How Do We Get People to Tell Their Stories?

When trying to tell your organization's story, it's usually best to start with your people. Audiences like things they can relate to, and hearing about what others are doing is much more engaging than learning about a faceless organization. As my friend Jim Aleski says, "talk about your people and what they do."

But how do we do this? Most people charged with sharing content these days don't exactly have backgrounds as journalists. And frankly, many people whose stories we want to tell don't like being the subject of attention!

These are some of the hacks that I use when talking to people to get their stories:

- I know you'll start with thank you, because you're kind and gracious. Then ask "How are you?" and mean it. Know what's going on in that person's part of the world, and bring a sense of seriousness to the question.

- When you ask a question, allow them time to think. Don't rush the answer or re-state the question if they don't answer right away.

- Pause for a moment after their answer. It can feel awkward to let silence creep in, but you'll get a feel for it, and their instinct will be to fill the pause (just like you!) so you'll get more great info.

- Weird hack: I used to write my questions on index cards and line them up on my desk in the order I wanted to ask them. When something popped up earlier in the conversation, I'd move the questions around so I could keep up but not lose anything I wanted to know.

- Find your own weird hack. :-)

- Decide if conversational is the right way to go. If you hit it off, great! But take care that you are hearing more from them than yourself.

How did your last interview go? What's your weird hack?

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Photo by Windows on Unsplash.

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‍Raised in a military family, Jessica brings a literal world of experience to her clients. With more than 20 years as a business journalist, editor, and copywriter, Jessica helps organizations connect with their stakeholders through storytelling, branding, and content marketing. She's especially excited about helping people build online reputations that will carry them wherever they want to go! Learn more about Jessica at https://www.linkedin.com/in/contentbyjessicaswanson/.