Prepping for a Talk?

2 storytelling approaches to open with

Hey friend,

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

I had quite a busy, yet inspiring week.

I’ve recently attended two back-to-back excellent tech conferences in Miami.

At one, I participated as a startup mentor and judge in the startup competition, and at the other as a pitch presenter for a startup I’m involved with.

So, I had the opportunity to compare and contrast different presentation tactics wearing practically three hats.

From a storytelling perspective, the presentations featuring short stories about overcoming a significant problem (figuratively, some serious dragon) at the beginning are the ones I remember the most.

Two storytelling approaches

So, if you’re prepping for an important talk, consider these two storytelling approaches to break the ice and leave not just first but long lasting impression:

1. Origin Story

You answer what made you start the business or project in the first place.

In those events I attended, I came across several examples where presenters shared origin stories:

• A founder grew up with a dad who was a fireman. He learned that one of the top reasons for firemen’s heart attacks is the loud unexpected siren. So he came up with a vibrating device.

• Second founder while in college learned from his friends about safety risks during ride-sharing and came up with an alert solution.

• Another founder’s best friend passed away from cancer and he decides to develop an early detection solution.

2. How I Found my First Customer

As the title says, you simply describe how you came across the problem your customer faced and how you solved it. Right! You may recognize this style also as a Makeover Story.

I came across 2 flavors:

• The Sandwich method: You kickoff your talk by sharing the problem. You do it by telling a story about meeting with a small business owner that had challenges to perform a certain financial activity to expand her business. You then switch to the “meat” of your solution, technical info and proof-points. And then finish up your talk with “Remember that small business owner from early on? Well, after using my solution her business was completely transformed with XYZ KPIs” - to bring closure.

• Standalone story: You start your talk by sharing how you met your first customer, a CISO shaken by a recent cyber hack in his company. You introduced him to your solution and describe the ensuing remarkable transformation in safety. Then riding on that memorable example, you switch to the rest of your talk; solution, traction, team etc.

The fact I remember all these stories, tells you the high memorability of embedding stories in your talks.

It spikes your audience attention as it’s not a dry list of technical features or stats, and it’s relatable and believable.

Real people real stories.

The other role of opening stories is to answer the first question your audience is asking:

“Why should I care?”

By telling a story that connects the speaker to a strong rationale, you achieve two birds in one stone; you both allow your audience to get to know the founder on a human level and establish her deep commitment to the venture.

Skip that and people will ask themselves:

“OK! This is cool but why are you so invested in solving this problem?”

Correct! There are many other models, these two surfaced while attending the events.

This is all great but regardless of the storytelling approach you choose, your talk will collapse if you don’t address these 3 essential tips. Upgrade to find out…