Listeners decide within seconds if an episode is worth their time. If you start with general banter, background setup, or context, you risk losing them immediately.
The most effective structure is to lead with the “gist” (core value, thesis, etc) and then provide the supporting context. In improv, we say you have to “earn going to Crazy Town.” You cannot hit the audience with wild moments (or deep context) until you have established the world and made them care. Context is an earned activity… give the value first, then prove your case.
In this micro-episode:
- Why starting with background information kills momentum
- The concept of context as an “earned activity”
- How to reverse your episode structure for maximum retention
Resources: Find more episodes and subscribe at stereoforest.com/minute.
Transcript
WEBVTT
::Starting with the point or the gist or the core or essence of a story is what your listener will gain from an
episode. And it's a really effective way to start a show. If you started your show with like background
information or a setup or some general banter with your co-host with something that has nothing to do with
the show at all, it's not going to help you pull that listener in. So if you're starting with that statement,
and then you can get
::into the context or the background that got you to that idea or otherwise supports it.
::So the aim here is to start with that statement and then you can get into the context or the background,
whatever got you to that idea or whatever serves or supports it afterwards.
::Those are the other things that your listener needs to know.
::And that context is an earned activity.
::Your listener needs a reason to care about that context when you give it. Those supporting ideas. The
things that follow the gist, the core thing of what you want to say. The listener is evaluating, figuring
out if they agree or disagree with your thesis. Like in improv, there's a saying that you have to earn what's
called going to crazy town, which really needs a better phrase, but that's what it's generally called. You
have to build the world.
::of that scene. Like you have to give those details and facts about the scene before you earn those wild
moments. And that's so the audience can care about those characters and the story. You have to make them
care first before you go to crazy town. It's a very human thing. Like before you do the trauma dumping you
gotta earn it first. So don't make your listener wait. They don't necessarily have patience for you quite
yet. So make them care.
::about the value you bring. Bring that value and then fill in the rest. So focus on those first 30 seconds. Put
the thing down on paper before you start recording, the thing that you think the listener might care about
the most, what you want them to know, and then build the context around it after that point with your
examples or your explanations. So lead with the info and then prove your case. I'm Jen DeHaan and this is a
Credibility Minute.
::You can find more episodes or get in touch with me at stereoforest.com
::slash minute