something you really wanted everyone to hear. Did you summarize it in 5 bullet points. Or did you weave it into a short story that would make it compelling and help everyone remember what you said...and why it's important?