CCM Coaching Tip #11: The Twist

by Tommy Kramer, KramerMedia.net

Let me share with you part of a recent session with a female talent who's only had half a dozen sessions so far, but is learning really fast.

She did a break recently about her little boy. As she started talking about him, she said "I've learned that if I want to play with him, I have to be very committed to what it is that we're gonna do, because toddlers will just run something into the ground."

I stopped the audio right there, and said "Oops. Now you've just told me where the story is going."

The inevitable result of this is that there won't be any 'surprise' or 'reveal' at the end that we didn't already see coming.

The Rule: Every story has a Beginning, a Middle, and an Ending-and the Ending should never be something that you already said earlier. (This is why I always think of the Ending first. I may take an earlier "exit" if one presents itself, but I always have a concrete ending in mind, because when you know where you're going, you travel in more of a straight line.)

The story went on that he was obsessed with his "Mr. Potato Head", but not having a little boy's attention span, she was WORN OUT by it after 25 minutes of putting different noses, eyes, etc. on the toy, doing a little voice for each "face", etc. "Because toddlers will just run something into the ground" would have made a decent ending - IF she hadn't already said it at the beginning.

But even more importantly, even if she had used that as the ending, there's nothing unique in it. No line that truly defines her, or that people will REMEMBER.

It was okay, but a better layout of the story, with a "twist" at the end, like "after 25 minutes, I was ready to make that toy 'Mr. MASHED Potato Head!'" would have made it better.

Never settle for just a "decent" ending. Aim higher, because MEMORABLE MOMENTS are what make ratings success.