I have this joke I use to make a lasting impression when I first meet people. Instead of saying “I have dyslexia”, I say “I have sex daily”. I say it with a totally straight face, which makes people unsure of what I just said. “You have what?” they ask. And with the same straight face I say, “I have dyslexia. You know: difficulties reading, a short attention span, mixing up words…”

1. “The
Secret
of
a
Storyteller”
By
Maarten
Schäfer

2. I
have
this
joke
I
use
to
make
a
las<ng
impression
when
I
first
meet
people.
Instead
of
saying
“I
have
dyslexia”,
I
say
“I
have
sex
daily”.
I
say
it
with
a
totally
straight
face,
which
makes
people
unsure
of
what
I
just
said.
“You
have
what?”
they
ask.
And
with
the
same
straight
face
I
say,
“I
have
dyslexia.
You
know:
difficul<es
reading,
a
short
aJen<on
span,
mixing
up
words…
”Most
of
the
vic<ms
think
it’s
funny
and
do
not
forget
me
easily.
Having
a
short
aJen<on
span
is
not
always
a
disadvantage.
It
actually
helps
for
storytelling,
and
allows
me
to
get
straight
to
the
point
and
skip
all
the
superfluous
informa<on.
It
forces
me
to
talk
to
the
right
side
of
the
brain
in
emo<ons
or
images,
instead
of
feeding
the
leP
side
of
the
brain
with
informa<on.
In
2002
I
started
interviewing
brands
and
my
first
ques<on
was,
“So,
what’s
your
story?”
The
vast
majority
of
interviewees
started
giving
me
a
long
official
account
or
even
showing
me
PowerPoint
presenta<ons.
Which
for
me
with
my
short
aJen<on
span
was
of
course
hard
to
process.

3. A
few
years
later
it
struck
me:
brand
representa<ves
have
trouble
telling
their
story
for
two
reasons.
One,
they
know
too
much.
They
want
to
show
you
all
aspects
of
the
brand
and
therefore
can’t
dis<nguish
between
want
to
be
complete
and
do
not
want
to
leave
anything
out.
Second,
they
aren’t
dyslexic.
They
assume
everybody
has
an
aJen<on
span
of
45
minutes
or
more,
so
they
keep
talking
and
think
the
informa<on
is
being
absorbed.
“Haven’t
they
ever
heard
of
informa<on
overload?”
I
asked
myself.
“People
don’t
want
more
informa<on,
they
want
your
story!”
And
besides,
most
people
have
a
genuine
distrust
of
top-­‐down
messages
and
corporate
jargon.
People
trust
informa<on
from
friends
and
family.
Something
like
70
or
80%
of
all
purchases
are
influenced
by
peer-­‐to-­‐peer
communica<on.In
2009,
I
decided
to
stop
interviewing
brands
and
go
into
third-­‐party
storytelling.
I
will
tell
the
story
for
the
brand.
The
tone
of
voice
is
horizontal,
like
in
peer-­‐to-­‐peer
communica<on.
The
story
is
wriJen
in
a
narra<ve
way
in
which
I
engineer
the
main
message.
The
stories
are
fun
to
read,
easy
to
understand
and
easy
to
transmit.Ready
for
word-­‐of-­‐mouth.

4. Maarten
Schäfer
is
Founder
and
Crea<ve
Mind
of
CoolBrands
He
is
storytelling
Guru
and
is
helping
global
brands
communica<ng
their
message
by
means
of
‘third
party
storytelling’
and
sharing
the
stories
with
a
network
of
25.000
opinion
leaders
worldwide.
More
stories
on:
h,p://maarten.coolbrands.org
h,p://aroundtheworldin80brands.com
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