Story Type #5: Boy Meets Girl

The Story


Tarzan meets Jane.  Tarzan likes Jane.  Jane is captured by "savages".  Tarzan loses Jane.  Tarzan unhappy. Tarzan rescue's Jane.

Additional Movies

• Two Weeks Notice
• The Time Traveler's Wife
• (500) Days of Summer
• Wall-E
• Music and Lyrics
• Sabrina

Note:  Please don't hammer me on my choice of movies.  These were all I could think of right now.

Boy Meets Girl

This type of story is one that many of us can relate to.  Boy meets a girl.  Boy loses girl in some fashion.  They fight, they miss each other at a promised location, the boy/girl has a terrible secret they don't want to reveal, etc.  After some time passes, the boy must overcome some challenge, or learn and demonstrate some new talent or depth of feeling in order to win the girl back.

This can a great relationship story, a great business story (mergers, add-on business), and a great love story.

How Do I Use The Above Information

I ran across this one today in a business meeting.  The companies divisional compliance officer was switched to another division.  Our division was bummed as this individual was great to work with, very responsive, and worked hard to help grow the business.  After a short period of time our senior manager was able to convince others that the compliance officer was better suited for our division and he returned to much joy and adulation (until he has to fire someone).

If your audience is part of a merger, use this type of story.  If you are working on developing better relationships, tell this type of story.  The key is the part about how it feels to lose the individual, division etc.  As your audience feels the loss, ask them what must be done to feel good again or regain that positive feeling.  Then talk about rejoining the person, place or thing and provide some steps to ensure that it lasts forever.

Story Type #4: Revenge

The Story

In 180 AD, Maximus is a Roman general loyal to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius.  As the Emperor lay dying he decides to make Maximus the temporary Emperor, so he can restore governmental power back to the people, through the Senate.  Commodus, the Emperor's power-hungy son, learns of this decision, and condemns Maximus and his family to death.  Maximus escapes and races home but is not in time to save his family.

Maximus is overcome with grief, captured by slave traders and eventually winds up in Rome as a Gladiator.  Through skill, cunning, and the use of his skills as a soldier to rally his fellow gladiator's, Maximus becomes the main event in Rome.

Gracchus, a Roman politician, states, "The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it's the sand of the Colosseum.  He'll bring them death and they will love him for it."

In the stories conclusion, Maximus fights Commodus in the Colosseum and wins the battle.  He restores the throne to Gracchus, of the Senate, frees the other gladiators and makes sure that Commodus's sisters son is safe.

Maximus states, "What we do in life echoes in eternity."

-Gladiator [Blu-ray]. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Russell Crowe. Dreamworks, 2000. Blu-Ray.

Additional Great Revenge Movies

• The Italian Job
• Mystic River
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn
• Braveheart
• Man on Fire

Revenge

Revenge is a great story because it starts simple, get's complex, and then ends simply.  The hero starts out and is wronged somehow.  It is not a slight or a simple thing but the hero is devastated by someone.  The hero then starts out to right the wrong and punish the individual who wronged him.  Revenge stories have a strong value play.  They are about right and wrong, order in our society, and respect not only for individuals but also for the order found in society.  The main thing to understand is that our society loves to root for the underdog and DOES NOT like the villain to win.  The hero must restore things to their proper state, or a better state.

-Morgan, Nick. Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking. New York: Harvard Business School Press, 2003. Print. p.67-68

How Should I Use This Information?

As you analyze your topic and the audience you will be presenting to, think about what the audience might face as they do what you ask them to do.  Someone or some business has taken the lead from them.  They are a bunch of scrappy upstarts working hard to move out of the shadow of some other giant conglomerate. They are battling for market share with one other company that is cutting their price below cost.

Frame the conflict, capture the emotion, outline the path and then, right at the end, bring in the right, honorable, and moral thing to do.  Motivate the audience to "see" the conflict and then show them how to solve it by using their skills and knowledge to rise above simple revenge.  Help them see that winning this battle can be done by using the talents and skills that make them great, as people.  Then send them out to accomplish the right.

Story Type #3: Stranger In A Strange Land

The Story


How would you like to enter a factory that has been closed for years?  The factory is shrouded in mystery due to it's eccentric owner Mr. Wonka.  For some unknown reason he starts a contest that will allow 5 children, the opportunity to tour his factory and learn all his candy making secrets.

Charlie Bucket is a poor boy who wins a golden ticket and takes the tour.  What will he learn during his tour?  Will he steal a piece of candy and sell it to Mr. Slugworth?  Will he fall victim to the temptations of all that candy?  Watch "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and find out.

Stranger in a Strange Land

The above story is an example of the third type of story that you can tell during a presentation.  In the above story Charlie walks into a factory which is like a strange land.  Not only must he keep up with Mr. Wonka but he must also learn to adapt to this new culture and it's surroundings.  As the movie continues on Charlie watches each of the other four children fall victim to various dangers.  They don't listen, they grab what they want, they don't use manners etc.  Charlie is bewildered and confused about how he should act.  At first he leans on Grandpa Joe but soon this experience is beyond both of their comprehension.  Eventually even Charlie steals a new type of candy and the enraged Mr. Wonka prepares to throw him out of the factory.  Charlie's tearful admission of guilt is the key that opens Mr. Wonka's heart and allows Charlie and his family to own, live in, and run the factory forever.


I doubt there is anyone who has watched this movie that wasn't moved just a little bit.


This type of story works with audiences who are selling a new product, entering a new country, buying a division of another company etc.  The traits that are necessary to do well in these situations are "intelligence, quickness on your feet, the ability to improvise, coolness and poise and learning."
- Morgan, Nick. Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking. New York: Harvard Business School Press, 2003. Print. p. 66


How Should You Use This Information?

• Tell this story when your audience has the potential to be confused, or scared to try something new.  
• Make sure that you include details of what the character's in the story did to acclimate themselves in this new land.  Don't skimp here as confusion can quickly lead to attention drift.
• Make sure your story has a positive conclusion as you will want your audience to feel motivated to try what you are advocating.

Story Type #2: Rags to Riches

The Story

In 1945 Sam got discharged from the Army and was looking for two things.  A place to live and an opportunity to be in retail.  When he asked his wife Helen about moving to a big city she said, "Sam, we've been married two years and we've moved sixteen times.  Now, I'll go with you any place you want so long as you don't ask me to live in a big city.  Ten thousand people is enough for me."

So Sam started looking for "five and dimes" retail stores in cities under 10,000 people.  He finally settled on a Ben Franklin Variety store in Newport, Arkansas, population 7,000.  He paid $25,000 to buy a store with the highest retail rent in the country (5% of sales) and sales that were half of a similar store across the street.

From humble beginnings Sam Walton turned a $25000 investment into a fortune that placed his wife and four children on the Forbes 400 Richest American's, with net worth of $18 billion each.
-Walton, Sam. Sam Walton Made In America. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Print.  p.21
- Forbes. "The Forbes 400: America's richest 400 just get richer - MSN Money." Personal Finance and Investing - MSN Money. Forbes, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. .


Other Rags to Riches Stories

• Microsoft
• Starbucks
• United Postal Service
• Standard Oil
• Coca Cola
• Bert's Bees

The Rags to Riches story starts with someone who doesn't have much.  Through luck and hard work they end of wealthy.  They key to this type of story is that the hero has an Everyman quality.  In the above story you will see all these elements.  If you have read anything about Sam Walton you will see that he was the typical Everyman driving around in an old pickup truck.

The only danger in using this type of story is that it usually ends.  People die, businesses mature, tastes change.  Be careful using this type of story as after the goal is reached you will need to present another goal to help the audience refocus.

-Morgan, Nick. Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking. New York: Harvard Business School Press, 2003. Print.  p. 66

How Do I Use The Above Information

• If you are working with an audience that has to reach a goal this is a great story type. 
• Use the sources from yesterday's post to find a story that will resonate with your audience.
• Provide only details that move the story forward. Show the hero at the start, what they did to start their journey, the work they put in to moving forward, and how they finally reached their goal.  Insert best practices along the way.
• Remember that the hero in your story should end the story with the same thoughts and values as at the start of the story.  No one wants to associate with someone who isn't a little like themselves.

Story Type #1: The Quest

The Story


During the summer of 1954 a food service equipment salesmen by the name of Ray A. Kroc stopped by the popular hamburger stand of the McDonalds brothers.  Ray held the national rights to Multimixer shake machines, and was intrigued that this small business had ordered so many machines.  The usual drugstore would order one, and a large restaurant might have two.  The McDonald brothers had ordered 10.  One-third of their food orders included shakes, and someone estimated that 20,000 shakes a month were being sold at their stand.  Ray Kroc was curious, how two brothers selling hamburgers, could be so busy. 

-Love, John F.. McDonald's: Behind The Arches. Rev Sub ed. United States and Canada: Bantam, 1995. Print. p. 28

Whenever I start a presentation I love to start with a story that draws the audience into my presentation.  It gives a clean break from the last presentation, focuses the audience and makes them curious.  The above story is an example of a style of story that I feel is the most common: The Quest.

The Quest starts out with a hero working to achieve some sort of goal.  In order to reach the goal the hero has to overcome obstacles, face hardship, deal with a wide range of emotions, and master the belief that they can achieve their goal. At some point in the story the hero will generally run into someone who can provide that little bit of advice that bridges some confusion, and sets the hero on the correct path once again.  This style of story is easy to follow as it is logical and moves straight ahead.

-Morgan, Nick. Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking. New York: Harvard Business School Press, 2003. Print.  p. 64

I would use the McDonald's story to kick off a presentation on...

• Starting A Small Business
• The Importance of Curiosity 
• Understanding Your Customers
• Looking For The Next Big Thing
• Getting into the field to support your client-facing salespeople.

The problem that most people have is they don't know where to find good stories.  I look for good stories everywhere and am grateful to John C. Maxwell for speaking to the importance of clipping stories and information everyday.

• The International Directory of Company Histories - Found at the reference desk of your major local library.  This is THE BEST place to find all sorts of neat stories of how companies got started.  The downside is that you actually have to go the the library, pull the volume off the shelf, make a copy, then scan it into something like Evernote back in your office.
• Investors Business Daily ($365/year)- Everyday they run a biographical story on someone.  The paper can be downloaded in PDF format so you can save them over time.
• Newspapers - I read a couple a day and it is very easy to "clip" interesting stories that you read.  Focus on the small nugget that is familiar enough to most average audience members so you can pull them in.  The Wall Street Journal does a book review everyday, the New York Times has great obits, USA Today does a nice job of the giving you just the meat of any story.
• Magazines - Almost any magazine will have something you can clip from their pages.  

Read, Clip and File - This will set you up for success at the start of any presentation.

How Do I Use The Above Information?

• Think about the one big thing that you want to happen in your presentation.  Then look through your stories to see someone who has faced that situation before, or that needed to do the exact same thing, or that had to see, feel, and overcome in the same way.
• Again, using your "big idea", sift through the story to pull out the details that make the story line up with your objective.  In the above story I wanted you to see McDonalds, then Kroc, then curiosity.  As a member of my audience you would have automatically synced with me when I mentioned McDonalds.  Many folks might not have known that Ray Kroc didn't start the company so that is a bit of a surprise.  Third, I wanted to show that Ray was constantly trying to get better at selling his project the Multimixer.  All of these things were accomplished in six sentences. 
• After you find your story practice telling it at least 10 times.  If it doesn't flow then add another detail or two.  If it starts to bog down and take five minutes, take some things out.  If you practice out loud you will be able to hear how it sounds and then understand what questions the audience might have about the story so you can fill them in.

Preparing for a Presentation

Years ago I was in Orlando, FL. speaking to a fertilizer company about their retirement benefits.  When I got to the section on asset allocation I felt I was on a roll and that everyone was really "with" me. I went through Cash with a quick example of a checking account.  Bonds were always easy because I would use the name of someone's high school to teach the principle of loaning money, receiving interest and then your principle back, after a set number of years.  I leaned down and asked a gentlemen in the front row where he went to high school.  He said, "I didn't go." Of course I missed this giant clue and asked the followup, "No problem, where did you go to elementary school?"  He said, "I didn't go to that either."  Thud.  I was mortified and said, "Sir, I am really sorry, and am not going to be able to recover from this gracefully, so let's move on to stocks."

The above experience taught me a valuable lesson on the types of things I should know about my audience before I present information to them.

What You Should Understand Before You Step In Front of A Crowd

The Presentation

• Topic - Not just the general idea but what does your client want to happen because of your presentation.
• Time limit - Important because it helps you understand how many slides you will be using and how much preparation will be necessary.
• Technology limits - Will they have the projector you need, the microphone, the slide advance etc.  Understand that YOU are the show.  Everything else can fail and as long as you are standing the show will go on.  However, if you check these things out before your presentation the odds will improve, that you won't be alone on stage, filling the spotlight.
• Additional learning materials - Do they want handouts, will they be filming, will they podcast this?  If your presentation is going to live after you give it, you will need to put more work into it as each additional audience will not have had the benefit of your presence in their office, cube or home.

The Audience

• Who will be sitting in front of you? - Job title, pay scale, company division, senior leadership, guests, company pressures, company goals etc.  Each different type of audience member needs to be address with some portion of your presentation.  It draws the whole group together and shows that you customized your presentation for the audience.
• Who speaks before and after you? - I want to know what the feeling in the room will be before me.  If I have a dry speaker up before me, then I will need more energy.  If I have a high energy speaker then I will have to bring the room down a bit to help them have the opportunity to understand my presentation.  I also want to know who is after me so that I can highlight them in a positive light, and keep the overall energy in the room flowing.

Individuals

• I like gather the above data and then put myself in the place of each different member of my potential audience.  What questions will they have?  Could they object to something you are going to say?  How will you plan now to overcome that, or provide the data they need to feel comfortable?  What is their work life like now, and how will it be different after listening to you?
• Using Humor - Most people are not naturally funny, so how can you connect with the crowd without the potential of offending anyone?  I prefer to use stories, pictures, and analogies to help the audience members catch my vision.

How To Use The Above Information

1) Presentation - This will take 10 minutes.  Spend the time asking questions of the person who asked you to give the presentation.  If they don't know something ask them to recommend someone who will have more information.

2) The Audience - This takes 10-30 minutes. Spend this time asking questions about what people do, what company goals are, and subjects or touchy things to say away from.  Nothing is worse then talking only to senior management or missing the customer service representatives that will be responsible for carrying out your plan.

3) Individuals - Most speakers skip this step as they already feel they know the individual audience internally or don't want to appear uninformed externally.  Skip this step at your own peril.  If the audience is internal, understand that Bob will raise the XYZ objection and Carol will always say she doesn't have enough time to make the change.  Overcome these in the presentation or keep the answers in your back pocket for when Bob and Carol jump in.  External audiences should be treated as a great learning experience for you.  What do they like, what do they worry about, what have they tried in the past etc.

Proper preparation increases your odds of success

Begin With The End In Mind

Jerry Seinfeld once stated, "According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking.  Number two is death.  Death is number two.  Does that sound right?  This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."

I recently attended a presentation where the speaker had checked off all the correct boxes.  They had a presentation with an agenda.  They had handouts.  They included a Q&A at the end of the presentation.  Everything looked ready to go.  Then they started speaking.  After starting with a joke that didn't work, and a complete walkthrough of EVERY bullet in the agenda, they got into the "meat" of their presentation.  Unfortunately, the audience had a small problem. We knew where the speaker was going, but had no idea why they had picked that particular path.

In any presentation you have less then five minutes to win over your audience.  I like to start with a  great story to draw them in, then I tell them what they are going to walk away with by the end of the presentation.  I even use the words, "Let me begin with the end in mind...by the time I finish today you will know X,Y and Z and be able to A."

Most audiences understand how tough it is to stand in front of them.  That empathy gets you the first five minutes.  However, if you haven't piqued their interest and shown them that they will be better off at the end of the presentation, then watch the Blackberry's and iPhones come out.

Have a point, make your point

How Do I Use This?

• Before creating anything for your presentation think of what you want the audience to walk away with.  Do you want them to do something, to understand something, to feel something or to join you moving forward?  
• Make that point as short as possible - Never give the audience a main point that is a paragraph long.  Think newspaper headlines or TV show names.
• Halfway through your presentation stop and see if the above point is still true.  Can you still "see" your main point? 
• After you have finished creating your presentation, practice it a couple of times.  Yes, I mean walk through it in your mind or out loud. As you hear the information does your main point still sound clear?