Chapter 3. The 10 Functions of Storytelling

Storytelling is both a simple and complex activity.

The first task of any storyteller is to make a connection with the audience. Success and failure are defined early in the game. Lose the audience, and it doesn't really matter how important your story is. Think about the difference between Al Gore, former vice president and presidential candidate, versus Al Gore, promoter extraordinaire of An Inconvenient Truth (both the book and the movie) and pitchman for both global warming and a kinder, gentler, more ecologically attuned Democratic Party. The former was terminally stiff, the latter, almost charming (for a guy who is essentially still pretty stiff). We're not sure which got more attention when An Inconvenient Truth came out—global warming (its principle topic) or the fact that Gore had somehow found a way to soften his personal image and had suddenly become, if not laid back, at least far more accessible and "human." The new Al Gore is a guy you could connect with, kind of like the guy who defeated him in his presidential race in 2004. He is, in fact, the kind of guy who could tell you a story you might want to listen to.