Remember those campfire tales during summer outings? Whether wandering serial killers or roaming wolves, the stories had us sitting bolt upright in our sleeping bags. Flashlights in hand, we were on the lookout for that deranged woodsman.
Similarly, tales of Peter Pan and The Lion, Witch & Wardrobe were captivating. More often than not, our versions of those beloved adventures were portrayed in the woods or a coat closet.
We enjoyed agency to act out our own interpretations and seek new outcomes.
Those stories stuck with us. Whether originating fireside or in a book or on a screen, those tales still give rise to a thrilling pulse in my chest.
Each of those classic childhood experiences shared something in common: they were audience-driving. They ignited actions (e.g., all night guard duty and attic forays).
The best yarns — the most memorable and spreadable — point in the direction of change.
That word, agency is worth a bit more attention. It is central to an audience connecting with a story and making it their own. Without permission to do so, the audience remains passive. TEDxer Tamsen Webster writes in her book, Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Ideas Irresistible:
“When it comes to action or changing, agency is everything. If people don’t feel like they have a choice, that they’re being told what to do, their natural reaction is to push back. You probably had this feeling as a child when a parent or guardian told you something to do... News flash: We never grow out of that instinct.”
So whether you’re storytelling in an offsite all-hands, motivational speech, or sermon the stories shared are best when they offer the audience agency. Even better, it is agency that points to practical, actionable steps.
Now note, explicit instructions or steps needn’t be in the body of the tale. (Then again, they may be.) They’re often better if introduced adjacent to the story. That said, whether before or after or dovetailed within the story, the next steps must be clear.
American author Kurt Vonnegut, affirms this take on a story’s purpose. In a pithy insight, often associated with his book, "A Man Without a Country," and various interviews and essays, he is reputed to have asserted: “A story needs a job to do.”
Righto! Beyond entertainment, in TEDster storytelling, a story must have a clear purpose, message, or function. Indeed, in its best form, a story’s role is to drive action in the direction of a larger visionary goal.
Now then, is this a world-changing call to action (CTA) or big hairy audacious goal (BHAG)? Absolutely not!
The best sermon-making preachers know that the rule of immediate application applies here. “Sunday you hear. Monday you do.” The friction-free application of the sermon — a “win” immediately after the sermon is what drives change.
(The best TEDsters know this too.)
So we can see that a great story ignites thought and action. This result is not because a speaker tells listeners what to do, but because the storyteller shares what created change in their own lives. Then they invited audience members to problem-solve their own circumstances — small wins in the direction of a blissful tomorrow.
Igniting is the second part of the STICKY Story framework. To ensure that our stories are designed to lean forward in an action-igniting posture, there are 3 factors to consider.
1. WINNABLE WINS.
A story becomes stickier when paired with “Winnable Wins” — micro achievements in the direction of a larger goal.
In TED-style storytelling, we are spurred to action by doable, small steps in a new direction. Think of Winnable Wins as tiny boxes that can be checked within 48 hours (again and again and again) in the direction of a larger vision.
So while a Herculean lift tomorrow may be part of a message, the next step isn’t to save the whales. That’s because the BHAGs of life often prove paralyzing. Mt. Everest-sized aspirations are too big and intimidating. They leave the audience doubting that they can actually make an enormous change. Viewers are unsure what to do next.
We see this play out on the TED stage in the top tier of talks. Consider Dr. Robert Waldinger’s uber-viral message (What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness) His Winnable Wins were along the lines of improving your key relationships through date nights or long walks together. As his 12-minute talk rounded the bend at 11:20 minutes, he observes:
“What might leaning into relationships even look like? Well, the possibilities are practically endless. It might be something as simple as replacing screen time with people time.”
In doing so, he offers Winnable Wins for audience members to imagine achieving that evening or weekend — wins that are decidedly not BHAGs.
There is research supporting the concept of Winnable Wins, suggesting that we are more willing to work towards a goal when it is broken down into small, manageable steps.
In 2002, Edwin A. Locke and Lary P. Latham, researchers in the fields of industrial psychology explored goal-setting.
Their article in American Psychologist (Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation) investigated the value of breaking down larger, long-term goals into smaller, more manageable sub-goals.
Locke and Latham found that when goals were divided into achievable components, the subjects who accomplished mini-goals enjoyed a sense of progress and accomplishment, which boosted motivation and confidence. Small goal rewards resulted in a higher willingness to exert energy and a deeper commitment to a given larger goal.
As academics Chip & Dan Heath observed in their book, Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive & Others Die:
“[I]t may be the tangibility, rather than the magnitude, of the benefits that make people care. You don’t have to promise riches and sex appeal and magnetic personalities. It may be enough to promise reasonable benefits that people can easily imagine themselves enjoying.”
When paired with Winnable Wins, STICKY Stories are extra IGNITING!
2. SOLUTION GAPS.
A story becomes stickier when paired with “Solution Gaps” — problems for the audience to solve.
In TED-Style storytelling, viewers are more deeply engaged when a story offers an opportunity for mental problem solving. Thus, there is benefit in designing stories to involve a Solution Gap for the audience to find and fill.
Share 2 + X = 5 with your listeners, and give them the agency to solve X for themselves. They may decide that the answer is something bigger and better than your X=3, but that mental solutioning (X=6-4+1) will result in ownership. Think of it this way: Your job as a storyteller isn’t to spoon feed your audience. Rather, you want to challenge them — to claim some mental Winnable Wins for themselves.
Returning to Dr. Waldinger’s “Good Life” talk, he doesn’t dictate the ways a middle-aged couple should pep up a stale relationship. He offers his listeners:
“What might leaning into relationships even look like? ...[What about] livening up a stale relationship by doing something new together, long walks or date nights...”
In doing so, he leaves audience members to mentally picture filling in the Problem Gap (e.g,. what activities and where) for themselves.
There is research supporting this, suggesting that when we mentally fill in missing information, we are more likely wedded to and to remember the information later on.
In 2011, cognitive psychologists Robert A. Bjork and Elizabeth L. Bjork focused on the topics of memory, learning, and instruction.
Their contributed chapter (Making Things Hard On Yourself, But In A Good Way: Creating Desirable Difficulties To Enhance Learning) investigated the rewards of “active engagement, memory encoding, and retention.
Bjork and Bjork found that if students actively grapple to mentally problem-solve, they are more likely to feel agency, which can lead to greater retention and motivation to take action.
As TED Head Chris Anderson observed in his book, TED Talks: The Official TED Guide To Public Speaking:
“You don’t want to insult the intelligence of the audience by force-feeding exactly the conclusions they must draw from the tale you’ve told. But you absolutely do want to be sure there’s enough there for your listeners to be able to connect the dots.”
When paired with Solution Gaps, STICKY Stories are extra IGNITING!
3. VISIONARY BLISS.
A story becomes stickier when paired with “Visionary Bliss” — the picture of an aspirational future provoking the audience to desire better.
In TED-style storytelling, we are motivated when imagining a new, bigger, better future. More than a traditional CTA or BHAG (remember, Winnable Wins replaced those), we are inspired by visions pointing beyond the horizon of tomorrow. This is particularly true when Visionary Bliss is paired with patterns of accomplishment.
Sparks fly as Winnable Wins accumulate and a mountain summit is glimpsed. Enthusiasm revs up. Listeners are intrigued. The story leaves the audience knowing the new. And in turn, this “Known New” inflames a collective desire to be part of the action — to make micro-changes in the direction of a blissful tomorrow.
Let’s revisit Dr. Waldinger’s legendary message for a final time. (Talk link here.) His audience introduction to Visionary Bliss is inherent in his talk title and script: The Good Life. So whether through a better marriage or a healthier sibling relationship, he leaves it to the audience to define that better life for themselves. Then he closes his talk pointing ahead through an inspirational quote by Samuel Clemons:
"There isn't time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. There is only time for loving, and but an instant, so to speak, for that."
In doing so, he introduces a picture of Visonary Bliss for the audience, leaving it to them to decide the next steps.
There is research supporting this, suggesting that we are motivated by perceived gaps or discrepancies between our actual self, our ideal self, and our ought self (how we believe we should be).
In 1987, Edward Tory Higgins, a researcher in the field of psychology, explored the relationship between self-concept and emotional experiences.
His study (Self-Discrepancy: A Theory Relating Self and Affect) investigated how “gap theory” can be a powerful motivator for taking action.
Higgins found that an individual’s experience of discomfort or dissatisfaction in the way things are (or are self-perceived) and the way things could be can serve to motivate change. When there is a discrepancy between the actual and the ideal, individuals are motivated to reduce that gap.
As presentation expert Nancy Duarte observed in her TEDxEast Talk, The Secret Structure Of Great Talks:
“So after you've moved back and forth between what is and what could be, the last turning point is... to describe the world as a new bliss. ‘This is utopia with my idea adopted.’”
When paired with Visionary Bliss, STICKY Stories are extra IGNITING!
So we can see that from campfires and attics forays to boardrooms and keynotes, you can ignite action through STICKY Stories.
Remember to include Winnable Wins, Solution Gaps, and calls for Visionary Bliss in your story design. These 3 STICKY Story keys will ignite action and drive results. The result will ignite change!
#Story #TEDTalks #TEDTalkWhisperer
This article is the 2nd installment of a 6-part series, based on STICKY Stories™
Legal Notice: STICKY Story™ and STICKY Stories™ and derivative acronyms (aka, S.T.I.C.K.Y. Story/ies) are pending trademarks of CONNECT to COMPEL, Inc. Any use of those terms requires permission and attribution.
P.S. To keep abreast of this topic and others in the STICKY Story framework, opt-in with a click here for updates on my forthcoming book.
DEVIN D. MARKS is known as The TED Talk Whisperer. His firm, CONNECT to COMPEL, has served 100s of TED, TEDx, and TED-Style speakers. The result: 100s of millions of views. His team helps leaders, just like you, catalyze ideas.
You can reach Devin at 617.804.6020, or DM him here.
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