Show, don't tell.

Probably not the first time you hear that? This is a small reminder of the things to keep in mind when speaking about anything with anyone, by Neil Bearden, an intense and bad-ass guy who teaches Storytelling at INSEAD.

While the webinar recording is not available, here is a quick 3-min. video by Neil that illustrates his storytelling points. It won't require sound on and I can only highly recommend taking those 3 minutes to watch it.

Objective storytelling: The whole point of you opening your mouth is to 

• Get attention
• Get remembered
• Get discussed
• Get sale (in case it is a business meeting)

And there is always a wall. If you cannot grab people's attention in the first seconds, people put up their distraction wall and start playing with their phones, are somewhere else in their thoughts and nod in accordance so that you shut up again quickly.

Hence, when people ask you what you did today, don't start to detail in painful minutiae, what you did first, what you did then, and what you ended up doing... It is boring and in the first second people's walls go up.

According to Neil, good storytelling follows the STEP structure:

• Start
• Trajectory
• End
• Point

Good storytellers construct a story by prepping the first sentence they want to say, the last sentence they want to conclude and their main point they want to get across. The trajectory will follow, if you have nailed the rest.

Perhaps you want to start recounting your da, by saying that "Never do I want to drink again" and end with "I was so happy and sang the whole night".

Maybe your main point is that three months of self-isolation made you aware that you really need to get back into training and drinking shape again. 

In terms of how to be a good storyteller, he suggests:

• Be visual
• Be engaging
• Make it memorable
• Say it sharply and simply
• Repeat -- according to Chris Voss, repeat it at least 3 times to make it stick 

As is the main point in his video.

Noone is born a storyteller and it is a muscle that we must all train. So even in the least important conversations we have (how was your day?), it is good to keep those easy-to-remember tips in mind :)
 

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