The Keynote Creation Series (Part 4): Unlocking Storytelling Secrets

John: 00:00:00

Welcome to the show.

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Do you ever wonder how to add

stories to a talk or presentation?

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Do you ever find it difficult to

do so or stress out about what kind

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of story should I be, including

where can I even find these stories?

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People often do worry about adding

stories to their presentations.

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Should they be personal?

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Should they be other people's stories,

maybe a mix of those funny stories?

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And there may be, even worry about how

to introduce and tell those stories

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inside of a keynote presentation.

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This is part four of my

keynote creation series.

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And If you haven't already

caught the first three parts,

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please do go back and watch.

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They're pretty short episodes.

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Very consumable.

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And I'm taking you through my

keynote creation process for a

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keynote that I will be delivering

and selling as a speaker this year.

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And.

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I want you to see how that process

goes for me as I, hopefully it helps

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guide you in your process as well.

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So by the end of this episode,

you will know how to find

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stories for your presentations.

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What kinds of stories to use, what kinds

of stories not to use and why stories are

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essential for effective communication?

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Welcome to Present Influence the show

that helps business leaders develop the

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skills to influence impact and inspire.

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My name's John Ball.

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I'm a keynote coach professional

speaker, and your guide on the

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journey to leadership level

communication and presentation skills.

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My mission is to provide rising business

leaders like you with everything

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you need to be able to maximize your

impact and present with influence.

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You can follow the show on

your favorite podcast app.

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So weekly episodes and interviews

with influence experts.

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So let's get into things for today.

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If you have already caught the previous

episodes, you'll know that we've

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already explored things like choosing

your topic, creating the structure

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and outline for your presentation.

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Creating a framework for the presentation.

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And now it's important to start to look

at adding some stories into that framework

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so that we can really connect and get

our message across to our audience.

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And that really is one

of the keys for stories.

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Storytelling is essential in

communication, especially from a platform.

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Any kind of didactic environment,

if you are teaching in any sort

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of way, even if your presentations

are essentially epidiectic , which

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would mean that they are more on

the inspirational side of things.

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You're still going to have a level

of deliberative teaching within

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those are going to be points that you

want to get across to your audience.

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And stories are a great way to do that.

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Whatever capacity you may be

wanting to share information

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or whatever level stories, help

people to understand information.

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Being able to see things in

practical application can really

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help your audience to put things

into a correct frame in their mind.

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And to see how, what you're explaining

to them can and should be utilized.

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There are many people out there

who are doing coaching just

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in the area of storytelling.

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That is how important this is as a craft.

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And it is essential to being a good

keynote speaker and a good communicator.

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Being able to use story and metaphor

helps your audience to understand things.

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Helps them to make connections

in the right kind of way.

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And that's really what we want to do.

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How them to be able to make the right

kinds of connections and to deeply

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understand what we are sharing with them.

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The other good thing with stories

is they tend to stick in our

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brains far more than anything else.

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In fact, Where you will find again and

again, is that presentations that don't

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contain stories are going to be much

more forgettable than presentations that

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do now that said, if the stories are

boring or irrelevant, then that may not

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be strictly true, but general cases.

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Storytelling when it's done well,

when it explains things well,

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Can really captivate an audience.

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It is potentially one of the most

important elements of your talk, even

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though it might not feel like it.

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What stories can also allow people

to do is to see things from their

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own eyes or from a different

perspective than their own.

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And that is great for being able

to reframe particular situations

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and get people on board for

new ideas and understanding.

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They're not being told what

to do or what to think.

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They are having something

presented to them.

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That is going to help lead them to

making a conclusion or decision.

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Or generating an idea for themselves.

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As a reminder, for those of you who have

tuned into previous episodes on this.

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And especially for those who

haven't, the, there was a story to

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go with each of the key principles.

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These are the key principles for my talk.

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Which we should be the

case for yours as well.

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So I've created a structure,

an outline for the talk.

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I know what the principles, the key

messages going to be for the talk.

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We have a framework.

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It's It's a nine point framework.

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Where are you going to be delivering

three key elements of that?

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Maybe four, if we have to

do a slightly longer talk.

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So the first element of that in my talk

is is going to be about finding your

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vision, which is essentially going to

be on the importance of creating goals

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and purpose and direction for yourself.

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Now what I was thinking about

that I thought I know I'm already

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thinking of some personal stories

for other elements of the talk.

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So for this, I really wanted

to refer to something that is

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relatable for lots of people.

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And even though it is quite well used, I

wanted to tell a story a little bit about

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Viktor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning.

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And essentially, because what he

ended up developing was something

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called logo therapy, a therapy to

help people find purpose in the lives.

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And that's what I want this key principle

in my talk to be able to do with the

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audience, getting thinking about creating

purpose, direction in their own lives

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and choosing what that's going to be and

understanding how much more fulfilling

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that life tends to be when we are

purposeful in our lives, rather than

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just meandering and floating through

life without purpose and direction.

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So that was going to be

the first I want to use.

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I don't want to go too much into Frankel's

experiences in the camps other than

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to summarize them and then ready to

talk about why the meaning he applied

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to that situation was so important.

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Helped him survive that whole thing.

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But then really what I want to get

into is what he saw with people who

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had been through those experiences,

who felt like they'd had everything

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ripped away from them, of course,

and had been through major trauma.

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And we're struggling to find

any purpose or happiness or

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joy in the lives once again.

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So his therapy.

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Was able to help people to

start to do that once again.

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And certainly if if it can have

any benefit for people, who've been

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through something as extreme as a

concentration camp experience, it

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can help the rest of us as well.

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In the next key point of the talk.

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Which is called, enjoy the ride.

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This next section is

about being more present.

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So I want to help people

enjoy their experiences.

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And be able to take themselves off,

operating on automatic for awhile.

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Have those moments where you can stop

and smell the roses, enjoy, appreciate

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what you're actually getting the

opportunity to be doing right now.

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And be in the moment in the now,

because very often our brains are

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thinking about what's coming up more

than anything else or thinking about

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something we did or said previously

that might be playing on our brains.

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These things can even keep us awake

at night, but when we are more

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in the now in the present moment.

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We are able to think more in the

moment we're able to relax more.

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We actually have more.

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More opportunity available to us,

our brains, more flexible when we are

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operating in the present and we tend to

have greater fulfillment and awareness.

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And certainly when we give other

people the gift of our presence.

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It tends to deepen relationship.

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In fact, it's one of those things

that the quality of your time with

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other people is often, far more

valuable than the quantity of it.

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So you could spend a whole week with

somebody, but not really be there

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and be present with them, but an

hour or a day of being with someone

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and being really present with them

is going to have much more impact.

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And it's going to develop closeness

and trust in that relationship.

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So that is really something

we want to aim for.

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And this isn't just in our personal lives

where it's at, and he has an impact, but

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also in our professional lives as well.

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How many times do we maybe find ourselves

in a meeting was on a token somewhere that

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clearly distracted, or maybe even checking

the phone on looking at their watch.

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And then not really tuned into what's

being said in the not really listening.

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This.

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They're not really listening to you

and giving you their full presence.

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If you are a coach, if you do any

kind of coaching or consulting and

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that, and you are the person who's

not really paying attention, who's not

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really fully present with a client.

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That will probably, and rightly be

called out by your clients and should be

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hopefully caught out by yourself as well.

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It's the, certainly know that's

correct in those situations.

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That you do need to be fully present

when you are working with a coaching

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client or consulting client.

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But why not take that

into all areas of life?

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Because even in our professional

lives, we are coaches.

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A lot of the time, it, many of the

situations that we find ourselves in.

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Being fully present actually shows

people that we are listening to

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them that we're tuning into them.

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So I want to include things like.

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P that we can be doing active

listening, which isn't just going, man.

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Yeah, every few seconds.

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Oh, let's keep the conversation going,

but maybe even repeating some things back.

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Oh, When you said, this is

this what you meant, asking.

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Asking some questions or.

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All right.

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You just said, this is not right.

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Am I understanding this correctly?

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So we check in for comprehension.

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We showed the person who really

listened to them and hearing their

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words and seeking to understand them.

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That's a level of being really present

with somebody and sometimes even

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just a holding space for people to be

able to think and work through things

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without trying to rush them along.

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It can be a really powerful way

to be present with them as well.

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So it's a lot of things to go into here.

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What I wanted to include as a

story to talk about how important

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this is, was was essentially.

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Really my past life is that flight

attendant, which a long time ago.

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Even though it doesn't.

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Even though it doesn't feel

like it's that long ago.

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It was a.

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Gotcha.

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Over 15 years ago now.

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And And one time on.

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I had a few hairy experiences.

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Now, when you're flying pretty much

every day, or at least several times a

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week for your work you're bound to have,

if you experiences over years, that

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might might even put you off flying.

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You weren't used to them.

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One of those experiences for me, and I

thought she was debating between whether

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to choose a landing gear failure or

th of: 2001

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Now the thing is the flight on

September the 11th for me, we

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were halfway across the Atlantic.

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We've got 10 around.

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It wasn't especially traumatic.

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There was some incidents and yet

it was horrifying to be be hearing

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over the radio in the cockpit.

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Cause we were sometimes going and

listening what had been happening.

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And certainly when we were at

altitude that was concerning.

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But it wasn't traumatic in any way to

what people who were on the scene were

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experiencing or so even to watching the

footage, when we actually got back home,

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which was far more traumatic than that.

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So the landing gear failure for me, felt

like more of a high-intensity situation.

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That was more of the do or die live.

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Em imminent.

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Imminent danger.

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And the purpose of that story for me was.

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Just knowing that we were

going, being told that no, the

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landing gear wouldn't come down.

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We didn't have enough fuel

to keep circling around.

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So we're going to have to land and

do what I call a barely landing.

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And that was very scary because

the planes have engines, they

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carry lots of fuel and things.

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And landing without the landing gear.

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Is definitely not something

that you would choose to do.

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However.

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Those kinds of moments can be

where you might choose to either

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panic and stress yourself out.

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Or you might actually have a

moment of clarity, which is

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what I did, where I decided.

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If I'm going down, if we're going

down, if this is there, then

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I want to go down peacefully.

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I want to want it to know.

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I want to accept my fate

and just deal with that.

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I've had a good life and be

happy for all those things.

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And if I can, I want to help

as many people as I can in

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this situation right now.

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And then least be here for the passengers.

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And that was the whole story for

me, of being really present in that,

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knowing that we might actually no crash

and things like 10 serious, we might

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not all even survive this kind of.

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There was a good chance of

survival, but we might not.

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And that got very scary.

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But it was a great wake

up call for me personally.

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Into being really present in that moment

and with my own thoughts and myself

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and the people that I was with and

care, showing them some love and care.

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And for the people who were

passengers on that flight as well.

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So that's the story I decided

that I'm going to use here.

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Landing gear failure for key point two.

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And going on then too key point

three, which is about leaving,

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complaining and criticizing behind.

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And so the whole idea here is I'm

not taking things personally, but

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also not badmouthing other people or

complaining about your own situation.

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Not to the whole thing of

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you get served bad food in our restaurant,

not sending it back or anything.

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Of course you should do that.

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But not whingeing about it or Not

feeling like the universe is against

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you or anything like that because

your steak was cold or whatever it is.

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It really is much more about being

able to control our responses to

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things and taking responsibility for

our own thoughts for guarding our

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own thoughts and for acting with what

the Stoics might call greater virtue.

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If you've ever read the four

agreements, wonderful book, Don

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Miguel Ruiz, wonderful book.

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I love the four agreements.

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I've had to love the fifth agreement

as well, but in the four agreements,

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two of the key ones here were about

not taking things personally and

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being impeccable with your word.

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And I think that ties into

both of these as well.

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I wonder the story that was going to

reflect it, but also had a bit of humor.

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And because that key point three is.

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In most of my talk experiences

is going to be the critical.

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The last point that.

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Keep going through this in

most of my talks is going to be

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the last point that I get to.

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And I wanted to have some, what

did they have a bit more humor?

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And so I chose here to tell a story

about when my grandfather remarried.

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He was already quite old when my

grandmother died and he wasn't very good

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at very capable at looking after himself.

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Bless him.

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And He ended up getting

remarried to an, to a friend.

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So someone that he knew had been friends

with her and that my, my grandparents have

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been friends with her and her husband.

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For many years.

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And her name was Mona.

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And and it couldn't have

been a more appropriate name.

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I have some humor here.

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Like she was one of those

people who would absolutely do

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her very best to piss you off.

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She could walk into a room

and suck all the air out.

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And just with you with a few words.

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She was absolutely offensive,

but would act innocent about it.

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So she would say the most horrible things

and then just have face like butter

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wouldn't melt in her mouth kind of thing.

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There's some definite humor in this.

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And she knew.

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Yeah.

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She knew exactly what she was doing.

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I thought, but really what I

wanted to get with the story is.

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How that made people around her feel

the effects that they had on family

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and friendships and the actual pressure

that put on situations of she was not

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someone you would want to spend time with

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if you had the choice.

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Generally now I understood my granddad's

reasons for wanting to be with her.

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He wanted to be taken care of, and

she actually did a great job of that.

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And, but all her faults pretty,

we're pretty grateful for that.

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The other side of that though, was we

absolutely hated having a come to visit.

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Mainly these reasons because she was

an absolute nightmare of a person

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and that you're not supposed to

speak to the dead, but there's some

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humor in this and it's nothing.

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And really nothing.

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So not degrading or horrible out there.

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Really just the facts, the reality

of our experience of my experience.

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My family's experience in dealing

with someone who was pretty much.

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Pretty much a nightmare, but in the

family at that late stage of my granddad's

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life, So that can be a somewhat fun.

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I'm going to keep that very light.

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They're going to keep that whole

thing very light, but it's going

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to make a really clear point

about the kinds of people who

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: 00:17:05

insult and moan about everything.

318

: 00:17:08

And Yeah, absolutely.

319

: 00:17:11

Perfect that her name was Mona

for that particular element.

320

: 00:17:14

And so these are stories as well.

321

: 00:17:17

Now clearly the key point

one is not my own story.

322

: 00:17:21

But I am going to talk somewhat in there

about my own experience from reading and

323

: 00:17:28

understanding man's search for meaning

324

: 00:17:30

but where do these stories come from?

325

: 00:17:32

Cause key point two and key point

three, the, these are personal

326

: 00:17:36

stories and I do personally think.

327

: 00:17:38

It's a good idea to have a mix of

personal and non personal stories.

328

: 00:17:44

You may, even in certain professional

talks where you're perhaps maybe not

329

: 00:17:48

so much on the inspirational side where

you are more teaching specifically.

330

: 00:17:53

You may actually want to make sure you

include case studies as part of the

331

: 00:17:57

stories that you have here as well.

332

: 00:18:00

And you can certainly use elements of

case study in story mixed together.

333

: 00:18:04

If you want to be really

advanced with, during that.

334

: 00:18:06

I've seen that done very well

in certain presentations,

335

: 00:18:09

often in online presentations.

336

: 00:18:12

Certainly my favorite resource on

storytelling is from Matthew Dicks.

337

: 00:18:18

Who's a really good author

and such nice guy as well.

338

: 00:18:20

If you want to hear me talking to

Matthew, it was a long time ago, but

339

: 00:18:24

you can go back to episode 36 or 38.

340

: 00:18:27

I have to split the

episode into two parts.

341

: 00:18:28

It was such a good but long

conversation with so much value.

342

: 00:18:33

So episode 36 and absolutely.

343

: 00:18:36

So Jay is part two of that interview.

344

: 00:18:38

You can go back and listen to

me in conversation with Matthew

345

: 00:18:42

Dicks or bounced Story Worthy.

346

: 00:18:44

And it's such a good book that gives

away so many storytelling secrets

347

: 00:18:48

and gives you a very clear how

to, of have to put these together.

348

: 00:18:52

How to tell your stories from the stage.

349

: 00:18:54

I do recommend it.

350

: 00:18:55

It's my favorite resource.

351

: 00:18:57

It also gives some really good clues

on how to find stories for yourself.

352

: 00:19:01

One of the things that Matthew

recommends in the book.

353

: 00:19:05

Is creating what he

calls homework for life.

354

: 00:19:09

I know he won't mind me having

you about homework for life.

355

: 00:19:12

'cause I'm telling you.

356

: 00:19:14

Because it is from him.

357

: 00:19:15

I'm not telling you it's something that

I've come up with is that, and he isn't.

358

: 00:19:18

And I've had similar things from

other coaches and courses and

359

: 00:19:22

programs that I've been in as well.

360

: 00:19:24

Of creating these stories for yourself.

361

: 00:19:26

He has some really great strategies

for creating these stories.

362

: 00:19:29

But homework for life is the favorite

is his favorite one, because very often.

363

: 00:19:33

The stories that have the most impact and

meaning are ones that just come up from

364

: 00:19:36

our daily life, but we lose so many of

them because we don't keep track of them.

365

: 00:19:42

So what he recommends is creating

a spreadsheet for yourself.

366

: 00:19:45

Where you just note in to that at the end

of the day, the most story worthy thing

367

: 00:19:50

or things that have happened that day.

368

: 00:19:53

And that way you start to keep a record

of all these things they might want

369

: 00:19:56

to make an a why was story worthy,

or add a little detail, but you don't

370

: 00:20:00

going to write the whole story then,

and there, you're just going to give

371

: 00:20:02

yourself the prompt and the reminder

of what the story, what the thing was.

372

: 00:20:06

And what made a story where they.

373

: 00:20:09

And from there you have a

resource that you can dip into

374

: 00:20:13

at any time and go through.

375

: 00:20:15

And find various opportunities for

stories that can fit with the elements

376

: 00:20:20

of a presentation that you have,

that might be the most appropriate.

377

: 00:20:24

I have no problem at all with people

who want to put all personal stories.

378

: 00:20:29

But I do think it's a good

idea to not go the other way of

379

: 00:20:32

having all impersonal stories.

380

: 00:20:35

Simply because personal stories, even just

one personal story in your presentation.

381

: 00:20:41

Is going to give you a better opportunity

to connect with your audience.

382

: 00:20:45

They're going to feel like they

know more about you when you

383

: 00:20:49

share a personal story with them.

384

: 00:20:51

So that is an opportunity for

vulnerability and for real sharing

385

: 00:20:55

and connection, a connection moment.

386

: 00:20:58

With your audience.

387

: 00:20:59

And even in professional

settings, that's really valuable.

388

: 00:21:02

It can be a really powerful

tool to put into this.

389

: 00:21:05

And in these days where we want

more, where we do seem to want more

390

: 00:21:08

emotional intelligence and connectivity

in our professional relationships,

391

: 00:21:14

stories can be a great way to help you

introduce that and have more of it.

392

: 00:21:19

There are personal stories

that I would generally avoid.

393

: 00:21:24

I give you one example of this.

394

: 00:21:26

Now some of you may know that I've

for many years worked with the the

395

: 00:21:30

great Harv Eker and his organization.

396

: 00:21:33

And at one time, I can remember

Harv telling a story from stage.

397

: 00:21:37

About dancing.

398

: 00:21:39

To an event and he was dancing with

a very attractive woman and getting

399

: 00:21:44

very aroused from the whole thing.

400

: 00:21:47

I would generally steer clear

of those kinds of stories.

401

: 00:21:49

I, he made it work.

402

: 00:21:51

He got away with it, but I

think talking about things.

403

: 00:21:55

Even any.

404

: 00:21:56

In a, any kind of professional

setting, certainly.

405

: 00:21:59

Talking about things like sexual,

arousals probably an appropriate

406

: 00:22:03

and I would steer well clear of it.

407

: 00:22:05

I would also steer clear of

stories that make you look stupid.

408

: 00:22:09

Cause you might want to have

some funny stories, but you don't

409

: 00:22:12

want them to be self denigrating.

410

: 00:22:15

You don't really want them to

make you look unreliable or.

411

: 00:22:19

Or stupid that somebody might not

actually want to work with you.

412

: 00:22:23

And think, oh, that was dumb.

413

: 00:22:26

So you don't really want to do

yourself down with the stories

414

: 00:22:28

that you tell you certainly.

415

: 00:22:30

Okay.

416

: 00:22:30

To have a little bit of joke at your

expense, but not something that's actually

417

: 00:22:34

going to make people think less of you.

418

: 00:22:37

Being vulnerable or having no

showing that you can at least laugh

419

: 00:22:40

at yourself is great and handled

right back and still be very funny.

420

: 00:22:45

And we're not looking to make a

complete fool of ourselves just to have

421

: 00:22:47

a humorous story in a presentation.

422

: 00:22:50

That kind of vulnerability is probably

not going to serve you so well.

423

: 00:22:53

Especially in professional settings.

424

: 00:22:56

So I would steer clear of that too.

425

: 00:22:58

Also steer clear of stories that, you

know, from mates nights out, whether

426

: 00:23:03

it's with the lads of the girls.

427

: 00:23:05

Some of the stories you may tell

to your friends are not going to

428

: 00:23:08

be appropriate for telling from

the stage and the way you tell them

429

: 00:23:12

might be a little different as well.

430

: 00:23:14

So we really want to be

telling appropriate stories.

431

: 00:23:18

Use your common sense.

432

: 00:23:20

And If you're not sure.

433

: 00:23:21

Get some outside advice.

434

: 00:23:23

I will say this though.

435

: 00:23:24

And this is particularly

from people from the UK.

436

: 00:23:28

Very often when people from the UK want

to tell humorous stories, funny stories.

437

: 00:23:33

They tend to.

438

: 00:23:35

Go straight to embarrassing situations.

439

: 00:23:40

And very often, those are things

like getting caught out, not

440

: 00:23:45

being able to get to a toilet.

441

: 00:23:46

Maybe they soil themselves.

442

: 00:23:48

Maybe they wet themselves.

443

: 00:23:49

Being caught being locked out of a hotel

room, naked, those kinds of things.

444

: 00:23:54

These are not appropriate stories.

445

: 00:23:56

And they're really,

actually not that funny.

446

: 00:23:58

And they're not very original either.

447

: 00:24:01

So I would steer clear of those in any

kind of setting and just know that most

448

: 00:24:07

people have had that kind of situation.

449

: 00:24:10

And it might be funny

with friends and family.

450

: 00:24:12

It might be funny in the

moment, but generally those

451

: 00:24:15

stories are not that funny.

452

: 00:24:17

So I would steer clear of them

if you're trying to go for humor,

453

: 00:24:21

try and get it in a different way.

454

: 00:24:23

Now, most of us will have personal

stories, family things we can

455

: 00:24:28

use and get some humor from, but

it doesn't need to be offensive.

456

: 00:24:32

It doesn't need to be punching down.

457

: 00:24:33

It doesn't need to be making anybody

into a complete idiot or an object

458

: 00:24:38

of ridicule, especially yourself.

459

: 00:24:41

So do avoid that.

460

: 00:24:43

If you do want to do that and you

find a way to make it work, I'd love

461

: 00:24:45

to hear about it because I think

that would be very challenging.

462

: 00:24:48

And that probably mean that you're

a very gifted storyteller to be

463

: 00:24:52

able to make those things work.

464

: 00:24:53

But I think you'll find even in PR.

465

: 00:24:55

Things like moth story competitions and

story slams that they tend to discourage

466

: 00:25:01

people from those kinds of stories.

467

: 00:25:03

For those similar reasons,

they're very common.

468

: 00:25:06

Most people have those kinds of stories.

469

: 00:25:08

And most people don't find them funny.

470

: 00:25:11

I would also stay well clear.

471

: 00:25:13

Of.

472

: 00:25:14

Some of the parabalistic stories

that people use a lot of the time.

473

: 00:25:18

And I think.

474

: 00:25:19

And I've used it myself, but stories

like that, the Chinese farmer, if

475

: 00:25:23

you haven't come across that one,

the time he's filed me has his son

476

: 00:25:26

finds a horse and the neighbors all

gather and say, oh, I was very lucky.

477

: 00:25:31

And then the horse is wild.

478

: 00:25:32

It throws his son off and the

thumb breaks his leg, the neighbors

479

: 00:25:34

gather and say, oh, we've prayed.

480

: 00:25:35

Very unlucky.

481

: 00:25:36

If you haven't, I'm not going to go

through the whole thing, but if we

482

: 00:25:38

haven't heard at all, it's really just the

principle of you don't know if it's good

483

: 00:25:42

or bad luck, cause it's just maybe seems

like we're in the moment, but it actually

484

: 00:25:45

might work out to be good in the future.

485

: 00:25:48

So maybe.

486

: 00:25:49

The reserve judgment.

487

: 00:25:52

It's a great principle.

488

: 00:25:54

But the story gets used a lot.

489

: 00:25:56

There's one about the stone cutter or

the The Mason and one of them to start.

490

: 00:26:00

I'm carving stone.

491

: 00:26:01

And the next one says I'm

building a cathedral and the

492

: 00:26:04

next one says, we're creating.

493

: 00:26:06

Creating a divine home for people to

come and commune with God and the angels.

494

: 00:26:11

Something along those lines, as far

as the different forms of vision that

495

: 00:26:15

people have doing exactly the same job.

496

: 00:26:19

So perspective is everything.

497

: 00:26:20

It's so common.

498

: 00:26:22

I've heard it used in talks several times.

499

: 00:26:25

At least.

500

: 00:26:26

I would stay away from the more cliched

stories, unless you can find a way

501

: 00:26:31

to make it interesting or different

than how most people would tell it.

502

: 00:26:37

If you really want to get some stories

off the ground, now that you're looking

503

: 00:26:41

to put into your talk, I recommend an

exercise that I got from Matthew Dicks.

504

: 00:26:45

Where you might do

first, last, best, worst.

505

: 00:26:48

Sorry.

506

: 00:26:49

You create your first, your last,

your best, your worst for maybe

507

: 00:26:52

things like car, your first car, your

last car, your best car, your worst.

508

: 00:26:56

Ah, your pets first pet last pet.

509

: 00:26:59

worst best bet those guys and

go through things like that.

510

: 00:27:03

First kiss, your first date.

511

: 00:27:05

Best worst.

512

: 00:27:06

And all of those.

513

: 00:27:08

You will find story material

from going through that.

514

: 00:27:10

So it's an exercise that you could

do in a group or with a few friends.

515

: 00:27:13

If other people who want

to work in this too.

516

: 00:27:16

A great thing to do in a

workshop for storytelling.

517

: 00:27:19

If you're looking to come up and create

stories for yourself there for your talks.

518

: 00:27:23

So that gives you another

resource to be able to find

519

: 00:27:27

stories, to put into your talks.

520

: 00:27:30

I would say the most important thing

with putting stories into your talks

521

: 00:27:34

is that they are the most appropriate

stories that are going in there.

522

: 00:27:38

The ones that you use, the best stories

you have to be able to get the point

523

: 00:27:42

across that you want to get across.

524

: 00:27:44

So you use the best stories

that you can come up with.

525

: 00:27:47

And you might want to do

some workshopping with that.

526

: 00:27:50

If you want help adding stories

into your talk or you want help

527

: 00:27:54

structuring and outlining your

talk, please do get in touch.

528

: 00:27:57

You can visit the new website,

present influence.com.

529

: 00:28:01

Or you can hit me up on LinkedIn.

530

: 00:28:02

You will find links in the show notes

to be able to do either of those.

531

: 00:28:07

And I would love to hear from

me and please feel please

532

: 00:28:09

do feel free to get in touch.

533

: 00:28:11

Now, if you're not already

following the show, please do.

534

: 00:28:14

I will be coming back with more parts

of the keynote creation process.

535

: 00:28:19

I haven't really figured out how

many episodes this is going to be

536

: 00:28:21

in total, or I don't want, I don't

want it to be super long episodes.

537

: 00:28:25

This one is probably already a bit longer

than I had originally planned, but.

538

: 00:28:30

I do have some amazing

interviews coming up.

539

: 00:28:32

I have a conversation that I had with

Cam Beaudoin and about demo videos.

540

: 00:28:36

And whether having a bad demo

video is better than having

541

: 00:28:39

no demo video as a speaker.

542

: 00:28:41

Very interesting.

543

: 00:28:42

I know you're going to love it.

544

: 00:28:43

I absolutely loved my

conversation with cam.

545

: 00:28:45

And it's particularly helpful.

546

: 00:28:48

I also had a, I was having an

interview with a lady called Lida

547

: 00:28:51

Citroën, who is an influence expert

herself and has books on this topic.

548

: 00:28:56

And I'm pretty sure you're going

to enjoy that conversation too.

549

: 00:28:59

Or maybe you will see you there.

550

: 00:29:00

Where are we?

551

: 00:29:01

He would have some points.

552

: 00:29:02

Some slight points of disagreement,

friendly disagreement, but we have a,

553

: 00:29:05

there's a few things we didn't necessarily

agree on that as well, which is, which

554

: 00:29:10

was definitely interesting to talk about.

555

: 00:29:13

There's a whole bunch of Indies current.

556

: 00:29:14

Which have just been fantastic.

557

: 00:29:16

I.

558

: 00:29:16

I'm so lucky with the guests that

I'm able to get onto the show.

559

: 00:29:20

And the conversations that we're

able to have, and I'm just doing

560

: 00:29:23

my very best to keep them relevant

and interesting for you as well.

561

: 00:29:26

If that is a value to you and you want to

listen to these These episodes are more.

562

: 00:29:32

Make sure you're following the show.

563

: 00:29:33

Please do consider sharing

the episode with your friends

564

: 00:29:36

and your network as well.

565

: 00:29:38

It certainly helps us.

566

: 00:29:39

And if you haven't already

maybe leave the show, a review

567

: 00:29:42

on apple podcasts or Spotify.

568

: 00:29:44

Give us a five star review.

569

: 00:29:45

Our helps other people.

570

: 00:29:47

Just to find the show, but it helps other

people to know that it's a good show.

571

: 00:29:50

I'm worth listening to, and if you

think that, but I would certainly

572

: 00:29:53

love to hear from you as well.

573

: 00:29:55

And as always wherever you're going,

whatever you're doing have an amazing

574

: 00:29:58

week and we'll see you next time.