I was shocked with this storytelling
I was shocked -- absolutely shocked -- at the lousy storytelling from the speakers I heard last weekend.
You see, I recently spent 3 days at a digital marketing conference.
Lots of speakers. Big-name speakers. Successful businesses.
I did learn a lot and walked away with some good tips.
But the storytelling from the speakers? None of them bewitched me. Some were so sparse they were like a ghostly apparition. No substance. See me shaking my head.
I listened to almost every single speaker (15+).
Here's what ALL of them did -- except one.
They started their story out talking about the early trauma they had as a child. Nothing wrong with that. But here's where it went off the rails.
After they talked about their trauma, every single one of them skipped over their turning point -- the ah-ha moment when light dawned, the mentor who said something to them that changed their lives, the book they read that opened their eyes. In other words — they missed the moment of transformation, which is what we crave to hear.
This is how it went: "I was abused [fill in the blank]. I struggled. It was hard. I was in a pit. But I learned [X platitude] and I became successful because I did [Y]."
The result? Totally unmemorable. But not the speaker's name or much else. I even tested this out by asking participants whose story they remember. They could only name one -- the lone speaker who followed the basic pattern below. Everyone else was forgettable.
Even worse -- what people did seem to remember was the trauma the speaker went through, although they couldn't tell me who it was!
So think about this. What is the audience left with? Trauma. Yuck. The only saving grace for the speaker is participants couldn't link the trauma to a specific speaker unless they really worked hard at remembering. But they sure do remember the trauma.
This is how it should have gone: "I was abused [fill in the blank]. This is how it made me feel and what I thought. This is the trouble I found myself in [problem]. Then [light dawned/mentor/eyes opened]. This is how I felt at that moment and what I decided to do. I stumbled but I kept on [how I felt]. Today I'm [X] and when I look back on my life, I [key message]".
The result? Transformation. Memorability. Stickiness. Stories that travel -- in other words, the story this one speaker told will be repeated to others outside the event. I've already retold her story to colleagues over the last few days.
Now, these are all speakers who make their living from the stage. I swear, it's like someone told them all to "Share your story, be vulnerable, be authentic, share the pain, don't gloss over the ugly parts" -- but then forgot to tell them how to actually tell the story! See me shaking my head again.
Well, there you go. It's a great lesson in what NOT to do. Instead, make sure to include that moment of transformation in your story.
Be better storytellers than these folks. It's not hard. It just takes knowledge and practice.
Dr. Karen Dietz is a veteran in transformational business storytelling. She is the author of Business Storytelling for Dummies, a TEDx speaker and TEDx coach. Karen is featured in 8 books on business storytelling. She trains, coaches, and consults on business storytelling. Clients include Disney, Princess Cruises, rising stars, and nonprofits.
