In Chapter 10 of 16 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, motivation teacher Jullien Gordon answers "How is Your Public Speaking Experience Teaching You to More Effectively Engage an Audience?" Gordon shares how taking a storytelling course helps him better share his experiences and connect with audiences. The storytelling, combined with what he learns taking a stand-up comedy course, help him create more actionable personal and professional development messages to his audience. Gordon is the founder of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, a personal and professional development company that helps clients identify purpose and map it to successful outcomes. Gordon has written five books and speaks regularly to college students across America. He earned masters degrees in education and business from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from UCLA.
Transcript:
Erik Michielsen: How is your public speaking experience teaching you to more effectively engage an audience?
Jullien Gordon: In addition to my comedy class I’ve actually taken a storytelling class with a company called Narrative, and I know just based on my own experiences and the messages and the guidelines for life that have stuck with me, have all come through stories and so I’m actually working on things to become a better storyteller, like I said I went to a comedy class to become a better communicator and when I’ve coupled these things with the messages that I already have, this comedy and this storytelling, has allowed the messages that I have to share with the world to actually stick and land in a deeper place for people and so it’s just -- it’s been amazing to be able to touch people in so many ways.
One of the most beautiful things that I love is getting emails from people within like 48 hours after a speaking engagement because you know speaking engagements they can inspire you in a lot ways, but for me inspiration isn’t enough. I actually need to see people make changes in their life otherwise the inspiration it comes and it goes and that’s not enough to actually cause change. I like to see when people actually make a change in their life as a result of something I said and when I get those emails back about people’s new commitments based on what I shared with them, that means the world to me.