How to Tell Stories That Makes People Whisper ‘Damn, that’s good.’ — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00Storytelling is probably one of the most
- 0:02important tools out there to hook your
- 0:04listeners and to keep them engaged. But
- 0:06a lot of the advice that is out there
- 0:08makes it sound so complicated. What I
- 0:10want to tell you is storytelling is
- 0:11actually pretty simple if you know what
- 0:13matters. Let's watch a short clip by
- 0:16Leonardo DiCaprio. You all know who that
- 0:18is. And then you tell me what makes the
- 0:20story so special.
- 0:21>> I was on a plane to Russia and the
- 0:24engine exploded. I was looking out the
- 0:26window and the entire engine just turned
- 0:28into a fireball. I was the only person
- 0:30there that seemed to see this, but it
- 0:32was a flaming fireball. I kind of felt
- 0:34like I'd already died and gone to heaven
- 0:36cuz no one said anything.
- 0:39And I was screaming at the top of my
- 0:40lungs, "What the hell is going on here?"
- 0:43And the stewardess came out and said,
- 0:44"We seem to have a a slight problem
- 0:46here." And the Russian guy finally said,
- 0:49"What is the problem?"
- 0:50I said, "Well, we we lost one of our
- 0:53engines."
- 0:54>> [laughter]
- 0:55>> He goes, "How many engines did we have?"
- 0:58I said, "Well, we had two.
- 1:00>> [laughter]
- 1:00>> Now we have one."
- 1:02>> All right. Leonardo DiCaprio tells such
- 1:05an incredible story because he zooms
- 1:08into the moment. Let me show you what
- 1:10that means. Most of us, we tell stories
- 1:12like this. We're like, "Well, I had a
- 1:14problem. It was very difficult, but then
- 1:16I overcame it and yeah, now it's done."
- 1:18This is how 99% of the people tell
- 1:20stories in the most high-level way
- 1:23possible, summarizing, not going into
- 1:25the details. Leonardo DiCaprio didn't
- 1:27just say, "Oh yes, I had a plane
- 1:28accident or the engines stopped
- 1:30working." No, no. He zoomed into the
- 1:31moment. So, the best storytellers, they
- 1:34go into one specific moment. They look
- 1:35them in the face. They show us the
- 1:37emotions behind it. They zoom into one
- 1:39specific moment. That is the absolute
- 1:42most important thing when it comes to
- 1:43storytelling. Nothing is more important
- 1:45than that. Now, in case you're
- 1:46wondering, "How can I do this?" It's
- 1:48actually surprisingly simple and I want
- 1:50to show you how. I'd love to have one
- 1:51volunteer for this. Yes, please come.
- 1:53Carolina, I'd love you to think about a
- 1:56moment where you messed up. Could be
- 1:58small, could be big, could be at work,
- 1:59could be outside of work. Okay, do you
- 2:01want to give us the one sentence
- 2:02summary?
- 2:03>> The moment when I fight with my boss.
- 2:06>> Mhm.
- 2:06>> And I was
- 2:07>> [music]
- 2:07>> fired.
- 2:09>> Oh, okay. Wow, that's a big moment
- 2:10there. The moment that she fought with
- 2:11her boss and was fired. Okay, now what
- 2:13I'd like you to do is to relive that
- 2:15moment. So for that, if you want to
- 2:16close your eyes
- 2:18real quick, take a deep breath in.
- 2:21And now
- 2:22when you go back to this moment,
- 2:24>> [music]
- 2:24>> tell us where are you?
- 2:26>> I was in his office and he asked me
- 2:29something that was not supposed for me
- 2:32to do. [music] So I was really really
- 2:34angry and I thought he doesn't have the
- 2:37right of [music] doing it. So I start
- 2:39fighting for my position and he tells me
- 2:42that I am too young to be such with big
- 2:46opinions. Technically, [music]
- 2:49I couldn't be fired, but I was. I don't
- 2:52know how.
- 2:53>> Okay.
- 2:54>> He was so angry with me that he made
- 2:56[music]
- 2:57a movement that allowed him to do it. So
- 3:01when I realized that, I was like,
- 3:04"Fuck."
- 3:05>> That's great. Okay, you can open your
- 3:06eyes again. Woo.
- 3:08Okay.
- 3:08>> [applause]
- 3:09>> Now did you see what she did? Carolina
- 3:11was just reliving the moment. I didn't
- 3:13even have to guide anything. I Usually I
- 3:15have to give some more guidance, but
- 3:16Carolina was already into the zone. And
- 3:19so if you think about how can I tell
- 3:21interesting story, it's about closing
- 3:23your eyes and going back to the moment.
- 3:25Where are you? What are you seeing? What
- 3:27are you doing? What are you hearing? You
- 3:29shared the dialogue. You shared what was
- 3:31going on in your mind. That is
- 3:33storytelling. It's just about reliving
- 3:35the moment. [music] Thank you so much.
- 3:37Let's do the same exercise that we did
- 3:38right now with Carolina, but I'll give
- 3:39you some more prompts. But for that,
- 3:41just close your eyes now for a second.
- 3:43Also, take a deep breath in. And now
- 3:45think about a moment where you messed
- 3:47up, where you had some sort of problem.
- 3:53That can be small, big,
- 3:55any type of moment. It doesn't matter
- 3:56for this.
- 3:59Now, I want you to see where are you?
- 4:05What are you seeing?
- 4:11What is happening?
- 4:12>> [music]
- 4:15>> See it unfold in front of your eyes.
- 4:20Is there maybe another person?
- 4:24What does that person say to you?
- 4:29What are you thinking?
- 4:34Okay, that's it. You can open your eyes
- 4:37again.
- 4:39Now, keep that memory right now on top,
- 4:42and I want [music] you to turn to your
- 4:43neighbor. And for 30 to 60 seconds, I
- 4:46just want you to share that same memory
- 4:48that right now popped into your mind. I
- 4:50want you to share that with a neighbor.
- 4:52And exactly how it was like, where are
- 4:53you? You describe it, right? What's
- 4:55going on through your mind? All those
- 4:57details that you just heard, well, share
- 4:59that with a neighbor. So, share this one
- 5:00challenge or this one time where you
- 5:01messed up.
- 5:07Anything else that you found interesting
- 5:08or challenging?
- 5:09>> You can learn anything. Like, you can
- 5:11learn something from anything.
- 5:12>> Mhm.
- 5:13>> Like, even if it's small, tiny.
- 5:15>> Mhm.
- 5:16>> There is there is something there.
- 5:17>> True. And that's actually good because a
- 5:19lot of people overthink storytelling,
- 5:21that you always have to have the perfect
- 5:22story with the perfect arc. Hey, just
- 5:24take any challenge and tell me what you
- 5:26learned from that, and that is a great
- 5:28story. That's it. Like, don't think that
- 5:30I have to have the 17 steps of the
- 5:32hero's journey in order to change
- 5:33someone's life. No, it's a You have a
- 5:35problem, and what you learn from that.
- 5:37Zooming into the moment, the single most
- 5:38important thing. Reliving it, what you
- 5:40just did there, helps you get there.
- 5:42But, I know a few of you, same as I, you
- 5:44want some sort of technique behind it,
- 5:45right? I'm German, and I love technique.
- 5:47So, how can you zoom into the moment?
- 5:49It's by a framework I call PAST or past.
- 5:54The first technique is called place.
- 5:56What you want to do as soon as possible
- 5:59when you get into your story, state the
- 6:01location or state the place. Now, why
- 6:03does it matter so much? Because the
- 6:04moment you share the location, a movie
- 6:06starts playing in your head. Because
- 6:07when I say kitchen, you start, "Oh, I
- 6:09can see a kitchen." You're into the
- 6:11story already and it's so easy a movie
- 6:13starts playing there. For example, I can
- 6:15say, "Hey, 2 weeks ago, I'm in my
- 6:17apartment in Lisbon sitting on the
- 6:18couch." You start imagining then a
- 6:20certain couch. Or for example, "Hey, I'm
- 6:22standing in front of the conference room
- 6:24taking a deep breath." And then again,
- 6:26you're like, "Hmm, I think I've seen a
- 6:27conference room before." And you start
- 6:28picturing it. Now, does it matter
- 6:30whether Do I need to describe it in
- 6:31detail? I don't, right? Because a lot of
- 6:34storytellers, especially at the start,
- 6:35somehow the common advice is like,
- 6:37"Appeal to all the five senses." And
- 6:38then people are like,
- 6:40"Oh,
- 6:41it was [music] a sunny afternoon in
- 6:44Lisbon, birds were chirping,
- 6:46>> [snorts]
- 6:46>> smell the lavender in the air." And they
- 6:47go into all those details which are
- 6:49completely useless for stories. So, just
- 6:51hey, state the place as soon as possible
- 6:53and get into it. That brings me to the
- 6:55second one, which is action.
- 6:58Leonardo DiCaprio's story started
- 7:00straight into the action, right? Boom,
- 7:01hey, you're in the plane, something is
- 7:03happening. And that's also what I want
- 7:05to advise you. If we look at this, let's
- 7:08say here's the line. Here, this is the
- 7:10big moment, right? This is right now the
- 7:12moment that you right now just shared.
- 7:14That's the most emotional moment, that's
- 7:16the challenge that you're facing. Then
- 7:18we have all those small moments before.
- 7:20So, maybe let's say this is the moment
- 7:22that you share, you said about having
- 7:23this conversation with your boss, right?
- 7:25So, that could be this big moment. And
- 7:27then maybe Carolina started her career
- 7:29here, then maybe here she got a nice
- 7:31promotion, then maybe here there's
- 7:33something else happens. And now most
- 7:34people start all the way here, right?
- 7:38Where do you think you should start? In
- 7:39the action. Where is the action?
- 7:41>> Second before the action.
- 7:43>> Yes, start as close to the challenge as
- 7:46possible. Like all that stuff, cut it
- 7:49ruthlessly cuz I know so many people are
- 7:51like, "Oh, here here's the company
- 7:52history and all the things that I did
- 7:53before." No, no, no. You want to get as
- 7:56close to the challenge as possible. You
- 7:58want to get to the juicy stuff as
- 8:00quickly as possible. Like trust your
- 8:01fellow human beings that they will
- 8:03figure out the context. Most times they
- 8:05will. So, what are some examples of
- 8:07actions? It could be, "Hey, I'm in my
- 8:09apartment. I open my laptop, 200
- 8:12notifications pop up. Fuck." Right? That
- 8:15could be into the action. Or, "Hey, I'm
- 8:16at the airport putting my bag in the
- 8:19security belt when someone calls my
- 8:20name." Boom, immediately into the
- 8:22action. And so, you want to start with
- 8:24those verbs, with those forward
- 8:26momentum. That's how you get into the
- 8:27action. Let's try this out right now. I
- 8:29want you to turn again to a neighbor,
- 8:31but this time a different neighbor. I
- 8:33know everyone comes here with their best
- 8:34friend, with their partner.
- 8:36This time,
- 8:38I want you to have the privilege to tell
- 8:40a story to a stranger and not just the
- 8:42safe stories to your partner. So, find a
- 8:44different person, share just the first
- 8:46two steps of your story. And just to be
- 8:48clear, that is maybe like 30 seconds of
- 8:50the story. Like we don't go into the
- 8:52full story, but just the place and the
- 8:54action.
- 8:55>> [music]
- 8:59>> Cool. Okay, let's hear from one or two
- 9:00volunteers. Who'd like to share the
- 9:02place and the action? Yes, please, come
- 9:04here. What's your name?
- 9:05>> Daga.
- 9:06>> Daga. All right, Daga, nice to meet you.
- 9:08Daga, would you like to share the Just
- 9:10the start of your story, not the full
- 9:11story.
- 9:11>> I was in my living room writing stuff on
- 9:14my iPad. I was really into it. Then I
- 9:16suddenly realized, "Oh, what time is
- 9:18it?" I checked my phone and it was 4
- 9:20minutes to 7:00 and I realized, "Shit,
- 9:23cuz I have this event that starts at
- 9:247:00."
- 9:25>> [laughter]
- 9:26>> OH, WHICH EVENT?
- 9:31NICE, GOOD JOB.
- 9:32>> THAT'S THE FIRST two steps of my story.
- 9:34>> Perfect. Yeah. Did you see like we
- 9:36wanted to know, "What was that event?"
- 9:38>> [laughter]
- 9:38>> Obviously,
- 9:39we know which event it is. This is how
- 9:41you start because we immediately like we
- 9:43want to know the rest. Let's then talk
- 9:45about the next one. That one is actually
- 9:48my favorite. Now, often time our stories
- 9:51will have more than one character,
- 9:53right? And when you share about that
- 9:55other character, what do most people
- 9:57say? They are like, "Well, I had a
- 9:59conversation with my boss and he was
- 10:01very frustrated with me." This is how
- 10:03most people share in the
- 10:06They just again summarize it. But the
- 10:08best storytellers, they quote that
- 10:10person. So, they say, "Hey, right in
- 10:11this moment my manager looked at me and
- 10:13he said, 'Philip, that presentation
- 10:18we can't do this. This is terrible.'
- 10:20Right? I share the exact words of that
- 10:22moment. The technique is called speech
- 10:24or dialogue. And so, [music] anytime
- 10:26that your story has more than one
- 10:28character, share the exact words of that
- 10:31moment. What was that person saying in
- 10:33that moment? What were the exact words?
- 10:35Quote that person. Dialogue or speech is
- 10:38the most powerful way or easiest way to
- 10:41bring your story to life because it
- 10:43immediately takes us into the vivid
- 10:44moment. Let's look at some examples and
- 10:46then you tell me how we can improve
- 10:49that. First, you see without speech and
- 10:51on the right you see with speech. "Judy
- 10:53from marketing was very satisfied
- 10:55working with us." Now, that is pretty
- 10:57boring, right? How could you reframe
- 10:58this? I want to have your help. So, I
- 11:01want you to say, "Judy said do do do."
- 11:04This is what I want to hear from you.
- 11:05And I have this beautiful How do you
- 11:06call this? Unicorn? All right, this
- 11:09beautiful unicorn and I'll be throwing
- 11:11this unicorn somewhere in the room and
- 11:12whoever catches it will tell me how to
- 11:15turn this into dialogue. Cool? All
- 11:16right. What's your name?
- 11:18>> Shamik.
- 11:18>> Shamik. Okay. How would you reframe
- 11:20that? So, "Judy said boo boo boo."
- 11:23>> Judy said
- 11:24that we've done an exceptional job with
- 11:27the project.
- 11:27>> Perfect. I love this. The only one cut
- 11:29the that. So, "Judy said boom."
- 11:33>> Judy said exceptional job guys.
- 11:35>> Mhm. They're saying stuff, right?
- 11:37Perfect. All right. Good stuff. All
- 11:39right. Judy called me and said, "Thank
- 11:41you." Right? "Without your help, we
- 11:42would have never gotten there." Then, my
- 11:44manager wasn't happy with my
- 11:45presentation.
- 11:47What's your name? Monica. Monica, how
- 11:48would you reframe that? So, my manager
- 11:51said, "Boom."
- 11:58Okay, perfect. Yeah. "I'm not happy with
- 12:00your presentation and you got to redo
- 12:02this."
- 12:03Wonderful. Thank you so much. Okay. My
- 12:05manager said, "What the hell is that?
- 12:06You were all over the place."
- 12:08>> [laughter]
- 12:08>> You see it What What do you see there,
- 12:10right? The juicier it is, obviously, the
- 12:11more interesting it will become.
- 12:12[clears throat] The customer didn't want
- 12:13to work with us. Let's see. All the way
- 12:16there. Yes.
- 12:24Okay, perfect. All right. That is easy
- 12:27for you guys. I thought the examples
- 12:29that you gave, they were perfect, right?
- 12:31They were great. They felt very
- 12:32truthful. If you want to make the story
- 12:34a tiny bit more juicy, well, then pick
- 12:37dialogue that is slightly more exciting
- 12:39there. And so, yes, we want to be as
- 12:41truthful as possible as storytellers,
- 12:43but sometimes we also don't remember,
- 12:44right? I don't remember what someone
- 12:46said a year ago. So, there you can use
- 12:48the words that could have been used in
- 12:49that moment. And there you can also make
- 12:51it maybe slightly more concise and
- 12:53slightly more juicy. So, this one is a
- 12:55technique that I use all the time. So,
- 12:56anytime that you have another person in
- 12:58there, use the speech or use the
- 13:00dialogue of that moment. It works
- 13:01really, really well. Let's now talk
- 13:03about the last technique, and that
- 13:04technique is called thoughts. Let me
- 13:06share that. Bad storytellers, they just
- 13:09describe the situation where they're
- 13:11like, "Hey, I had a conversation with my
- 13:12boss and it was tough." Right? That's
- 13:14what they do. Amateur storytellers, they
- 13:16go already one step below that, and they
- 13:18say, "Hey, I was very nervous in that
- 13:20moment." Which is good, right? They're
- 13:21sharing an emotion, but they don't fully
- 13:24take us there yet. The best
- 13:25storytellers, they share what they were
- 13:28thinking at that moment. So, they don't
- 13:30just say, "Ah, I was nervous in that
- 13:31moment." But, they say, "I thought, oh
- 13:33man, this is going to be the worst
- 13:35presentation of my life. People will
- 13:37walk out of this and will laugh at me."
- 13:40So, they share whatever is going on in
- 13:41their mind. Let's try this out. I love
- 13:43to have one brave soul to help me on
- 13:45this one. Who'd like to volunteer? Yes,
- 13:47please. Lara, come here. Let me whisper
- 13:49the instructions in your ear.
- 13:51Okay, Lara will share now a moment and
- 13:54yeah, you see the rest.
- 13:55>> I was [music] at my kitchen counter at
- 13:57my apartment in Lisbon. It's the
- 13:59morning. I'm pretty hungry, so it's time
- 14:01to make some breakfast.
- 14:02>> Ooh, I'm so hungry. Oh, I haven't eaten
- 14:04the entire day.
- 14:07>> So, I open the pantry and I get some
- 14:10peanut butter. I get some sourdough from
- 14:12my freezer.
- 14:14>> But, I guess peanut butter. I don't want
- 14:16to gain weight again. [music]
- 14:17>> And I decide, yeah, peanut butter, that
- 14:19sounds amazing. I'm super hungry [music]
- 14:21right now. So, I get out my sourdough. I
- 14:24toast it, put the peanut butter on top.
- 14:26I take a huge bite and
- 14:29>> [music]
- 14:29>> it's delicious.
- 14:30>> Ooh.
- 14:31Ah, I just want to eat peanut butter for
- 14:33the rest of my life. This is so FREAKING
- 14:35GOOD.
- 14:37>> [laughter]
- 14:40>> GOOD JOB. DID YOU SEE THAT? I DID some
- 14:43narration, the inner dialogue. And
- 14:44that's what you want to have more and
- 14:46more in your story. It's to share what
- 14:48was going on in your mind. If I
- 14:50sometimes look at my stories, I think my
- 14:52stories are usually 90% just sharing the
- 14:54thoughts [music]
- 14:55and then some other stuff. But, usually
- 14:57the thoughts is what is the stuff that
- 14:58it makes you connect to other people.
- 15:00So, if you want to make it more
- 15:01emotional, that's the way to go there.
- 15:03Let's look at some examples again and
- 15:04I'll bring out this English unicorn
- 15:06again and you tell me how to reframe
- 15:08that. Without thoughts, with thoughts. I
- 15:11was looking forward to give that speech.
- 15:13Now again, that is pretty boring, right?
- 15:15How could you reframe that? I thought,
- 15:17do do do.
- 15:18>> Because
- 15:19I really, really, really
- 15:20want to
- 15:21do it well for that speech tonight.
- 15:24>> Uh-huh, yeah. I thought, "Oh yeah, I
- 15:25really want to do it well tonight."
- 15:27Perfect.
- 15:28Awesome. I thought, "Oh man, I'll crush
- 15:31this, right? This will be the best
- 15:32presentation on this planet." Cool.
- 15:35Let's I was worried that the client
- 15:36would push back on the price. Let's see,
- 15:38Peter.
- 15:39>> I was terrified that the client would
- 15:41push back on the price.
- 15:43>> So, right now, you were replaced worried
- 15:45with terrified, which is still you
- 15:47described the emotions, but you didn't
- 15:49tell us what was going on in your mind.
- 15:51>> I thought that that
- 15:53the client
- 15:54would push back on the
- 15:56price, and I would be fearful and
- 15:58terrified, like that.
- 15:59I just had this moment of terror.
- 16:02I I I just put
- 16:04>> Peter, so right now you you share me
- 16:06still the like the filtered version of
- 16:08your thought, which is okay, but our
- 16:10thoughts are not like, "I thought, well,
- 16:12I'm very fearful and terrified that the
- 16:14client would push back on price." Your
- 16:16thoughts are much more raw, like, "Ugh,
- 16:17neurotic, something happens." So, share
- 16:19with us what is raw going on in your
- 16:21mind.
- 16:22Yes, Carolina.
- 16:23>> So, in my head, I thought,
- 16:25"Oh my god, what if that happens and
- 16:28they have to raise
- 16:30I'm not prepared to do this."
- 16:32>> Perfect. Yeah. I love this. Now, just
- 16:35try to deliver it not in like a robot,
- 16:37but rather with emotion. I thought,
- 16:39>> I thought, "Oh my god,
- 16:42>> Perfect.
- 16:43>> that stupid client
- 16:44>> [laughter]
- 16:44>> would try to
- 16:45push back the price, and I would be so
- 16:48pissed."
- 16:49>> [laughter]
- 16:50>> Perfect. Yes. Speech is outer dialogue,
- 16:53what you speak to the outside world, or
- 16:55what you hear. And thoughts is inner
- 16:57dialogue, it's what's going on in your
- 16:58mind. I know some of us, at least to the
- 17:01outside, we often try to sound as
- 17:04sophisticated, as smart as possible.
- 17:06But, when you share those thoughts, the
- 17:08more raw they are, the more interesting
- 17:10it will be. And so, yeah, I thought,
- 17:12"Hey, the moment that she sees the
- 17:13price, she'll walk out out this door
- 17:15laughing." With that, let's give you a
- 17:18chance to try this out. You told your
- 17:21story already two times. Now this time
- 17:23we you tell it one final time, but you
- 17:26include all of those ones. All of those
- 17:28ones. But I want you to put extra
- 17:30emphasis on these two here. And it could
- 17:33be that it doesn't have necessarily two
- 17:35of them, but I want one of them to be
- 17:37very very dominant there. And I'm pretty
- 17:39sure that thoughts should be in each one
- 17:41of your stories. If there's a great
- 17:43another character, then share the
- 17:44speech, but focus especially on those
- 17:46two.
- 17:52I'd love to hear one or two examples.
- 17:55Who'd like to share their short 1-minute
- 17:56story? Let's hear from one more person.
- 17:58Yes, come here.
- 18:00>> I wake up and I'm on a train, but it's
- 18:02the middle of the night, the train is
- 18:04empty and not moving. And I think to
- 18:06myself, "Oh, [ __ ]
- 18:09>> [laughter]
- 18:09>> Where am I?" And then I begin to piece
- 18:11things back together. The last thing I
- 18:13really remember was drinking three beers
- 18:15very quickly in the London Paddington
- 18:18train station after having ended things
- 18:20with my girlfriend, cuz that's a really
- 18:22good way of processing emotions in
- 18:24England.
- 18:25>> [laughter]
- 18:26>> So I drank the beers, I got on the
- 18:27train, I'm heading home, but of course I
- 18:30fall asleep. So now I'm in the middle of
- 18:33nowhere in a new country, in fact Wales.
- 18:36>> [laughter]
- 18:37>> But that's not the worst thing. So I
- 18:39remember that I sat down on a
- 18:41table-style seat, and I was on the
- 18:43aisle, and there was a really
- 18:45cute-looking old couple who were sitting
- 18:47on this side of me. How did they get
- 18:49out? Well,
- 18:51this old couple
- 18:53must have had to either climb
- 18:55over this hairy British man, he drank
- 18:58too many beers, or under the table to
- 19:00get out.
- 19:01>> [laughter]
- 19:02>> And you know how when you go through a
- 19:03breakup, you kind of want to feel like a
- 19:05little bit good about yourself?
- 19:06You don't want to feel like an [ __ ]
- 19:08Well, yeah, that was about 2 hours after
- 19:10my breakup, and I was definitely in the
- 19:12ass.
- 19:12>> HEY, ALL RIGHT.
- 19:14BRAVO.
- 19:16GOOD [applause] STUFF.
- 19:18>> BEAUTIFUL. That was so good to listen
- 19:19to, right? Hey, boom, we are straight in
- 19:21that train with him. Let's watch one
- 19:24more short video, 1-minute video. This
- 19:26one of former President Barack Obama.
- 19:28Let's watch this and then see whether
- 19:31you spot all the different elements of
- 19:33that used to be here before.
- 19:34>> I open up the curtains. It's pouring
- 19:36down rain outside. Pouring down rain.
- 19:38Horrible day. I I make myself some
- 19:40coffee and I
- 19:41get the newspaper outside my door and
- 19:43open it up. There's a bad story about me
- 19:45in the New York Times. I get dressed,
- 19:47shave, walk out, just kind of still
- 19:49groggy, still staggering. My umbrella
- 19:52blows open. Did that ever happen to you?
- 19:53As I'm walking out, and I get soaked.
- 19:56Soaked. I'm just
- 19:58soaked.
- 20:00I get in the car. I said, "All right,
- 20:01how long is it going to take to
- 20:02Greenwood?" An hour and a half.
- 20:06An hour and a half.
- 20:08So, we're driving and we're driving and
- 20:09we're driving. Doesn't seem like we're
- 20:11going anywhere. Sheets of rain are
- 20:12pouring down. So, I'm about to make my
- 20:15pitch. I'm trying to muster myself up.
- 20:17Let me make the best of this. I'll going
- 20:18to do it quick and then I'm going to get
- 20:20out of here. And suddenly, I hear this
- 20:22voice from the back just shout,
- 20:25"Fired up."
- 20:28>> [cheering]
- 20:29>> And everybody in the room says, "Fired
- 20:32up." And then I hear the voice say,
- 20:33"READY TO GO." And everybody in the room
- 20:35says, "Ready to go." And I don't know
- 20:36what's going on.
- 20:37>> All right. What did you observe? Where
- 20:39are we? How does it start? What's the
- 20:41place?
- 20:44Boom. In his apartment, right? We
- 20:46immediately enter it. We know exactly
- 20:47where Hey, I obviously have never been
- 20:49to this place, but I can see him right
- 20:51now in his apartment. Action.
- 20:55Tons of action, right? Everything is
- 20:56like, "Ah, the umbrella." Tons of action
- 20:58throughout. What's the speech?
- 21:00>> Fired up.
- 21:01>> Fired up.
- 21:02>> Fired up. Ready to go.
- 21:04Yeah. Good speech in there as well. What
- 21:06about thoughts?
- 21:07>> And I thought I would do the speech
- 21:09quickly.
- 21:10>> Ah, okay. Yes, there was some thoughts
- 21:11here. Thought I would do the get it over
- 21:13with.
- 21:14>> And then like repetition of when it's
- 21:16like, "Oh, an hour and a half
- 21:17to drive."
- 21:18>> Ah.
- 21:19>> An hour and a half to drive.
- 21:20>> Ah, yeah. True. That was also going on
- 21:22in his mind. That's it. That's pretty
- 21:24much I think this one is probably the
- 21:26strongest on the actions, right? The
- 21:28actions are very, very precise, very,
- 21:30very vivid. But there you saw, hey,
- 21:31exactly what you learned today,
- 21:33>> [music]
- 21:33>> he's doing there and it makes the story
- 21:36so captivating. And it's also just a
- 21:38reminder, I know oftentimes, I know in
- 21:40storytelling there's well, we have 7
- 21:41minutes to tell a story, it's great. But
- 21:43oftentimes, when we share a story in
- 21:44front of friends, in front of
- 21:45co-workers, [music]
- 21:46like, "Hey, you can do that in 60
- 21:48seconds. You can do that in 30 seconds,
- 21:50in 90 seconds." And tell the most
- 21:52incredible story out there. So, I would
- 21:54actually encourage you when you tell
- 21:55your story, train yourself. How can you
- 21:57tell the most magnetic stories in the
- 21:59shortest time possible? What did we
- 22:01cover today? You know, what's the single
- 22:03most important thing when it comes to
- 22:04storytelling? Do do do.
- 22:06Hm?
- 22:09>> [laughter]
- 22:15>> What's the single most important thing
- 22:16when it comes to storytelling?
- 22:19Zooming into the one moment. Yes, thank
- 22:21you.
- 22:23Okay, wonderful.
- 22:25How can we do this? One, by reliving it,
- 22:28right? You just relive the memory and
- 22:30you share it out loud. That's the first
- 22:32one. And if you want to have it more
- 22:34technical, [music] you focus on PAST.
- 22:37So, zoom into the past. Place, action,
- 22:40speech, and thoughts.
- 22:45>> [music]
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