[00:00:00] Jeff Sieh: Welcome to Social Media News Live I’m Jeff Sieh and your not.

[00:00:04] Grace Duffy: I’m Grace Duffy. And this is the show that keeps you up to date in the world of social media.

[00:00:09] Jeff Sieh: Today, we’re joined by Chad, Ian Peterson, and we’re going to explore what storytelling means for business. We’re going to be covering and all the breaking down the elements of what makes a good story tips on you, how you can improve on this skill for yourself and your job and why your brand needs a storytelling strategy for 2022.

[00:00:30] How are you doing today? Chad? I’m so well had so much fun hanging out with you at Denver. I’m so glad that we got to have you on

[00:00:34] Chad Illa-Petersen: the show. I know it’s been a long time. A lot of people, we, since we got the hang out, a lot of people don’t know that Jeff Sieh and I, we go way back. And actually the way we met is I think it was like 1997 or so I was Jeff stunt double, and he was the former manager at Chuck cheese, just

[00:00:55] Jeff Sieh: right.

[00:00:56] Exactly.

[00:00:57] Grace Duffy: He was the animatronic. Wasn’t he? That’s right. I

[00:01:00] Jeff Sieh: asked him. Yes. Yes. So we’re going to be talking about storytelling, as you can tell, but if you don’t know who Chad is following a hardcore snipe hunt, a botched pizzeria robbery, two years in a bear suit and several moments top of six foot unicycle, Chad Peterson AKA the story catcher discovered the compelling power of stories.

[00:01:21] And today Chad helps you find and craft the stories you didn’t even know. You had to create deeper connections and open a portal of belonging. So now Chad is he’s, he’s funny. And he’s got a quirky goodness about him, but he is such, I was so impressed with your speech at a Social Media day, Denver.

[00:01:40] I mean, I really was, that was a great presentation. You are a natural storyteller, so I’m excited to have you on the show today.

[00:01:47] Chad Illa-Petersen: I appreciate it. That that means a lot. It’s I mean, it’s no, uh, you know, but massage a story, but know, yes.

[00:01:59] Jeff Sieh: Yes, we’ll, we’ll get into that later.

[00:02:03] Grace Duffy: Okay.

[00:02:04] Chad, in this hardcore snipe hunt, this spot pizza robbery, and these two years in a bear suit, how did you discover the compelling power stories? How did you become the story catcher in all this?

The Meaning Behind The StoryCatcher

[00:02:18] Chad Illa-Petersen: Wow. That’s a great question. I don’t know that anybody’s ever really asked me that one. I think it just became, in my career and the quirky path, it’s sometimes the unplanned, things that end up.

[00:02:37] Being the best things which is actually what I share with people, with their stories. It’s, it’s the things you didn’t realize were there. And as far as the storytelling, it became more of a thing where other people were telling me, you’re great at telling stories. You’re good at connecting with people, through telling stories and getting other people to share theirs.

[00:03:01] And so it wasn’t anything I was trying to do from a business perspective. It was me just being mean and other people being bold enough, I guess to say, Hey there’s something there. So I guess that’s how it happened. I was raised in a family and with some friends who kept me on stage, we did a lot of theater.

[00:03:25] It’s just become a natural part of me. I dunno, it’s crazy.

[00:03:32] Jeff Sieh: You are a, you are a natural storyteller and some of our friends are here and Gabe says he was wonderful guests on with Mike Altan. Are you going to give stickers away a day? So already people are wanting stuff from you, Chad. So, um,

[00:03:46] Chad Illa-Petersen: Hey Dave, it’s a, uh, it’s obviously I did a really poor job of that time with Mike Alden because he was my guest.

[00:03:55] Oh. So that’s why I worked on taking more control of my show. So,

[00:04:03] Jeff Sieh: so, um, Ian goes, if you’re going to Rob something, why not go for something more lucrative, like a bank or a casino rather than a pizza place. So are you going to talk about that story later? Or are you just going to leave

[00:04:14] Chad Illa-Petersen: it hanging.

[00:04:16] Will you talk about whatever anybody wants, if you read that, it doesn’t say anywhere that I was the Robert.

[00:04:21] Jeff Sieh: Oh. So you were robbed as in the pizza place? Or were you just like a, where you at the car, man? What was the deal? It was the pizza.

[00:04:31] Chad Illa-Petersen: Oh yeah. I was running the digital component of the whole heist.

[00:04:36] We hacked into their system, make sure we turn their security cameras off, before we, swiped all the pizzas from the buffet. No, I was actually, this was way back in the nineties when I was a young guy and I worked for a pizza company, a buffet style pizza place. And I had just locked the door, just locked the doors.

[00:04:59] When three guys showed up masks on, um, and machetes, Actually to me seems more scary than gun component. You know, I was like, wow this, uh, if you’re going to kill me, I’d rather it be quick. Maybe they brought them to cut the pizza. I don’t know. They didn’t, they weren’t able to get in.

[00:05:22] And that was where the botch component of it was. But The left, the left the score for sure. I can remember we had one employee for our, with a C ran track and I told everybody to go to the back and he went to the back and then he ran out the back door and took off, which we had to obviously get on,

[00:05:42] Jeff Sieh: Did he locked the door behind him or did he just leave?

[00:05:45] Chad Illa-Petersen: It automatically locked. It’s dude, you didn’t know if anybody was out there. Yeah. Yeah. It’s would it be a hero, bro?

[00:05:54] Jeff Sieh: There you go in

[00:05:57] Grace Duffy: fight and he chose flight. So there you go. That’s right.

[00:05:59] Jeff Sieh: So as we get started, so one of the things about storytelling is, uh, we, you also want to tell a story visually and one way that you can do that is with our pals over at Ecamm, who’s helping produce this show.

[00:06:12] You can find out more at socialmedianewslive.com/ecamm There’s the ones that allow me to do all these cool camera’s switches. We’ll bring up these lower thirds and it actually, when I record it, it separates the track from my podcasts. There’s so many cool things. They just had a new release.

[00:06:27] So make sure if you haven’t checked out, Ecamm in a while, you need to go check out. Cause I’ve got a bunch of new features. You can find out more at socialmedianewslive.com/ecamm, by the way. We’ve got some great, we’ve got some great comments already coming up here. So graces, I’m going to steal your, your opening thunder here, because this is a question I think, and this is from RESA, that ties right into what you’re going to ask Chad, but Chad, how do you determine what stories are the one wants to tell?

How To Determine The Stories To Tell

[00:06:58] Chad Illa-Petersen: Wow. That’s, that’s, that’s a tough one. Because depending on the audience and what the goal is, obviously that plays a big part. I’ve told stories before that didn’t resonate, but at the end of the day my personal feeling on it is that as long as it’s appropriate, For the situation, right?

[00:07:25] You don’t want to tell about your wild escapades during your college years, if you’re teaching a six year old Sunday school class, you just want to make sure everything’s the right. Probably not. I’m going to go with definitely not, we’re all different. So, so context plays a big part of it, but at the end of the day when you share a story that’s yours you’re sharing a part of yourself and. Nothing builds relationships and connection better than when you’re sharing a part of yourself that we just were built for story we’re wired for story. You know, often, start out a presentation, giving a shout out to mom, for all the nights, she tucked us into bed and read that latest a white paper or a Google study.

[00:08:15] You know, he didn’t do that. She told us stories because they comforted us, but they also connected us stories just for me. Uh, Jeff and I will always have Denver, um, and there’ll be a story there of how we met. So determining which ones were right. It’s Marissa, it’s just got to come down to the context of what the situation is.

[00:08:42] Jeff Sieh: Good. Good.

[00:08:45] Grace Duffy: I don’t know as so building on this and many stories, because we are talking about us storytelling strategy for your business or a brand, and in many cases, stories about businesses and brand tend to be about personal struggles on the way up. I’m thinking about how I built this. One of my favorite shows that I, other favorite shows that I listened to and all of it is really, and sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they’re poignant, but it is all about the struggle.

[00:09:08] Do stories necessarily have to be sad or traumatic to resonate? I know some people tend to be more private than others, and don’t necessarily want to talk about the awful experience or make an awful experience, the quarter store and cornerstone of building their brand or building the story of their business.

[00:09:26] Do they necessarily have to be about.

What Makes A Story Compelling?

[00:09:31] Chad Illa-Petersen: No, of course not. The struggle, that’s an interesting word for a story to be compelling. And to truly be what, purist, I would call a story there, there does have to be some kind of obstacle that was overcome, right? There’s always a hero in the story, that main character, and there’s a goal.

[00:09:58] There’s something that characters wanting to achieve or make happen, or sometimes they conflict or something that has gotten in their way. So, you know, there has to be something in the way it doesn’t have to be successful either. That’s another thing, the story to be a story doesn’t necessarily have to end with triumph.

[00:10:21] Sometimes they end with it didn’t work. It it’s, what is the audience going to connect to in that particular moment? There’s lots of people who have failed, we’ve all failed. And so sharing stories of moments where you didn’t overcome the tragedy, or you didn’t make it to the goal.

[00:10:42] Maybe you learned something though, along the way. And so you’re sharing that story and other people who’ve been there now, they don’t feel alone. Now they feel connected to, what this guy’s doing well, but he had moments where he failed and he’s also willing to share those as well. They can be funny.

[00:10:59] They can be somewhat appear to be completely irrelevant. When I share the snipe hunting story that Jeff hurt, is it really a business story? No, but it talks about my character and who I am as a person, when it comes to saying I’ll do things that I’ll say I’ll do There’s not any business component to it.

[00:11:26] It’s just a fun story with a little bit of. Message right.

[00:11:31] Jeff Sieh: So w one of the things, so I just when I just spoke, when I was at Disney to at momentum with Lou Magella is community, and we did a kind of a storytelling workshop. And one of the things that I think is important, I think you need to have an elevator pitch, right?

[00:11:48] You need to have what your business is and what it’s about. One of the things I encourage the, in the workshop is we got everybody together and went around the table and talked about what’s their story. What’s that thing that connects people to you, Lou’s story is he was a big shot lawyer.

[00:12:05] Wasn’t happy, gave it a really cushy, lucrative job up and did this thing at Disney and made it successful. That’s his story, that’s his in a nutshell. And that’s when everything kind of filters through. So I think it’s important to, for us to figure out what our story is. And I talked about signature stories.

[00:12:23] Like I talked about my chiropractic story that you referenced at the beginning. And I tell that story all the time. One, because it lets people relax and know who I am is okay to laugh and that kind of stuff. But it’s one of my signature stories and I have a couple of them. So I, and Sabrina says here she goes, I have a million stories.

[00:12:40] And I think a lot of people have all these stories. And like you said, like some of them don’t have anything to do with business, but let’s break down the elements of a good brand or business story. So talk to us a little bit about like story structure, mechanics of writing and producing a good brain story.

[00:12:58] Does it, you what does that entail and what ruins a good story? Like we’ve all seen people who’ve started tell a story and you’re like, please stop. Just

[00:13:08] Chad Illa-Petersen: please.

What Ruins A Good Story?

[00:13:10] Chad Illa-Petersen: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And Sabrina, that’s awesome by the way, the millions of stories. So that’s one of the things I actually run into quite often as people that it’s completely the opposite, they don’t feel like they have stories that they need, they can share or that are worth sharing. And that’s what I spend a lot of my time with clients, more trying to, dig down and find the story, or sometimes the story behind the story. the, real, why behind their brand or what it is that they do.

[00:13:44] And so one of the things, a lot of the brands of course, upfront. make as a big mistake is they make the brand or the product, the hero of the story. So the first thing you want to make sure is that a person is the hero of the story. if it’s your story, it would be you. If you’re sharing somebody else’s story and they were involved with your business or your brand, then it’s theirs.

[00:14:08] If it’s a customer, then they’re the hero. unless somebody that works at your company was their hero, but the product is not the hero. The example I give. and I guess some of these younger generations now, haven’t seen star wars, so I’m starting to realize that, and that’s become incredibly painful thing to deal with.

[00:14:33] but when you go and watch Star wars for the first time. The old ones you leave, you want to be able to use the force, but the force isn’t the hero, right? You want to be Luke Skywalker and you want to be able to use the force. And when a lot of brands instead is they would make the force, the hero, and you can’t connect to an object.

[00:15:04] You can’t connect to a brand, you connect to people. So that would be the first thing is I would make sure that you’re the hero and if whatever the product is that you’re selling or using helps you achieve what it is you’re trying to do, then that’s the tool. the sword in the heroes hand that helps.

[00:15:26] Slay the dragon. So that would be the first thing is to make sure that you’ve got it crafted from that perspective.

[00:15:32] Jeff Sieh: So I, I wanna just ask about that. You talked about, not the force is not the story, it’s the tool. So there’s also the flip side of and you said to make the story about yourself, but a lot of times.

[00:15:46] We, you can go too far and we’ve all known those people and we’ve seen them, especially on social media of it’s always about them. So how’s the balance of when you tell a story of connecting and you even mentioned at the beginning talking about, the struggles, like when things don’t actually work always the way you want them to, and having a place where people can connect with you.

[00:16:10] Where’s the balance of that because, cause I’ve seen it go the other way. It’s like some of those posts, we can probably name names if we needed to of, you know, it’s always about them. It’s always perfect. It’s always, you know, buy my stuff, but it’s about them. So how do you find that balance?

Finding A Self Promotional Balance

[00:16:26] Chad Illa-Petersen: Yeah. That some of that I think becomes. Deeper than just a storytelling strategy that can be taught. Some of those, some in some instances, a lot of those instances, I think that goes deeper just into the individual person and who they are. Gotcha. You know, some of us are just very much about ourselves and about who we are and making sure everybody knows how great and wonderful we are.

[00:16:57] We put on these personas, and make it, I think that goes deeper than just the storytelling component. The, the best at the end of the day, the purpose of the story is to build relationships that are founded on a deeper level of trust that then make. Say I want to do business with that person or that brand or whatever the case may be, that they relate to it.

[00:17:23] They oh, they get me. So I would say that while, yes. There’s moments where you need to share your story the higher level thinking and the goal. Mark Schaefer would agree with this. We know his book the uprising, the I’m sorry, that’s his, that’s the event we go to marketing rebellion is the book that the word of mouth and the customer story, it needs to become the marketing.

[00:17:52] So the next level of that would be to start searching out and asking other people, their stories, as they relate to your brand. If you can get those that’s much better, I’ve mentioned the window or the portal of belonging. And there’s just nothing more strong than a. Asking someone else their story.

[00:18:16] So that would help you get away a little bit from yourself. So Ian,

[00:18:24] Jeff Sieh: I know we’re asking all these deep questions and it’s just really, I’m going to, I’m going to put you on the spot and get these deep questions. So

[00:18:30] Chad Illa-Petersen: either, and then this is a great example. He was just an egotistical self.

[00:18:36] Oh, oh, sorry. And he’s watching.

[00:18:39] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, he’s here. Um, he goes, this is a great question. Do you think we are too close to our own situations to effectively tell our own stories? So perhaps that’s why we need people around us to help tease out those personal stories. One of the things I did in this, that chiropractic story that I, we referenced before it came from is I asked friends like, what should I, what is a funny thing that about me?

[00:19:02] A story that I’ve told you that I think I should do. So I asked, I crowdsourced what I should talk about in my presentation. So would you like incest? Are we too close to our own situations? What would you tell him to do if he’s having trouble finding a story?

m

[00:19:18] Chad Illa-Petersen: Oh, Enz and spot on that is consistently, the problem is we’re too close to it.

[00:19:24] not only from two, two perspectives, one that you brought up, Jeff, that we become. So self-centered, that we don’t realize how egotistical and arrogant and obnoxious we’re sounding. but the other side of that is the, I don’t have stories. and the problem that happens there is that’s everyday life, right?

[00:19:51] you’re just living life and you don’t recognize, those little moments that actually. Might have a story component to it. So, as, you get to a, where you can start to recognize those, one of the things I encourage people to do is to keep like a journal or I use a Google sheet, on my phone and either at the end of the day or in the moment, if you can just jot a few things down of, wow.

[00:20:21] this happened today, this is the impact it had on me, just a few details. So that later you can come back to it. And if you feel like, you know what, there’s a story there, then you can put it together and make it something that you want to share. because we forget them because they’re just life.

[00:20:39] So yeah, Ian, that’s a huge piece having somebody else who can help dig those stories out. And I think that’s my favorite thing to do with people because you can tell. When they’ve gotten, when they stop thinking for lack of a better phrase and just started sharing I can give you an example.

[00:21:05] I was shooting video in Vegas for a company a couple of weeks ago. And while I was there, I asked their marketing person, if we could get the CEO’s story of how this all came about and they said, yeah, let me talk to them. And so we talked to them and immediately they went into CEO business mode. Well, what’s, what’s the purpose, what’s the goal. And we said just connect with people and just let them get to know you on a more personal level. Yeah. But what’s the, what’s what’s the whole purpose here. W what’s, what are we trying to tell them? And their marketing person bless her. She said the best thing.

[00:21:52] We don’t know yet. And I’m like, that’s great. He’s well, what is it that you want me to say? What’s the, what’s the script. And then I was like, okay, now I’ll be bold. And I’ll say the same thing. We don’t know yet. And so I started to explain to him, I’m going to ask you some questions and there’s, I’m going to just dig deep.

[00:22:11] I’m going to dig deep and you may tell me something, but I’m going to ask you why did you do that? Blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, but why did you make that decision? What, what was going on? And I remember vividly, we sat there and we started talking and he started giving this, this is how we started it and blah, blah, blah.

[00:22:31] And we wanted to connect people and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we just kept digging, kept taking in digging. And then all of a sudden his body language changed. He was.

[00:22:43] He was leaning forward. And as there was like this twinkle in his eyes and he had a little smile and just his whole demeanor changed as he started to remember this moment, he hadn’t thought about in a long time. And he started laughing and making little jokes and he like, he forgot. He was like CEO guy.

[00:23:03] He forgot the camera was there. And he just started sharing this really cool story of how he came up with the idea of what it was he wanted to build. In fact, he even got so loose with it that there was somebody who had. Let him down, but because he was let down, it caused him to come up with the idea he was still, he was like, I need to remember to send that guy a thank you note for a thank you note for sucking.

[00:23:31] Grace Duffy: What that reminds me of is when you’re an adult and your parents are telling you real stories about what actually happened, like growing like their stories and you’re like, whoa, who are you? What is going on? Gary has a really great question here, Chad, it’s he asks, what if your customers are large corporate and reluctant to go on record or secretive about telling their story?

[00:23:56] And I understand this working for a software company. I know that a lot of our listeners here either run or work for B2B or service-based where they’re trying to empower their clients to do something, but they don’t necessarily they’re pretty reluctant to talk about what they’re doing or what they’re, what, what, I guess secretive about telling them.

How Transparent Should I Be Storytelling as a Business?

[00:24:17] Chad Illa-Petersen: Yeah, that’s an interesting one. You know, there, obviously there’s articles, there’s books, there’s all of these things, that you could send them and tell them and blah, blah, blah, but one, they’re probably not going to read it. And two, if they do they also may not buy it. Honestly the best way is you have to be a little sneaky and then you have to be a little sneaky.

[00:24:52] If you can get your big client and the people who are, the ones with the, uh, they got their head up their butter or whatever you want to call it, that they’re just right. So tight lip there, we have to keep this image. Whatever if you can get them alone or in a setting where you can just talk with them, then if you lead the discussion, and you make it about them, because I don’t care. If they’re all secretive, deep down, they want to tell it, they want to share it. They, they want to talk about themselves. We all want to, we love when somebody else is interested in us and I’ve had moments like that where I’ve sat and had those conversations and just started talking about them and they started sharing.

[00:25:46] And when they started sharing something and you start digging and say, why did, so what was it about that? Why did I feel like that’s was incredibly important to you. What, why was that so important to you? You know, actually when I was younger, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Wow. How. Happen, what was the situation?

[00:26:08] And you just, you start digging. They don’t know you’re digging. They just think you’re interested, but you’re also digging. And at the end, that’s when you have to make them realize that was so impactful. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that with me. I feel like we’ve been doing business together, but I feel more connected to you than I ever have.

[00:26:33] This is, that was incredible. And not only that, but I even think differently about your business now that not understanding that part of it. We need to sh share that with others. If they see how it affected you, then you can try to sell them on the fact that it will do the same for others.

[00:27:00] That’s what I’ve done. So to just tell them, you need to share your story. They’re like This is a conversation with them and get the story

[00:27:08] Jeff Sieh: so real quick, because you mentioned you’re doing video. One of the things that I used to do, and I don’t know if this is ethical or not, but I did it is that I would turn off the red light that would, you know, that the record, most cameras had.

[00:27:22] Button that would flash, like when you’re recording, I turned that off and I always set up the camera beforehand and I just asked like what you were doing, asking those questions to go oh, why did you do that? You know, yeah, they’re getting set up, we’ll do it. And I would record it all.

[00:27:33] And that’s when I would get most, all the takes and everything that I would want to. And and a lot of times they would say, okay, why don’t we start? I’m like, I’m done. I’ve got what I needed. And they’re like, what? I was like, I was recording the whole time. And then they usually, I never had anybody get mad, but you may use that a little bit to, be careful, but, let them know that you’re recording but I don’t know.

[00:27:53] Have you ever done that, Chad? Have you ever liked said, oh, by the way, I’ve been recording the whole time.

[00:27:58] Chad Illa-Petersen: You’re like Jeff Sieh comes over for dinner and then he like, had to go look for bugs in your home. That’s right.

[00:28:03] I

[00:28:03] Jeff Sieh: was like, I, cause I might need it later. Yeah. I might use it. So

[00:28:07] Chad Illa-Petersen: I’ve never done it like that.

[00:28:09] I wasn’t

[00:28:10] Jeff Sieh: happy about it. I just would, I would just hit record and turn off the red light and that’s, and I’d be talking to him. That was it. I wasn’t like I wasn’t bugging their office. So Grace, all this stuff before the show.

Tips for Getting People to Tell Their Story

[00:28:21] Chad Illa-Petersen: But we’ve done. I did some things for for a group of emergency rooms and the goal, the goal of the whole thing was they wanted to showcase the things that the doctors did in the community when they weren’t working to you know, tell the community, look at us, look at what we do.

[00:28:45] We love the community. And so first of all, the doctors, none of them wanted to even do it. I didn’t want to be on camera, but they kinda got like this directive from the higher ups, you’re going to do it. And so I got them with the camera now. And when I’m shooting things like this, I actually will use a phone.

[00:29:07] So it’s smaller, it’s less intimidating. And then I’ll kneel down at the same level. Off to the side and just tell them, Hey, this, you and I are just talking, don’t worry about this. We’ll just talk. And we started going through it and I started to find out like these doctors, when they were done working, they were exhausted.

[00:29:27] They really just wanted to go home and be with their family. And so they weren’t really doing a lot of like extra stuff, which is what the goal was. So I started just asking them, why they worked at these particular facilities versus, a big hospital or no. Why did they enjoy being a part of this business?

[00:29:49] Why did they go to school? And it would just duck down and as they would tell me things then dig in. Oh, wow. That sounds incredible. Why did you decide to do blah, blah, blah. Oh, what for, and what ended up happening is every single one of them ended up sharing a very similar phrase and that was that they loved working at this particular emergency place because.

[00:30:13] They had more time with the patients and the phrase they all were using was it lets me be the kind of doctor I went to medical school to be. And by letting them share their stories and their journey as a growing up and wanting to become a doctor and then finally ending up here that actually, so it ended up turning it into a whole new campaign.

[00:30:36] They forgot the camera was there, so they knew we were recording. I didn’t go all you know, Jeff Sieh stealth mode. But you know, but at the same time they forgot the camera was there. And for me, I think them knowing the camera for me, them knowing the camera there is, there helps because I can tell when they forget that the camera’s there and 95% of the time, the moment they forget the camera’s there, you visually can see.

[00:31:13] And they’re now just talking and sharing without thinking, they’re just sharing emotionally. And that’s where the good stuff comes from. We can get into the whole story structure, the beginning of the beginning, middle, and, three acts, introduce the character and those kinds of things.

[00:31:32] And those are important, setting a scene and creating a visual component so that, you can take people into your world where you’re going. I share the snipe hunting one, and I, when I started off, I, say I was sitting in my bedroom located all the way at the back of our old 1970s house in Beaumont, Texas with the shag carpet and the wood paneling.

[00:32:00] With my new backpack, you don’t fill to the brand with everything I’d need for my first trip to summer camp. And so, you you can do, you didn’t want to do that. You want to paint that picture. But before you can do all those things, you have to get the story, so,

[00:32:20] Grace Duffy: yeah. So Chad, tell me about all the times that people have told you too much.

[00:32:27] And how do you decide what to keep and what to delete from these stories?

Deciding What to Keep In Your Stories

[00:32:35] Chad Illa-Petersen: I don’t, I can’t think of a time where someone is like, just overshared. And one of the, one of these situations, I know I’ve been around people who’ve overshared, but I w I wasn’t trying to capture their story. You know, it’s, you’re just kinda wow, I,

[00:33:00] Jeff Sieh: yeah, it sounds like you for the doctors, you’re pleasantly surprised most times, like when you start digging, you’re like, oh, that, that really resonates.

[00:33:09] And this is like, why haven’t you shared this before? Because this is a great connection kind of event.

[00:33:16] Chad Illa-Petersen: Yeah. And, it’s, depending on the situation, what does overshare even mean? Like at what point has somebody crossed some line? What is that line? Is there a line? You know, I, it depends, on the audience.

[00:33:33] Um, you know, I there’s times where sharing the fact that years ago, you made bad choices and did time, Jail might be relevant to the audience and the story that you’re telling. And there’s other times where that may be better if people don’t know that. So it’s kind a case by case thing.

[00:33:58] I don’t, yeah.

[00:34:00] Jeff Sieh: I think, I think it is. It’s very, so gave, ask this question. Have you ever been in an amazing conversation with someone that was supposed to be on camera and didn’t realize the camera wasn’t actually recording, like you left the lens cap off or something like that?

[00:34:16] Chad Illa-Petersen: Oh, that’s the worst, right?

[00:34:18] Um, yeah, I’ve even had been, was shooting interviews for a client. They were interviewing other people and they would start doing like preliminary. Type stuff with them and having these conversations. And I was setting things up or I had stepped away for a second and I would walk back and I hear them like sharing these really cool moments.

[00:34:45] And I’m like, what? The flip, what are you doing? We wanted to get some things lined out. I’m like, yeah. But, ah, there’s no way you’re gonna be able to retell that now with the, what I just saw cause like you could see like their excitement. Oh yeah. This is this. And the other person’s reaction.

[00:35:03] It was like, what? It’s look, you guys are like, you guys sell. Dog toys for a living. You’re not actors. So your guys are not gonna be able to recreate what has happened. Right.

[00:35:16] Jeff Sieh: So we know who Chad’s clients are now. So I did not secretly record you over here on the floor. I didn’t secretly record you and I’m getting a lot of flack, even Sabrina who’s I thought, she’s like bad boy.

[00:35:30] Okay. I, I, what I really did is I usually would

[00:35:33] Chad Illa-Petersen: ask her is Jeff is recording you right now.

[00:35:36] Jeff Sieh: What I would do really? It was like, I would I would set up and they would say can I have a run through? And I’m like, yeah. And I’d always record when they say, can we practice? Because that was usually the best one, because they felt more relaxed.

[00:35:47] So it was you know, that kind of thing. So anyway, I didn’t, I don’t go around just. What about I can capture today, but I don’t do that well,

[00:35:56] Grace Duffy: but I think in the world we live in though, and we chat and I’ve gone to a lot of video conferences recently together, and everyone there just knows everyone has a camera out and you’re just prepared for it.

[00:36:07] So I think we also live, you G you and I also live in this world where everything, I need a moment we could be recorded because of just the people we know in the industry we work in. So I don’t know that doesn’t strike me as a bad thing either. But moving on to our next section about

[00:36:26] Jeff Sieh: improved.

[00:36:27] Yeah. Chad’s

[00:36:28] Chad Illa-Petersen: around go rest that, especially if I’m around. Yeah.

[00:36:37] Grace Duffy: I used your gear. So Chad, tell us a little bit about that too. I want to take a moment and talk about that. And, but I have to say, I used your gifts in a presentation, your gifts of me at video marketing world in a presentation, and it like blew all the other PowerPoints away. So I appreciate you for that.

[00:36:57] Jeff Sieh: Tell him about that a little bit, what that is.

Creating Gifs At Conferences

[00:37:00] Chad Illa-Petersen: So look, I got to give the credit to that, to my lovely bride. She had figured out that on her Samsung galaxy, there was a native app that would let her take a moment and turn it into a gift. And that I think we were with Aaron cell and Joel comm and two other, marketing people.

[00:37:21] I know you guys know them. And she had made a couple and I was like, how did you do that? What did you do? And I was like, okay, there’s something there. That’s pretty cool. So the next thing we went to was a Social Media, weak alignment in 2019. And I shot this random video while I was there and then started going through and editing it and thought, wow, there’s some moments in here where people are making some really quirky moves or doing something fun.

[00:37:55] And I turned them into gifts and people just really loved it first. They thought it was so cool that they were a gift. And yet I say GIF, but that’s cause I tell people I’m the gift guy and it sounds dumb if I say I’m legit, Jai doesn’t make sense. So that’s my rationalization. And so then I was able to get a branded gift, the account, and then I can upload them and I could tag people so they could find themselves and, and do these things.

[00:38:22] And then video marketing world actually brought me there just to create gifts. You know, what I love about them is one, there’s a personalized, there’s a connection, right? If I create a GIF of somebody else, something quirky happens with our friendship, it just takes it to a new level.

[00:38:49] I think it’s healthy. Maybe it’s not. But, but then they can use them like grace did or somebody else, because they’re uploaded, right? So other people can find them on Facebook or Twitter or TikTok or whatever. But they tell a story and the fun part with a gift is that they also have the ability to tell whatever story you need it to tell in that particular moment.

[00:39:17] That’s what I really love about.

[00:39:18] Jeff Sieh: I think I quit talking to you after you made mine. So I don’t know if it deepen our friendship or not. I think maybe it may have heard it I’m a little, no, but it’s there.

[00:39:27] Chad Illa-Petersen: I loved what I loved about your gift is that you’ve told, and this is another power of story, right?

[00:39:32] You’ve shared this particular story. The, the, the buck story. I mean, chiropractor story. I’m sorry I labeled it wrong, but people know what I mean. But I, I, I shared that gift. And people immediately just from the motion and whatever it was, you were doing started saying, oh, that’s the chiropractor story.

[00:39:53] I love that story. I think Grace

[00:39:55] Jeff Sieh: said, oh, he’s telling that story again. Oh my gosh, this is what she

[00:39:58] Grace Duffy: said. Just from the hand movements. I knew. Yes, the Jeff’s the gesture,

[00:40:04] Jeff Sieh: the gift guide the judge. Oh my gosh. So let’s, let’s go into, cause we can talk about story is fascinating because more and more jobs are requiring storytelling skills on social media.

[00:40:17] You need to tell a story, like you said, with the jiffs or gifs or whatever, they tell a story in a few microseconds and people love them and love to use them. So storytelling is this huge thing, a skill that. Sadly, I don’t think we’re teaching as well as we used to anymore. And it’s becoming more and more important.

[00:40:36] And I think that’s why people like chat are so important to teach this and give great examples. So let’s talk about, w you know, what how to improve your storytelling skills. So let’s say, I know I suck as a storyteller Jad, how can I become a better storyteller? Do I need to have more jokes?

[00:40:56] Do I need, do I need to make people cry? What do I do? I need to have joke then make them cry. What do I do to become a better storyteller?

What Do I Do To Become A Better Storyteller?

[00:41:05] Chad Illa-Petersen: Yeah. One start telling them there there’s, there’s books and there’s different things out there that you can read to give you tips.

[00:41:14] I think there’s some things that are for some people are obviously more an innate skill. Like for me, my wit, um, is just something that kind of comes naturally. When you’re around Jeff, you can tell it’s like more forced and it’s made up. Yeah. But that’s, that’s the biggest thing I would tell you probably the best book I ever read on storytelling.

[00:41:46] And I’m not saying I’ve read them all, but one of the things that would always drive me crazy is reading a book about storytelling that didn’t use stories to tell how to tell stories. Um, you know, it became too textbook and there’s a book called story worthy that I, you can see it. I’m kind of above my head back there actually.

[00:42:13] I have other books, but that one is always laid out right there in the front. It’s called story worthy. And this guy has won multiple awards for his ability to audibly tell stories. But the methods that he teaches are incredibly valuable and he uses story to do it. So you’re looking and reading stories while you’re learning how he sucks people in using different methods.

[00:42:47] I w w let me give you, I’ll give you one of my favorite things from him. And, and other people share it as well, but it really stuck when I read it from him. And that is when you’re telling a story is to try to get away from the word. And because typically when we tell something to somebody we’ll say, so we did sessions.

[00:43:17] And then we, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then this. Uh, and then, and then, and those are the moments where Jeff, you mentioned earlier, you start going, oh my gosh, when is this going to end? It becomes just a travel log. Right. And so instead of the word, and you want to find moments where you can throw in the word, but not the same way Jeff did with his chiropractor story, just one T is all we want.

[00:43:45] But you want to use that word because now that throws in more conflict, right? Everything’s going good, but this happened, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We got to this point, but blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the more that you can do that that actually that alone will help you a lot. So if you go through and you’ve put a story together and you’re looking at it and or if you made a video, if you try to narrate it and the way it narrates itself is.

[00:44:15] This and then that, and then this, and then that, then you need to re-look at it and try to figure out where you can add those button moments. So I would throw that. Okay. So

[00:44:24] Jeff Sieh: I like adding button moments. I’m going to use that now for everything that I do,

[00:44:29] Chad Illa-Petersen: my button you’re welcome. I figured I was like this is going to play way too.

[00:44:35] Yes,

[00:44:35] Jeff Sieh: Sabrina goes, she also goes eyes and pausing. Voice, body languages for storytelling is super important. One of the things that I have done and I almost collect good storytellers, like I’ll, I love going to conferences and somebody tells a good story. I’m like, I’ll either get the recording or I’ll write it down.

[00:44:53] Or we’ll, I’m like, okay, why was that compelling? Like Chad, at the end of his he talks a lot about his unicycle riding, which is a great story. And he weaves that into his presentation, but then he has a. Funnier than moving story at the end that you tell that kind of hooks and grabs the audience.

[00:45:13] And I collect, I didn’t collect that story. I’m not going to steal it, but I’m like, okay, why did that work? Why was I drawn in? And I see, the more you can do that and start taking notes. And Jay Chad mentioned journaling before. I think that’s super important. It’s okay, why did that move me?

[00:45:30] Why did that make an impact on me and note that, and you don’t want to steal stuff, but you want to okay, how can I have elements of that in my own story?

Standing Out With Your Stories

[00:45:39] Chad Illa-Petersen: I guess this one I’m. Yeah, because people are always like I need to be funny. You don’t have to be funny. And Jeff can attest to the fact that there were moments where there was fun and laughter in my presentation, but unlike most speakers or presentations you go to at some of these marketing conferences, like I literally end, like there’s people like crying, because I shared a great moving moment. And I leave it. Yeah. And people have been like, are you sure you want to do that? I’m like, yes, I do. Because it’s different. And what being different and sharing your stories does. And Jeff brought up the unicycle thing that when I share the unicycle story, the point of the story, and I’m not sharing it right now because there’s some things that happen with the unicycle, but that, that you don’t have to be the best.

[00:46:31] You just have to be memorable. And that’s where the power of the story comes in. As it Isabella mentioned the eye movement and all the, Sabrina, I’m sorry, the physical components those are important to us. Obviously if you’re audibly telling it or on video you know, if you’re a speaker Make sure that your movements are intentional when it comes to the physical side of telling the story.

[00:46:57] I see too many people that they start pacing, and I know it’s a nervous thing. But if you can get in your head, plant your feet, I just plant your feet and let your face and your, your, your gestures and tell a story so that people are right here. You can bring them here if people are having to do this because you’re moving the whole time.

[00:47:17] Let them just bring them in. So I, I so glad that she brought that up. Yeah, I love

[00:47:25] Grace Duffy: that. As I was preparing for having you on the show chat, I was, I did a quick search on storytelling and what the industry is for storytellers, a quick search of job listings, just top of the Google search, brought up a wide variety of storytelling jobs from digital storytellers, data storytellers.

[00:47:44] And then of course, bloggers writers, copy editors, video producers. So give us a sense for F you re recognize this as a skill that your company needs. What do you need to look for in hiring a storyteller and hiring a company to help you bring out these stories? What things would you look for if you were running a B2B company, you don’t think you’re very funny.

[00:48:07] You don’t think you’re very entertaining, but you want stories about your company.

How To Create Engaging Stories If Your Not Funny

[00:48:10] Chad Illa-Petersen: Yeah. It’s interesting, the storytelling, a buzz, it’s become and I worry about that. I worry about it becoming just another buzzword that becomes worn out and, overused and makes be a paradigm shift here.

[00:48:30] Jeff Sieh: It would be a paradigm shift. If that happened, it would be a

[00:48:32] Chad Illa-Petersen: paradigm shift in transparent. Um, and so, I’ve seen some of these job things cause I, I watch and see what’s going on and I’ll open it and take a look at them and it’s okay, you’re really, all you did was just tell me you want a copywriter or you just said, you just changed the name.

[00:48:54] A lot of companies I’m seeing, they’re just like, they’re adding it to it. Like it’s the we want to do more storytelling, so let’s call it this. But the job descriptions, like the same. Um, so that’s like frustrating. But as far as skills you know, I think you want to look for somebody who sent you a resume that tells a story immediately.

[00:49:20] If, if they’re, if they’re sending you resumes or things that just lists, I did this, I did this, numbers and don’t give at least some kind of a short narrative or explanation of, how, uh, they did it. Then they’re probably just not natively prone to, to tell things as a story.

[00:49:47] Give them a situation when, if you’re talking to them, ask them, this is what I would ask has, how did you end up here in my office?

[00:49:58] Jeff Sieh: That’s a good that, that right

[00:50:03] Chad Illa-Petersen: there and see how they can tell it. And then they

[00:50:05] did that. I don’t know

[00:50:08] if the door was open and then I did that and then I did that and then I did that.

[00:50:13] So, oh wait, now maybe there’s something there, but I’m not saying that because he might be somebody who can be taught the skill with it. But if you’re looking for people who just natively are storytellers, then if you ask them that question, how did you end up here today? And you can tell, by the way they answered it, if they’re just going to be the analytical I took a bus or whatever, like you just said, or you know, as a kid.

[00:50:46] I was always drawn towards blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don’t know why I just liked numbers. I remember a time when I was in a middle school and my teacher put this complex problem on the board and everyone seemed to struggle with it, but it just came to me and I don’t know why. And so I started competing in these contests and, but then I also realized that it wasn’t cool and oh you know, it’s right.

[00:51:12] You could tell by the way somebody answers, that would be the question I’d ask how’d you get here.

[00:51:15] Jeff Sieh: So I think one, so we’re going to talk really quick, cause we don’t have much time. And it’s funny because Sabrina goes, can this session go for two hours instead of one? So Serena, we will definitely have chat on again because this is a fascinating thing.

[00:51:28] And it is something that she wasn’t talking about. You Chad, she’s talking about me.

[00:51:32] Chad Illa-Petersen: And I guess so, Sabrina he’s filming you. Yeah, exactly.

[00:51:38] Jeff Sieh: The thing is I think one of the things that I think most people we’re going to talk about this really quickly building a storytelling strategy is that you’re scared to tell your story because the story is personal.

[00:51:49] And I think it’s easier to go. Yeah my business, what we do is this and this, and what do you do for your business instead of going, why I started the businesses because I wanted to help these types of people. That’s more vulnerable. And I think, yes it’s, it’s scarier to do, but that is where we can connect with people.

[00:52:08] Like I saw Chad, I always thought he was this weird guy with a fedora at social media marketing world and stuff. And then I heard his story and we sat down each other and we talked, we’re like, I did, I, I did the same thing or I’m doing the same thing or I connect this way. And it was because we told each other stories and we connected through that.

[00:52:26] And so that’s going to become more and more important. Sorry, Grace. I went on your section here, but you

[00:52:31] Chad Illa-Petersen: go ahead. Throw one more thing, accident. You’re going around at a time. I do wanna make sure people get that whole portal of belonging component. Yeah. There’s power in sharing your story, but there is so much more power in asking someone else’s theirs.

[00:52:47] So just make sure I throw that out there. Yeah.

[00:52:49] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. Um, go ahead, go ahead and ask your questions. Great. I’m sorry. I jumped on your,

[00:52:56] Grace Duffy: oh no, it’s fine. I was compelled by the story, so I think to get lost in it and I’m like, I don’t even know what I was going to ask. Wrapping this up. Tell us Chad, where we can find out more from you about you.

[00:53:10] Megan just dropped in the comments that you’re going to be in the making a market marketer podcast soon. So our friend Megan Powers runs that podcast. So do check it out called making a marketer. Um, where else can people find you Chad?

[00:53:25] Chad Illa-Petersen: The story catcher.com. Like any good, solo preneur guy. I have a website, but I really need to do more work on my own stuff instead of everyone else’s.

[00:53:38] But it, but it is there you know, I’m on all the socials, if you want to be the businessy thing and he hit me on LinkedIn. But honestly, guys, I’m all about sharing, like my story and who I am, and I have no problem with somebody reaching out to me. And if they messaged me on Facebook and say, Hey, I saw you on the show today, I’d really love to connect.

[00:54:08] Let’s be Facebook friends as well. I spend probably more time there just. I feel like it’s more personable for me. I’m not a spammer. You’re not going to get blasted with a bunch of in fact, I mostly tell people, go try and find some spammy business thing that I’ve ever posted. Cause I just share me and I’m just about the relationships that we can build from stories.

[00:54:33] That’s literally how this bank business has been built from that.

[00:54:39] Grace Duffy: So spell your name because I know that’s how people are going to find you and saying Ian Peterson does not give it justice. So you go on,

[00:54:46] Chad Illa-Petersen: right? For those of you who can’t see the letters on the screen, it’s I L a that’s P E T E R S E N.

[00:54:56] There are only two E a Petersons in the entire world. So there you go.

[00:55:03] Jeff Sieh: We had to say, cause this is also a podcast, just like we mentioned, Megan Powers.

[00:55:09] Grace Duffy: Listening. I want to know that people listening can confined you as well, because

[00:55:15] Chad Illa-Petersen: was, I was like, why is she having me say it out loud?

[00:55:20] This is just a quiz that we do for all

[00:55:23] Jeff Sieh: of our guests to see if they could spell their own name. Can you spell

[00:55:25] Grace Duffy: your own name half the time? I can’t spell mine. You know,

[00:55:28] Jeff Sieh: so speaking of Grace, Duffy, all things, Grace, Duffy, where can people find the amazing grace. You can find

[00:55:34] Grace Duffy: me here every Friday with Jeff, except when we do Turkey things and Christmas things and things because the holidays are coming up.

[00:55:42] But I do work for restream, which is a happy little partner with goes well with e-comm our sponsor. So you can find me over there over at the restraint. And YouTube channel and everywhere else.

[00:55:56] Jeff Sieh: And this is a podcast like we mentioned. So make sure you just go to any of the, your favorite podcast players, just do a search for Social Media News Live.

[00:56:02] We should come right up and we’d love for a rating and review. I would like to give a big shout out to our sponsors at ECamm . They help me tell a story every week with the amazing software that we’re allowed to bring these lower thirds different cameras and it’s recorded, and it goes out to all the different places.

[00:56:19] It’s just amazing. So make sure you guys go check out socialmedianewslive.com/ecamm. Check them out. They’re amazing company. I love them to death and don’t forget. Our next show is Friday, December 3rd at 11:00 AM. 10:00 AM central. And we can, you can always find us on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon live.

[00:56:38] Thank you guys so much for being here. Thank you, Megan. Thank you, Sabrina, for all you guys, as questions and comments, Gabe was here and Chris and all of you who show up every week, we would not be able to do this show without you. Thank you so much for being part of the committee. And with that, we’ll see you guys next time.

[00:56:55] Bye everybody.