There are a sea of self-help books out there. The industry generates approximately $9.6 billion, according to recent numbers. While you can certainly pick from a plethora of books at your local bookstore or big chain, we found a compelling practice from a TED Talk given by Jia Jiang. If you haven’t watched it, take a few minutes to now!
Long story short, Jia approached a kind of mid-life crisis. He realized that he had been letting his fear of rejection destroy any business plan with even the slightest bit of potential for success for the better part of 20 years. After an intense Google search, he came across a site promoting a method called Rejection Therapy – seek rejection for 30 days and peace will find you. Jia did one better. He challenged himself to 100 days of rejection and chronicled the experiment in his TED Talk. Thought leaders and brands alike should start dressing their presentation mannequins in items including humor, storytelling, conflict, and lessons.
1. Hat of Humor
Top of mind for Jia is inciting laughter from his presentation audience. He dazzles listeners with quick one-liners and drops subtle reminders of a previous joke in the course of his talk. And in many cases, humor may be more motivating than positive messages. Earlier this year, psychologists discovered that viewing a funny video increased the effectiveness of participants on work-related tasks. Jia, first and foremost, adorns his presentation with a flamboyant hat of humor. Starting at 1:50, he uses his past – and present – idol Bill Gates as a source of comedy for himself and attendees.
2. Storytelling Shirt
After placing the hat of humor on your head, do as Jia does and pick a storytelling shirt that suits you best. For example, Jia opts for an opening his presentation with a story about his 6-year-old self getting rejected in front of his peers. He talks of the terror involved with that moment. But then, he references the same story at the conclusion of his talk, just in a drastically different tone. Instead of running from rejection, he encourages his audience to run to it – full-force and at Usain Bolt-type speeds. This method of storytelling ends in a similar way to how it began, but the consumers of the content feel as though they have moved somewhere. And the truth is, they have.
3. Coat of Conflict
At 3:05, Jia combines the story of his 6-year-old self with the story of his 14-year-old self. He juxtaposed the fearful response with the confident response. The internal conflict created through this story sets the scene for the presentation’s ultimate message.
4. Layer of Lessons
Finally, towards the end of the speech – at 13:45 to be exact – the main points of his talk are married to the call to action.
After describing to his audience the positive outcomes of his rejection experiment, he left them with the statement above. It’s motivation to stay still in the face of rejection – not to immediately run for the hills.
Presenters developing their narrative should remember these 4 storytelling techniques. When employed, they can improve your delivery and enhance the durability of your message. To read up on more storytelling tip, check out the following articles:
Storytelling Lessons from TED: “What a driverless world could look like”
Diagnosing a Distracted Audience
Presentation Storytelling Tips from Steve Johnson’s TED Talk
