Commanding the Story Space
“Own the Room”
Over the next two weeks I'll dive into what's become an exciting, challenging, and rewarding annual tradition. For the past decade I've been gifted a unique opportunity to coach roughly 150 speakers each year on their sessions at .conf, Splunk's popular user group conference. To date, I've trained over 1500 Splunkers from Deloitte, Liberty Mutual, Walmart, Reddit, Lockheed Martin, Accenture, Carvana, REI, Verizon, Expedia, GE, Chevron, and so many more powerful brands. Every coaching starts and ends with the same core presentation target: Commanding the Story Space.
The term “own the room” dates back to 1904, and while the concept has lasted, the expectation is impractical. It's hard to step on stage and just “own” it because someone tells us to. As a coach, I can't realistically urge a speaker to get out there and simply “own the room”, like it’s as easy as breathing or taking a pill.
What I can do is guide that speaker to share what makes them passionate about why they do what they do. I can help them command that stage, screen, or meeting space by sharing their story along with their information in order to connect with an audience, develop trust, and make a positive, lasting impact.
Tuning in or turning away
Brené Brown says that we either walk inside our story and own it, or we stand outside our story and hustle for our worthiness. When we speak, our audience or team can sense whether we're living our truth or putting on an act. If they find personal meaning in an honest, vulnerable story, they'll tune in and and invest in our narrative. If they sense a common pitch or shallow argument to buy or do something, they'll turn away and move on.
In each coaching session I'm always listening for #CorporateStorytelling that balances information with inspiration. Most miss that balance. Speakers typically open with a brief and basic introduction – name, company, job title, session topic – then instantly leap into explanations, processes, and data dumps. It’s why most talks fail to connect. When the first word to the last is strictly informative, there is no inspiration, no accessible value, no story, and no genuine care for the listener.
Story framework demonstrates care
Teddy Roosevelt is (questionably) quoted as saying, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Story framework demonstrates care. Care for our topic, care for our audience, and care for our own personal value as the session leader. Skip the story and we'll never command the space.
Our unique personal story is what gives statistics meaning, gives numbers context, and gives descriptions and processes their obvious, undeniable value. Story is the only part of our talk that creates humanity and clarity for those we hope to help and influence. Without it, that team meeting, breakout session, or keynote is guaranteed to be forgotten.
Bottom Line
Owning the room is hard. Commanding our story space is far easier – if we make the right choice. We can choose to share our story for value, passion, and connection with the listener. Or we can choose to sacrifice story in favor of more details and metrics.
In the coming days I'll coach 56 breakout and workshop session leaders on how they've structured their content and infused personal perspective #CorporateStorytelling into their topics. Each time they get deep in the data weeds I'll lift them back out, helping them add connective inspiration to their flow of technical information. This is how these speakers will command their story space at .conf. And beyond.
