How to Tell a Great Vacation Story

"A story needs a beginning, middle and an end, but that doesn't necessarily have to be from the time you left your house to the moment you return home," he says.

What was the most interesting part of your trip? Tell people about that, and skip the less-interesting build up and the increasingly boring conclusion.

Establish What's at Stake

A story shouldn't be a mere collection of things that happened to you. To get your listeners involved, something has to be on the line for you.

Something has to be at stake.

"Stakes are a way of creating urgency, a way of getting us excited and wanting to know what happens next," says Thau.

Big and dramatic stakes are good, i.e., the airplane was on fire! But you can also tell a fine story around stakes that are more subtle: I had been working 24/7 around the clock, and I really needed to get some peace and quiet. And then I arrived at my beach resort to find it was overrun with screaming kids!

"The more opportunity you give listeners to enter into the story, by giving them information about who you are and why this matters and what is at stake, the more you'll be able to have them live through the story with you."

To establish your stakes, ask yourself: Why do I want to tell this story? And why should anyone else care?

Play With the Expectation/Reality Gap

"Stories are driven forward by either a tension between what you have and what you want -- or what you expect and what actually happens," says Thau. So, when you're thinking about what story to tell from your vacation, pay special attention to the moments that surprised you.

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