Beyond Entertainment: How your mindset can create connections your competitors can't match

Picture yourself standing at the edge of a dense forest. You're familiar with the path, but those who've entrusted you with their time aren't. Your responsibility is clear: ensure they navigate the journey smoothly, stay connected, and never feel lost.

Success isn't about racing through the rocky terrain; it's about how well your audience traverses it. It's about leading them with care, allowing for pauses, and ensuring everyone absorbs the journey at their own pace and no one ends up over the edge of a cliff.

Guide or hero?

Seeing yourself as the guide is a critical frame for those who want to master strategic storytelling, connect with their audience, and take them on a journey; the ugly alternative is the hero entertainer. We have all sat through a hero entertainer’s performance or two.

The moment the focus shifts to showcasing yourself as the hero on the stage with the microphone, how well you know the way, how fast you can traverse and how great you are at doing so, you risk leaving your audience behind, bewildered and disconnected, or worst still lost halfway through and never really knowing what just happened to them.

Once lost, they may never return

In all communication, whether it's a simple update or a detailed sales pitch, losing your audience means losing their attention and, with it, any hope of connecting and making a difference. Their sole focus becomes finding their way back to your narrative, leaving gaps in understanding that may never be filled.

To excel as a strategic storytelling guide, consider three key points:

1.????? How can you make it effortless for your audience to stay engaged and follow your lead? Clear navigation, compelling headlines, and a cohesive storyline are paramount.

2.???? How can you signal where you are in the narrative flow, allowing you to pause, check-in, summarise, and preview what's next? Setting up visual navigation for your story and coming back to this throughout allows you to create clean breaks that aid the flow rather than disrupt it. Content breaks like this also increase comprehension as they reset our attention, preparing us for something new coming next, which is always much better than a long and unrelenting string of content.

3.???? How can you avoid getting lost in a disjointed storyline? Start by crafting your headline narrative separate from any visual aids. Build your supporting materials to enhance your story, ensuring coherence and clarity from start to finish.

Story structure is everything if connection matters more than entertainment

By prioritising and preparing your delivery this way, you can guide your audience through the content seamlessly, ensuring they remain connected to you; you know what is coming next, and engagement is maintained at every step of the way.

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