In Podcasting, Stories Beat Advice Every Time

It doesn’t matter how long your podcast episodes are, so long as you tell a great story. Great storytellers make all podcasting better, and with some work and dedication, you too can join their ranks. How do you, the working podcaster, get better at storytelling, arguably one of the most important—if not the most important—aspects of podcasting? I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that, all things remaining equal, the podcaster who is better at the craft of storytelling will out-podcast someone who is not. 

I’m not a teacher of the art of storytelling, so I’m reticent to give “how-to” advice on becoming a great storyteller. But I am a practitioner of the art, so I can at least share with you four things I do that help to continually refine my skills as a storyteller and a podcaster. 

1. I consume great stories from great storytellers. From fiction podcasts to articles written by world-class journalists, I fill my eyes and my ears with great stories as much as I can, soaking in the rhythm and of a quality, well-told story. 

The ability to tell great stories will not spontaneously generate in your brain if you don’t have it. I make it a point to continually surround myself with great stories every day.

2. I outline stories before I tell them. The outlining I learned in school was rubbish. The outlining I was forced to learn writing the first edition of Podcasting for Dummies, showed me the outlining light. My publishers required an extremely detailed outline that formed the scaffolding of each section of each chapter of the book. ( It wasn’t quite a 1:1 ratio of outlined bullet point to chapter, but it wasn't too far off from that.)

With an outline that detailed, the creative parts of my brain flesh out sections in real-time as I follow along.

3. I keep some favorite stories in my back pocket. The next time you run into me at a podcasting event, ask me to tell you a story. I have a few different stories I can quickly pull out, once I read the room for appropriateness, ranging from getting kicked out of a football game (and not arrested), selling everything and traveling abroad for three years, or a non-joke my wife refuses to let me tell in her presence. 

4. I practice my storytelling skills. Four days a week on Podcast Pontifications. With every guest appearance on other podcasts. With every presentation I assemble and deliver. And at local storytelling events. Even when pacing around my living room, orating an idea that’ll be heard by no one other than the cat.

Our human brains have been shaped by hundreds of thousands of years of stories, either created or consumed. We need stories. And, in turn, we need to tell stories. Faced with the choice to either give advice or tell a story, storytelling wins every time. Think about that the next time you sit down to prep for an episode of your podcast. 

-----

Boostagram Corner! 

Special thanks to Dave Jackson from the School of Podcasting and someone named Nick for sending me boostagrams with messages yesterday. Both get a shoutout from me in the episode.

-----

Links:

• Advancing Podcasting community -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz • My recommendations on great fiction podcasts - https://www.podchaser.com/lists/evo-licious-fiction-podcasts-107ZztJUgQ  • 1st edition of Podcasting for Dummies - https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Podcasting+For+Dummies-p-9780471748984 • One of my Ignite Phoenix talks - http://www.ignitetalks.io/videos/big-numbers • Dave Jackson on Twitter - https://twitter.com/davejackson • School of Podcasting - https://schoolofpodcasting.com  • Podcasting Hall of Fame - https://academyofpodcasters.pairsite.com/hall-of-fame • Fountain - https://www.fountain.fm • More new podcast apps - https://podcastindex.org/apps • Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

-----

A written-to-be-read article and a full... Support this podcast