Give me 9min, and I’ll improve your storytelling skills by 176% (YouTube Video Transcript)

(00:00:00) Your YouTube transcript will appear here (00:00:00) hey there storytelling is one of the (00:00:03) most powerful tools to hook your (00:00:04) listeners and keep them glued to every (00:00:07) word you say but hey a lot of the advice (00:00:09) that is out there make it sound way too (00:00:11) complicated but the truth is (00:00:13) storytelling is actually pretty simple (00:00:16) if you know what really matters if you (00:00:18) just give me 9 Minutes you'll discover (00:00:20) the five storytelling techniques to tell (00:00:22) insanely good stories but before we do (00:00:25) that let me show you a quick example by (00:00:27) John Kinski whom you might know from the (00:00:29) office it's a 20 second story so really (00:00:31) short but it's so powerful by the end of (00:00:34) today you'll know exactly how to tell (00:00:36) stories just like him and then I said (00:00:38) yeah and he said says uh who are you (00:00:39) visiting here I said my wife and he says (00:00:41) is she an actress I said yeah he said (00:00:42) would I know her I I don't know man her (00:00:44) name's Emily Blunt he goes he goes (00:00:50) you and I went yeah and he goes (00:00:53) you you married Emily Blunt now I go (00:00:55) yeah and he goes this okay go did you (00:00:58) notice what he did there he didn't just (00:01:00) summarize the events he didn't say oh (00:01:02) yeah back then I was at customs and the (00:01:04) agent asked me what I was doing and I (00:01:05) responded I was an actor and he was very (00:01:06) surprised he doesn't do that he doesn't (00:01:09) summarize the events instead he zoomed (00:01:11) into the moment of the story the best (00:01:14) stories don't just summarize events they (00:01:16) don't stay at that helicopter level they (00:01:19) zoom into the moment they take us into (00:01:22) the trenches they let us be part of that (00:01:25) physical moment the good thing is it's (00:01:27) not that difficult I'm now going to show (00:01:29) you five techniques that you you can use (00:01:31) in all of your stories first technique (00:01:33) location say where you are the best (00:01:36) stories start by stating the location (00:01:38) where are you physically examples 2 (00:01:41) weeks ago I'm sitting on my couch in my (00:01:43) living room taking a deep breath or (00:01:46) September 2019 I'm standing in front of (00:01:49) the conference room ready to walk inside (00:01:51) now why does it matter to State the (00:01:54) location because the moment you say (00:01:56) conference room or living room your (00:01:57) audience will start to visualize it (00:01:59) they're like o yes I I know a conference (00:02:01) room and they start to visualize their (00:02:04) version of that conference room now (00:02:06) beginner storytellers they often do the (00:02:08) mistake that they give too many details (00:02:10) they're like oh in that conference room (00:02:12) there was a big table a television and a (00:02:16) wooden floor don't do that don't do that (00:02:19) it doesn't matter just stay the location (00:02:22) as long as they can visualize it it (00:02:24) doesn't matter all the details they have (00:02:27) their own version of that location (00:02:29) second technique actions what are you (00:02:31) doing in that specific moment of the (00:02:34) story instead of giving way too much (00:02:36) context about all the random stuff that (00:02:37) doesn't matter just say what are you (00:02:40) doing in that specific moment that can (00:02:42) be walking biking shouting reading (00:02:45) waiting whatever it is just State the (00:02:48) actions State the verbs examples I'm in (00:02:51) my office I open my laptop and start (00:02:53) reading a message by my manager or 2 (00:02:56) weeks ago I'm at the airport waiting and (00:02:59) lineing at security now why does it (00:03:01) matter to State the actions because it (00:03:04) brings in forward momentum it takes the (00:03:06) listener right into the moment when you (00:03:09) do that your audience will immediately (00:03:10) know that you won't waste their time (00:03:12) you're straight away taking them into (00:03:14) the most important part of the story (00:03:16) third technique thoughts what are you (00:03:19) thinking we as humans have thousands and (00:03:21) thousands of thoughts every single day a (00:03:24) lot of those thoughts are hopes dreams (00:03:26) plans fears worries crazy thoughts now (00:03:29) share some of those thoughts of that (00:03:31) crucial moment of the story example (00:03:34) instead of saying I was excited to meet (00:03:37) my crush say I thought ah this will be (00:03:40) so cool right finally I can see her (00:03:42) after all that time or instead of saying (00:03:45) I was very disappointed about that (00:03:47) presentation say I thought oh man this (00:03:50) is bad right everyone will think now I'm (00:03:52) stupid I can never go back there do you (00:03:54) see the difference it's a tiny tweak but (00:03:57) it makes any story more interesting but (00:03:59) hey a common mistake is that people (00:04:01) share thoughts that sound too (00:04:03) professional too intellectual they say (00:04:05) something like I thought this represents (00:04:09) a supreme opportunity now would your (00:04:13) thoughts actually sound like that (00:04:15) probably not right and so what you want (00:04:17) to do is when you share your thoughts (00:04:19) give us the raw unfiltered thoughts give (00:04:21) us those a little bit like ranchy juicy (00:04:24) a little bit neurotic thoughts now that (00:04:27) will make your story much more relatable (00:04:29) fourth technique emotions what are you (00:04:32) feeling the best stories they're (00:04:34) emotional they take the listeners on (00:04:36) this emotional journey and now with the (00:04:39) thoughts with the previous technique you (00:04:40) know now one technique to make it more (00:04:42) emotional but there's another one the (00:04:44) simplest way is to just stay an emotion (00:04:46) so you say something like I was (00:04:48) disappointed I was relieved I was happy (00:04:51) now that is pretty standard right that (00:04:53) is what most people do but it's not (00:04:56) ideal because it is not really visual (00:04:58) right when you hear someone saying I was (00:05:00) disappointed well you cannot visualize (00:05:02) it and so the better way is to show the (00:05:05) emotion show how it looks on the body on (00:05:08) the face when you experience that (00:05:10) emotion let me give you some examples (00:05:12) instead of saying I was relieved say in (00:05:15) that moment I lean backward and let out (00:05:18) this (00:05:20) big or instead of saying he was anxious (00:05:23) say he kept tapping his pen on the on (00:05:26) this table and he kept glancing up to (00:05:28) the clock every few seconds (00:05:30) do you see the difference showing the (00:05:33) emotion makes it much more visual it (00:05:35) takes us into the specific moment of the (00:05:38) story technique number five dialogue (00:05:41) what are you hearing many of your (00:05:43) stories will have more than one (00:05:44) character maybe a manager your friend a (00:05:47) coworker your dog whoever it is now what (00:05:51) did the character say in that crucial (00:05:53) moment of the story what were the exact (00:05:55) words examples instead of saying my (00:05:58) friend was very disappointed say in that (00:06:01) moment my friend looked at me and said (00:06:04) Phillip what on Earth was that or (00:06:07) instead of saying my manager was very (00:06:10) happy with my work say in that moment my (00:06:12) manager looked at me and said wow that (00:06:15) was really the best presentation you've (00:06:18) ever given now do you see the difference (00:06:21) dialogue is such a simple tool to make (00:06:24) any story much more interesting it is (00:06:26) actually the tool that I use the most (00:06:28) but I guess there's just one thing to (00:06:30) keep in mind similar as with the (00:06:32) thoughts share the dialogue that is a (00:06:35) little bit more interesting a little bit (00:06:36) more juicy if you say something like in (00:06:39) this moment my manager said well I'm (00:06:42) very dissatisfied with the inadequate (00:06:45) execution of that project well that (00:06:48) would sound super boring right instead (00:06:50) pick much more juicy much more concise (00:06:53) and catchy doll all right now that you (00:06:55) know the five most important elements in (00:06:57) storytelling let's watch a quick one (00:06:59) minute video to see those elements in (00:07:01) action that story is by Sarah Willingham (00:07:04) who's a British entrepreneur investor (00:07:07) and CEO of nightcap now when you watch (00:07:09) the story see how she zooms into the (00:07:11) moment can you spot when she shares the (00:07:14) location the actions the thoughts the (00:07:17) dialogue and the feelings so in my (00:07:19) mid-20s I was running Acquisitions for (00:07:22) pizzza Express and walked into a meeting (00:07:24) room I was 2 minutes late for the (00:07:26) meeting and the person on the opposite (00:07:28) side of the table the lawyer (00:07:30) looked up and said oh thank goodness for (00:07:33) that mine's uh white with one sugar (00:07:35) please so I thought okay this is a (00:07:41) moment walked around to the coffee made (00:07:44) him his coffee but the coffee in front (00:07:46) of him and said would anybody else like (00:07:47) a coffee and um nobody said anything (00:07:51) nobody wanted one I made myself a coffee (00:07:53) and then sat back down again opposite (00:07:55) him and as he looked up I watched the C (00:08:00) drain from his face as he realized this (00:08:02) enormous assumption that he' made and it (00:08:06) was such a beautiful moment in my career (00:08:10) really empowering when I sat there and (00:08:13) realized that actually this moment where (00:08:16) I'd had impostor syndrome anyway running (00:08:19) a meeting like this but I'd been (00:08:21) completely misjudged by the people on (00:08:23) the opposite side of the table was (00:08:25) actually this incredible superpower cuz (00:08:28) guess who walked out with the (00:08:30) Dale what an incredible Storyteller (00:08:33) right today you learned the foundations (00:08:36) you learned how to tell insanely good (00:08:38) stories but hey there are also a few (00:08:40) more advanced storytelling techniques (00:08:41) out there in case you want to go deeper (00:08:44) on this journey I would suggest to check (00:08:45) out this next video in which you learn (00:08:48) how to be a better Storyteller than 99% (00:08:51) of the people see you there (00:08:55) [Music]