Seven Keys to Good Storytelling | Josh Campbell | TEDxMemphis

[Music] if you're living your best life which I know you are I've seen your instagrams if you're living right storytelling has to be a part of your life you will have to give a pitch for your boss you will have to give a presentation to your employees a friend will ask you to give a toast you will give a eulogy so these storytelling opportunities are coming so you have to prepare for them you have to practice and the best way to practice and prepare is to find your voice your voice in front of a story

and swoop in front of a crowd of people your ability to connect with an audience and the way to do that is by telling your story the spilled events we run I host them and at the end people always come up to me and they say the same thing they said I'd love to do that but I don't have a story to tell and I always say to them well you know that's not true because everyone has a story to tell that's just something we tell ourselves that's the excuse that we give to not do

it what we're really saying when we say that is I don't think I have a story that anybody wants to listen to TED talks are about revolutionary ideas here's the idea people want to hear your story isn't it the worst when someone takes your excuse away from you I'm a teacher I do that a lot so these opportunities are coming you need to practice and the connection with the audience is already there why are you listening to me right now because I'm standing in front of you you're facing this way you really have no choice

it's up to me to keep that connection going and so the seven keys to good storytelling is not how to tell a good story it's how to avoid telling bad stories and so I've made some slides with some of my favorite storytellers to help me out first key be prepared but not too prepared every journey you want to give from A to B but it's the side roads and the side tracks the long cuts and the short cuts that make the journey worthwhile have an outline stick to it but give yourself some liberal room so

that you can explore that part of the story that's really working give yourself an escape route so you can get out of that part of the story that's not don't let preparation get in the way of a good story right now my father is saying only Josh would make lack of preparation of virtue you don't have to be funny because let's admit it folks you're not funny I'm sorry everybody always says that to me I wish I could tell my story but I'm just not funny and you have that old trope always start your presentation

with a joke it will relax your audience but if that joke bombs the connection is lost people want to feel connected more than they want to laugh name names people always say I want to tell my story but I don't want this person to be embarrassed I want to tell my story but I don't want this person to know that I think about them at all I want to tell my story but I would be embarrassed if my mom found out I hooked up with that guy if you can't use someone's name they have power

over your story don't let someone with no name determine your story for you it's not a therapy session if you can't make peace with your story than your audience won't be able to that doesn't mean that you can't show emotion it's fine 75% of our winners that are spiller slams are the guys and girls that cry protip on that one but it is not the audience's job to give you closure you don't want your audience to feel sympathy for you you want them to feel empathy if they feel sorry for you they're thinking about you

and your well-being and they're not thinking about your story anymore make peace with your story before you get on the stage dad's from Memphis one of our great storytellers start at the beginning of your story and end at the end sound simple but when I sit down and meet with people usually what happens is they start talking in about five minutes then they say well I guess the story really starts here well if it really starts here what are you talking about for the last five minutes I have no idea what your story's about it

was nice to hear about grandma coming from Bavaria back in the 1830s or something like that what does it have to do with the cat you just bought so let's begin at our beginning and at the end so many storytellers reached that point be that they wanted to get to they have a great closing line the audience has had their cathartic release and it should be walk off the stage you should have that George Costanza moment of I'm out of here thanks guys but what people do instead of that as they go well I guess

the moral of the story is and then for two minutes they moralize to you you've got to trust that your audience is gonna get the lesson that you want them to get or they're gonna get the lesson that they want to get don't rob them of that by telling them the moral of the story the Devils in the details and those details are boring trust your audience you and your audience are human beings you're having a dialogue with them you're the only ones talking but in their head they're speaking back to you you have shared

experiences as human beings that don't need to be explained in great detail if I say to you my dog's my best friend you understand what I'm saying do I need to spend two minutes talking about the way he looks my face or where he meets me at the door every day or sometimes I talk to I think he's the only one that really understands me I don't own a dog I'm more of a cat person I don't own a cat either see that's me trying to be funny you know I don't always work but you

understand what I'm saying I don't need to spend two minutes telling you my dog's my best friend you get it we're together let's move on you understand me and I understand you the audience is on your side keep them there the connection is made again you understand your audience they are your peers they're the people that live in the city that you do don't make a controversial statement unless you have to unless it's totally vital to the story earlier I told you guys that I look at your Instagram accounts and then I said you weren't

funny that wasn't a good idea on my part ten percent of you probably checked out a long time ago just because of that don't offend your audience so those are my seven keys but the most important one is this the secret key sometimes details are important sometimes morals are necessary sometimes you have to offend your audience to make them listen I can't tell you what your story is and I can't tell you how to tell it the only way you can do it is by practice go and find a mic get in front of an

audience find your voice be the hero of your own story be the protagonist