The Storyteller’s secret

The Storyteller’s secret by Carmine Gallo

In The Storyteller’s secret, the author explains the secrets of the best storytellers. Each of them has his own success story. But how do they do it? The readers of the book “Talk like TED” have a strong sequel in this book, where more secrets are uncovered. I include this book in my bibliography because telling stories is or should be made relevant for everyone at every level in every organization.

From each of these groups of storytellers, The Storyteller’s secret makes an analysis of how they do the story on the basis of illustrious illustrative examples. I give here a brief summary of the “lessons identified”.

1 ° Storytellers who fuel our inner fire.

• Let your passion float and share it

• The question is: “What will make your heart beat faster?”

• Rigid optimism: see a failure as a lesson to improve your storytelling technique.

• Believe in the power of your idea.

• Practice! You shape yourself by practicing.

• Believe in yourself.

• Tell your story personally.

• Bring a tension in your story.

• Do not shy away from difficult subjects. They build an emotional bond with the audience.

• Use in your story the technique of the three-part stories (eg trigger, transformation and life lesson)

• Put from your experience or from an event that gave rise to your ambition into the story to become part of the folklore of your organization.

• Use a higher goal, a higher mission, in your story as a motivator.
  
• Sometimes, use the following three steps (Peter Guber):
  • Attract attention with a question or an unexpected challenge
  • Provide an emotional experience through a story about the struggle that ultimately leads to the challenge
  • Stimulate your story with a ‘call to action’.

2 ° Story tellers who teach us something.

• Facts and numbers are fun and important, but rarely have a place in a story or a pitch. You should not touch people in their heads but in their hearts.
  
• 65% of your content must consist of stories. It creates confidence and a deeper emotional bond with the audience.
  
• Break through expected patterns in a positive, shocking or surprising way. E.g. Bill Gates released mosquitoes in a room at a TED talk.
• Use analogies. This helps understanding information and concepts that others have no knowledge of.
  
• Do not use statistics or jargon.
  
• Tell us about the problem you had, and how you solved it. Use specific, concrete and relevant details.
  
• Tell a story in which the customer recognizes himself.
  
• A brand is not a single story. Share the stage with the good storytellers of your organization. Everyone has a story.
  
• Humor is a powerful emotionally charged event. That is why you use it best just before a moment that you want the listener to remember. It is followed by focused listening. It increases the effective transfer of the message afterwards.
  
• Know what you are talking about and be and stay true to your brand.
  
• Twitter, Facebook, Vine and Instagram are meant to leave just enough information to attract attention to the rest of your content.
  
• Our brains are set on stories, not on abstract matters.
  
• The feeling you give people is important to adjust behavior.
  
• Exceed expectations. Put the dots on the ‘i’.

3 ° Storytellers who make things easier.

• If you can not make something clear on the back of an envelope, it is a bad idea.
  
• A good story starts with a good header that immediately makes both the idea and the message clear.
  
• Say what you mean and mean what you say and preferably use (only) a few thought-out words.
  
• Use the three-line rule. It gives structure, simplicity and action.
  
• Use simple and accessible language so that students from a primary school can understand it.
  
• Use video. Enter a conversation with the viewer.
  
• Use imagery, and less, less and less text to give a presentation a lively image with feeling.
  
• Introduce heroes and villains to keep the story simple.
  
• Keep the story to the most important things that everyone can understand.
  
• Simplify every complexity.
  
• Practice a pitch until it becomes interesting and it can be given in 60 seconds.

4 ° Storytellers who motivate us.

• You need a struggle to have a villain overcome by the hero. The struggle is a sign of honor.
  
• Never believe the story of “having or not having DNA for success”.
  
• Motivate others to dream bigger and achieve everything that we are capable of.
  
• Do not break bricks, do not work for an income, but build a cathedral.
  
• Sketch with stories an image behind the mission and vision of the organization.
  
• Use stories to make culture. Make your people passionate about it. Let the employees see that they are the hero in their own story with the customer. Share their stories. Put them in the spotlight.
  
• Inspire with stories about adversity, grief and victory. Use tension and triumph.
  
• Share in the lessons from the past with others. Those that gave you strength. Appreciate and protect your origin.
  
• Speak about real people who have endured hardships. It sets an emotional heart on fire.
  
• Use specific, lively, tangible and concrete details

5 ° Storytellers who set movements in motion.

• Use short words and short sentences and a minimum of words.
  
• Use metaphors and anaphors.
  
• Use tension and triumph to empathize the audience.
  
• Do not use an endless list of facts and figures and other information. Use facts to convince in balance with a trip to another time and place by means of a presentation.
  
• Put the audience in the situation of the hero. Give them the feeling that they can help determine the outcome.
  
• Make the story big.
  
• Technology complements a story, but the story comes first.

A final addition I would like to make about The Storyteller’s secret is the following: do not shy away from an opportunity to sharpen your storytelling technique.