Storytelling Archive - Page 6 of 14 - The Art of Communicating

Thou shalt not bore thy audience

You shouldn’t. But as a goal, that’s unambitious. And misleading.

Not being boring is relatively easy (though not necessarily cheap).

Make a speech during a rollercoaster ride and it won’t be boring.

Only that it’s not the point.

The point is to change minds. And have your message stick rather than the rollercoaster ride.

When we hear a speech that’s super exciting, it’s tempting to think that this is because of some talent of the communicator to make it exciting, or because the marketing was so great.

What’s easily overlooked is that it’s the other way around. Stories that touch us deeply are never boring – while stories that aren’t boring can still leave us largely unaffected. A story that challenges my thinking can’t be boring – while stories that aren’t boring can still be irrelevant.

Great communicators start with relevance. That’s what creates resonance. And when something resonates it’s not boring.

Not being boring is a consequence rather than a prerequisite of telling a meaningful story. (And telling it on a rollercoaster will only make it more exciting … if that’s your thing.)

History vs. Story

It’s spelled “story” – without the “hi” at the beginning. Still, many people approach telling stories as recounting historical events. In a chronological order. Even if their audience couldn’t care less about how it all began.

It’s much more interesting to ask yourself what gets your audience most excited. What’s most surprising to them? Or most interesting. And then work from there. Once you tell them, what do they want to know next? And next. And so on.

For example, sometimes it’s more interesting to work backwards by asking “How was that possible?” or “What led to this?” Just like some of the most exciting detective stories start with knowing who the murderer was but leave the audience dying to learn why she did it.

The guiding star is our audience’s curiosity. What are they dying to know? More often than not this is different from the chronological order of events.

Don’t make your story a history lesson, make it an interesting story!

Football is boring

… unless we root for a team. At which point a whole range of emotions kicks in: hope, joy, sadness, anger, …

When we don’t root for a team, it’s just 22 people running after a ball and trying to kick it into a goal. The same is true for any sports.

As long as we don’t root for a player, watching a Tennis match is among the most boring activities on earth. We must care for the outcome. Otherwise it’s just two people smashing a ball.

What’s the outcome that your audience cares for when you talk to them? Where is the player that they root for in your story? (Hint: It’s not you.) What makes it more than just a person reading off their slides?

The after show ad

YouTube shows ads before and during the video. Here’s a challenge for your next ad: Can you make it so relevant that people would still watch it if it was shown after the video?

YouTube puts the burden on the content creators. It requires the content to be so attractive that viewers are willing to endure ads, even crappy ones, to get to the content. YouTube will give viewers what they came for only after they’ve watched an ad (or two). They can’t get what they came for without watching the ads.

What if you turned that upside down and took the burden on you as an ad creator? What if you made your ad so relevant that viewers would still watch them even though they already got what they came for? Is your ad that good? Would people still watch it if it was shown after the video?

The joy of figuring things out

If you enjoy puzzling, the worst thing that can happen to you is when someone else solves the puzzle for you. The joy is in the puzzling not in the picture. The whole point of puzzling is the joy in finding the right pieces and fitting them together.

Keep that in mind when communicating to a group of people who love to figure things out. The worst thing that can happen is that you figure everything out for them. On the other hand, they will love you for a good challenge. For lighting them the path in a way that they can figure it out themselves. Figureouters may be happy to learn about more efficient ways to figure things out. But they want to figure it out themselves.

The great news is that if the puzzle was just the right amount of a challenge, it’s not uncommon for puzzlers to buy more puzzles. And so we can gradually lead them to fit together ever more complex puzzles.

We tell stories on behalf of our audience

The power of stories is that it’s us who re-live the life of the story’s hero.

That’s true even in a business context. A story is a great story when it makes us feel: “That’s me! That’s exactly what I struggle with.”

A good story provide us with a new perspective on our own lives. It lets us imagine actions that we wouldn’t take without the story. It lets us feel feelings that we wouldn’t feel without the story. It lets us visualise outcomes that we would consider out of reach without the story.

Great stories lead to action.

And that’s why we tell stories on behalf of our audience.

A true story

Many people have a strong distaste for selling. They neither like to be sold to nor to sell themselves.

To them, selling has the smell of dishonesty. Of tricking people into buying. Of using psychological hacks to your own advantage. Of putting on a show that isn’t true to who you are.

Yet, that’s not what selling needs to be. If your cause truly changes things for the better, then it doesn’t have to be about tricking or cheating.

If you truly care and your product truly changes your customers’ lives for the better, then selling is a service. The dishonesty is just in your head. You don’t have to be dishonest. You don’t have to put on a show. You don’t have to act as if you were someone else.

Quite the opposite.

Because if you genuinely care. If you let people see and feel that you do. And if you make them see how your product changes things for them, then why wouldn’t they want to hear from you? Why would they need to be cheated on?

They don’t.

I think that this approach works much better than tricking or cheating: Make a great product and then tell a true story about it.

A short story

Think of a room somewhere in a house. Maybe there’s a sofa inside. Someone’s reading a book.

What do you see?
How does her hair look like?
How old is she?
What’s her name?
What book does she read?
Does she look over as you enter the room?
What does she say?
How do you reply?
What time of day is it?

I just don’t buy that you don’t know how to tell a good story. Because you just started a good story. Everything you see now is coming right out of you. It’s not my story. It’s yours. Go on. What happens next?

Sure, there’s a lot of literature on how to tell stories. But all those rules are secondary. First comes imagination. And imagination you have.

You have all you need to tell a story when you have a life.

The house is on fire

Think of a great book you enjoyed lately.

How did it begin? Mine started with a burning house.

Great authors know that once the reader is drawn into the story, there will be plenty of time to introduce all the details.

Great authors also know that when they fail to draw a reader into the story quickly, they will just put the book aside after a few pages.

Now think about the last presentation you listened to.

How did it begin? Mine started with the presenter introducing his CV … and it continued with milestones of his company’s history.

Not only didn’t he draw me into the story right from the beginning … he just never bothered to draw me in at all. He delivered all the details but never provided me with a single reason to care. He told me everything but failed to make me curious for anything.

Great stories draw me in because they make me care. They make me curious. They give me a reason to want to know what’s next.

Right from the very first sentence.

Once the audience is drawn into the story, they will want to know more. They will want to know all the details.

Regular presentations dump info. Great presentation make me care for the info. Regular presentation start somewhere. Great presentations start by making me curious.

How does your presentation begin?

I don’t wanna hurt you

As a communicator you can play it safe and make sure that your audience feels comfortable all the time. Avoid controversial wordings and content that might be misunderstood. Use neutral language. Leave the doors open to many directions. Include as many details of your product as possible so that there’s something in it for everyone. And, of course, refrain from putting your finger in their wound.

In fact, this is the default mode for most presentations.

Yet, precisely by trying to not annoy anyone, these kinds of presentations fail to excite anyone. By trying to not hurt, they fail to create the pain that is required to take action.

The problem is that, in a way, you waive the responsibility to create the tension that’s necessary for change. You let your audience figure out why they need this badly. And immediately.

And that might not even be in your audience’s best interest. Because they might actually need your product. It might be exactly for them. Now.

So, if it is, don’t hide from creating the tension. Make them see why it is for them. Make them feel why they need it. Now.

Don’t hide from hurting your audience and exciting them when that’s what’s required for change to happen.

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