the keepmoving.company

storytelling starts here

Tag: five-slide-rule

  • The Back Story on Storytelling 🦄

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    mikeswelsh
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    All humans, including you, are storytellers by definition. Even if you believe you aren’t good at [public speaking, talking to strangers, presenting, pitching, etc.], you are genetically designed to be a storyteller; it’s in our DNA. Epigenetically speaking, we are evolved to share stories. Couple historic facts about the origins of human storytelling you may…

  • “He works for us”

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    mikeswelsh
    in

    May 1, 2024 Mid- ‘ double the company days’ as a Mobster, I realized in a dark moment during one or more of my work travel nightmares that I was burning myself out. I ended up in Phoenixville, ER. While in the ER on New Year’s Eve (pre-COVID), I was having a scan with some…

  • Arcs (of Uncertaintyâ„¢)

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    mikeswelsh
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    There are many arcs, some called story arcs, arcs of uncertainty, and more. Sometimes, they are not arcs at all. They are lines of thinking. Ways of making an audience follow along, stay interested, and be entertained.

  • Curveball Questions

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    mikeswelsh
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    Do you know that time during a meeting, workshop, interview, or other interaction when a question comes up that catches you off guard and/or disrupts the flow, causes a hot flash, and momentarily stops the storytelling rhythm and flow? Yeah, the classic gotcha, curveball, trick, rhetorical question. I used to hate this; it was a…

  • The Magic Wand

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    mikeswelsh
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    First, do you know when you are decking your way through a meeting with too many cooks, non-combatants, and ‘talkers’ rather than ‘contributors’? You know them; you may even be one. Folks have much to say but need help understanding how to narrate or storytell well. Some of my posts walk around the issues I…

  • The 5 Slide Ruleâ„¢

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    mikeswelsh
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    The 5 Slide Ruleâ„¢ (of thumb) for planning and over-prepping for storytelling success. This is a people, process, and tools article to help anyone who needs another way to get ready potentially. What this ‘rule’ is not What the 5 Slide Rule is: Beginnings Middles and Ends. When story-making, folks often struggle with’ setting the…

  • Macro to micro views

    Macro to micro views

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    mikeswelsh
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    Paint a picture. Zoom in and out. 30,000 feet down to street view and back. Come with me; this is a story. Some of what folks struggle with in telling a story is the story is too high level or over indexes on details. As it happens, this is an attempt to break down the…

  • Strategic Benign Neglect

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    mikeswelsh
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    SBN (Strategic Benign Neglect) is one of the most potent techniques in life, not just in presentations and meetings. The idea is simple and powerful. Do you need to answer every question? Do you need to address everything that comes to you in any form? No. Moreover, you can acknowledge, advance, table, and defer. Acknowledging…

  • Poise, Presence, Posture

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    mikeswelsh
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    The three ‘Ps’ can be even more challenging for folks than the content development inside the 5 Slide Rule™ rubric. As in other posts, I will attempt to break down these concepts and how they work for me as I develop a presentation process as a coping mechanism to deal with my own agoraphobia issues.

  • Who are you talking to?

    Who are you talking to?

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    mikeswelsh
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    Who are you talking to? Sounds tense. In the world of the Five Slide Ruleâ„¢ discipline, another deeply powerful practice is understanding the human (book slide), but even more fundamental is where is the human(s) in the audience.