For the past few weeks, your humble correspondent has been glued to Netflix watching episode after episode of AMC’s Breaking Bad. And as I dutifully watch the series, I begin to realize a rather perplexing thing: I don’t even know if I like this show. I don’t really like any of the characters–– In fact, I’ve come to seriously dislike some of them (Walter, I’m looking at you)–– and I don’t understand the motivation behind most of their actions. And yet, I keep watching. I’m positively hooked.
Then I realize what keeps me coming back for more: the show’s intoxicating storytelling. Every episode is like a train wreck I can’t help but look at. Every minute is a compelling, grinding mess that I can’t stop from wanting more. So here are a few storytelling tips– gleaned from the heady, exhilarating Breaking Bad– that we can use in our presentations.
Have them on the Edge of their Seats
Be so compelling in your storytelling that people can’t help but listen. Tell a story so gripping and moving and exhilarating that your audience is literally hanging onto your every word. Most episodes of Breaking Bad instigate gasps, jumps and open mouths. The storytelling is suspenseful and impossible to look away from.
Of course, your story may not involve guns, meth and drug dealers, but you can channel the shock and awe Breaking Bad uses to hook its audience. Differentiate your presentation with a compelling story that will grab the audience’s attention and not let go.
Be Entirely Unexpected
The main character of Breaking Bad, Walter White, is a middle-aged high school chemistry teacher who starts making and selling methamphetamine after he’s diagnosed with lung cancer. Obviously, that is a very unexpected premise for a television show. It’s unpredictable and unusual.
Work to unearth a story for your presentation that is totally unexpected and impossible to predict; a story that alone compels the audience to ask questions and feel surprised. In their book Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath extol the power of the unexpected as a way to make an idea stick, so be unexpected in your storytelling. Pepper your presentation with surprising, uncommon stories.
Disseminate it in an Unusual Way
Another characteristic of the exceptional storytelling in Breaking Bad is how the writers choose to tell the story. Rather than tell the story in a typical chronological fashion, they’ll start with bits and pieces of the ending and then use the rest of the episode to show how they got there.
Think of fascinating ways to tell the story in your presentation. Is there anything you can keep from the audience in the beginning and tell them later? Is there a more interesting way you can approach delivering the story? The more unexpected your content is, in delivery and substance, the more your audience will remember it.
