Tell To Win: Post #7--Get Set

Get Set. Moving toward a great speech requires this next level. Guber gives us a few key steps. Step one, define your hero. Remember every good story requires a hero to struggle with a villain of sorts (a person, place or thing—even a shark…think “Jaws”). People like drama, conflict, and uncertainty; good stories fuel drama. In business the “hero” can be a customer, the product, or service, even the storyteller when it’s appropriate. Step two, find good raw material. This comes from personal experiences, preferably something you’ve witnessed firsthand. Metaphors are also great vehicles to transport audiences quickly to a new place. You compare a certain situation to an activity known to the group. Many effective speakers will use TV series (like “Seinfeld”) or movies (like “Jaws”) to make their points visually. Finally, Guber demands that we move people emotionally with our stories—we have to emotionally “transport” the audience. In one speech I gave recently, I showed a photo of a booby trap I almost stepped on in Vietnam. After describing the situation in detail and the fear coursing through my veins at the time, you could have heard a pin drop in the room. I think, for that moment, I had transported them into the steamy jungles of Vietnam with the possibility of death very close.