Sprinkle in some Specificity

Happy newsletter Friday! It’s a steamy one out here in Oakland!

Today’s newsletter is a deep dive into the idea of specificity. I first started thinking about this concept after our first Charlotte Storytellers showcase, in which one of our members told a story that involved chopping jalapeños. It was an extremely simple, but very effective story that has stuck with me for nine years — the tiny spray of the hot pepper juice, and the stinging smell that reached the eyes and taunted the tears that welled up.

It turns out there’s some science behind why I still remember it. Stories with specific details are more memorable, because our brains find it easier to latch onto concrete information rather than abstract concepts. We’re wired to respond to emotions, or sensory experiences, which are often evoked through specific details, that then strengthen memory formation and recall*.

Okay, so how does this matter in the business context? Turns out the same concept applies to business communications. If you’re trying to:

• deliver more memorable presentations,

• communicate your ideas or analyses more clearly,

• or give better feedback,

it helps to sprinkle in some specificity for the choice points you want to land with your audience.

It also helps to cherry-pick these moments when you want to hook in your audience or emphasize a key takeaway. It’s important to pick the right moments and the right level of specificity. Too much specific detail can cumbersome or distracting. For example, consider the three phrases:

“One day,”
“On a cold Monday morning,”
“At 9:32 am when the temperature outside was 12ºC (or 54ºF for our non-metric folks,”

The first is instantly forgettable, the second adds a little bit of interesting context, and the third, while intriguing, feels a bit like the main character of the sentence vs. a setup for whatever comes next.

~~~~~putting it into practice~~~~~

Your storytelling takeaway, should you choose to accept it, is to find a few moments in your communication to sprinkle in a some specificity. I invite you to pick four different types of messages to experiment with:

1. Time (e.g. “soon”, vs. “in three hours”)

2. Trends (e.g. “things are getting more expensive” vs. “the cost of eggs went up by 23% over the past year”)

3. Personal qualities (e.g. “I’m a good cook” vs. “I make really good vegan South Indian food”)

4. Descriptions/observations (e.g. “I like the colors” vs. “the bright yellow reminds me of happiness and sunshine”)

If you do try it — I’d love to hear how it goes! It may feel uncomfortable or forced at first, but as with any skill, the more practice you get the more naturally it flows.

Happy storytelling, and see you next week!

Ramya

~~~~~references~~~~~

*Research furnished by Claude:

• Yao, B., Belin, P., & Scheepers, C. (2011). Silent Reading of Direct versus Indirect Speech Activates Voice-selective Areas in the Auditory Cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(10), 3146-3152.

• Poppenk, J., Köhler, S., & Moscovitch, M. (2010). Revisiting the Novelty Effect: When Familiarity, Not Novelty, Enhances Memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(5), 1321-1330.

• Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., & Buckner, R. L. (2007). Remembering the past to imagine the future: the prospective brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8(9), 657-661.