4 ms·

Thank you for the detailed and practical comment! I think lot of your advice works well, after you have earned the space to tell the story with as much time as

by szemy2 4y ago

Thank you for the detailed and practical comment! I think lot of your advice works well, after you have earned the space to tell the story with as much time as you need. One thing I struggle is how to not rush the story in a setting where conversation is fast paced.

Jemaclus 4y ago
Totally. I've found that there are three approaches to that. The first is that almost any conversation will slow down for a good story. If you get good at commanding the attention of folks in the conversation, and your stories are engaging, people will gladly stop and listen. Most conversation, IMO, is fairly dull. It's small talk, or it's someone ranting about something. When a good storyteller comes along, people will stop and gladly give up the cognitive load of having to carry a conversation, and instead let the storyteller take over. And people love it when they hear a good story that they can tell others later. The second approach is to figure out the core of the story. If you have 30 seconds to make an elevator pitch, you pull the (alleged) Mark Twain, "baby shoes for sale; never worn" trick of using the fewest words in the most impactful way. Sometimes this is figuring out a quick set-up and pay-off one-two punch in the story. This is harder, IMO, because it requires that you have thought significantly about your story before you tell it. But I've also found that the more you practice this, the easier it gets to tell a short version and a long version, depending on how the room reads and how the conversations go. The third way is riskier, but effectively, you play the punch line first. "Once I sang karaoke with Kelly Clarkson at a diner in Mexico City" is a headline statement that makes people say "Wait, WHAT?!" If time is tight, they'll take that one statement and that's good enough to make you interesting. Conversation over. Move along. But if there's more time or the conversation is able to slow down, you'll have the opportunity to expand it into that larger story. In short, grab their attention with an impactful but ultimately throwaway statement, then reel them in for the long version.

by szemy2 4y ago

Jemaclus 4y ago

Totally. I've found that there are three approaches to that. The first is that almost any conversation will slow down for a good story. If you get good at commanding the attention of folks in the conversation, and your stories are engaging, people will gladly stop and listen. Most conversation, IMO, is fairly dull. It's small talk, or it's someone ranting about something. When a good storyteller comes along, people will stop and gladly give up the cognitive load of having to carry a conversation, and instead let the storyteller take over. And people love it when they hear a good story that they can tell others later. The second approach is to figure out the core of the story. If you have 30 seconds to make an elevator pitch, you pull the (alleged) Mark Twain, "baby shoes for sale; never worn" trick of using the fewest words in the most impactful way. Sometimes this is figuring out a quick set-up and pay-off one-two punch in the story. This is harder, IMO, because it requires that you have thought significantly about your story before you tell it. But I've also found that the more you practice this, the easier it gets to tell a short version and a long version, depending on how the room reads and how the conversations go. The third way is riskier, but effectively, you play the punch line first. "Once I sang karaoke with Kelly Clarkson at a diner in Mexico City" is a headline statement that makes people say "Wait, WHAT?!" If time is tight, they'll take that one statement and that's good enough to make you interesting. Conversation over. Move along. But if there's more time or the conversation is able to slow down, you'll have the opportunity to expand it into that larger story. In short, grab their attention with an impactful but ultimately throwaway statement, then reel them in for the long version.