The best champagne is drunk... with a straw?

“And he says, ‘I want your most expensive champagne.’”

I’m talking to my boss, Mike, and he’s telling me about a time when he met his business rival, Spencer, for a drink. 

They were both working at the Dubai office, fighting it out for top spot in the company, and things were getting ugly. 

So the CEO told them to meet up, have a drink, and make peace. 

Mike tells the rest: 

“So we go to this fancy club, and we have a couple of beers, and Spencer is still being a real dick, trying to show me he’s a big shot. 

He tells the waitress to bring us the most expensive champagne in the house - not the best one, that’s just not how he thinks. He wants to spend loads of money, as if that’s going to impress me… 

We’re waiting there, struggling to make conversation, and no sign of the champagne–which is weird, this place has amazing service, they should’ve brought us the bottle immediately. 

Just when we’re about to call the waitress and complain, the two big doors of the club open up, and we see… something coming through. 

It’s an enormous bottle of champagne, many times the size of a normal bottle; it’s on top of a cart, there are four waiters rolling it in, and there are fireworks all around it! 

It turns out the bottle is so big we they can’t even pour the champagne, we have to drink it with these huge straws. We try making a go of it, but it would’ve taken a whole football team to finish it, so we have no chance… 

None of us wants to quit first, so we drink about half the bottle and we’re both close to throwing up…

When the bill comes, it’s $5,000 - Spencer turns to me, looking hopeful, and I just say, ‘Thanks, Spence, you’re the man.’”

“So what happened after that? Did you become friends?”, I ask. 

“Nah, he was still a dick. I just made sure never to go drinking with him again.”

Someone else’s story 

The best stories are personal. They are your own experiences, your own struggles, the lessons you learned. 

That’s because it’s great if your stories engage your audience and make a point, but it’s even better if they can also make them see you differently. 

Maybe the stories show you as an expert. Maybe they make you relatable. Maybe they show your vulnerability, and make it a lot easier for the audience to connect with you. 

But, if you want to tell someone else’s story, you can. There’s nothing wrong with that…

…As long as you always do this: 

Put yourself in the story. 

“I was talking to a friend and…”

This is actually pretty easy: 

• Is the story about a friend? Tell us how you were talking to them and heard the tale. 

• Is it about someone famous? Tell us how you read about it online. 

• Is it about someone (or something) from the past? Tell us how you were looking into a different thing and came across this crazy story. 

Whatever you do, never tell a story in the 3rd person, as if you were reading a book or repeating something you heard from someone else. 

At best, we’ll wonder what your connection to the story is. 

At worst, we’ll think you have no right to tell it. 

So put yourself in the story. Tell us how you heard about it. Tell us why you thought it was worth sharing. 

Maybe we won’t be popping the champagne for you… but at least we won’t think you’re a dick 🤭

Some days, that’s already a win 🤘

-Francisco 

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Getting clarity through your story to stand out from all the other coaches, speakers and entrepreneurs out there 

2. If you dream of speaking on the Red Dot, take this Scorecard and instantly discover how likely your idea is to be accepted by a TED-style organizing committee

3. If you (or your team) got any storytelling challenges, I’m sure there’s something we can do together ;-)

Thanks for reading! Reply any time.