[00:00:00] Simon Bucknall: This is Speechless, the podcast for people who want to learn how to tell impactful stories that can change the world. Presented by storytelling experts Maryam Pasha and me Simon Bucknall.
[00:00:11] Maryam Pasha: In this week's speechless soundbite, we share an interesting technique that can really make your origin story pop the Pixar pitch.
[00:00:19] Maryam Pasha: This is one for people who perhaps struggle with consistently and concisely explaining their life's journey so far, and which points to hit or miss.[00:00:30]
[00:00:34] Maryam Pasha: I think I was very lucky to, to find Ted when I did, and, and I tell a little bit of a story about it. I'm gonna tell you. And I, and I use a story structure that I really love to tell it because it's probably one of my favorites. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that now, actually go. So once upon a time, I worked for a small human rights charity in London.
[00:00:57] Maryam Pasha: Every day. I saw us for fail to reach [00:01:00] the very people and institutions we needed to, to influence, to stop real people suffering. One day in 2011 though, I was invited to the live stream of the first ever TED Women Conference, and I was in awe. Because of that day, I started to see the power of storytelling to create impact.
[00:01:21] Maryam Pasha: And because of that, it made, I, I decided to make it my mission to take complex and difficult ideas that no one wanted to listen to, but that we needed to and [00:01:30] turn them into persuasive and memorable stories. Until now, a decade later, I run one of the world's top 10 X events. Um, I've worked with hundreds of speakers whose talks have been listened to over 20 million times.
[00:01:43] Maryam Pasha: I've helped. Coach speakers who've changed the law. Uh, I help coach speakers who've raised a billion dollars to fight climate change. And I've worked with everyone from Nobel Prize winning academics to billionaire philanthropists, to business leaders, to students, to entrepreneurs. And for [00:02:00] me, every single one of them have the same desire to be, to speak and be heard and listened to by others.
[00:02:07] Maryam Pasha: I think that's universal. I remember feeling unheard. Um, Knowing I could do, contribute more, and I kind of fundamentally believe that the people I work with can, if heard, can change the world for the better
[00:02:21] Simon Bucknall: and the way things that play out if have played out, looking back to your 10 year old self, your 15 year old self.
[00:02:27] Simon Bucknall: Mm-hmm. Surprised [00:02:30]
[00:02:30] Maryam Pasha: hugely, hugely surprised. And yet I don't think my eight year old self would've been surprised. Hmm.
[00:02:37] Simon Bucknall: I wonder how often that's the case that reconnecting with who we actually have always been. Yeah. But sometimes
[00:02:42] Maryam Pasha: we forget. Yes, definitely. And I think it has. I love that for both of us, there is an evolution.
[00:02:51] Maryam Pasha: I think you said it when you were speaking earlier about the misconception that storytelling and public speaking is, is like an innate skill. Like [00:03:00] you're good at it, you're charismatic or you're not good at it. And that is like, that is the biggest gatekeeping that I've ever seen. Cuz actually I, both of us know from firsthand experience that it is, it is a skill.
[00:03:12] Maryam Pasha: And if it's important to you, And you want to learn it and you're willing to put in the time like anything else, you will get better at it. Um, and there's no overnight success. There's no like secret weapon. There's no magical pill you can take. But I actually find that quite reassuring because it [00:03:30] means that it's not for just a small group of people, it's for everyone.
[00:03:34] Maryam Pasha: It works really nicely written down because it does use the, it's called, it's like called the Pixar pitch. Mm. Which is six sentences once upon a time, every day, then one day because of that. Because of that. Until finally, yeah, I know. Okay. And that is that. And so whenever someone says, I love to tell the story, but I don't, but it doesn't come in story form.
[00:03:54] Maryam Pasha: Mm. I think, okay, well let's put it into story form. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I, that's why I was like once
[00:03:59] Simon Bucknall: upon a [00:04:00] time every day until one day. Because, because of Finally Nice.
[00:04:03] Maryam Pasha: Like it, yeah. Yeah. And if you think about it, you're like, I know Toy Story. And like all of these movies are exactly that structure.
[00:04:10] Maryam Pasha: They're more complicated, but they're exactly that structure. And I, and I love it because it also, the other reason I love it is because, It's a check as a speaker. So are you starting at the right place? Is your turning point the right place? Is your hero the right hero? Is your consequences, the right consequences?
[00:04:27] Maryam Pasha: Are you ending or you wanna end? I think that [00:04:30] speakers often will start in the wrong place, or their turning point will focus on the wrong thing. Yeah. And as they don't understand why it's not landing. And yet if you think about your, and then one day as being the. The, the thing that happens in the movie that changes everything.
[00:04:44] Maryam Pasha: What is that for you? And then you start, so I almost often start with sentence three and then work back and work forward. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So to recap, here's how a Pixar pitch can help you and how to get started. The [00:05:00] Pixar pitch follows a series of six sentences to help structure your story once upon a time, every day.
[00:05:07] Maryam Pasha: Then one day, because of that, because of that, Until finally, no matter how complicated or technical your idea or story is, the Pixar pitch approach is case in point that nothing is ever too complicated to be boiled down to something simple once, should you use it, try using it to explain your journey so far, it helps you race through a lot of contextual information in a quick way.
[00:05:29] Maryam Pasha: Saving the [00:05:30] audience a painful blow by bow counts, but focusing on the key moments that made all the difference.
[00:05:36] Simon Bucknall: You've been listening to Speechless, the podcast from storytelling experts, Maryam Pasha and Simon Bucknall. Hit follow now to keep learning how to tell stories that changed the world. If you enjoyed it, please give us a rating and review.
[00:05:48] Simon Bucknall: Until next time, speak less, say more.