Offering myself as the punchline 🤦♂️
I was sitting with a group of my friends, telling a story. They were all paying attention to me - I mean, I'm an engaging guy, I can build suspense, I can connect with an audience.
I get about a minute into the story. They're all still listening intently. Half of my brain is focused on the craft of storytelling. 🧠 And the other half was thinking about what was next in the story. And that half was worried.
Worried because I had just realized that I had no punch line. 🤦♂️
I had built up the story, I had raised the stakes, and I didn't have something to deliver that could match the stakes that I'd raised.
I tried to rescue it the only way I could think of - I paused, smiled sheepishly, and admitted I didn't have a punch line. In that moment, I offered myself up as the punch line.
It sort of worked.
A few things:
Raising the stakes is how you draw people into a story
In every moment, you've got a deal with the people you're interacting with. Here it was: "pay attention to me, and I'll tell a story worth hearing" You've got to be able to hold up your end of the deal.
Your relationship with the audience is evaluated in this moment, AND also over time. I could have just dragged the story on, hoping the punch line would reveal itself (and it might have), but then the next time I go to offer them the deal, maybe they don't accept.
How can you raise the stakes on the deal you have with others?
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