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You’ve spent weeks crafting your talk. You’ve got an opening story that makes people tear up (or at least blink slower). Your slides are sleek. Your closer hits hard. And yet, something’s off. People say, “That was great!” but they can’t quite tell you what they got out of it. Your stories are landing, but your message is drifting. You’re getting applause, not impact. That’s the red flag. That’s the moment to ask: Does this talk have a throughline? Or just a highlight reel?

Emotion guides the audience from where they are to where you want them to go.  If you try to start with inspiration but haven’t earned their trust or curiosity, it won’t land. If you push too hard too early, they shut down.

Why we need to move beyond storytelling to story shaping if we want to create resonance and impact.

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