So I've been thinking about the idea of story lately, and mainly, if you're trying to convey an idea, is it better to lead with the point or to lead with a story and somehow meander around to the point?
That's what I'm diving into on today's good Life project riff.
So I remember a little while back, I was at an event, and I had the great fortune to be on stage.
And the person who was on stage right before me, who's become a friend, was Tiffany Schlain.
And if you recognize that name, it's because it may be for a lot of reasons.
Tiffany is a documentary filmmaker.
She's also the founder of the Webby Awards, and she's done so many incredible pieces and created some of these collective, collaborative filmmaking pieces that have exploded massively, virally online around the place.
And I remember I was backstage, and I heard Tiffany speaking on stage, and I heard her say something like, I won't get her exact language, but she was saying there came a time where she realized, actually, that if you lead with humor, that people become much more open to your message, rather than just saying, here's the message.
And it really got me thinking, because I believe if you can sort of shift somebody's emotional state, then I agree, that enables them.
It sort of drops a certain defense mechanism, and you become much more open to an idea or to a message.
And I really started thinking, well, humor is certainly one way to do that, but on a larger context, I think it's almost, if you're funny, if you have the capacity to be funny, you're like, oh, I could totally do that.
Let me do it.
But there are a lot of other people who feel like, but I'm not funny.
And I want to open people to ideas so that good stuff can come in and we can have conversations.
So what I realized is that in my mind, it's not so much about humor.
It is about creating some sort of experience that allows somebody to lower their shields.
And for me, one of the most powerful tools to make that happen.
It can be funny, it can be sad, it can be dramatic, but it's about story.
It's the idea of storytelling.
So what's interesting is I'm telling you all about speakers today, right?