Better to be a happy nobody than famous but lonely?

I’m reading Harry Potter to my 7-year old.

“So is Hermione with Ron now?” Krum asks. 

“I think so,” Harry says. 

“What about that redhead over there?”, Krum asks, pointing at Ginny.

“I think… she’s with someone too.”

“What’s the point of being a famous Quidditch player if all the pretty girls are taken??”, Krum says angrily and storms out. 

Before I can continue reading, Alice stops me: 

“Papai, I don’t understand. Why is Krum angry?”

“Because even though he’s a famous player he can’t get any girl to dance with him.”

“But what does being a Quidditch player has to do with pretty girls?”

“Oh, well, it’s… huh… sometimes when you’re very good at a sport and everyone knows you… it’s easier to meet girls.”

“Ok… but can’t he just ask Harry to dance with him?”

“What? No, boys don’t want to dance with boys! I mean, most boys don’t…”

“Why not?”

“Oh. It’s… complicated.”

“Why?”

“Remember when I told you this book was for 12-year olds?”

“Yes.”

“That means you’ll understand this… in 5 years.” 

🤨

If you confuse them, you lose them 

My daughter doesn’t need to get everything in the Harry Potter series to love the stories. The books are so long that missing a detail here or there doesn’t actually matter– and she definitely doesn't need to understand if there's any point in being famous if you still can't get a date 😅

That’s not the case when you tell a business story or make a presentation, though. If your audience loses the plot at any point, chances are they simply won’t buy in to your ideas. 

There are usually two ways that will happen: 

• Using language that is too technical ou specific 

• Discussing problems they can’t relate to 

Language is the easiest one to fix: avoid jargon unless you’re certain your audience absolutely understands it– or that it doesn’t matter (I didn’t explain what Quidditch is, for example; even if you never heard of it, you’ll get it’s a sport and that’s good enough for this particular story.)

Making problems relatable takes a little more doing, but here are the basic steps: 

1. Talk about problems your audience know they have (not ones you think they have) 

2. Talk about what they think causes the problems (even if you disagree with their conclusion) 

3. Talk about the common fixes they try–and why they fail 

4. Now, when it’s clear they are stuck, you can share your unique take on what’s really behind the problems and how to solve them

There’s probably no subject your audience is too young to understand, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still confuse them. 

Keep your language simple and when you talk about problems, meet them where they are. 

Wands and spells are great– in books. But when it comes to making things happen in real life, there’s nothing more magical than being clear 🤘

-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.