[wallflower]

Maybe putting the gist of what you want to communicate into a story context is a hack for making what you want to communicate more memorable. Because most stories, as Ira Glass says, are action, action, action, then how you felt about something you did. However, personal stories are much more effective because you are sharing part of you - anyone can tell stories of people like Ray Kroc or Sir Richard Branson but I believe when you tell a 3rd party story - you're not putting yourself out there. And you can argue that the value of Y-Combinator is the private founder's dinners.

I'm not the best at remembering names but I remember many people's personal stories. I love personal stories. And some of the best are told by the storytellers of The Moth.

"The stories range in length from approximately 5 to 17 minutes. Sometimes funny, occasionally sad, often poignant, we hope you will find the stories memorable and representative of many aspects of human experience."

http://www.themoth.org/podcast