Excerpted from The Irresistible Power of StorySpeak
READING TIME: 90 Seconds
1. Hook them from the start
If you’re going to tell a conversational story about the time the airline destroyed your luggage, first tease your listeners with something like “Let me tell you about the most embarrassing (weirdest, funniest, scariest, most annoying, rudest) thing that happened to me at the airport last Friday.” That gives the listener the who, where and when – the most important ingredients of any satisfying story. Then tell your story. They’ll keep listening to find out what was embarrassing about it.
2. Stick to a single point
If you’re telling a story about how your case appeared on the baggage carousel split open and with your baggy undies falling out and your fuzzy pink slippers jammed against the conveyor belt, make sure your listeners know the single point of your story and that everything you recount revolves around that point.
3. Capture the imagination
Add one or two sensory details. Let the audience imagine the rest. You can punctuate your story by asking, “what would you have done in this situation?” or “And what do you think happened next?”
4. Vary the tone, volume and speed of your voice
Raising and lowering the volume and tone of your voice and varying the speed slightly adds excitement, humor and drama.
5. Moral of the story
Finish with a lesson learned. “Next time you’d better believe I’m using a strap/getting a bigger case/….”
Hi Nicholas – May I offer a few tidbits to give your readership even more bang for the always worthwhile 90 seconds? First, a simple typo: a stray “the” still hanging around when replaced by “your” under point 2. Next, I see merit in tightening up the example that includes brand names for undies and slippers, by omitting those names. Nothing will suffer or be lost from that deletion, I am certain. I hope you are not offended by these unsolicited tips. All are offered in the respectful spirit of writer to writer, and I always enjoy your stuff. Cheers, Susan Jane Griffin
??? U LOVED it, made me giggle and certainly got the message to me how to tell a story. Love Irresistible Story Speak.
Hi Cynthia. Thanks for the feedback. Glad it made you giggle.
Thanks Susan. All fixed.
Love that. And, I appreciate your brevity. Thank you, Nicholas.
Thanks Ginny. Short and sweet.
I so love these boosts. Thank you so much for sending them. I’d love to receive say one every two weeks if at all possible.
I’ve leanrt so much from Nick have have given Nick’s bible to so many of my new coworkers
Thanks for the kind words Suznane. I started out doing one Boost a week then I though it was a bit much. So now I do them once in a while.
Your the best Nick !
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