Don't Count on the Buzzer Beater

This week I was on an expert panel as part of a storytelling workshop with Advance Queensland. The panel would be giving feedback to the stories of the participants. There was one bit of feedback that I kept giving like a broken record and I want to share that on with you.

Get your point across as soon as you can.

That’s the point for this one but there is much more below.

In the 1989 playoffs Michael Jordon made “The Shot”. The Cleveland Cavilers and the Chicago Bulls were tied 2 games each and the Cavs were leading by a single point. Jordon brought the Bulls victory with the buzzer beater, the shot made with only 2 secs on the clock.

Buzzer beaters make for great stories, but only if they work. When you can, don't let it come to a buzzer beater to win.

At the workshop, everyone had five minutes to tell us their stories. For some in the group, this was the first time telling their tale. For others, this was a time to improve and gain greater insight into well worn tales.

A common point came up up through the panel. The main message that the speaker wanted us to know would come in the last minute. The story would race to the climax and the message be the last point made. Over five minutes, the story builds with only 10 seconds for your message.

Alfred Hitchcock talks about the “The Bomb Under the Table” theory. The theory takes a scene, 5 minutes long with 4 people talking about a mundane subject then a bomb goes off.

The first way to tell the story is film the conversation for the full 5 minutes. After 5 minutes you introduce the bomb exploding.

The second way, introduces the bomb at the start, highlighting the 5 minute countdown then proceeds back to the conversation.

The difference is night and day.

In the first way, the audience can become bored for the 5 minutes then shocked for 10 secs after.

The second way, acknowledges the audience and grips them. Now the 5 minute conversation it far more than the mundane subject, it not even about the bomb. It’s about how the story will resolve.

The second way puts your audience to work.

When I am being told a tale, I want to be put to work. I want to know your message and

When I listen to a story, specifically your business story, I look for the message. I want you to tell me your message, to hook me in so I can get to work.

Putting your message at the start doesn’t invalidate your whole story, it strengthens it. No matter how long you have it’s always better to get your point out early instead of waiting until the end.

If you are pitching, tell me the message and then use to your time reinforcing why that message is not only important but why it benefits1. If you want to gain awareness on why x is important, tell me that and then take me along the journey. Put me to work so I’m invested and aware.

The Shot was so phenomenal because we knew the bomb was under the table for Michael Jordan and the Bulls. We were gripping, wanting to know how the Bulls would win.

Before the game, Jordan got his message across, his story wasn’t in the last minute of play.

Sam Smith, a sports writer for the Chicago Tribune, recanted that Jordan went over to him and a few other sports writers before the game to tell them they were wrong for doubting the Bulls.

Smith retells that Jordan said “We take care of you today” by winning in the fifth game (Instead of the Cavs winning, which Smith had projected). The Shot wasn’t the message in in the last two seconds. It was showing how to deal with the ticking bomb.

When you tell your story, lead strong with your message and use the time you have reinforcing why your message matters.

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