Over the course of an hour on Wednesday, Don Goldmann held his audience spellbound, recounting tales about the mythical Trojan horse, a smooth talker who sold "premium" wine at $2 per bottle for Trader Joe's, and the calling out of random numbers in a penitentiary that invoked raucous laughter among its prisoners.

The common thread of this wide-ranging narrative: the value of storytelling. Goldmannn, a vice president at Word & Brown University and president of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU), was the closing keynote speaker at BenefitsPRO Broker Expo, held in Fort Lauderdale April 18-20.

A veteran raconteur himself, Goldmann used the occasion to convey the essential role that anecdotes and yarns—whether drawn from one's own life experiences or borrowed from another's—can play in a benefits broker's practice.