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Have you ever seen a master presenter tell amazing stories and you ask yourself, “Why don’t things like that happen to me, so I could use them in a speech?” What if they do, but you just don’t notice it? What if they happen and you just haven’t learned how to share them well enough to be as powerful as they could be? Maybe you just haven’t polished your story or got coached on how to tell it well?

If you’ve heard Patricia Fripp speak, you know she quotes Alfred Hitchcock, saying, “Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.”

Have you ever noticed that Hollywood blockbusters always start off, “based on a true story?” They never start, “this is exactly how it happened.” If they told it exactly how it happened, we’d be bored!

After I went to lunch with Rudy Ruettiger, I began reading his book, and I learned that the movie differed from THE REAL STORY in many intentional ways.

Are you perfectly accurate when you tell your stories? The truth is important, yes. I’m not saying to lie or make things up. I just want your stories to be so memorable that people walk away clearly understanding your message.

If you saw the movie Rudy, you may remember that he had an older brother named Frank. Frank was the cynical, over-critical “big brother” who kept telling Rudy he was crazy for fantasizing about playing football for Notre Dame. This would be just a dream for a football fan growing up, nevermind a kid who wasn’t big, fast, or even had the grades to get into the school.

In reality, Rudy had 13 siblings. Wow! That’s a lot of brothers and sisters! Rudy was actually the oldest. In his book, Rudy’s Insights, Rudy says, “In the movie version of my life, they made my brother Frank, older than I was. That was for dramatic purposes. They wanted to show how my fantasies of becoming great were being beaten down by older kids. It was easier than dealing with thirteen siblings in a 90-minute film. In any event, it was true enough.”

In a short keynote presentation, we don’t have time tell the whole story. When preparing my World Championship speech, Mark Brown, my coach, helped me pare down the story about my “big bomb” at the Credit Union Association that originally took three and a half minutes. When telling my famous R.M.T. Valet story, Patricia Fripp advised me to make the meeting planner a six-foot Amazon woman. In reality, she wasn’t. Emotionally at that moment, however, it was an accurate description. That was how intimidated I felt.

Maybe you have a story you’re not telling because you think it’s not amazing? Perhaps you should dust it off and get some coaching on it? What could you do to make your best stories more interesting, more memorable, and more relatable?

Please hear my message, I’m not saying to make things up. The essence of the story, and the emotion of the story, should be “based” on a true story. Then have some fun, and make it more memorable!

Stage time,

Darren LaCroix
2001 World Champion of Public Speaking

P.S. Here’s my favorite part of the DVD. The real story… click here.

P.P.S. As I mentioned, I’m reading the book Rudy’s Insights. If you liked the movie, you’ll love the book. Check it out!