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How to Tell Stories That Makes People Whisper ‘Damn, that’s good.’ — Transcript

by Philipp Humm · 4,460 words · 699 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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  1. 0:00Storytelling is probably one of the most
  2. 0:02important tools out there to hook your
  3. 0:04listeners and to keep them engaged. But
  4. 0:06a lot of the advice that is out there
  5. 0:08makes it sound so complicated. What I
  6. 0:10want to tell you is storytelling is
  7. 0:11actually pretty simple if you know what
  8. 0:13matters. Let's watch a short clip by
  9. 0:16Leonardo DiCaprio. You all know who that
  10. 0:18is. And then you tell me what makes the
  11. 0:20story so special.
  12. 0:21>> I was on a plane to Russia and the
  13. 0:24engine exploded. I was looking out the
  14. 0:26window and the entire engine just turned
  15. 0:28into a fireball. I was the only person
  16. 0:30there that seemed to see this, but it
  17. 0:32was a flaming fireball. I kind of felt
  18. 0:34like I'd already died and gone to heaven
  19. 0:36cuz no one said anything.
  20. 0:39And I was screaming at the top of my
  21. 0:40lungs, "What the hell is going on here?"
  22. 0:43And the stewardess came out and said,
  23. 0:44"We seem to have a a slight problem
  24. 0:46here." And the Russian guy finally said,
  25. 0:49"What is the problem?"
  26. 0:50I said, "Well, we we lost one of our
  27. 0:53engines."
  28. 0:54>> [laughter]
  29. 0:55>> He goes, "How many engines did we have?"
  30. 0:58I said, "Well, we had two.
  31. 1:00>> [laughter]
  32. 1:00>> Now we have one."
  33. 1:02>> All right. Leonardo DiCaprio tells such
  34. 1:05an incredible story because he zooms
  35. 1:08into the moment. Let me show you what
  36. 1:10that means. Most of us, we tell stories
  37. 1:12like this. We're like, "Well, I had a
  38. 1:14problem. It was very difficult, but then
  39. 1:16I overcame it and yeah, now it's done."
  40. 1:18This is how 99% of the people tell
  41. 1:20stories in the most high-level way
  42. 1:23possible, summarizing, not going into
  43. 1:25the details. Leonardo DiCaprio didn't
  44. 1:27just say, "Oh yes, I had a plane
  45. 1:28accident or the engines stopped
  46. 1:30working." No, no. He zoomed into the
  47. 1:31moment. So, the best storytellers, they
  48. 1:34go into one specific moment. They look
  49. 1:35them in the face. They show us the
  50. 1:37emotions behind it. They zoom into one
  51. 1:39specific moment. That is the absolute
  52. 1:42most important thing when it comes to
  53. 1:43storytelling. Nothing is more important
  54. 1:45than that. Now, in case you're
  55. 1:46wondering, "How can I do this?" It's
  56. 1:48actually surprisingly simple and I want
  57. 1:50to show you how. I'd love to have one
  58. 1:51volunteer for this. Yes, please come.
  59. 1:53Carolina, I'd love you to think about a
  60. 1:56moment where you messed up. Could be
  61. 1:58small, could be big, could be at work,
  62. 1:59could be outside of work. Okay, do you
  63. 2:01want to give us the one sentence
  64. 2:02summary?
  65. 2:03>> The moment when I fight with my boss.
  66. 2:06>> Mhm.
  67. 2:06>> And I was
  68. 2:07>> [music]
  69. 2:07>> fired.
  70. 2:09>> Oh, okay. Wow, that's a big moment
  71. 2:10there. The moment that she fought with
  72. 2:11her boss and was fired. Okay, now what
  73. 2:13I'd like you to do is to relive that
  74. 2:15moment. So for that, if you want to
  75. 2:16close your eyes
  76. 2:18real quick, take a deep breath in.
  77. 2:21And now
  78. 2:22when you go back to this moment,
  79. 2:24>> [music]
  80. 2:24>> tell us where are you?
  81. 2:26>> I was in his office and he asked me
  82. 2:29something that was not supposed for me
  83. 2:32to do. [music] So I was really really
  84. 2:34angry and I thought he doesn't have the
  85. 2:37right of [music] doing it. So I start
  86. 2:39fighting for my position and he tells me
  87. 2:42that I am too young to be such with big
  88. 2:46opinions. Technically, [music]
  89. 2:49I couldn't be fired, but I was. I don't
  90. 2:52know how.
  91. 2:53>> Okay.
  92. 2:54>> He was so angry with me that he made
  93. 2:56[music]
  94. 2:57a movement that allowed him to do it. So
  95. 3:01when I realized that, I was like,
  96. 3:04"Fuck."
  97. 3:05>> That's great. Okay, you can open your
  98. 3:06eyes again. Woo.
  99. 3:08Okay.
  100. 3:08>> [applause]
  101. 3:09>> Now did you see what she did? Carolina
  102. 3:11was just reliving the moment. I didn't
  103. 3:13even have to guide anything. I Usually I
  104. 3:15have to give some more guidance, but
  105. 3:16Carolina was already into the zone. And
  106. 3:19so if you think about how can I tell
  107. 3:21interesting story, it's about closing
  108. 3:23your eyes and going back to the moment.
  109. 3:25Where are you? What are you seeing? What
  110. 3:27are you doing? What are you hearing? You
  111. 3:29shared the dialogue. You shared what was
  112. 3:31going on in your mind. That is
  113. 3:33storytelling. It's just about reliving
  114. 3:35the moment. [music] Thank you so much.
  115. 3:37Let's do the same exercise that we did
  116. 3:38right now with Carolina, but I'll give
  117. 3:39you some more prompts. But for that,
  118. 3:41just close your eyes now for a second.
  119. 3:43Also, take a deep breath in. And now
  120. 3:45think about a moment where you messed
  121. 3:47up, where you had some sort of problem.
  122. 3:53That can be small, big,
  123. 3:55any type of moment. It doesn't matter
  124. 3:56for this.
  125. 3:59Now, I want you to see where are you?
  126. 4:05What are you seeing?
  127. 4:11What is happening?
  128. 4:12>> [music]
  129. 4:15>> See it unfold in front of your eyes.
  130. 4:20Is there maybe another person?
  131. 4:24What does that person say to you?
  132. 4:29What are you thinking?
  133. 4:34Okay, that's it. You can open your eyes
  134. 4:37again.
  135. 4:39Now, keep that memory right now on top,
  136. 4:42and I want [music] you to turn to your
  137. 4:43neighbor. And for 30 to 60 seconds, I
  138. 4:46just want you to share that same memory
  139. 4:48that right now popped into your mind. I
  140. 4:50want you to share that with a neighbor.
  141. 4:52And exactly how it was like, where are
  142. 4:53you? You describe it, right? What's
  143. 4:55going on through your mind? All those
  144. 4:57details that you just heard, well, share
  145. 4:59that with a neighbor. So, share this one
  146. 5:00challenge or this one time where you
  147. 5:01messed up.
  148. 5:07Anything else that you found interesting
  149. 5:08or challenging?
  150. 5:09>> You can learn anything. Like, you can
  151. 5:11learn something from anything.
  152. 5:12>> Mhm.
  153. 5:13>> Like, even if it's small, tiny.
  154. 5:15>> Mhm.
  155. 5:16>> There is there is something there.
  156. 5:17>> True. And that's actually good because a
  157. 5:19lot of people overthink storytelling,
  158. 5:21that you always have to have the perfect
  159. 5:22story with the perfect arc. Hey, just
  160. 5:24take any challenge and tell me what you
  161. 5:26learned from that, and that is a great
  162. 5:28story. That's it. Like, don't think that
  163. 5:30I have to have the 17 steps of the
  164. 5:32hero's journey in order to change
  165. 5:33someone's life. No, it's a You have a
  166. 5:35problem, and what you learn from that.
  167. 5:37Zooming into the moment, the single most
  168. 5:38important thing. Reliving it, what you
  169. 5:40just did there, helps you get there.
  170. 5:42But, I know a few of you, same as I, you
  171. 5:44want some sort of technique behind it,
  172. 5:45right? I'm German, and I love technique.
  173. 5:47So, how can you zoom into the moment?
  174. 5:49It's by a framework I call PAST or past.
  175. 5:54The first technique is called place.
  176. 5:56What you want to do as soon as possible
  177. 5:59when you get into your story, state the
  178. 6:01location or state the place. Now, why
  179. 6:03does it matter so much? Because the
  180. 6:04moment you share the location, a movie
  181. 6:06starts playing in your head. Because
  182. 6:07when I say kitchen, you start, "Oh, I
  183. 6:09can see a kitchen." You're into the
  184. 6:11story already and it's so easy a movie
  185. 6:13starts playing there. For example, I can
  186. 6:15say, "Hey, 2 weeks ago, I'm in my
  187. 6:17apartment in Lisbon sitting on the
  188. 6:18couch." You start imagining then a
  189. 6:20certain couch. Or for example, "Hey, I'm
  190. 6:22standing in front of the conference room
  191. 6:24taking a deep breath." And then again,
  192. 6:26you're like, "Hmm, I think I've seen a
  193. 6:27conference room before." And you start
  194. 6:28picturing it. Now, does it matter
  195. 6:30whether Do I need to describe it in
  196. 6:31detail? I don't, right? Because a lot of
  197. 6:34storytellers, especially at the start,
  198. 6:35somehow the common advice is like,
  199. 6:37"Appeal to all the five senses." And
  200. 6:38then people are like,
  201. 6:40"Oh,
  202. 6:41it was [music] a sunny afternoon in
  203. 6:44Lisbon, birds were chirping,
  204. 6:46>> [snorts]
  205. 6:46>> smell the lavender in the air." And they
  206. 6:47go into all those details which are
  207. 6:49completely useless for stories. So, just
  208. 6:51hey, state the place as soon as possible
  209. 6:53and get into it. That brings me to the
  210. 6:55second one, which is action.
  211. 6:58Leonardo DiCaprio's story started
  212. 7:00straight into the action, right? Boom,
  213. 7:01hey, you're in the plane, something is
  214. 7:03happening. And that's also what I want
  215. 7:05to advise you. If we look at this, let's
  216. 7:08say here's the line. Here, this is the
  217. 7:10big moment, right? This is right now the
  218. 7:12moment that you right now just shared.
  219. 7:14That's the most emotional moment, that's
  220. 7:16the challenge that you're facing. Then
  221. 7:18we have all those small moments before.
  222. 7:20So, maybe let's say this is the moment
  223. 7:22that you share, you said about having
  224. 7:23this conversation with your boss, right?
  225. 7:25So, that could be this big moment. And
  226. 7:27then maybe Carolina started her career
  227. 7:29here, then maybe here she got a nice
  228. 7:31promotion, then maybe here there's
  229. 7:33something else happens. And now most
  230. 7:34people start all the way here, right?
  231. 7:38Where do you think you should start? In
  232. 7:39the action. Where is the action?
  233. 7:41>> Second before the action.
  234. 7:43>> Yes, start as close to the challenge as
  235. 7:46possible. Like all that stuff, cut it
  236. 7:49ruthlessly cuz I know so many people are
  237. 7:51like, "Oh, here here's the company
  238. 7:52history and all the things that I did
  239. 7:53before." No, no, no. You want to get as
  240. 7:56close to the challenge as possible. You
  241. 7:58want to get to the juicy stuff as
  242. 8:00quickly as possible. Like trust your
  243. 8:01fellow human beings that they will
  244. 8:03figure out the context. Most times they
  245. 8:05will. So, what are some examples of
  246. 8:07actions? It could be, "Hey, I'm in my
  247. 8:09apartment. I open my laptop, 200
  248. 8:12notifications pop up. Fuck." Right? That
  249. 8:15could be into the action. Or, "Hey, I'm
  250. 8:16at the airport putting my bag in the
  251. 8:19security belt when someone calls my
  252. 8:20name." Boom, immediately into the
  253. 8:22action. And so, you want to start with
  254. 8:24those verbs, with those forward
  255. 8:26momentum. That's how you get into the
  256. 8:27action. Let's try this out right now. I
  257. 8:29want you to turn again to a neighbor,
  258. 8:31but this time a different neighbor. I
  259. 8:33know everyone comes here with their best
  260. 8:34friend, with their partner.
  261. 8:36This time,
  262. 8:38I want you to have the privilege to tell
  263. 8:40a story to a stranger and not just the
  264. 8:42safe stories to your partner. So, find a
  265. 8:44different person, share just the first
  266. 8:46two steps of your story. And just to be
  267. 8:48clear, that is maybe like 30 seconds of
  268. 8:50the story. Like we don't go into the
  269. 8:52full story, but just the place and the
  270. 8:54action.
  271. 8:55>> [music]
  272. 8:59>> Cool. Okay, let's hear from one or two
  273. 9:00volunteers. Who'd like to share the
  274. 9:02place and the action? Yes, please, come
  275. 9:04here. What's your name?
  276. 9:05>> Daga.
  277. 9:06>> Daga. All right, Daga, nice to meet you.
  278. 9:08Daga, would you like to share the Just
  279. 9:10the start of your story, not the full
  280. 9:11story.
  281. 9:11>> I was in my living room writing stuff on
  282. 9:14my iPad. I was really into it. Then I
  283. 9:16suddenly realized, "Oh, what time is
  284. 9:18it?" I checked my phone and it was 4
  285. 9:20minutes to 7:00 and I realized, "Shit,
  286. 9:23cuz I have this event that starts at
  287. 9:247:00."
  288. 9:25>> [laughter]
  289. 9:26>> OH, WHICH EVENT?
  290. 9:31NICE, GOOD JOB.
  291. 9:32>> THAT'S THE FIRST two steps of my story.
  292. 9:34>> Perfect. Yeah. Did you see like we
  293. 9:36wanted to know, "What was that event?"
  294. 9:38>> [laughter]
  295. 9:38>> Obviously,
  296. 9:39we know which event it is. This is how
  297. 9:41you start because we immediately like we
  298. 9:43want to know the rest. Let's then talk
  299. 9:45about the next one. That one is actually
  300. 9:48my favorite. Now, often time our stories
  301. 9:51will have more than one character,
  302. 9:53right? And when you share about that
  303. 9:55other character, what do most people
  304. 9:57say? They are like, "Well, I had a
  305. 9:59conversation with my boss and he was
  306. 10:01very frustrated with me." This is how
  307. 10:03most people share in the
  308. 10:06They just again summarize it. But the
  309. 10:08best storytellers, they quote that
  310. 10:10person. So, they say, "Hey, right in
  311. 10:11this moment my manager looked at me and
  312. 10:13he said, 'Philip, that presentation
  313. 10:18we can't do this. This is terrible.'
  314. 10:20Right? I share the exact words of that
  315. 10:22moment. The technique is called speech
  316. 10:24or dialogue. And so, [music] anytime
  317. 10:26that your story has more than one
  318. 10:28character, share the exact words of that
  319. 10:31moment. What was that person saying in
  320. 10:33that moment? What were the exact words?
  321. 10:35Quote that person. Dialogue or speech is
  322. 10:38the most powerful way or easiest way to
  323. 10:41bring your story to life because it
  324. 10:43immediately takes us into the vivid
  325. 10:44moment. Let's look at some examples and
  326. 10:46then you tell me how we can improve
  327. 10:49that. First, you see without speech and
  328. 10:51on the right you see with speech. "Judy
  329. 10:53from marketing was very satisfied
  330. 10:55working with us." Now, that is pretty
  331. 10:57boring, right? How could you reframe
  332. 10:58this? I want to have your help. So, I
  333. 11:01want you to say, "Judy said do do do."
  334. 11:04This is what I want to hear from you.
  335. 11:05And I have this beautiful How do you
  336. 11:06call this? Unicorn? All right, this
  337. 11:09beautiful unicorn and I'll be throwing
  338. 11:11this unicorn somewhere in the room and
  339. 11:12whoever catches it will tell me how to
  340. 11:15turn this into dialogue. Cool? All
  341. 11:16right. What's your name?
  342. 11:18>> Shamik.
  343. 11:18>> Shamik. Okay. How would you reframe
  344. 11:20that? So, "Judy said boo boo boo."
  345. 11:23>> Judy said
  346. 11:24that we've done an exceptional job with
  347. 11:27the project.
  348. 11:27>> Perfect. I love this. The only one cut
  349. 11:29the that. So, "Judy said boom."
  350. 11:33>> Judy said exceptional job guys.
  351. 11:35>> Mhm. They're saying stuff, right?
  352. 11:37Perfect. All right. Good stuff. All
  353. 11:39right. Judy called me and said, "Thank
  354. 11:41you." Right? "Without your help, we
  355. 11:42would have never gotten there." Then, my
  356. 11:44manager wasn't happy with my
  357. 11:45presentation.
  358. 11:47What's your name? Monica. Monica, how
  359. 11:48would you reframe that? So, my manager
  360. 11:51said, "Boom."
  361. 11:58Okay, perfect. Yeah. "I'm not happy with
  362. 12:00your presentation and you got to redo
  363. 12:02this."
  364. 12:03Wonderful. Thank you so much. Okay. My
  365. 12:05manager said, "What the hell is that?
  366. 12:06You were all over the place."
  367. 12:08>> [laughter]
  368. 12:08>> You see it What What do you see there,
  369. 12:10right? The juicier it is, obviously, the
  370. 12:11more interesting it will become.
  371. 12:12[clears throat] The customer didn't want
  372. 12:13to work with us. Let's see. All the way
  373. 12:16there. Yes.
  374. 12:24Okay, perfect. All right. That is easy
  375. 12:27for you guys. I thought the examples
  376. 12:29that you gave, they were perfect, right?
  377. 12:31They were great. They felt very
  378. 12:32truthful. If you want to make the story
  379. 12:34a tiny bit more juicy, well, then pick
  380. 12:37dialogue that is slightly more exciting
  381. 12:39there. And so, yes, we want to be as
  382. 12:41truthful as possible as storytellers,
  383. 12:43but sometimes we also don't remember,
  384. 12:44right? I don't remember what someone
  385. 12:46said a year ago. So, there you can use
  386. 12:48the words that could have been used in
  387. 12:49that moment. And there you can also make
  388. 12:51it maybe slightly more concise and
  389. 12:53slightly more juicy. So, this one is a
  390. 12:55technique that I use all the time. So,
  391. 12:56anytime that you have another person in
  392. 12:58there, use the speech or use the
  393. 13:00dialogue of that moment. It works
  394. 13:01really, really well. Let's now talk
  395. 13:03about the last technique, and that
  396. 13:04technique is called thoughts. Let me
  397. 13:06share that. Bad storytellers, they just
  398. 13:09describe the situation where they're
  399. 13:11like, "Hey, I had a conversation with my
  400. 13:12boss and it was tough." Right? That's
  401. 13:14what they do. Amateur storytellers, they
  402. 13:16go already one step below that, and they
  403. 13:18say, "Hey, I was very nervous in that
  404. 13:20moment." Which is good, right? They're
  405. 13:21sharing an emotion, but they don't fully
  406. 13:24take us there yet. The best
  407. 13:25storytellers, they share what they were
  408. 13:28thinking at that moment. So, they don't
  409. 13:30just say, "Ah, I was nervous in that
  410. 13:31moment." But, they say, "I thought, oh
  411. 13:33man, this is going to be the worst
  412. 13:35presentation of my life. People will
  413. 13:37walk out of this and will laugh at me."
  414. 13:40So, they share whatever is going on in
  415. 13:41their mind. Let's try this out. I love
  416. 13:43to have one brave soul to help me on
  417. 13:45this one. Who'd like to volunteer? Yes,
  418. 13:47please. Lara, come here. Let me whisper
  419. 13:49the instructions in your ear.
  420. 13:51Okay, Lara will share now a moment and
  421. 13:54yeah, you see the rest.
  422. 13:55>> I was [music] at my kitchen counter at
  423. 13:57my apartment in Lisbon. It's the
  424. 13:59morning. I'm pretty hungry, so it's time
  425. 14:01to make some breakfast.
  426. 14:02>> Ooh, I'm so hungry. Oh, I haven't eaten
  427. 14:04the entire day.
  428. 14:07>> So, I open the pantry and I get some
  429. 14:10peanut butter. I get some sourdough from
  430. 14:12my freezer.
  431. 14:14>> But, I guess peanut butter. I don't want
  432. 14:16to gain weight again. [music]
  433. 14:17>> And I decide, yeah, peanut butter, that
  434. 14:19sounds amazing. I'm super hungry [music]
  435. 14:21right now. So, I get out my sourdough. I
  436. 14:24toast it, put the peanut butter on top.
  437. 14:26I take a huge bite and
  438. 14:29>> [music]
  439. 14:29>> it's delicious.
  440. 14:30>> Ooh.
  441. 14:31Ah, I just want to eat peanut butter for
  442. 14:33the rest of my life. This is so FREAKING
  443. 14:35GOOD.
  444. 14:37>> [laughter]
  445. 14:40>> GOOD JOB. DID YOU SEE THAT? I DID some
  446. 14:43narration, the inner dialogue. And
  447. 14:44that's what you want to have more and
  448. 14:46more in your story. It's to share what
  449. 14:48was going on in your mind. If I
  450. 14:50sometimes look at my stories, I think my
  451. 14:52stories are usually 90% just sharing the
  452. 14:54thoughts [music]
  453. 14:55and then some other stuff. But, usually
  454. 14:57the thoughts is what is the stuff that
  455. 14:58it makes you connect to other people.
  456. 15:00So, if you want to make it more
  457. 15:01emotional, that's the way to go there.
  458. 15:03Let's look at some examples again and
  459. 15:04I'll bring out this English unicorn
  460. 15:06again and you tell me how to reframe
  461. 15:08that. Without thoughts, with thoughts. I
  462. 15:11was looking forward to give that speech.
  463. 15:13Now again, that is pretty boring, right?
  464. 15:15How could you reframe that? I thought,
  465. 15:17do do do.
  466. 15:18>> Because
  467. 15:19I really, really, really
  468. 15:20want to
  469. 15:21do it well for that speech tonight.
  470. 15:24>> Uh-huh, yeah. I thought, "Oh yeah, I
  471. 15:25really want to do it well tonight."
  472. 15:27Perfect.
  473. 15:28Awesome. I thought, "Oh man, I'll crush
  474. 15:31this, right? This will be the best
  475. 15:32presentation on this planet." Cool.
  476. 15:35Let's I was worried that the client
  477. 15:36would push back on the price. Let's see,
  478. 15:38Peter.
  479. 15:39>> I was terrified that the client would
  480. 15:41push back on the price.
  481. 15:43>> So, right now, you were replaced worried
  482. 15:45with terrified, which is still you
  483. 15:47described the emotions, but you didn't
  484. 15:49tell us what was going on in your mind.
  485. 15:51>> I thought that that
  486. 15:53the client
  487. 15:54would push back on the
  488. 15:56price, and I would be fearful and
  489. 15:58terrified, like that.
  490. 15:59I just had this moment of terror.
  491. 16:02I I I just put
  492. 16:04>> Peter, so right now you you share me
  493. 16:06still the like the filtered version of
  494. 16:08your thought, which is okay, but our
  495. 16:10thoughts are not like, "I thought, well,
  496. 16:12I'm very fearful and terrified that the
  497. 16:14client would push back on price." Your
  498. 16:16thoughts are much more raw, like, "Ugh,
  499. 16:17neurotic, something happens." So, share
  500. 16:19with us what is raw going on in your
  501. 16:21mind.
  502. 16:22Yes, Carolina.
  503. 16:23>> So, in my head, I thought,
  504. 16:25"Oh my god, what if that happens and
  505. 16:28they have to raise
  506. 16:30I'm not prepared to do this."
  507. 16:32>> Perfect. Yeah. I love this. Now, just
  508. 16:35try to deliver it not in like a robot,
  509. 16:37but rather with emotion. I thought,
  510. 16:39>> I thought, "Oh my god,
  511. 16:42>> Perfect.
  512. 16:43>> that stupid client
  513. 16:44>> [laughter]
  514. 16:44>> would try to
  515. 16:45push back the price, and I would be so
  516. 16:48pissed."
  517. 16:49>> [laughter]
  518. 16:50>> Perfect. Yes. Speech is outer dialogue,
  519. 16:53what you speak to the outside world, or
  520. 16:55what you hear. And thoughts is inner
  521. 16:57dialogue, it's what's going on in your
  522. 16:58mind. I know some of us, at least to the
  523. 17:01outside, we often try to sound as
  524. 17:04sophisticated, as smart as possible.
  525. 17:06But, when you share those thoughts, the
  526. 17:08more raw they are, the more interesting
  527. 17:10it will be. And so, yeah, I thought,
  528. 17:12"Hey, the moment that she sees the
  529. 17:13price, she'll walk out out this door
  530. 17:15laughing." With that, let's give you a
  531. 17:18chance to try this out. You told your
  532. 17:21story already two times. Now this time
  533. 17:23we you tell it one final time, but you
  534. 17:26include all of those ones. All of those
  535. 17:28ones. But I want you to put extra
  536. 17:30emphasis on these two here. And it could
  537. 17:33be that it doesn't have necessarily two
  538. 17:35of them, but I want one of them to be
  539. 17:37very very dominant there. And I'm pretty
  540. 17:39sure that thoughts should be in each one
  541. 17:41of your stories. If there's a great
  542. 17:43another character, then share the
  543. 17:44speech, but focus especially on those
  544. 17:46two.
  545. 17:52I'd love to hear one or two examples.
  546. 17:55Who'd like to share their short 1-minute
  547. 17:56story? Let's hear from one more person.
  548. 17:58Yes, come here.
  549. 18:00>> I wake up and I'm on a train, but it's
  550. 18:02the middle of the night, the train is
  551. 18:04empty and not moving. And I think to
  552. 18:06myself, "Oh, [ __ ]
  553. 18:09>> [laughter]
  554. 18:09>> Where am I?" And then I begin to piece
  555. 18:11things back together. The last thing I
  556. 18:13really remember was drinking three beers
  557. 18:15very quickly in the London Paddington
  558. 18:18train station after having ended things
  559. 18:20with my girlfriend, cuz that's a really
  560. 18:22good way of processing emotions in
  561. 18:24England.
  562. 18:25>> [laughter]
  563. 18:26>> So I drank the beers, I got on the
  564. 18:27train, I'm heading home, but of course I
  565. 18:30fall asleep. So now I'm in the middle of
  566. 18:33nowhere in a new country, in fact Wales.
  567. 18:36>> [laughter]
  568. 18:37>> But that's not the worst thing. So I
  569. 18:39remember that I sat down on a
  570. 18:41table-style seat, and I was on the
  571. 18:43aisle, and there was a really
  572. 18:45cute-looking old couple who were sitting
  573. 18:47on this side of me. How did they get
  574. 18:49out? Well,
  575. 18:51this old couple
  576. 18:53must have had to either climb
  577. 18:55over this hairy British man, he drank
  578. 18:58too many beers, or under the table to
  579. 19:00get out.
  580. 19:01>> [laughter]
  581. 19:02>> And you know how when you go through a
  582. 19:03breakup, you kind of want to feel like a
  583. 19:05little bit good about yourself?
  584. 19:06You don't want to feel like an [ __ ]
  585. 19:08Well, yeah, that was about 2 hours after
  586. 19:10my breakup, and I was definitely in the
  587. 19:12ass.
  588. 19:12>> HEY, ALL RIGHT.
  589. 19:14BRAVO.
  590. 19:16GOOD [applause] STUFF.
  591. 19:18>> BEAUTIFUL. That was so good to listen
  592. 19:19to, right? Hey, boom, we are straight in
  593. 19:21that train with him. Let's watch one
  594. 19:24more short video, 1-minute video. This
  595. 19:26one of former President Barack Obama.
  596. 19:28Let's watch this and then see whether
  597. 19:31you spot all the different elements of
  598. 19:33that used to be here before.
  599. 19:34>> I open up the curtains. It's pouring
  600. 19:36down rain outside. Pouring down rain.
  601. 19:38Horrible day. I I make myself some
  602. 19:40coffee and I
  603. 19:41get the newspaper outside my door and
  604. 19:43open it up. There's a bad story about me
  605. 19:45in the New York Times. I get dressed,
  606. 19:47shave, walk out, just kind of still
  607. 19:49groggy, still staggering. My umbrella
  608. 19:52blows open. Did that ever happen to you?
  609. 19:53As I'm walking out, and I get soaked.
  610. 19:56Soaked. I'm just
  611. 19:58soaked.
  612. 20:00I get in the car. I said, "All right,
  613. 20:01how long is it going to take to
  614. 20:02Greenwood?" An hour and a half.
  615. 20:06An hour and a half.
  616. 20:08So, we're driving and we're driving and
  617. 20:09we're driving. Doesn't seem like we're
  618. 20:11going anywhere. Sheets of rain are
  619. 20:12pouring down. So, I'm about to make my
  620. 20:15pitch. I'm trying to muster myself up.
  621. 20:17Let me make the best of this. I'll going
  622. 20:18to do it quick and then I'm going to get
  623. 20:20out of here. And suddenly, I hear this
  624. 20:22voice from the back just shout,
  625. 20:25"Fired up."
  626. 20:28>> [cheering]
  627. 20:29>> And everybody in the room says, "Fired
  628. 20:32up." And then I hear the voice say,
  629. 20:33"READY TO GO." And everybody in the room
  630. 20:35says, "Ready to go." And I don't know
  631. 20:36what's going on.
  632. 20:37>> All right. What did you observe? Where
  633. 20:39are we? How does it start? What's the
  634. 20:41place?
  635. 20:44Boom. In his apartment, right? We
  636. 20:46immediately enter it. We know exactly
  637. 20:47where Hey, I obviously have never been
  638. 20:49to this place, but I can see him right
  639. 20:51now in his apartment. Action.
  640. 20:55Tons of action, right? Everything is
  641. 20:56like, "Ah, the umbrella." Tons of action
  642. 20:58throughout. What's the speech?
  643. 21:00>> Fired up.
  644. 21:01>> Fired up.
  645. 21:02>> Fired up. Ready to go.
  646. 21:04Yeah. Good speech in there as well. What
  647. 21:06about thoughts?
  648. 21:07>> And I thought I would do the speech
  649. 21:09quickly.
  650. 21:10>> Ah, okay. Yes, there was some thoughts
  651. 21:11here. Thought I would do the get it over
  652. 21:13with.
  653. 21:14>> And then like repetition of when it's
  654. 21:16like, "Oh, an hour and a half
  655. 21:17to drive."
  656. 21:18>> Ah.
  657. 21:19>> An hour and a half to drive.
  658. 21:20>> Ah, yeah. True. That was also going on
  659. 21:22in his mind. That's it. That's pretty
  660. 21:24much I think this one is probably the
  661. 21:26strongest on the actions, right? The
  662. 21:28actions are very, very precise, very,
  663. 21:30very vivid. But there you saw, hey,
  664. 21:31exactly what you learned today,
  665. 21:33>> [music]
  666. 21:33>> he's doing there and it makes the story
  667. 21:36so captivating. And it's also just a
  668. 21:38reminder, I know oftentimes, I know in
  669. 21:40storytelling there's well, we have 7
  670. 21:41minutes to tell a story, it's great. But
  671. 21:43oftentimes, when we share a story in
  672. 21:44front of friends, in front of
  673. 21:45co-workers, [music]
  674. 21:46like, "Hey, you can do that in 60
  675. 21:48seconds. You can do that in 30 seconds,
  676. 21:50in 90 seconds." And tell the most
  677. 21:52incredible story out there. So, I would
  678. 21:54actually encourage you when you tell
  679. 21:55your story, train yourself. How can you
  680. 21:57tell the most magnetic stories in the
  681. 21:59shortest time possible? What did we
  682. 22:01cover today? You know, what's the single
  683. 22:03most important thing when it comes to
  684. 22:04storytelling? Do do do.
  685. 22:06Hm?
  686. 22:09>> [laughter]
  687. 22:15>> What's the single most important thing
  688. 22:16when it comes to storytelling?
  689. 22:19Zooming into the one moment. Yes, thank
  690. 22:21you.
  691. 22:23Okay, wonderful.
  692. 22:25How can we do this? One, by reliving it,
  693. 22:28right? You just relive the memory and
  694. 22:30you share it out loud. That's the first
  695. 22:32one. And if you want to have it more
  696. 22:34technical, [music] you focus on PAST.
  697. 22:37So, zoom into the past. Place, action,
  698. 22:40speech, and thoughts.
  699. 22:45>> [music]

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