Page 177 - Wake Up and do Your Thing

NICHOLAS BOOTHMAN
Strategically structured stories and word pictures can motivate people to cooperate with each other and have the power to affect our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
Stories have a unique power that can help us start anew.
If you want to come across as amusing and interesting in your everyday, run-of-the-mill-conversations you can spice them up with a few basic tools from the storytellers"$ bag of tricks. Remember to keep your stories short—ninety seconds or less is about right.
1. Hook Them from the Start
If you're going to tell a conversational story about the time the airline destroyed your luggage, first tease your listeners with something like, "Let me tell you about the most embarrassing (weirdest, funniest, scariest, most annoying, rudest) thing that happened to me at the airport last Friday." That gives the listener the who, where and when—the most important ingredients of any satisfying story. Then, tell your story. They"ll keep listening to find out what was embarrassing about it.
2. Stick to a Single Point
If you're telling a story about how your suitcase appeared on the baggage carousel split open and with your baggy undies falling out and your fuzzy pink slippers jammed against the conveyor belt, make sure your listeners
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