My latest summary is for Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks.

As usual, the key takeaways are below and you can find the full, detailed summary here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Finding your story

• Every story has a five-second moment at its heart. These are moments about growth, change, or some realisation.
• Big, exciting stories are actually harder to tell, because they are less relatable. To tell a big story, you still have to find the five-second moment in it.
• One of the best ways to find stories is by doing “Homework for Life” — spending just five minutes a day jotting down your most storyworthy moment from that day.
• Not only will Homework for Life give you plenty more stories, it will also make you recognise and appreciate the small, meaningful moments that make up our lives.

Crafting your story

• Your story should start at the opposite of the five-second moment so that your story has an arc.
• Stories must have stakes. One way to build stakes is by describing your plan, bringing your audience with you.
• Some lies are okay — omission, compression, simplification, reordering. Lies should be for the benefit of the audience, to make things easier to follow, etc. Making up things that didn’t happen, or lying to make yourself look better, are not okay.
• Immerse your audience. Give each scene a location, so your audience can see it in their minds. Use the present tense. And don’t pop the bubble by doing things like referring to your story as a story.
• Stories are about change and contrasts. Use “but” and “therefore”, rather than “and” to join sentences and scenes.
• Keep things short and simple, particularly when your story is oral. Aim for 5-6 minutes.
• Surprise is the only way to make your audience feel an emotion. To generate surprise, you might bury the lead in other details
• Humour is helpful but not essential. It should be used strategically. For example, a laugh at the start can settle and reassure your audience.
• If you tell a story about your success, you should cast yourself as an underdog or downplay your success.
• Endings should be a little messy. They should linger with the audience, so that they return to it in their heads even days afterwards — like a coat that is difficult to take off.

Telling or performing your story

• Don’t rehearse in front of a mirror, as you’ll never see yourself when performing.
• Don’t memorise your story. Just remember the first and last lines, and each “scene”. That comes off more authentic and will help you recover even if you forget a line.
• Find one friendly-looking person to each of your left, right and middle and make eye contact with them throughout.
• Always use a mic if offered one, and take the time to check it is set up properly. Even if you have a mic, you still need to project your voice.

Find the full summary on ToSummarise.com​