One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking things up and gently throwing them into the ocean.
“Hey kid, what are you doing?”
“Throwing starfish back into the water, sir. The storm washed them up on the beach last night and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“But there are miles of beach and thousands of starfish. You can’t possibly make a difference!”
The boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf.
“I made a difference for that one!”
It’s a sweet story and you’re probably thinking, What’s wrong with that? Why shouldn’t a speaker share that beautiful story?
Here’s the problem—actually two problems:
First, it’s not their story; it’s from a book called The Star Thrower written by Loren Eisely and it’s under copyright. Unless your speaker licenses the rights to it, you could be prosecuted for having it told on your stage—especially if your speaker passes it off as their own.
The second problem?
Countless speakers—like thousands of starfish washed up on the beach—have assumed that “The Starfish Story” is public domain and dropped it into their presentations.
“The Starfish Story” is so overused—it’s such a cliché—that it’s become a running joke amongst members of the National Speakers Association. At one of their national conventions, speakers were challenged to create their own parodies of the story as part of a contest!
Another story speakers should never tell is “The Chauffeur Story.”
After receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918, Max Planck went on tour across Germany. Wherever he went, he delivered the same lecture on quantum mechanics. Over time, his chauffeur grew to know it by heart: “It must be boring giving the same speech every time, Professor Planck. How about I do it for you in Munich? You can sit in the front row and wear my chauffeur’s cap. No one will know the difference!”
Planck liked the idea, and that evening the driver gave a long lecture on quantum mechanics to a distinguished audience. At the end, a physics professor stood up with a question. The driver recoiled: “Never would I have thought that someone from such a sophisticated audience would ask such a simple question! I will ask my chauffeur to answer it.”
Though Time Magazine reported this as a true story in 2015, it never actually happened.
But true or not, this is another cliché story that too many speakers drop into their keynotes. Like the Starfish Story, it’s overused, and unoriginal.
How will your audience feel if two of your speakers told the same story at the same event?
Why would a speaker set themself up to look unoriginal by actually being unoriginal?
A speaker doesn’t have to have run a marathon, survived cancer, climbed a mountain, or sailed across an ocean to have a worthwhile original story. Take any block of four adjacent office cubicles and you’ll find four people who share stories that are outrageous, funny, and full of ideas worth sharing. Anyone who’s been in a relationship, owned a pet, or gone camping has a story!
Stories are everywhere!
And that’s why it makes no sense to engage a speaker who doesn’t have one of their own.
The best speakers will tell you, “Here’s my story and here’s how that story will serve your audience.”
I’m Dave Bricker, the storytelling keynote speaker, encouraging you to make your next event an experience. Set up a virtual coffee and we’ll find some unique and original solutions for keeping your audience engaged and uplifted.
We’ve all sat through boring presentations and rolled our eyes at lackluster leaders. Usually, we’re lucky enough not to be that person, but at one time or another, haven’t we all struggled to communicate important ideas to decision-makers?
That kind of way-too-common business communication leads to uninspired teams, lost sales, dissatisfied customers, annoying marketing messages, and a LOT of wasted meeting time—all stressful and expensive problems, wouldn’t you agree?
The solution is business storytelling—the art and science of what to say and how to say it!
Engaging presentations, professional development workshops, and executive coaching reveal the powerful strategies that have raised competitors to the final round (top 8 of 30,000 contestants) of the World Championship of Public Speaking, helped leaders connect (even in times of crisis), boosted the confidence and morale of sales teams (especially those who think “sales” is a dirty word), taken the “cuss” out of customer service, and helped corporations earn over $4 billion in profits.
Is storytelling a worthwhile point of focus for your event attendees, teams, or executives? Set up a sales-pitch-free chat. I promise to lead by listening.
Or just send an email and we'll get you set up the good old-fashioned way.
Not ready to select an event speaker yet? Still planning your professional development calendar? Many people schedule meetings months ahead. Let's talk when the time is best for you.