Great Expectations

As listeners, the difference between what we perceive as a good story and a bad story often has more to do about our expectations of what’s to come than the actual content itself.  For example, if I tell you there is a new cookie in the market that you can eat that has 0 calories and tastes just as good as a regular cookie, you are sorely disappointed if it doesn't taste as good as an Oreo. 

But if you hear a story about a cookie with 0 calories in the market when you never expected to find a cookie you could eat that tasted even somewhat good, you would think this was a fantastic story.

As storytellers, much of our job is about preparing our audience to be ready to hear the information we are about to tell.  Choosing a story that levels expectations for the information you are about to share can mean the difference between winning a “believer” and losing your audience.  

-Julie

What’s Possible?

This is my favorite question that Lisa, my business partner, asks me with some regularity. It’s her way of getting me out of my own way because usually I’m the one worrying about how to make it work before I consider what’s possible.  That was Steve Job’s gift -- the quintessential storyteller.  He saw possibilities where others saw roadblocks. 

It’s a question that storytellers love to tackle.  And it’s the heart of innovation.  Imagine the conversation when Jobs first concepted an iPad.  I certainly wasn’t privy to it, but I can only imagine it went something like this.

“Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could make the printed word come to life with the touch of a finger?”

Then there would be the worrier (like me.)  “Yes, and it would be great if pigs could fly.”  My guess is that he then proceeded to tell the worrier a story about how no one could imagine “lightning in a bottle” before Thomas Edison created the lightbulb.

Stories can create magic and make people believe in ”What’s Possible” because they show us that others have faced situations like ours and come up with game changing solutions.  

Gotta go call Lisa – I’m worried she’s wondering what’s possible again!

-Julie

Happy Tuesday!

Saw this wonderful poster in a local mall that uses individual stories of pets to capture people's attention to spur adoption.  

Reminded me of my favorite Dog Video that uses the storytelling tool of juxtaposition brilliantly!  

Happy Tuesday!!

-Julie

I don’t want to “Hear You Now”

After moving into a new house, I waited all day for Verizon to show up yesterday. They never came.  For various reasons, my order was mishandled time and again.  The process was made worse by the automated line I had to continuously navigate each time I needed to call to find out where they were.  It kept asking permission to access my account to see if there were more products and services they could sell me.  After three separate calls throughout the day asking where they were, I was finally routed to poor Jackie in some distant call center.  After an excruciating hour for both of us, she figured out how to correct the mistake and work around the system to ensure someone came to my house the next morning.

Sure enough, Ed, a 22 year veteran, arrived within the prescribed four hour window.  Ed had a wonderful demeanor and shared my frustration with systems in place that did not work (he recently had to move from paper to a blackberry interface that made his job more difficult.) 

Now you might think this blog post is a complaint, but it’s not.  It’s actually a wish for Verizon to change their story.  They have a great product and they have people who obviously care about the work they do.  But both Jackie and Ed shared stories of their frustration as well.  If anyone from Verizon is reading this, you might think this is disloyal. But because of Jackie and Ed, Verizon kept a customer.  Me.

Perhaps its time to spend less on mindless television commercials that shout “Can You Hear Me Now?” and focus more on Jackie and Ed.  I fully realize ad campaigns serve a different purpose than customer service, but my advice to Verizon and others who rely on people to interact with customers daily -- stop trying to sell me things and focus on those people who are living out your story.  Jackie and Ed actually heard me – your automated system that kept telling me you wanted to sell me more products and services certainly “did not hear me now”.   Perhaps diverting media dollars to shout at me to the people who have a conversation with me would make me feel better about your story and actually want to buy more.

-Julie

Tantalizing Story Starters

Over dinner the other night, my friend Jill was telling me about a letter they received the other day at the radio station where she works.  A listener wrote in to the station about how one song they had played saved her marriage.  Expressing my amazement, she told me that it was not unusual at all.  In fact, she said they got thousands of letters everyday about how music inspired people to make big life changing decisions.  Then we were interrupted and both of us were pulled into other conversations.

So here I am two weeks later on a plane home from Dublin where I’ve met new people, seen new sites, and all I can think of is “What was the song?” How did it change her?  What happened before and after in her marriage? How could a three minute conversation captivate me with so little?

This is the power of story – she had me at “One Song.”  She had gotten me “started with story” and my brain kept playing it over and over looking for the next story byte.  A good lesson for those of who need to learn how to tantalize an audience and keep them coming back for more.  Can’t wait to call Jill when we land.

-Lisa

Less is More

I spoke at a conference recently where several other speakers committed death by powerpoint.  In fact, it got so bad at one point, the moderator threatened the speaker in front of the audience that she was going to take away his microphone if he didn’t stop talking.  (She was not being rude…only voicing what everyone else in the room was thinking).  It reminded me of the three cardinal rules we should all remember when presenting.

Be Bold.

Be Brief.

Be Gone! 

-Julie