Ira Glass on storytelling | Hacker News Reader

Ira Glass on storytelling

catharsis.tumblr.com

59 pointsaraneae20 comments

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Or more directly, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE

From HN Guidelines (http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html):

"Please submit the original source. If a blog post reports on something they found on another site, submit the latter."

Yes, but Catharsis commented on the video in the post, so it's not equivalent.

not in any interesting way. it's just two or three sentences that don't add much.

i agree with the original comment: this should have been submitted directly from the source.

That's relaxed for youtube videos, where a source embedding will always have better comments than the youtube.com page, except for a made for adsense site.

I find the other video about finding 'great stories' from Ira is equally interesting.

It resonates well with me after running my own startup for few months. Finding 'great startup ideas' seems require the same approach as finding great stories.

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qmtwa1yZRM

I think it's interesting that someone I can listen to for hours in a scripted (and edited) piece bugs the crap out of me after just a minute or two of casual speaking... I haven't heard someone say "like" so many times in like... years...

He made only a side comment about how bad he was with putting emphasis on too many words during his speech. I feel I have this problem in my speech. Anyone know a good place to read more about "smooth" talking(not the evil kind)?

I did Toastmasters and one small tip is to speak slower. It's very hard to pause for one... even two...... seconds during a speech/presentation but a small pause effectively lets your audience catch up and process. Also, fidgeting of the verbal kind: umms and aahs and physical kind: swaying arms, rocking detract the audience from the content of the speech. Practiced speakers move with purpose (don't fidget) and pause, they don't speak too fast.

Watch TED speakers.

I did hs and collegiate debate & speech to some success.

The keys to speaking "smoothly" outside of the technical aspects of cadence, tone, etc, is more organization and thought-flow than anything else.

Treat your audience like their stupid and hand-hold them through the argument you're trying to make. Organize your speech, even if informally, around some natural structure.

i.e. intro --> relate intro to topic of speech --> argument --> summary of points that defend your argument --> detailed breakdown of each point --> conclusion where you resummarize your argument and the points that defend it

If you can't engage your speakers with some sort of natural charisma or speaking ability at the very least make sure that your points are stated clearly in a well organized easy to follow way.

Try to speak with a rhythm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHZIA0-G1sc

The same thread from a long long time ago:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=198935

His advice could apply equally well to what it takes to become a good programmer. Spend the time, don't be satisfied, never give up -- but, spend the time.

Another work-more-and-you'll-be-successful suggestions. Along with Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and countless blog posts.

How thick are we here at Hacker News? This isn't news. We know the value of hard work. It's what our parents have told us since we went to school. Why do we have to repeatedly reinvent the wheel with this suggestion?

... reinvent the wheel with this suggestion

It's just more anecdotal evidence of just how long it takes to be truly good at what you do. It's not "reinventing the wheel" (you're not using the expression correctly, by the way). Ira also presented it in an interesting way. How often do you get a successful person willingly showing their failures?

How much interesting anecdotal evidence will it take for you to get it? Hard work brings success. As to how often I get a successful person to willingly showing their failures? Do a search on Amazon for success and look at all the books there. Not all successful people have made a video that's been uploaded to Youtube. But many have written a book about it.

Maybe I used the expression incorrectly. To me, saying "work more and you'll be successful" a hundred different ways seemed like reinventing the wheel. But you're right, it's off. I should have just said how much time do we have to waste with this suggestion. Go work instead of reading about how much working will help you.

See someone might say the same thing to your "go work instead" point. Haven't we heard that before too?

Repetition works because we are not all on the same page. We all have our aha moments at different times.

If someone's here reading hacker news and clicking on stories about achieving goals, chances are they are precisely the people who need to be told that more and harder work is much more important than tricks and systems.

This is the wonderful thing about Hacker News: it's always reminding you to work when you aren't.

Ira's work - This American Life http://thislife.org

Ira Glass on storytelling: first thing, whine. Second, be pretentious.

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