Just tell me a story.
I’ve noticed this on my podcast quite a few times. We’ll do the pre show and the guest is relaxed. We’re shooting the breeze, they’re engaged, telling stories, telling me all about what they’ve done.
And I’m thinking, this is going to be a great interview.
Then the recording goes live, and they tense up. Now they’re just kind of yelling at me, telling me exactly what I need to do, talking fast.
And I’m sitting there thinking, I don’t want to be lectured to (that audience probably doesn’t either). Because that’s what it feels like.
Here’s the thing. With college decades in my rearview, I’m not interested in sitting down to listen to a lecture anymore. I want to hear stories. That’s how I learn and remember. I’m guessing that’s probably true for you too.
So tell stories. Share anecdotes. Pepper the lessons in between them. The stories are what make it real and memorable.
I actually looked this up. Up until the 1950s, it’s estimated that less than half of the world could read and write. 1950. That’s 76 years ago.
The way you remembered anything was somebody told you, and you couldn’t write it down. You couldn’t take notes, because you didn’t know how to write. You had to figure out how to remember it.
And somebody figured out thousands of years ago (probably lots of somebodies) that people remember things through stories. Then the stories get shared, and shared again. It’s an easy tool for remembering something.
So save the lecture for the classroom.
Tell your stories. Share your anecdotes. People will remember more, they’ll enjoy it more, and we’ll all have a lot more fun with less lecturing.
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