How do you tell your stories?

I’m not quite done reflecting on the amazing experience that was TEDxColumbus.  I tried to categorize the talks we curated and came up with this quirky tree analogy.  It made me think about the larger way we organize the stories we tell.  Which one would you be?

1.  Trunk:  The speaker sticks to the core message often with one powerful question to ponder woven through the talk.

2.  Forest:  You were given a tour of the forest and while they brought you home at the end, you found some flowers along the way you wanted to smell instead.  This is akin to being told how the watch is made instead of the time.

3.  Branches:  The speaker explores a few tangential topics that are related but perhaps distracting to the core message.

4.  Overgrown:  This is the speaker that shows up the day before with 66 slides to fit into 18 minutes.  While they get to 30 slides the day of the talk, it’s still way too much for the audience to digest.

5.  Evergreen:  The talk that was given 8 years ago and has been recycled and updated a bit.   The speaker can’t break out of the mold and reverts to this style, the only he knows.

6.  Transplanted:  The talk that showed up at the interview that needed some sunlight.  Through some coaching, new life was given to the topic and speaker for a fabulous performance.

7.  Rings:  The talk that wants to give you a history of everything about the subject!