Some people put a lot of time into the homework. It's good if they do because we start off with material to work with.
Some will bring, email or fax articles they've written or that have been written about them.
They'll show me the homework they've done.
Then we talk about why they want to do what they're trying to do-- run for office, get a job, sell something. I ask for the life story that leads up to this point.
The interview fleshes out the stories, gets into greater depth on what were the most important aspects of the story-- what were the parallel tracks, the back story, the climax of the story. What were the hero's journey, archetypal, heroic elements of the story? I will look for stories that fit the pattern of the archetpal "American Story" as described by Dan McAdams, in his groundbreaking book, THE REDEMPTIVE SELF; Stories Americans Live by.
Once we arrive upon a few strong stories, and reject some favorites that just don't work, we start the next step, weaving the stories into the presentation. If it's a stump speech, its good to be able to weave the stories into issue positions. If a politician has a life story that explains why he stands for something, that is so much more powerful than just intellectually supporting it.
Ideally, the stories are woven into the stump speech so they synergize each other and work together. A good movie, book or speech includes a number of stories. You may start telling one, stop, start telling another, shift back the first, start a third, shift back to the second, shift to the third, have some connection between the first and second so they end together, in a climax and so the third one ends, giving new meaning to the first two.
Finally, it's how the stories are told that make them work. You can totally kill, or minimize the power of a story if you tell it the wrong way. One superb expert on this is Doug Stevenson. His book--- I hate the title, but love the book, is Never Be Boring Again. It is well worth the read to learn HOW to give a talk. It also is VERY helpful in helping you to identify the different kinds of stories and how to find them.
Clearly, different people have different stories. Just putting together a speech, effectively identifying, using and telling the stories won't turn you into a winner. But an effective use of story by an average person with average stories could give you a win over a person with amazing stories who fails to identify them and present them effectively.
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