Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

“You will live 7.5 minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.

”This was the claim that video game designer Jane McGonigal presented to the crowd during her June 2012 TED talk. As the camera panned over the members of the audience, their faces showed universal skepticism: Was this lady serious?

There was something else interesting about that crowd. Despite their doubtful visages, everyone in the audience was drawn in by McGonigal’s words. No one was checking their email, talking to their neighbor or looking at the camera circling in front of them; all eyes were fixated on the (potentially crazy) speaker.

Great hooks, like McGonigal’s provocative opening statement, get audiences on the edge of their seats and give them a sense of what’s coming. They allow you to win a crowd’s attention right away and give you a legitimate chance to have a lasting impact....

No doubt about it, the best speakers are good storytellers. The best writers are good storytellers. The best leaders are good storytellers. The best teachers and trainers and coaches are good storytellers. It might even be argued that the best parents are good storytellers. 

...Stories powerfully connect us to our listeners. When we share our own real-life stories or the stories of others (Example or Proof stories) our audiences feel that they get to know us as authentic people – people who have lives outside the corporate setting, people who have struggled with problems and who have figured out how to overcome them....

In his new book The Storyteller’s Secret Carmine Gallo, communication expert and the bestselling author of Talk Like TED, explains why some ideas catch on and others don’t. Learn more at StorytellersSecret.com...