As a member of Salesforce’s Sales Enablement team, I'm privileged to run and speak at a lot of events with some of Salesforce's best and brightest storytellers. I get to learn what they do really well and can pinpoint the exact moment when they connect with their audience. It's amazing—and make no mistake-it's intentional. A whole lot of work goes into forming that connection. We have a lot of great storytellers at Salesforce that exemplify our Aloha spirit. Here are some things they have in common:

1. They all open with insights or a story: None of them jump into their sessions by talking about the agenda they will be covering. Right off the bat, they set the tone, clear the palate, and connect with the audience. Storytelling is part of their success!

2. They're not afraid to be vulnerable: In fact, they use their moments of embarrassment or moments of awkwardness to make sure that the audience knows that they're not alone, showing their humanity, and building connection.

3. They know the audience: Our highest-rated speakers, including very senior, very busy executives come to speaking engagements knowing each attendee's name, line of business, and manager — seriously impressive and personal. It makes a huge impression! No matter how busy they are, they take the time to prepare for their audience and get to know them before they set foot in the room.

4. They customize their delivery around the audience's What's In It For Me (WIIFM): Some make sure to hit all of the points in the pre-event surveys, some will ask the room in the beginning what they want to get out of their session and re-work their agenda around to hit the points mentioned, bottom line-they read the room.

5. They connect the audience with one another: Sometimes it's a matter of reminding the audience of their shared reason for being there, their shared connection. Just like rock stars who open their concerts up with a “Hello’ Philadelphia (for example), they find common ground with the audience and bring them together.

6. They bring everyone along for the ride: They make the members of the room part of their story. It makes individuals feels as if they are part of something bigger, tap into individual motivation, and drive more engagement.

7. They all coach as much as they train: None of them really dictate answers, instead they use the entire room to help team members find their own solutions.

8. They all choose demonstration over PowerPoint: Makes sense, right? When training on how to run a forecasting call, use the forecasting report/tab in mobile to drive the training like you drive your calls. Whenever we have the opportunity, we should always use the app (especially on mobile) over screenshots.

9. They all worked points of the agenda into their talk track: Showing continuity of sessions shows that there is a rhyme and reason to the enablement training that we are bringing to the field. It connects concepts and presenters, even though the presenters may not even sync with one another. It tells a story or as one of our bootcampers said, "it feels like a story, and each presenter took a chapter."

As the old saying goes, “people buy from people” so it's important for the audience to invest in the narrator and characters in our stories—and relate to them. Salesforce culture puts us in a position to achieve this because connection is native to the Salesforce culture, and is the foundation of our Ohana.