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hey there storytelling is one of the
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most powerful tools to hook your
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listeners and keep them glued to every
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word you say but hey a lot of the advice
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that is out there make it sound way too
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complicated but the truth is
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storytelling is actually pretty simple
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if you know what really matters if you
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just give me 9 Minutes you'll discover
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the five storytelling techniques to tell
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insanely good stories but before we do
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that let me show you a quick example by
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John Kinski whom you might know from the
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office it's a 20 second story so really
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short but it's so powerful by the end of
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today you'll know exactly how to tell
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stories just like him and then I said
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yeah and he said says uh who are you
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visiting here I said my wife and he says
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is she an actress I said yeah he said
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would I know her I I don't know man her
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name's Emily Blunt he goes he goes
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you and I went yeah and he goes
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you you married Emily Blunt now I go
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yeah and he goes this okay go did you
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notice what he did there he didn't just
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summarize the events he didn't say oh
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yeah back then I was at customs and the
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agent asked me what I was doing and I
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responded I was an actor and he was very
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surprised he doesn't do that he doesn't
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summarize the events instead he zoomed
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into the moment of the story the best
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stories don't just summarize events they
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don't stay at that helicopter level they
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zoom into the moment they take us into
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the trenches they let us be part of that
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physical moment the good thing is it's
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not that difficult I'm now going to show
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you five techniques that you you can use
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in all of your stories first technique
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location say where you are the best
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stories start by stating the location
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where are you physically examples 2
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weeks ago I'm sitting on my couch in my
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living room taking a deep breath or
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September 2019 I'm standing in front of
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the conference room ready to walk inside
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now why does it matter to State the
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location because the moment you say
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conference room or living room your
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audience will start to visualize it
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they're like o yes I I know a conference
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room and they start to visualize their
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version of that conference room now
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beginner storytellers they often do the
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mistake that they give too many details
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they're like oh in that conference room
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there was a big table a television and a
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wooden floor don't do that don't do that
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it doesn't matter just stay the location
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as long as they can visualize it it
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doesn't matter all the details they have
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their own version of that location
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second technique actions what are you
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doing in that specific moment of the
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story instead of giving way too much
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context about all the random stuff that
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doesn't matter just say what are you
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doing in that specific moment that can
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be walking biking shouting reading
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waiting whatever it is just State the
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actions State the verbs examples I'm in
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my office I open my laptop and start
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reading a message by my manager or 2
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weeks ago I'm at the airport waiting and
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lineing at security now why does it
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matter to State the actions because it
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brings in forward momentum it takes the
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listener right into the moment when you
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do that your audience will immediately
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know that you won't waste their time
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you're straight away taking them into
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the most important part of the story
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third technique thoughts what are you
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thinking we as humans have thousands and
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thousands of thoughts every single day a
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lot of those thoughts are hopes dreams
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plans fears worries crazy thoughts now
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share some of those thoughts of that
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crucial moment of the story example
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instead of saying I was excited to meet
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my crush say I thought ah this will be
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so cool right finally I can see her
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after all that time or instead of saying
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I was very disappointed about that
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presentation say I thought oh man this
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is bad right everyone will think now I'm
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stupid I can never go back there do you
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see the difference it's a tiny tweak but
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it makes any story more interesting but
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hey a common mistake is that people
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share thoughts that sound too
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professional too intellectual they say
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something like I thought this represents
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a supreme opportunity now would your
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thoughts actually sound like that
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probably not right and so what you want
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to do is when you share your thoughts
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give us the raw unfiltered thoughts give
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us those a little bit like ranchy juicy
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a little bit neurotic thoughts now that
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will make your story much more relatable
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fourth technique emotions what are you
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feeling the best stories they're
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emotional they take the listeners on
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this emotional journey and now with the
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thoughts with the previous technique you
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know now one technique to make it more
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emotional but there's another one the
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simplest way is to just stay an emotion
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so you say something like I was
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disappointed I was relieved I was happy
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now that is pretty standard right that
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is what most people do but it's not
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ideal because it is not really visual
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right when you hear someone saying I was
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disappointed well you cannot visualize
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it and so the better way is to show the
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emotion show how it looks on the body on
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the face when you experience that
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emotion let me give you some examples
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instead of saying I was relieved say in
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that moment I lean backward and let out
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this
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big or instead of saying he was anxious
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say he kept tapping his pen on the on
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this table and he kept glancing up to
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the clock every few seconds
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do you see the difference showing the
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emotion makes it much more visual it
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takes us into the specific moment of the
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story technique number five dialogue
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what are you hearing many of your
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stories will have more than one
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character maybe a manager your friend a
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coworker your dog whoever it is now what
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did the character say in that crucial
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moment of the story what were the exact
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words examples instead of saying my
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friend was very disappointed say in that
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moment my friend looked at me and said
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Phillip what on Earth was that or
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instead of saying my manager was very
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happy with my work say in that moment my
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manager looked at me and said wow that
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was really the best presentation you've
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ever given now do you see the difference
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dialogue is such a simple tool to make
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any story much more interesting it is
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actually the tool that I use the most
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but I guess there's just one thing to
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keep in mind similar as with the
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thoughts share the dialogue that is a
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little bit more interesting a little bit
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more juicy if you say something like in
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this moment my manager said well I'm
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very dissatisfied with the inadequate
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execution of that project well that
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would sound super boring right instead
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pick much more juicy much more concise
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and catchy doll all right now that you
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know the five most important elements in
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storytelling let's watch a quick one
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minute video to see those elements in
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action that story is by Sarah Willingham
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who's a British entrepreneur investor
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and CEO of nightcap now when you watch
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the story see how she zooms into the
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moment can you spot when she shares the
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location the actions the thoughts the
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dialogue and the feelings so in my
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mid-20s I was running Acquisitions for
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pizzza Express and walked into a meeting
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room I was 2 minutes late for the
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meeting and the person on the opposite
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side of the table the lawyer
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looked up and said oh thank goodness for
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that mine's uh white with one sugar
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please so I thought okay this is a
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moment walked around to the coffee made
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him his coffee but the coffee in front
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of him and said would anybody else like
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a coffee and um nobody said anything
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nobody wanted one I made myself a coffee
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and then sat back down again opposite
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him and as he looked up I watched the C
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drain from his face as he realized this
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enormous assumption that he' made and it
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was such a beautiful moment in my career
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really empowering when I sat there and
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realized that actually this moment where
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I'd had impostor syndrome anyway running
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a meeting like this but I'd been
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completely misjudged by the people on
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the opposite side of the table was
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actually this incredible superpower cuz
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guess who walked out with the
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Dale what an incredible Storyteller
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right today you learned the foundations
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you learned how to tell insanely good
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stories but hey there are also a few
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more advanced storytelling techniques
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out there in case you want to go deeper
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on this journey I would suggest to check
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out this next video in which you learn
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how to be a better Storyteller than 99%
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of the people see you there
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[Music]