Monday, April 16, 2012

How Do You Tell A Story?


Recently I reviewed a video called How to spot a liar, on the TED Ideas worth spreading website.  The speaker was Pamela Meyer.  The video was a very interesting study that gives the viewer information on the mannerisms of liars. In her almost 20 minute speech she goes over how to spot a liar through speech patterns and facial expressions. Furthermore Meyer talks about who lies, why they lie and how it comes so naturally.


I’m sharing this video because I wanted to take a deeper look and study how a professional shares a story or information with an audience to keep them engaged even when the subject is serious.  Our subject is the music business and how the aspiring musician songwriter and artist can affect it, but we can’t forget that its still business.  We have to learn the skill of a sales person and marketer and the ability to tell the story is one way that can be achieved.

There a couple of things that I noticed about how Meyers shares her information that I believe can be beneficial to us as progressing storytellers.

She begins the talk with an opening statement that can be taken as insulting when she says, “it has just come to my attention that the person on your left is a liar.” Meyer goes further to mention that the person on the right and the person in your very seat is also a liar. Even though I knew her direction from the beginning, the statements still grabbed my attention and from that moment I desired to finish the video.

Secondly I enjoyed the way Meyer used slight humor, which was refreshing considering a very serious subject.  I was impressed with the way humor can be used in a way that that makes the audience laugh and learn at the same time. It doesn’t have to be used constantly just slightly and consistently.

Lastly, Meyer used well-known figures to explain and demonstrate her points. The use of historical events and figures seems to be great ways to engage the audience, to not only think about the subject, but also to learn. As an example, Meyer used the famous press conference President Clinton held after the Lewinski scandal leaked. As she explained how the certain use of distant speech and wording by Bill Clinton could be an indicator of deception, I found myself reminiscing about that day and what I missed during that small speech in the 90s. Now I will always remember the points of that speech that indicate deception. I learned something.

Check out more from the TED website here:

Check out Pamela Meyer: How to spot a liar



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