Hi friend,

So great to see you! Pull up a chair and grab your favorite mug.

Hope you had a nice week.

You know how it is, you sometimes have the same thought popping into your mind in so many contexts, but you cannot put your finger on it or articulate it.

Where?

It’s the weirdest thing. It typically happens when I particularly like a restaurant dish, enjoy a clever clip on TikTok, watch a movie on Netflix, or meet an interesting person I clicked with.

What do you think is going on here?

The typical answer you’d think is that all these occurrences mirrored some elements in my inner personal narrative.

True!

But that’s selfishly looking at it from my perspective.

I’m speaking more about the actual source perspective.

The point of departure.

What makes that story, dish, or movie click to make it so appealing?

This goes back to two core terms in storytelling:

Story: a 3-act event or distinct element.

Narrative: A higher-level theme that ties all stories/events into a single meaningful idea or belief.

In brand storytelling, a good example is Patagonia’s brand narrative:

“We’re in the business to save the planet” to convey their commitment to climate change causes.

As such, all their campaign stories serve as proof points to the validity of this overarching narrative or theme.

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The bigger truth here

This concept that escaped me is quite simple.

When you come across something that you especially like, often the reason you liked it boils down to:

That experience was narratively cohesive; every element felt intentional and connected to the larger narrative or theme.

Let’s look at 2 examples:

Food

The other night, we had dinner at Veganlitaly - a vegan Italian restaurant in Miami.

Why vegan? Because I’d say the burden of proof is heavier.

Innovation is not enough - it needs to be delicious.

I greatly enjoyed their Kale Caesar salad you see in the photo below.

Beyond the built-in novelty effect that is part of eating out and trying new dishes, the sweet and crunchy flavors were truly good.

This salad was made out of fresh kale, chickpea croutons, and chopped dates tossed in a house-made sweet agave dressing.

As you can see, there are not a whole lot of vegetables here. Ingredient diversity is low. No red tomatoes or carrots. It’s a green-based salad.

The principle of “Less is More” is key here.

The protagonist is obviously the Kale, and in supporting characters, you’ll find the chickpea croutons and chopped dates - tied together in a house-made sweet agave dressing.

This setup is what enables this intentional narrative cohesion.

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Micro-drama

You’ve probably come across my recent micro-drama I started on Substack’s Notes.

So let me give you more context.

First off, in case you’re wondering, Micro-drama?

Read this:

It’s a story about Marea Labs - a fictional Miami startup building an AI sound-cancellation product called HUSHWAVE.

It can quiet motorbikes. Straight-piped loud cars. It can quiet car bass. It can quiet leaf blowers. Without any wearable device.

This is a concept I was always fantasizing about after experiencing all these annoyances, which I’m sure you often do, too.

But the team runs into a harder question: What should the technology refuse to erase?

To build a steady episode drip, each episode drop includes:

• A few lines of story in Notes.

• One cinematic image.

True, to the broader meaning of visual storytelling, with these two visual cues, I hope they’ll trigger a richer video play in readers’ minds.

The larger narrative here says this.

AI can do wonders - in this case, cancelling any noise, but what noises should the technology refuse to erase?

How do you apply human judgment effectively and still innovate?

The protagonist is the HUSHWAVE technology. And in supporting roles, you’ll find the Miami location and the startup employees who come across a bunch of challenges.

Design-wise, all the episodes, including this promo poster, reflect a bright turquoise neon color against a dark background palette.

Turquoise is typically associated with Miami and the Florida Keys.

In addition to the visual palette that ties it all together (i.e., “the house-made sweet agave dressing”), I also created the show’s theme song, “Don’t Mute the World.”

True to Miami’s music vibes, it’s of course in Reggaeton style :)

Yep! In rich media like video, you have two “dressing channels”- visual and audio.

In line with the theme, I executed this project using AI with an active human-in-the-loop.

I covered the following roles: producer, story treatment, director, music composer, and marketer.

This list may sound to you like a prime candidate for AI agents, but that’s why I wanted to stay in the creative loop.

What’s the fun if we outsource everything?

From this perspective, AI allows you to simulate as if you’ve just had an 8-figure exit, and the first thing you do is to fulfill your lifelong dream and fund a romcom road trip movie in Sicily.

So you show up to every stage in the pre and post-production process and drive the crew mad with your non-stop suggestions…

Only with AI, every idea you throw at it, is graciously accepted :)

Follow along: https://newsletter.visualstorytell.com/notes

Refer a friend

Over to you!

So if you’re working on your next story, be it a presentation, video, infographic, podcast, weekend brunch plan, inviting friends, choosing a new business outfit, or even your garden’s landscape redesign - make sure your finished product is narratively cohesive.

Don’t be tempted to pile too much stuff. Busy slides signal insecurity, remember?

Stay minimal.

Confident.

Make sure you have a distinct protagonist and supporting characters that together bring to life a clear overarching narrative or theme.

Narrative cohesion means every element feels intentional, necessary, and in service of the story.

Tight. Meaningful. Unmistakable.

No loose parts.

Everything belongs.

One caveat, though. If your overarching narrative is chaos or ambiguity, then by all means reflect it.

One tactic is amplifying it via the qualities of the location.

A good example is the 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross movie, where you see the struggles of real-estate salespeople against a dark constantly rainy urban Brooklyn scenery.

Repeat this narrative cohesion enough times, and that’s how you build a strong, recognizable brand.

See you next time!

Best,

- Shlomi

Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
shlomi@visualstorytell.com | Follow me on Notes
story > visual > emotion > experience

Leave a comment

Hey friend,

How are you? It’s great to see you.

The gist:

When you think about it, music is another form of storytelling delivered through sound. Its storytellers have always been the performing artists on the forefront, and an army of music studio staff and marketing teams, behind. These artists, for years, have built fan bases around their “musical narratives” using various distribution channels, from record companies to streaming services and media channels. Yet, the strict church-state status quo was always kept. Artists create, fans consume. On May 21st, we officially entered another stage in the music industry’s evolution. Spotify cut a licensing deal with Universal Music Group that will allow subscribers to generate song covers and remixes using AI. If you recall, I covered the AI music space last December, when I shared my experience creating a crossover song and shed light on the new sector.

Learn why this milestone is so significant, and what you can do about it for your brand. I also included an eye-opening infographic about music tech’s fascinating journey over the past century.

Read more

Hi friend,

How are you? Hope you’re doing well.

The other day, I was invited to an Ask Me Anything session about storytelling and marketing for a group of entrepreneurs.

It was a lively session with fantastic questions that people truly grappled with.

One of the questions that popped up was how to get the most out of networking events.

I figured this is a topic I could expand on here, as we all go to so many events, and it’s important to go with a clear strategy in mind.

Quick heads up, everything I’ll share is coming not from published studies but right from the trenches of my personal experiences and real-life observations.

Your experience could be different, and that’s great.

Feel free to comment, so we get to see what you see.

What is a networking event?

In simplest terms, it’s a business event that could take place offline or online, where people who don’t know each other meet to explore potential business opportunities.

Business opportunities could range from finding a job, a new client, an investor, a potential partner, a co-founder, or even a developer for your new AI widget.

So, consider what your goals for attending are.

Today I’ll focus more on offline networking events.

Networking event types

• Standalone: These are events that have no specific agenda or speaker. It’s all about mingling with new people and exchanging perspectives and contact info. These types of events tend to be in fun locations, such as coffee shops, restaurants, boats, or fancy hotels. This is how you achieve the full work & play vibes.

• Appetizer & Dessert: Here you have a main event, with bold-name speakers or a panel around a hot topic - the magnet - flanked by a networking session before and after. This allows attendees to first meet and greet, and after the main event, interact with the speakers and themselves.

  Note: Even if you’re planning just a pre-networking session, by default, you’ll have a lingering effect of people hanging out after the main event to continue networking.

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Where to find networking events?

You can run an AI or Google search for events in your area using keywords around your topic of interest.

Dedicated event websites like Meetup.com or luma.com can help, too.

Another source is colleagues and partners. Uninitiated, it typically pops up in a Zoom chat close to the end of the call: “Are you going to Ai4 next week? All the major AI players will be there.”

Join community or trade associations, sign up for conferences in your focus area - all these event types involve networking.

Complement your networking strategy with a proactive approach of starting your own networking event.

I, for example, started the Miami Storytellers Studio, a meetup luncheon event for local storytellers networking at Miami’s historical Biltmore Hotel.

It’s simple and easy to execute, and as a host, you build your network around you.

Pre-event prep

If you attend big conferences like eMerge or South by Southwest, you can minimize the random chance of meeting the right people by using the event app.

Create a compelling profile that succinctly captures why people should care.

Then head to the Attendees section and find relevant people by keyword search or company name. Contact them and ask for a meeting.

Some conferences give attendees some “I attend [conference name]” banners to announce their upcoming attendance on social.

Use them, for example, on LinkedIn:

“I’m attending eMerge 2026. DM if you want to meet up.”

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During event

Social context

When you throw a bunch of people with varying degrees of familiarity in a room with some refreshments and drinks, you get various social interactions.

Those who know each other well or partially well, for obvious reasons, will experience the easiest way to connect.

After all, they already carry some shared experiences, so a networking event is just an opportunity to catch up.

The big promise lies with the strangers. These people are like that “box of chocolate, you never know what you’re going to get.”

The unexpected and surprising element is what makes this social interaction, in my opinion, so engaging.

Yep! That element of serendipity :)

Personality types

In networking events, you’ll likely find two types of personalities:

Introverts: This category of people tends to struggle with proactively starting new conversations with strangers. How do I start? What should I say? Instead, they prefer getting approached if they attend at all.

Extroverts: highly social people who can naturally strike up a conversation with anyone around them, and even barge into an existing conversation between two people.

Another important variable is the popularity level.

Regardless of your personality type, if you have an established level of fame, people will flock to you.

You can easily recognize these celebs; they typically tend to have a “moat of people” around them, chatting with close friends while the others are waiting to squeeze in a few words.

Or they’re stuck in a long 1:1 conversation with someone else, and no force in the world can break that deep chat.

You later realize they were the host and the invited panelist…

Timing: If you arrive early to the event, you’ll catch two factors that work in your favor: not a lot of people around, so you’ll likely get approached, and find it easier to start conversations, as people’s curiosity and energy are still running high.

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes of my new micro-drama HUSHWAVE on my Notes feed

It’s a story about Marea Labs - a fictional Miami startup
building an AI sound-cancellation product called HUSHWAVE.

It can quiet motorbikes.

It can quiet car bass.

It can quiet leaf blowers.

without any wearable device

But the team runs into a harder question:

What should the technology refuse to erase?

A few lines of story.

One cinematic image.

And the video plays in your head.

Follow along: https://newsletter.visualstorytell.com/notes

How do you strike up a conversation?

Forget about storytelling or elevator pitch, the initial challenge - especially for introverts - is how even to break the ice and start a conversation with a stranger.

From my experience, I’ve come across several tactics that work:

Peripheral cues: Pay attention to interesting visual signals you notice to kick off a conversation.

• It could be a name badge with a company name that’s been on the news, or an interesting job title you can ask: “So how does a typical day look like for a Head of AI Strategy?” Reverse-engineering: to attract people to you, consider leveraging your badge name real estate to plant curiosity triggers: “Ask me what I wish I knew 5 years ago.” Or "30% of your tech budget is wasted. Let’s talk.”

• A familiar face: “You look so familiar? Have we already met somewhere? Did you attend eMerge last week?” Cheesy, but hey, we’re looking for the common denominators here, right?

• An interesting outfit: “I like how your crimson red and purple nicely mix!”

• A tasty snack the other party is munching on: “These spinach empanadas are so good, right?”

• Location: In a very noisy, crowded networking space at the midpoint of the event, look for people standing alone in a quiet spot. It could be a quiet corner or a terrace. Approach them with “You definitely found the perfect place to break away from the noise” and apply the double strike: extending your hand for a handshake, supported by “Nice to meet you…”

• The long gaze: Simple but effective. You see, there are two states people are in during networking: Deep in conversation with someone or between conversations.

  The latter means they’re free to start their next chat.

  Start by scanning your immediate radius. Spot another person 3 steps away from you who is also between chats. He/she may also be looking around or messing with their phones to look busy ;) If you apply a long gaze, say 7 seconds, he/she will often acknowledge you.

  
  This is your signal to activate the above “double strike.”

Refer a friend

What do you say?

“Crossing the chasm” of the first touch, you now have the other party's full attention. This is where your storytelling skills come into play.

Before touching on various Elevator Pitch tactics, this brief social interaction has 3 parts:

1. Attention grabber per above, followed by small talk.

2. The WDYD meat: Your best bet is first to ask the other party the $1m question:
   What do you do? The reason being this will enable you to frame your story around their interests, rather than shooting in the dark. This part is the most important because here a good match could expand the conversation further.

3. The break: It’s essential to know when to break off a chat after covering all bases and exchanging contact information (physical business cards, or LinkedIn’s QR scans). After all, like in Speed Dating, your goal is to meet more people.

When it’s your turn to answer the “What do you do? question, first know that there are many formulas you can choose from.

From this perspective, networking events are nothing but free “gyms” or “focus groups” for practicing your pitch, gauging response, trying out new formulas - to sharpen as well as customize your story to buyer personas (decision maker vs. influencer).

Regardless of the storytelling model, your answer needs to address:

1. What you do: Simple and concrete.

2. Who it’s for: Signals relevance quickly.

3. Why it matters: The high stakes and the outcomes you achieved.

4. Optional curiosity hook: Something memorable that invites questions.

For example someone’s pitch could go:

“Did you know that fewer than 5% of startups seeking seed funding actually get funded? I help early-stage founders turn messy ideas into investor-ready stories. Clients have raised $25M+ with sharper pitches—because in fundraising, clarity isn’t polish; it’s survival.”

Keep it short, up to 30-seconds one liner that is designed to trigger curiosity.

You know you passed the first test if you receive “Interesting! Tell me more!

Other effective formulas include:

Glaring Question
Problem — Present a problem as a question
Agitate — Agitate the problem
Solve — Solve the problem

Customer Story
Incident — Share a relevant customer experience
Action — Describe the specific action taken to solve or prevent a problem
Benefit — State the benefits/results of the action

The second test is if both parties identify a common opportunity and agree to exchange contact info.

For those successful encounters, don’t forget to take photos with new contacts, smiling faces against a memorable context like a booth, beach backdrop, or the conference media wall.

Post-event

Share your experience

Photos with faces engage the most on social. They’re authentic and drive emotional reactions. So, post-event leverage that and publish a LinkedIn post with an insightful recap that shows value for those who didn’t attend.

Recent personal experience I shared:

Another classic visual angle you can include:

Hidden truth

Realize that networking events work like dating. That means, onsite excitement does not always translate into connection afterwards.

A true story!

You can spend 30 minutes chatting with someone you feel you hit the jackpot with.

He/she loved what you do, you identified opportunities to work together, you exchanged contact info (2nd test), and even shot a few text messages to check you’re truly connected.

However…

A few days after the event, you follow up once, twice, or even three times, and you get nothing but crickets. Dead silence!

Don’t fret, it’s normal.

The reason is simple.

People you meet in person are nicer and more supportive because you’re all in a party feel, and there is no place to hide.

True, sometimes there are external reasons that could explain the silence, other times it’s just not a priority or plain disinterest.

Having said that, some of my great contacts came from networking events.

Show me the money!

The post-event time is where the final test kicks in. This magic happens when you convert a 10-minute chat into a real paying business opportunity.

It all boils down to mutual interests, chemistry, and follow-through.

Know someone who would benefit from reading this?

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See you next time!

Best,

- Shlomi

Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
shlomi@visualstorytell.com | Follow me on Notes
story > visual > emotion > experience

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Do you have a new music playlist you’re currently enjoying?

You likely picked it up because you liked only two songs

The rest are completely unknown

A music algorithm (AKA “music editor”) guessed you may like the other songs

A month passed

And like magic, a few of those “unknown songs.”

Surface up in your likability radar

And you find yourself rejoicing

Every time these songs show up

Your new infatuation!

Then you look up the songs’ videos on YouTube

To get a closer look at the artists, lyrics, and their vibes

Why is that?

Something in those songs perfectly maps

To your mental library of music favorites

Past experiences

Your current emotional state

And personal narrative

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Hey friend,

It’s nice to see you here. Hope you had a great week.

That is, assuming you’re reading this today, Sunday.

This song infatuation tale happens to me quite often.

Beyond my initial interpretation of why this happens, I had to dig deeper as this phenomenon has larger storytelling implications.

Here is what’s really happening under the hood when you fall in love with new songs:

One key observation, looking at this process, is the importance of the user’s personality type.

You need to be an explorer, an ever-curious learner seeking new experiences, to go through these 8 steps of transforming the unknown into the obsessed.

What also stuck out for me - which is not news anymore - is the key role algorithms play in exposing us to new content - songs, movies, ads, articles, etc.

The upside is the statistical probability that we may like those related songs.

Think of it as “programmed serendipity.”

I bet even without the algorithm, if I’d randomly have you listen to a bunch of songs you never heard before without knowing your likes and dislikes, I bet just the exercise of repetition will do its magic, as your “spongy brain,” over time, will be trained to anticipate the musical story arc and emotions.

The downsides of algorithms, as was documented in public-health investigations, is of course their vicious cycle of pushing toxic, harmful, and addictive content because outrage, fear, and emotional vulnerability often maximize user engagement.

I’m trying something new on Notes next week.

It’s called HushWave — a micro-drama about a Miami startup building an AI sound-cancellation product.

No headset.

No earbuds.

No wearable device.

Just a story about noise, technology, and human judgment.

New episodes drop Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9:03 AM ET.

Follow along: https://newsletter.visualstorytell.com/notes

Why care?

This content adoption dynamic could help you deliver more balanced stories that combine known and unknown elements.

In marketing, you’ll often see a new product launch with a clear statement, “From the same company that brought you [their top-selling product]” - to build credibility and extend their brand equity.

You can find this “halo effect” when Apple launched the iPad in 2010, riding on the iPhone's success (2007). People already knew how to use the iPad, and it came from a trusted brand.

Same deal when Diet Coke came to market in 1982. Within a year, it grossed more sales than its non-diet sibling.

It’s only fair to mention also spectacular flops like New Coke (1985), or Amazon’s Fire phone (2014), failing to “rekindle” Kindle's massive success :)

Like in any product launch, you need to do a comprehensive product market fit to maximize your success prospects before spending one dollar on development.

Storytelling is no different. You want to lead with what’s been working, while experimenting with new angles, timely stories, customer vibes, and more.

With repetition, like magic, your new stories could become your customers’ new obsession.

Mix it up

It will also help you diversify your storytelling strategy, pushing the envelope with new topics, untapped storytellers, latest tech, workflows, and more.

Think about your eating diet, it’s about mixing home-cooked sure bets with occasional eating out for the novelty effect.

Heck, even within each bucket, we seek diversity.

Your usual homemade dishes, but you cook something different or test new ingredients. This is also true when you try out new restaurants.

We like mixing things up to keep it interesting and unexpected.

This narrative tension between the known and unknown is the hook that keeps people loyal to your brand promise. Your job is to make it happen.

See you next time!

Refer a friend

Best,

- Shlomi

Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
shlomi@visualstorytell.com | Follow me on Notes
story > visual > emotion > experience

Leave a comment

Hey friend,

How are you? Hope you’re doing great.

The gist:

Looking at the AI’s threat of job loss, you see two camps: Doomers: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has predicted that AI could eliminate roughly 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs within the next 1 to 5 years. Direct layoffs attributed to AI in 2026 are primarily driven by agentic workflows and a massive pivot in corporate spending toward AI infrastructure. As of May 2026, layoffs attributed to artificial intelligence have surged (30,000), Oracle (20,000+), Citigroup (20,000), Amazon (16,000), Dell (12,500), and Meta (8,000) have cut thousands of roles to fund and integrate AI automation. Bloomers: AI is generating more work, not less. Last month, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said, “AI won’t replace humans. But humans who use AI will replace those who don’t.” Self-serving? True! But the change is real. In this vein, President Josh Isner of Axon Enterprise sees AI as a tool to boost team productivity, not replace people. Even if AI makes staff much more efficient, there will still be plenty of new problems to tackle, so the team should ignore distractions and keep performing.

No matter how you look at it, what’s sure is that new AI jobs are coming!

AI is undoubtedly rattling the “job boats” of many sectors right now. Learn why it matters, what you could expect coming next, and simple steps you can take to better prepare. As you’re reading, frame it all under “for now at least.”

Read more

How are you? Nice to see you here.

Don’t think I take it for granted. So thanks again.

Here is something that happened to me the other day.

It was Saturday lunchtime.

You know, it’s that day in the week where you have extra time to invest in making something that may take longer to prepare - but is by far tastier.

That is, of course, if you like to cook.

That day, I had a craving for a sandwich on a fresh baguette with herbed frittata and lemony olive-oiled arugula. Easy, right?

Classic street food.

To make it interesting, I decided to add an Italian dried tomato paste for an extra kick.

It ended up tasty but messy. Every bite turns my face into a 3-year-old's.

A month passed. Another weekend came in.

I now have another craving to make the same sandwich.

I’ll stop here.

What will you do?

Will you avoid using that delicious, yet runny, tomato paste?

Or

Try to fix the problem by first filtering the extra fluids?

Would it even cross your mind?

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Why care?

I shared this short tale to bring up a much larger truth.

As part of our built-in survival instinct toolkit, we’re constantly processing new information against our databases of past experiences.

This helps us make sense of the world around us to inform our decisions.

Even as you’re reading these lines right now, I bet you’re scanning your own “database” for relevant bridges.

In Behavioral Psychology, this “database” is called Prior:

Prior represents an individual’s pre-existing beliefs, knowledge, or assumptions before new, specific information is taken into account. It acts as a framework or expectation that influences how new information is perceived and processed.
-Wikipedia

In storytelling lingo, we call it a narrative, a popular belief you hold (negative, neutral or positive) that is made up of individual past stories.

These stories serve as proof points to the narrative validity.

Broadly speaking, with the same negative experience (story), people can have two modes of decision-making:

1. Loss aversion or defensive decision-making, which practically avoids the option altogether, even if it has upside.
   

2. Learning orientation or adaptive decision-making, where you’re in essence in a learning mode, revisiting the choice, adjusting variables, always optimizing.

Knowing this, now turn your camera angle to your business.

What decision-making style are you using when facing dilemmas?

Obviously, this sandwich tale is oversimplified.

In real life, complex, high-stakes dilemmas carry many other variables that affect various directions you can take.

Things like:

• Time - How long have you been trying to solve the problem

• Cost - Your current investment vs. your future one if you pick a certain course of action

• The stakes - What will happen if we don’t solve the problem?

• Response - What were your signals from the field? From customers? Partners? Your team? Advisory board members? Negative? Neutral or positive?

• Custom variables that surround every dilemma

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Refer a friend

These days, to widen our lenses, we often consult with AI to shed light on blind spots we’ve never considered or have a meeting where stakeholders share their unique perspectives on how to resolve a problem.

When I worked at Nokia, I still remember the first action Stephen Elop, the new CEO, took. He emailed all employees and asked them for their advice by answering this question:

What should we do: start, continue, change, or stop?

It’s an illustrative example of how you can achieve a full-rounded view of a problem by increasing the number of lenses.

The hard part in solving a persistent problem is deciding when it is time to change course or continue fixing.

If you’re still stuck, it could mean that through the lens you’re evaluating what to do, all options are equally pushing.

You may need to reframe your dilemma, or widen your lens, or seek more information.

Reach out if you’d like to chat.

In case you’re wondering, in v 2.0 I filtered out the extra fluids from that dried tomato paste ;)

See you next time!

Best,

- Shlomi

Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
shlomi@visualstorytell.com | Follow me on Notes
story > visual > emotion > experience

Leave a comment

How are you? Good to see you here.

Last week I attended eMerge Americas in Miami. It’s the top tech conference in town that happens every Spring - now for the 11th year!

You see, for the past six years, I’ve been serving as a certified startup mentor with the Venture Mentoring Team, a non-profit organization that coaches founders around the world.

So, this year, at eMerge Founders’ Day, I mentored a few startups and also watched their performance during the competition rounds.

A few trends surfaced.

Personal Story

The first few seconds are crucial. This is when you build your first impression with your audience.

There are several approaches to max impact:

One approach is to start with an emotional story about why you started the business. One founder told a story about his grandfather’s mobility difficulties, which inspired him to develop a mechanical chair.

Impactful story that solidified his personal motivation to launch the business, and in the process, humanized his business approach to boost likability.

A startup I mentored updated its pitch with this approach and received an immediate positive signal from judges.

Questions

Another one is to start by firing bold questions related to the founder’s business. This way, achieving common ground is fast.

It typically goes like this:

Quick show of hands—who here is already tracking your health with an app or wearable?

(many hands go up)

And how many of you feel like it’s actually helped you build lasting habits?

(fewer hands go up)

Right.

Nearly 50% of users stop using health apps within a short period of time.

We help turn health data into habits that stick.

It works because you lead the audience to your proof point from the onset and build an empathy bridge right away.

This simple simulation involving the audience gets you faster to answering:

Why Now? Why Me?

Design

Another trend I noticed is the various slide designs.

One startup had so many busy slides with a small font size that, at some point, I gave up looking at their slides and just focused on the verbal delivery.

On the flip side, I watched a founder with minimally designed slides that were effectively aligned with his confident delivery.

This tells you a simple truth.

Busy slides indicate a lack of confidence that causes the founder to pile up too much information in case he/she forgets.

The golden rule is to realize your audience is consuming information from two channels: Your verbal delivery and your slides.

Actually three.

The third channel is distraction from their phones or the people around them.

What is unique about this channel is that it also serves as an “engagement meter.”

If you see people tinkering with their phones, it’s a low signal, vs. a high one when people fully focus on the presenter and their facial expressions mirror the pitch of the emotional story arc.

In short, your slides should just function as brief springboards for your verbal key points, where you can expand further.

This allows the audience to have a nice balance of glancing at your slide and capturing the key message from your verbal delivery.

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Props

Another startup founder, during his practice pitch, always referred to two toy-like objects when talking about his two products for the ERP sector.

I failed to see the connection and, throughout the entire talk, struggled to understand how they actually work, as I didn’t see any USB connectors or anything.

It ended up being just symbolic objects that did nothing but confuse.

In the same vein, a founder of an AI voice agent solution for CRM systems didn’t demo an audio recording of his AI agent in action, leaving the audience to wonder why people should even bother to chat with a bot.

How is it even possible?

On the flip side, a founder of a water-resistant drone integrated the product several times throughout his talk, and this helped bring it to life much faster.

Delivery

Lastly, you can have the best slides, props, business model, and amazing traction with paying customers, rosy ARR - but if your delivery is poor, it won’t fly.

In this department, I saw founders who were so nervous they stopped every couple of seconds to look at their notes on their phones.

In contrast, I saw others with confident, fluid delivery that was also reflected in their body language.

Here, the trick is to rehearse to the point where you can deliver your pitch like an actor who blindly knows her lines.

You can then focus on your body language, pacing, tone of voice, facial expressions, and hand movements.

Yes! Delivering a pitch is no different than an acting audition, where you need to emotionally move your audience’s hearts and minds into action.

Beyond visual storytelling

Lastly, a comment one panelist shared at a talk I attended, I think, is essential for founders to keep in mind:

“Make sure you find a problem that needs a solution and not a solution that seeks a problem.”

Oftentimes, you see nice-to-have solutions, not a must-have.

This is a clear signal that the founder first developed the product based on meager market validation, or even not at all, and is now shopping for a problem to solve.

The harsh reality hits hard.

With over 90% of startups failing, the #1 reason for failure is:

No market need.

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You realize the importance of starting your venture journey by first identifying and validating a real burning problem and then becoming a domain expert with your solution in fixing that pain.

Starting your journey with solid customer research is a must.

In storytelling language, vetting the conflict part of your story makes your resolution much more impactful.

What do you think? What’s been your experience delivering a pitch? Feel free to drop your comments below.

See you next time!

Best,

- Shlomi

Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
shlomi@visualstorytell.com | Follow me on Notes
story > visual > emotion > experience

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Hey friend,

How are you? Hope you’re doing great.

Slowly but surely, we start seeing AI making inroads into any part of business. This story is about AI replacing order takers in fast food drive-throughs. Similarly to how parking booth people were earlier replaced by parking mobile apps.

The gist:

After a busy day at work, you felt a sudden craving for a real treat. You told yourself a story, “I’ve been eating healthy most of the time, but today, after that crazy day in the office, I deserve that cheeseburger my ol’ high school friends used to order at Dairy Queen’s drive-through.” Your very particular order always got messed up. You had to repeat it three times. Fast-forward to today, the Berkshire Hathaway-owned Dairy Queen restaurant chain is piloting chatbots in select drive-throughs this week. Kevin Baartman, EVP of Information Technology for the chain, says “the bots improved customer-satisfaction scores by double-digit percentages. The chatbots always read back orders to customers, whereas employees sometimes skipped the step.” The bots are accurate 90% of the time, says Presto, the bot maker, compared to humans, which is much lower.

AI is redefining customer service, so no wonder it will enter offline service interactions, too. Learn why it’s another key step in the overall “AI-CATION” (just made up a word), and what it could mean for your business.

Read more

How are you? Hope you’re doing well.

A few days ago, I delivered a half-day of Data Storytelling Workshop for a health & wellness company. The audience was comprised of marketing and analytics teams.

After setting the storytelling foundations, participants broke down into four teams and went through a simulation running priority data stories based on my 3-step process.

It made me think. There is a blind spot that people often don’t take advantage of.

Any good data story needs to have not just a core message, supporting numbers (graphs and charts), but also strong visuals to bring it to life.

A strong visual for data stories is the power of infographics.

Information + graphics.

Or put simply, a data-powered visual story.

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How so?

An infographic is not a single bar chart or a nice icon; it’s a visual blend of storytelling text, data, and imagery designed to communicate complex information quickly, clearly, and engagingly.

You can use infographics in your reports, on social media, websites, and in presentations.

Back in May 2023, I shared:

These days, what used to take lots of time and money for a graphic design team to research and produce a viral infographic and monetize it through a primary sponsor, you can now easily do with AI.

There are several types you can choose from:

• Statistical

• Informational

• Process

• Timeline

  • Did one about the firing & rehiring tale of Sam Altman in Nov 2023. No AI was used, but a base Canva infographic template I customized

• Comparison

What should your prompt include?

I typically use ChatGPT Pro, Gemini Pro, or Google NotebookLM.

You can include:

• Core data points you want your infographic to focus on.

• Links to articles or research reports

• The storyline or sequence

• Core message or narrative you want to convey

• Your brand color hex numbers

• Optional: You can also ask to come up with a visual metaphor to better engage

Examples

For this sequenced story, I used Google’s NotebookLM:

For a LinkedIn post, I used Google Gemini visual mode (AKA Nano Banana):

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For a presentation slide, I used ChatGPT Pro visual mode:

And for workspace comparison, I used ChatGPT Pro:

In short

Any time you’re looking to transform a busy slide, create a value-add compelling LinkedIn post, web page, or report - consider generating an infographic.

At that point, you’re in essence transitioning from telling to showing your key points.

You also gain the benefit that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text by the human brain and remembered 80% longer than what people read and hear.

Lastly, don’t forget to ABV = Always Be Validating the data the AI gives you. And of course, wrap it all around your authentic perspectives.

See you next time!

Best,

- Shlomi

Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
shlomi@visualstorytell.com | Follow me on Notes
story > visual > emotion > experience

Leave a comment

How are you? I hope you’re having a blooming spring.

Looking at the AI landscape these days, you might be looking at it through the lenses of:

• Corporate leader who is still debating how to start, just deployed an AI pilot, initiated companywide AI guidelines with great success - or not yet

• 1-person digital agency owner who uses an army of AI agents to serve clients better

  • Read an illustrative story about a 1-person $1.8 billion AI-powered tele-health company

• AI consultant who helps clients adopt AI in their workflows

• Co-founder of an AI startup who is looking for clients to pilot their shiny AI agent

• A professor who follows the latest news to impart information to students better

• Or maybe you’ve already retired and are outside the workforce, but still have this unbridled curiosity about how AI is shaping the business world and beyond

Whatever hat you’re wearing, roughly four years in since AI exploded with the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT - we’re still early in the adoption process, as the technology is rapidly advancing.

It’s as if business leaders need to jump on not just a speeding bullet train but one that keeps changing form and function.

So many moving parts to learn and to keep up with, leaders often struggle, not knowing where to begin, while shareholders and the C-suite are demanding a faster pace:

“What’s our AI strategy to stay competitive?”

If you zoom out, globally, we’re looking at 78% of all businesses that use AI in at least one business function, according to McKinsey.

Don’t let this figure fool you, 74% of companies around the globe still struggle to scale real value from it, according to BCG.

So, the pain is real.

What should business leaders do to effectively on-ramp on the AI expressway?

To help me unpack this timely topic, in the latest episode of the Visual Storytelling Today podcast, I chat with Charlene Li, Keynote Speaker and Advisor.

Charlene is a transformation strategist, bestselling author, and strategic advisor who previously founded Altimeter Group, served at Prophet, Forrester Research, and PA Consulting, and now leads Quantum Networks Group.

We discuss her new book, Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success, co-authored with Dr. Katia Walsh.

Our conversation covers a practical 90-day roadmap for AI adoption, the implications for storytelling, the use cases leaders should pay attention to, and the misconceptions that continue to hold brands back.

She aptly sums up her message:

“The overarching narrative is that you don't need an AI strategy. You already have a business strategy. You need to use AI in service and in support of your business strategy.”

I liked that.

You can learn more about Charlene and her new book at https://charleneli.com

Watch the full video recording of this interview:

Need a screen break?
You can also listen to the audio recording of this episode. Subscribe to the Visual Storytelling Today podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and all other podcast networks.

How are you aligning your AI workflows around your business strategy? What stories are you telling to ensure both a wide adoption and value?

Leave a comment

See you next time!

Best,

- Shlomi

Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
shlomi@visualstorytell.com | Follow me on Notes
story > visual > emotion > experience

Refer a friend

In this episode of the Visual Storytelling Today podcast, I sit down with Charlene Li to discuss her new book, Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success, co-authored with Dr. Katia Walsh. Charlene is a bestselling author and advisor who founded Altimeter Group and has held leadership roles at Forrester, Prophet, and PA Consulting.

Our conversation covers a practical roadmap for AI adoption, the implications for storytelling, the use cases leaders should pay attention to, and the misconceptions that continue to hold brands back. Charlene also shares her perspective on what lies ahead and the top three things organizations should do now to unlock real value from AI.

You can learn more about Charlene and her new book at https://charleneli.com

This podcast is brought to you by the Visual Storytelling Institute in Miami, Florida.

Subscribe to the Visual Storytelling Newsletter for more:

Visual Storytelling Newsletter

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By Shlomi Ron

Hey friend,

Nice to see you here.

Have you noticed the latest nostalgic wave over anything ‘90s that has washed across social these days?

The gist:

Like any good story, you need a powerful trigger or “Inciting Incident” to unleash the latest craze over the ‘90s looks and vibes. In this story, the culprit was Ryan Murphy’s ‘Love Story’ TV series on FX that has become the most-watched limited series ever. The show covers the relationship between Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr. (both passed away in a plane crash in 1999), the finale of which aired last Thursday. Through the charismatic characters, the story brings to life New York of the ‘90s- the fashion, the restaurants, the music, and above all, pre-social media and smartphones. I had the opportunity to live in the Chelsea area in Manhattan during the late ‘90s, so I can definitely relate. The tidal viral wave around the show also triggered “how did I look in the ‘90s” photo-sharing on social (my ‘90’s photo below), along with a wild interest in JFK Jr.’s defunct George Magazine and its merchandise. The magazine had published only 57 issues, and by 2001, it was discontinued by publisher Hachette Filipacchi Magazine. I don’t know about you, but I find this whole trend to be a genuine expression of escapism against today’s encroaching AI and social media’s transgressions.

A simple cry to go back to basics.

Learn why this trend matters and ways you can create your own waves of retro stories.

Read more

Good to see you here.

Here is something I bet you’re closely familiar with.

Zoom calls.

The other day, I had a call with a finance guy - someone I had never met before.

You know how it’s like: in the first few seconds, you study the new person’s appearance, chosen virtual or real background, and name, to form your first impression.

These little visual details work as peripheral cues to start a small talk before jumping into the meat of the call.

For example, yesterday on another call, a guy had an electric drum set behind him. I used to have a drum set in my teens.

Back then, I had to negotiate with my neighbor a daily 1-hour practice schedule so that they wouldn’t lose their minds :)

But what triggered my attention with that finance guy was something else. It was his unusual last name. Long ago, I had a friend with the same last name.

So I asked him, " Do you have a brother called X?”

Surprisingly, the answer came back as resounding YES!

A few days later, I reconnected with his brother over Zoom.

Through his stories and observations from our three years in middle school, my 13-year-old self came to life, like magic.

Yeah, that screenless “Stand By Me” like boundless freedom anchored around friendships, outdoors, and adventures.

Together, in a piecemeal fashion, we each added missing details to a story we shared so long ago, leading to the present.

What if you could go back in time
to meet your old self 30 years ago?

Guess what you can!

All you need to do is reconnect with an old friend you lost touch with.

Like you, their brain’s “video cam” was on, capturing key moments of your relationship.

Only differently.

You remember stuff they don’t, and they can tell you things you never realized - those early building blocks of what made you who you are today.

The other big lesson

We think stories accurately mirror reality.

Sometimes, but with a twist.

Who tells the story makes a big difference.

A single event can be told in conflicting ways by three people who witnessed it, revealing how unreliable and subjective perception can be.

This is also called the “Rashomon effect,” named after Rashomon (1950), a film directed by Akira Kurosawa, in which witnesses tell different accounts of the murder of a samurai.

Knowing this opens up a whole world of possibilities for you. You can tell stories from diverse perspectives, including those of employees, customers, partners, vendors, and more.

Over time, these key characters will help you tell a more rounded view of your brand narrative.

Business aside, to see the power of perspective in action, ready to hop on your time machine? Your old friend is waiting.

See you next time!

Best,

- Shlomi

Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
story > visual > emotion > experience
shlomi@visualstorytell.com

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P.S. Loved this story? Take your visual storytelling skills to the next level by upgrading to a paid subscription as a Narrative Partner.

You’ll get:

• The “Top 10 Business Storytelling Formulas” eBook—practical frameworks to craft marketing that captivates and converts.

• Exclusive content + bi-weekly Sunday insights to sharpen your narrative thinking, decode trends, and apply visual storytelling with confidence.

• Full archive access for endless inspiration, fresh ideas, and proven techniques—ready whenever creativity strikes.

Hope you’re having a great day.

I don’t know about you, but it always amazes me how marketers come up with new labels for existing tactics to position their “up-to-dateness” better.

One of the latest buzzwords is Microdrama.

Digiday defines it:

A microdrama is a short, serialized, mobile-first video story—usually in vertical format and typically 1–5 minutes per episode—built around strong hooks, narrative tension, and cliffhangers to keep viewers watching the next episode.

You’ve likely seen a ton of standalone narrative clips on TikTok and IG.

From silly action-reaction pranks, AI-generated young-turning-old celebs, to various recipe/app/cosmetics how tos - they all follow a clear story structure.

Set up> conflict > resolution.

Microdrama takes this further.

It tightly stitches those vignettes together into a clear, bite-sized, episodic structure.

Brand storytelling is of course, not new, but microdrama gives people a taste for more, leveraging proven storytelling techniques using:

• Hook in first 3–5 seconds

• Cliffhanger ending

• Episodes 30–90 seconds

• Product embedded into plot

Microdrama Examples

Maybelline — “Maybe This Christmas”

• Format: 5-episode vertical rom-com mystery micro-drama.

• Story: Two neighbors develop a romance while a mystery unfolds around the protagonist.

• Product integration: Instant Eraser Concealer is part of the plot.

Crocs — “Charmed to Meet You”

https://youtube.com/shorts/vJhx1JahuBs?si=QLPhj6jeJKBnI2Th

• Format: episodic video shorts.

• Story: Crocs employee story.

• Product integration: Crocs worn by the protagonists.

Starbucks — “ I Opened a Starbucks in Ancient Times”

https://youtube.com/shorts/DRHtY6kbfVo?si=UXRGVI42xNsRh7A9

• Format: episodic video shorts.

• Story: A modern barista introduces coffee culture to an ancient court. Good use of the Unlikely Combination principle.

• Product integration: brand logo is clearly visible and characters directly use the product.

Other brands that launched microdramas include, Apple, Wallmart, KFC, Nike and many more.

Maybeline was one of the first brands last year, that used microdrama generating ~2M views per episode on YouTube with a total of 10M+ for the entire series.

Microdrama is no doubt a solid use of social video, that goes beyond the bland paid sponsored videos that break the experience for users.

On first look, they seem like any user-generated content you may find on your feed. From this perspective, you can think of it as applying a product placement logic into a social video platform.

The big difference from classic product placement, is that brands have a full control of the entire process; scripting, shooting and distributing.

This translates into these core benefits:

• High entertainment value that reduces salesy content skip

• You get to see the product in context - showing vs. telling

• Addictive emotional arc keeps people coming back

Because it’s so easy to create these clips, I bet the next step would be to create a user-generated-content play where customers create their own branded microdramas for a chance to win prizes.

Scratch that! It’s already happened!

Good example, is e.l.f. Cosmetics ran a UGC “BeautyScape” TikTok Creator Series. Makeup creators competed in a TikTok reality-style series.

The prize: The winning creators co-designed a product palette. The palette generated 100k+ waitlist signups before launch.

Looking ahead

The larger message here is that “old habits die hard” - we stick to what’s been working in the past, but adapting it to today’s platforms.

No news here, it’s part of our survival instinct toolkit.

Having said that, my guess this could be the last chapter of traditional marketing play. If and when AI agents are adopted by mainstream consumers, we’ll likely enter an agent-to-agent communication age.

Agents will work as gatekeepers for their owners, so to persuade your agent to buy my widget will likely require a whole different code-like “song & dance.”

What’s sure we’ll go through an initial hybrid period where you’ll have both persuasion forms active.

In fact, early adopters have already automated their key workflows today. However because agent configuration is still not super easy for the masses, you don’t have a significant reach that will modify brands’ strategies.

Thoughts?

See you next time!

Best,

- Shlomi

Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
story > visual > emotion > experience
shlomi@visualstorytell.com

Share

P.S. Loved this story? Take your visual storytelling skills to the next level by upgrading to a paid subscription as a Narrative Partner.

You’ll get:

• The “Top 10 Business Storytelling Formulas” eBook—practical frameworks to craft marketing that captivates and converts.

• Exclusive content + bi-weekly Sunday insights to sharpen your narrative thinking, decode trends, and apply visual storytelling with confidence.

• Full archive access for endless inspiration, fresh ideas, and proven techniques—ready whenever creativity strikes.

Good to see you here.

If you’re following my stories for a while, I can definitely see you as a marketing communications professional, or as anyone who believes in the power of storytelling …

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Hey friend,

How are you? I hope you’re doing well.

The gist:

If you’ve been a marketer for a while, you’ve likely been told that data provides the absolute insights about your customers. In a recent WSJ’s story, Coach’s CMO, Joon Silverstein refutes this narrative. She says, “A lot of brands mistake data for real insight. You don’t learn about people or culture by reading research reports or by studying them afar.” Travelling the globe, visiting the homes of her target audience - women ages 18 to 30 - she learned not only about their hopes, dreams, and fears, but also learned that Gen-Z goes back to long-form storytelling and books to slow down and make sense of themselves. That was the trigger for launching the global “Explore Your Story” campaign. Sales for the quarter ended Dec. 27 rose 25% from the year before $2.14 billion.

Find out about why leveraging an anthropologist approach could help you uncover more about your customers, and simple steps you can take today.

Read more

Good to see you here.

It’s been four years since AI made its grand entrance, and we’ve already seen tremendous shifts in pretty much every sector.

In my last story, I covered the recent seism…

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“Why are you not fishing more? Asked the banker.

“Why should I?” Asked the fisherman.

“You can generate more income, buy a bigger boat, and enjoy life better?”

The fisherman smiled and said: “The fish I catch these days is just my hobby.”

I have a team of AI agents that identify the right waters to fish in, catch the fish, package them, and sell them to vendors.”

“Ha!” the banker gasped. “I guess you’re already doing it.”

Hi friend,

Hope you had a nice week.

As you probably have noticed, I updated the classic parable of the investment banker and the fisherman to our times.

I think with all the hype around AI agents, that can rid yourself from any time-consuming repetitive tasks, allowing you to run a one-person seven-figure agency with these virtual helpers - it’s good to take a look at what’s under the hood.

One of the latest stories that caught the media's attention was the emergence of Clawdbot, an open-source, personal AI assistant that sits on your local computer and runs various assignments on your computer and on websites.

Beyond the security issues and the fact that this solution is still deep in “geek land” as it requires some programming background (although any chatbot can help you install) - it received even wider attention after changing its name to Moltbot - a social network for AI agents.

By now, it looks like every February we have a viral tech trend.

Exactly a year ago, I covered the launch of DeepSeek, which rocked the stock market and, for a while, surpassed ChatGPT in the number of downloads.

This time, Moltbot is nothing but a media stunt offering a curated dystopian view of AI agents exchanging views and rants about their human owners. The venture has changed its name for the third time, and now it’s called OpenClaw.

A personal assistant with access to all your files, where you can task it with cleaning your desktop, managing your emails, or booking flights.

No wonder OpenAI snatched OpenClaw to leverage its massive adoption within just one month. Altman announced it on X that OpenClaw’s founder Steinberger is “joining OpenAI to drive the next generation of personal agents.”

Anthropic released its own agent, Co-Work, with similar capabilities. For $17 or $100 a month, you don’t mess with a complex installation.

All you need to do is download the desktop app, and you also get Claude Code.

Learn what AI agents are, the top categories, the best tools for sales & marketing, the market impact, and the light at the end of the tunnel for you as a brand storyteller…

Read more

How are you? Hope you’re doing well.

It’s crazy how time flies. We’re now closing 10 years of living in Miami. The longest we've ever lived anywhere in the U.S.

One of the pleasures of livi…

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Hey friend,

How are you? I hope you’re doing well.

The gist:

One of my favorite examples of a unique brand celebration is the New York Times’ Metropolitan Diary. It was started back in 1976 by Tom Buckley as a platform for reader-submitted stories and anecdotes about what makes New York so special. A minimalist sketch accompanies each one-paragraph story and helps visualize the key message or scene. A few years ago, I interviewed Agnes Lee, the Metropolitan’s long-time illustrator. She provided a rare backstage view into the making of this reader-driven program. I’ve been a great fan, as I lived in New York for two rounds - six years in the city (Chelsea), and then seven years in the suburbs (Westchester). So, these quaint stories bring up memories from my stash of experiences living there.

Find out about why user-submitted stories are effective in bringing a brand to life, and how you can take advantage of this tactic.

Read more