One overarching theme to remember as well... What you say is much less important than what is heard. A great, well constructed story delivered poorly is...a p

One overarching theme to remember as well... What you say is much less important than what is heard. A great, well constructed story delivered poorly is...a poor story. So, use some of the other tips provided by others to get the mechanics of the story down, but take just as much time recording yourself telling a story, and then reviewing the audio. (Recording into a cell phone is more than adequate) This is one thing that has helped me more than anything else...