STORYTELLING TIPS WITH DAVE BRICKER [221]

School Of Laughs

I am extremely excited to share with you some storytelling tips for speakers with Dave Bricker. Dave is an experienced speaker, trainer, and coach. Even more cool is he is a sailor! In fact, he combines his love of sailing with storytelling and is able to help people tell remarkable stories—through writing, speaking, graphic design, video, technology, and music. If you want to say it, share it, or sell it, bring me your story; Dave can help you tell it.

I talk with Dave about how speakers and comedians can use storytelling to get their points across. It’s interesting to hear how Dave uses the sea as a metaphor to help people learn how to get their messages and stores told.

By the time Dave graduated college, he was living aboard his own tiny sailboat. Soon after graduation, he set sail for the Bahamas with a locker full of food and dreams … and $40 in his pocket.

[Thanks to Ray Price for being the Patreon sponsor for this episode. Learn more about the benefits of sponsoring at www.SchoolOflaughs.com/Patreon.]

His voyages took him up and down the Bahamas, up the east coast of the US to Chesapeake Bay, and across the Atlantic to Gibraltar. He ran aground, dealt with mechanical breakdowns, got seasick more than once, slept in a volcano, survived powerful storms, and returned to the land of clocks and calendars with characters and stories of his own. This rich background makes him an incredible resource and an expert of storytelling tips for speakers.

Some of my favorite speakers are excellent at telling stories. If you love this style of comedy be sure to listen to my interview with Jeanne Robertson.

STORYTELLING TIPS WITH DAVE BRICKER

We get into the nitty gritty of storytelling. Specifically we talk about:

• How sailing is probably safer than your daily commute
• The characters you meet in a marina
• How to sleep standing up while captaining a boat
• Tips on noting characters and stories in the moment
• How a story represents a journey from conflict to transformation
• Why anti-smoking ads fail
• Why you don’t want to have an unfinished symphony
• What speaking is really about (clue – it isn’t YOU)
• The freedom that comes with knowing the difference between storytelling and journalism
• What to include in a story
• What you should leave out of a story
• Steps along the arc of a story
• Why conflict should be authentic and believable
• Why struggles are key for you and your audience
• Why great stories should have a clear outcome

This podcast is a production of www.SchoolOfLaughs.com (c)(p)