It Takes Two to Tango: Story & Delivery

Practical tips for improving your story delivery

Hi friend,

How are you? Hope you’re doing great.

Quick question, even though I know the answer.

I bet in your line of business, you often find yourself in a face-to-face meeting with someone you want to persuade or pitch your story to, right?

No wonder!

In-person meetings offer the highest value in persuasion power, with exposure to the most nuanced human emotions. Unlike email or texting, they’re all coming at you in real time with no delay.

Your ability to deliver stellar performance and read your party’s non-verbal communication signals is key.

If you recall, I touched on it when I covered the logic of matching the right communication channel to the right message in:

So, yes, having a great story to tell is important, but let’s talk about how you can boost your delivery performance.

Mastering the delivery last mile

Why the last mile, you’re asking?

Because when you speak to people IRL, no AI will help you. You're on your own. It’s just you in front of a live audience.

And yes, you need to deliver to max impact.

Be it a sales meeting with a prospect you’ve been chasing for 3 weeks now, or an important pitch for a seed investor who finally has a 30-minute slot for you, in all these cases, your story will tank if it’s not effectively delivered.

Furthermore, did you know?

In face-to-face communication, nonverbal signals carry about five times as much impact as the verbal content.”

— Michael Argyle, Bodily Communication (1975)

Since we hang out here every Sunday to chat about visual storytelling, when you think about it, this only makes sense.

Instead of videos, images, or slides you use to support your stories, you leverage your non-verbal communication - those rich audiovisual cues you’re broadcasting - as they’re your trusted channels to convey emotion or intent along the highs and lows of your story arc.

Tips to optimize your live performance

1. Controlling your voice

Did you know that your tone of voice conveys your feelings, thoughts, and ideas? Another way to think about it, your words are in essence the Script, and your tone of voice - the Soundtrack.

To unlock all my practical tips for enhancing the impact of your story delivery, consider upgrading to a paid plan at the low cost of one hour parking :)