Before you every start to write your story. Ask Yourself the Big 4.
How do you explain complex ideas without losing audiences to their phones? The secret lies, of
course, in the Innovation Storytelling. Over the next few newsletters, we’re going to break down
my process for Innovation Storytelling – why and how it works and how to apply it instantly to
your business or your next presentation?
First, Ask the Big 4 Questions:
What do you want them to:
– Think
– Feel
– Do
– Say
When you’re done speaking?
Let’s break these down:
THINK
Get clear about what you absolutely, positively need audiences to REMEMBER when you’re
done talking. How many times have you gotten the call, “Can you send over that excel sheet
from the meeting?” What were those 3 bullets again?
Storytelling is a memory making device, but you must feed it properly for people to remember it.
You’ve heard me quote Jennifer Aaker’s research at Stamford that stories are 22x more
memorable than just facts alone. Why is that? Harvard Business Review states “Research
shows that the brain processes stories differently than other types of information, activating
parts of the brain associated with experiences and emotions, which makes the information more
memorable and impactful.”
It’s critical to get really clear about what the take home message should be, upfront.
FEEL
You might think that facts alone are enough to persuade an audience to engage or act. It’s not.
If you think you bought your car, house or chose your college or political candidate based on
facts alone, you’d be wrong. Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology
shows that emotional content is more likely to be remembered. Emotional arousal appears to
facilitate memory encoding and retention, making emotional stories more impactful compared to
neutral ones. Should they feel excited, scared, curious, hopeful, innovative, smarter, powerful?
You decide.
Ask yourself, “What do I want my audience to feel?” in each part of your story. Assign a feeling
to every slide in your deck. You’re now the Steven Spielberg of this movie – guide the listener to
the feeling you want them to experience throughout.
DO
Emotion drives action. We know children are starving around the world and yet most of us we
do nothing until confronted with a narrative, a picture, a personal story. As complex humans,
we’re driven by feelings. McKinsey & Co’s research in “The Role of Emotions in Business
Decision-Making” says that emotional storytelling plays a key role in engaging and persuading
audiences that drives better business outcomes. Why? Because the listener is now connected
and willing to put their effort and personal reputation on the line to achieve a powerful feeling or
to overcome it.
Get clear about your call to action: Know your ask and make it easy for the listener to do it.
SAY
So, you’re done talking. Finally. When they leave the room, what do you want people to say to
the next person of consequence? You must pre-program it. I call these Memory Triggers and
Glimmers. Add memorable language – soundbites, metaphors, similes, even rhyme or
alliteration to act as glue to your content and the feelings you’ve generated so that the idea
spreads. You’ve gone from Spielberg to Don Draper. Memorable language is key to getting your
message to stick, beyond the meeting and make it shareable to others so they your idea has
momentum.
