Make Everything Earn Its Place
I almost gave a different TED talk. A year ago this week, I was coming up on the final few weeks before giving my talk and I was struggling. While I was accepted to speak based on the idea I had submitted, I was having a hard time bringing the idea into focus.
I felt like I was looking through an ever changing kaleidoscope. The problem wasn’t so much my idea as it was the stories I was trying to tell.
I struggle with stories when I haven’t taken the time to think who the story is intended to help and how. My big mistake was I focused on the story I wanted to tell vs. the story the audience needed to hear. The stories that truly illustrated the points in the talk.
This is really common. It is the mistake I see people make most often in storytelling. They forget what they want people to know, think or do differently and instead focus on the story they want to tell. The story they have a personal connection to…their darling if you will.
It was around this week when I hit the nadir of the talk prep. Like so many things we approach with gusto, there is a pattern to preparing a talk. You start off energized and excited to share your idea. It isn’t fully formed outside your head, but inside your head, everything is rocking.
Then you start putting it down on paper and questions begin to simmer in your mind. Is this clear? Am I saying anything different? Am I even building an idea? Then you enter the phase where you hate the talk. You wonder how you are going to pull it all together.
Then the magic happens.
It is here, in this moment of doubt, where you start becoming real about what needs to go and what gets to stay. In my case, it came after a conversation with a friend who told me to kill my darling.
I was trying to force fit a story into the talk. It’s a story that I am typically asked to include when I'm hired to give keynotes. Because it is so popular, I thought it had to be in this one. But it didn't work. Not only did it not fit, it was confusing and made the talk worse.
As soon as I cut the story, everything immediately became clear. I realized I had two better stories that really modeled the idea, and it became a different talk.
I then embraced one of my rules for building ideas and stories: Make everything earn its place. I went line by line to make sure each sentence supported the idea and the outcome I wanted for the audience. Anything that didn't was ruthlessly cut.
How often do you make sure that everything you include in a presentation, email or meeting earns its place? I often see people opening PowerPoint and picking up slides they already have and moving them around. Most of the time they don't have a clear idea on what they intend to communicate. They just start organizing. It would be better to start first with the outcome and idea they want to build for the audience.
Where to start:
Take a few minutes up front to lay out who you are talking to – think of them as a persona. What do you want them to know, think and do differently? Think of where they are now - and what they need to hear to meet them at that place and expand their thinking.
Once you do that, you can start outlining your points. Then for each one ask yourself: “Does this move the idea forward, reinforce it or cause confusion?” If something causes confusion, does it need clarification, reworking or should it be cut? Not sure? Delete it and see what is lost.
Once you've done that, then you can pick up PowerPoint or some other communication tool. You should drive the idea, the idea shouldn’t drive you.
Make everything earn its place. Not only will it make your idea easier to follow, it will better prepare you to plan what you will say.
Watch this two-minute video to hear about the director of “La La Land” practicing this in his award-winning film.
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p.s. Want help teaching leaders in your company to leverage storytelling? Send me an email with “Storytelling” in the subject line. Tell me a little about your business and what you are hoping to achieve, and we will be in touch!
p.p.s. Interested in a keynote speech for your organization? Send me an email with “Keynote” in the subject line. Tell me a little about your speaking opportunity and we will be in touch.
