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Episode 111

So You Think You Want to Become a Storyteller… How the Five Senses Enrich Your Stories

“Black belt, don’t think!” Those deep, stern words from the Grandmaster echo across the dojo and ring in my ears like a loudspeaker at full volume.

Eight fellow black belts surround me in a circle with weapons in their hands while I have none. We’re doing a dynamic circle knife drill exercise where, one by one, they attack and I have to disarm each weapon and take the attacker down while avoiding injury myself.

When the exercise begins, I’m full of adrenaline and can feel my heart racing like a race car at the Indy 500. I’m trying to outthink my opponent, contemplating their next move, pre-planning my next move, and overthinking the entire scenario. I’m not trusting myself or my instincts.

While I manage to avoid what would be serious injury on the street, my movements aren’t fluid at all! Grandmaster calls me out and starts the exercise over. I take a slow breath and turn around in a circle to look at each of my eight opponents.

“Begin!” the Grandmaster orders.

I… close my eyes.

Now that I’ve removed my sense of sight, I’m relying solely on sound, touch, and trust in myself.

Each black belt yells “Ki-ai” and initiates their attack. I respond and disarm the first one, then the next, and the next. The disarming goes significantly better, and I’m reminded of how powerful the senses are and how harder the others work when you take one away.

In this next episode of the “So You Think You Want to Become a Storyteller” master series, I talk about how the five senses can enrich your storytelling. Once again, I have my interviewer extraordinaire (Mark) ask me some tough questions on this topic such as:

How do you incorporate the senses into your storytelling and make your stories come alive? Do you even need all five senses, or will just one or two do fine? And can you overuse senses in your stories?

What you will learn in this episode:

  • How you can use the senses to describe anything in a story
  • What sense tends to get overused and underused by storytellers
  • How you can use the five senses to evoke specific emotions in your story

A little bit about me.

Hi there. I’m Kymberlee.

As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I’ve had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I’ve seen what works when influencing change and what doesn’t. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That’s why I’m building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people’s lives.

Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You’ll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teaching my clients to do the same.

If you think business owners can’t tell stories or don’t have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There’s no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value.

Now it’s your turn… If you’re ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you’ve come to the right place.

Want to take your storytelling skills to the next level?

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Learn how to craft a story that will make your brand unforgettable


The Proven 5-step process to captivate any audience

Learn

my proven 5-step process for short-form storytelling that you can apply to your stories forever

Discover

and craft your own Spotlight Story that you can use in a plethora of scenarios

Train

on where and why to use storytelling in a variety of business situations to become unforgettable

Achieve

clarity on the most common mistakes storytellers make and learn how to avoid those

...and so much more!

I want to stand out!

The best storytellers are memorable for a reason.

Traver Boehm

2-time TEDx Speaker, Author, Coach, and Founder of the Uncivilized Movement

Mo Barrett

TEDx Speaker, Anecdotist, Connector, Mischief-maker, Retired Military Commander, Keynote Speaker

Katy Stevens

Musician, Performer, Recording Artist, Voice Teacher

Greg Smith

TEDx Youngstown Organizer and Voice Coach, Chairman and CCO of Compco

Than Baardson

Entrepreneur, Speaker, Connector, CEO of Unseen, Humanitarian

Cathy Sommerville

TEDx Speaker, Coach, Advisor, Leader, Author, Vice President

OPPORTUNITIES TO TELL YOUR STORY CAN COME AT ANY TIME.

WILL YOU BE READY?
I'm ready to stand out!