Cornell Lecturer and former U.S. Senate Chief of Staff Mark Bayer reveals the insider storytelling secrets he used at the highest levels of government to influence key stakeholders and achieve high-priority goals.
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In this Keynote, Mark Bayer, Visiting Lecturer at Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy and former U.S. Senate Chief of Staff, reveals insider strategies for crafting compelling, memorable stories that influence key stakeholders in your professional ecosystem. Drawing from 20 years of experience writing powerful narratives, persuasive speeches, and media pitches at the highest levels of U.S. government, Mark shares proven techniques you can use to elevate your own presentations and achieve high-priority goals.
Mark will guide you through the storytelling process, from identifying the most impactful content to mastering narrative sequence and stylistic elements. You will discover what to include, what to leave out, and how to harness both the art and science of storytelling to enhance your influence.
Since leaving Capitol Hill, Mark has served as a two-time keynote speaker for Harvard Medical School's orientation, delivered workshops for major scientific societies, and hosts the "When Science Speaks" podcast — ranked among the top 5% most popular podcasts globally by Listen Score, the Nielsen ratings for podcasts. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, The New Yorker, Barron's, Science, Teen Vogue, and other media outlets.
[00:00:00] Welcome to Cornell Keynotes. On today's episode, we're exploring the art and science of storytelling, specifically, how to craft compelling narratives that influence key stakeholders and drive real results in your professional life.
In a world where presentations blend together and messages get forgotten within days, the ability to tell a story that actually sticks is essential for career advancement or securing funding or achieving your most important goals. To that end, we are joined once again by Mark Bayer, who is visiting lecturer at Cornell's Brooks School of Public Policy and is a former US Senate Chief of Staff.
Mark brings 20 years of experience crafting powerful narratives and persuasive speeches
at the highest levels of US government, working with outlets like CNN, USA today and the Associated press.
Today, mark reveals his insider strategies for overcoming what's called the forgetting curve, which is the reality that audiences forget [00:01:00] 90% of what they hear within two days.
We will explore the psychology behind effective storytelling. We're gonna learn essential techniques that resonate with audiences and discover Mark's three R's framework, plus the biggest storytelling mistake professionals make when trying to influence others. And now here's my conversation with Mark Bayer.
Mark Bayer: I wanna let everybody know that the way our brains are wired, you, me, humans are going to forget about 90% of what we hear within two days. So we can't really change that percentage that much. Our brain has a filtering mechanism that actually was probably beneficial from an evolutionary standpoint, but the truth is we really can't increase that 10% much.
So 90 percent's gonna be gone, which is gonna leave us with about 10% that we're gonna actually remember moving forward beyond two days. And there's actually a curve that was created by a scientist, [00:02:00] called Ebbinghaus's Forgetting Curve. And you can kind of see it . As time goes by, retention goes down.
And so that means that we really need to be intentional about the 10% that's gonna remain. We can't do anything about the amount that's gonna be forgotten. So we have that 10% left before you go into a story, before you go into a communication, being really intentional about the 10% that you want your listeners to remember.
It's just so crucial, and I call that the 10% takeaway. So I know you are going to forget 90% of what I'm about to tell you in this webinar, in this keynote. So I only have 10% left for you to think about, to be influenced by, to act upon. So I need to be really strategic about that and lead with that. So this is your 10% takeaway from this keynote.
The first one is the three Rs. The second is the impact [00:03:00] zone. And the third is rhetorical tools. I know that doesn't really mean very much to you right now, so I'm hoping you'll stick around and find out what all this is about.
Chris Wofford: So let, let's dig into it. So, a lot of us, feel like storytelling is kind of a one-way communication. It's kind of a solitary endeavor. We've gotta prepare the thing, then we have to deliver it. The communicator does the doing. What are your thoughts on that?
Mark Bayer: You know, it's really interesting because that's a common idea and people hear storytelling is important.
I need to incorporate storytelling in my presentations to really have an impact. But no one really goes deeper to say, well, what do you tell the story about and how do you structure the story? And what rhetorical tools do you use to actually have your story have impact and make it easier to remember?
And so the first thing we're gonna talk about is the three Rs. And so before I tell you what those stand for, I'm just gonna give you an overall [00:04:00] mindset that I hope you'll adopt. When you're thinking about stories, it's really that the story is not about the storyteller. The story is about the story listener.
Your listeners are only listening because they think they might get some new information. They might learn something new. Think about why you tuned in today. Well, because maybe you wanted to find out how to get funding for your startup or buy-in for your project, or how to move an initiative forward or get media attention using stories you wanted to learn something new and our brains are tuned to seek out opportunities to learn new things. If you think about it from an evolutionary standpoint, we had to adapt to survive. So when somebody talks about something new or interesting or different, all of a sudden, you know, our brains are paying particular attention. So we want to think about, well, you know, I'm gonna develop this story, but for it to really grab the [00:05:00] attention of people listening, the story I tell is really about the listener. They need to relate to what I'm talking about. They need to see themselves in the story itself. So someone mentioned relatability. So true. So I'm gonna pick examples in my story that will resonate with the listeners that they will recognize.
I'll use language. In my story that they use, because I want them to be able to see themselves in the story and to think along with me as I'm talking about the story, to see it in their own heads as it's unfolding. And that's, I think, the major mindset that people sometimes miss is that you want to really focus on the three Rs.
For the listener, those are the relevance to the listener, the results that the listener can expect, and the real world impact on the listener's world and on the world of the people that they care about. So you think about the three Rs when you're developing your story, think about what [00:06:00] are the results, what's the relevance to the listener?
What's the real world impact to the listener? And that will help you sort of guide your construction of the story. It's not about you. Sorry. The story is really about them and them seeing your listeners, seeing themselves in your story.
Chris Wofford: Mark, I want to ask you about your experience in the US Senate and when we're thinking about audience.
So the listener here, how did your experience in the US Senate either inform or shape the way that you story tell. Or build narratives or in this, in that case, presumably persuade others to pass legislation or form committees. So tell me about your experience and how it's shaped the way you teach communication.
Mark Bayer: Absolutely, because it really is consistent with what I just said. , Meaning that for someone to support a bill that's moving through the Congress to make some change somewhere in the US, that member of Congress needs to believe that that change would be in its best in the the member's best interest, [00:07:00] meaning the constituents, the people who they represent their best interest.
So why should I care about what's happening? Why should I support this initiative? Because I'm gonna get some benefit. In this case, if you're talking in a legislative context, my constituents would get some benefit for this. I'm supporting small business tax credits. I have a lot of small businesses in my district or my state.
If I support this legislation, they will and it gets passed. Sign the law. They will benefit from it. So really looking at why should your listener care about your story? What benefit do they have? What benefit can you demonstrate that they will receive if they support it? It really goes along with what's the relevance to the listener?
What's the real world impact and what's, the result that is going to happen as a result, after this story or presentation.
I also wanna mention one other thing, and I was really astute. Someone, you know, we had a comment about relatability. 'cause that is so [00:08:00] important. Sometimes I say connect before you communicate.
So connect on a human level before you actually communicate the substance of what you want to talk about. It kind of boils down to a phrase I also sometimes use, which is reflection, affection, connection. So what I mean by that is, you see what I'm doing? Right. I'm saying things that are familiar to you that could benefit you or the people that you care about.
You recognize certain elements. You see there are guitars in the background, right? I play, I started playing guitars six years ago. Maybe you like to play guitar, maybe you like music. How can you connect with your listener on a human level that you're really reflecting in their eyes to something about them?
Oh, I see. He also likes playing guitar. He also likes music. That's a reflection. We humans try to seek out similarity. It also, I think, was an evolutionary advantage. You need to [00:09:00] be in your tribe, right? I mean, we're seeing these days that there could be downsides to that, but it is how our, our wiring is put together.
So I see myself in the story. I like that. I feel comfortable with that. You understand me? You see me. You're a part of my tribe on even a superficial level. Hey, we went to the same college. We both like Doberman pinchers. You know, we both like, Saa b convertibles and you know, whatever it is, fixing them up.
So that is the reflection I see in you. What is actually interesting to me. I like that. It makes me feel secure and that builds this feeling of connection. And then you can really get to the substance. So politicians, a lot of times will tell a joke at the beginning of a speech. They'll use some words that are native to their audience.
So if they're speaking to a, uh, an audience where there are many Spanish speakers, they may say a few words in Spanish right away. I'm sure you've heard this. Sometimes it gets mangled and there are other legislators who actually speak Spanish fluently. That's this connection. It's [00:10:00] not even about the substance.
It's a human to human connection that happens. So that's the big deal in politics because the idea is I want to demonstrate to you that I'm like you. Right. I'm similar to you in some respect. So that kind of reflection, affection, connection before you get into the substance is really powerful.
Chris Wofford: You know, again, and I'm thinking about our audience here, you, in your case Mark, you developed your approach and your methodologies in the realm of political communication, right? So not knowing exactly which industries or interests our audience has. What if we're talking about different types of writing, I'm thinking out loud here.
Like scientific writing, technical writing. Maybe we have some people who are working in marketing or writing for some other purpose. Right? Sure. So some of the principles that you're discussing here, I mean, are these transferable skills? Can they be applied to a variety of different Styles of communication and, and writing purpose.
Mark Bayer: Absolutely, Chris. And you know, like I, for the last nine years, uh, after I retired from [00:11:00] Capitol Hill, I've been working with scientists and engineers, really technical people, a lot of PhDs, MDs, you know, really smart folks, and helping them to distill and describe what they do so that they can achieve goals, like get funding or, get buy-in for their initiatives.
Get media attention and so forth. And I can tell you that these skills, these principles we're talking about now are so transferable because we're all humans and this is the way our brains are really wired to respond. And I can give you an example, you know, sort of a, a common mistake that I've seen, that people make.
And it's totally understandable. And I make it myself sometimes, so I'm, I'm happy to show folks that now, if you think now would be an appropriate time to do it.
Chris Wofford: Yeah, let's do it. Take it away.
Mark Bayer: Yeah. Yeah. So it's funny. So I'm gonna tell you a story, okay. That demonstrates this, uh, sort of blind spot that many of us have, and the blind spot is [00:12:00] including in your story
the process steps that you took to get to the result, the relevance or the real world value. Remember we talked about the three Rs that needs to lead your relevance, your results, your, your real world value. Sometimes we tend to use process steps, and I'm gonna give you an example and, uh, I'm gonna bring you to my.
My kitchen, right? This is what my kitchen looks like. I've got two teenagers. This is after I have cleaned the kitchen. I seems like I spend a lot of time trying to keep the kitchen clean with two teenagers leaving stuff all over the place. And so. You know, a few days ago, I'm at home and I see that my, my kids have actually been in the kitchen, and I know that because the kitchen now looks like this.
It's a total mess. And so my wife says to me, my mother is coming over, so my mother-in-law's coming over and she wants to know. Is the kitchen clean, because if the kitchen isn't clean and her mother comes [00:13:00] over, there may be some, I don't know, subtle negativity surrounding the lack of cleanliness related to the kitchen.
So she says to me, is the kitchen clean? So, of course I know the kitchen isn't clean, so I go into the kitchen. And it's such, there are dishes everywhere. You know, they haven't refilled the paper towel holder. the dishwasher's like half done. I don't know if it's clean or if it's dirty. They didn't put the plates away.
The whole thing is a mess. So literally it takes me an hour to get the kitchen back in shape so that it will be up to snuff when my mother-in-law comes over. And so I go back and I tell my wife, I don't just say the kitchen is clean. I say, you won't believe this. I went into the kitchen and the kids left it such a mess.
There were dishes piled up. The dishwasher was like half empty, half full. You know the paper towel holder, you know, the toaster oven had all these crumbs [00:14:00] everywhere. I had to wipe down all the counters and meanwhile. Like my wife is like, she's counting the minutes right before her mother and mother arrives.
She doesn't care about the process. She wasn't involved in cleaning the kitchen. She wants to know the result. Is the kitchen clean? That's all she cares about. She doesn't want to hear the blow by blow description, but I feel compelled to share that with her because. I had to go through all this stuff, all this effort, and I sort of somehow want some acknowledgement of the process steps.
Don't do that. When you're telling a story. Your listener cares only about the results, how it's going to impact their day to day, not all the process steps. It's a common mistake that many of us make. I've made it many times, and I would just encourage you, it can seem premature to go right to the result, but when it does, that's when you know you're on the right track.
Chris Wofford: You know, I appreciate your fastidiousness, making sure the tape, [00:15:00] the paper towel, rack is, is fully loaded for your in-laws. Seems like next level. I wouldn't really worry about that too much, but I appreciate what's going on here because you've gotta keep it all tidy.
Mark Bayer: It, it's just funny because like the kids will, they'll take the old one off, but they won't put the new one on.
That's like a different job.
Chris Wofford: Oh, I see what you're getting at.
Mark Bayer: Yeah, it'll take one off. It'll take the old one off, but like putting the new one on, that's somebody else's job.
Chris Wofford: Okay. Alright, so you mentioned in our pregame huddle, we were just speaking a couple days ago that there actually is a science. I, I'm, I'm really intrigued by this idea that there's actually a science behind effective storytelling.
And what I mean by that is that there are actually research back techniques that help your stories land with audiences and hit the mark. How does this work?
Mark Bayer: Yeah, it's great. And you know, it's fascinating to me too because in working with scientists to show them that there are scientific underpinnings to what I'm saying, is really powerful.
And it also underlines sort of what I mentioned earlier where if I'm a listener. And you're explaining [00:16:00] something to me using my own kind of frameworks like science, neuroscience, things like that. And I spend all my professional life is, is science. And if I start using examples and then say, here's the science behind it, you're gonna pay particular attention to that.
It's gonna have a lot of Meaning carry a lot of weight for you. So, I love this topic and I also want to give a shout out to Bill Birchard, who is a writer and author up in New Hampshire. Bill writes for, Harvard Business Review and psychology Today. And a lot of this science I've learned from him.
He wrote a great book about eight secrets from science for igniting your listeners' interest. And so one of them is surprise. So, as I had noted earlier, like our brains are wired to learn new things. So if we hear something surprising. We are gonna be particularly interested in saying, okay, let's tune into that because this is something new.
I might need to learn this. Or if I learn this, I could do something. You know, I could do so achieve one of my goals. I could [00:17:00] get press attention for something that I'm working on. So I call these wake words. And basically it's sort of like with your smartphone, When you say something like, Hey, Siri, all of a sudden your smart speaker powers up, right? Or your phone does. And the reason I mention this is because when you use certain words, and I'm gonna show you what I mean in just a second, it's like a trigger for our brain. It's like a reflexive turning on and paying attention to what comes next.
And that reason is because we're sort of evolutionary, evolutionarily, um, programmed to want to learn new things. And so when something new is presented, then that makes us want to pay attention. Some of those things are imagined. Imagine if I told you that you could win that grant if you only did these three things.
So imagine is sort of the wake word. If you even say it or you hear it, [00:18:00] like all of a sudden it's almost like your ears perk up. What if we could take the product that we just developed and make some adjustments, and then we could actually market it in a totally new market and increase our revenue by 15%?
What if we could do that? Or think about this, there's a situation where we have this challenge because of something or other happened. When you lead off, and this can be the first thing that you say in the story. Imagine what if we could think about this because we are in a battle for attention. And we know that stories are a super powerful way to get people's attention because our, as I said, our brains are sort of programmed and easily process information in story form better than just random data that doesn't have context.
So, of course, we weave data into a story. Then that's the 10 outta 10. That's the best that we can [00:19:00] do. So if we use some of these techniques. Some of these wake words to lead off. Essentially we are triggering attention in our listener, and that's what we need. Because if they're not paying attention, then they're thinking about the next meeting.
They're thinking about what they're gonna have for dinner that night. Once you've lost them, it's very difficult. But if you can keep their attention and these are all mechanisms to do that, then you can get your message across.
Another thing to keep in mind is every time I can trim words, I'm winning. Because I wanna make it so easy for the brain to process the information. If I have shorter sentences and fewer words, I'm lowering the cognitive load for your listeners brain, right? Your listeners, cognitive processes.
And the brain wants to be really efficient. It favors information they can process easily with low energy. And so when you trim and you're sort of ruthless about trimming, you are also winning. when you trim, you win. [00:20:00] I know it's kind of cheesy, but if it helps you remember, then that's a good thing.
Chris Wofford: Well, it seems as if you had perceived what Megan was asking about. Megan asked this, uh, for workplace campaign presentations. What is an appropriate amount of time for the presentation? Now this can vary naturally, but how long is too long? Or if it's too short to be meaningful, that kind of thing. So what she's asking is, it's kind of prescriptive, but you've just answered the question. Right. Any opportunity for brevity, keeping things economical, is certainly where it's at. Right? That's where you were suggesting there.
Mark Bayer: Yes, that's absolutely right.
And this sort of other piece comes from politics, which is what do you want the listeners to do with the information? I was in hundreds and hundreds of meetings where we'd be hearing from outside groups, and it was very interesting the technology they were working on or the problem they were trying to solve.
But we would sometimes say, I would say like, well, what's the ask? What do you want the boss to do? And then sometimes there was like a, a silence on, [00:21:00] it's like, well, I, I just explained the problem and I talked about some issues around it. And you know how urgent it is to solve it, but specifically what do you want your listeners to do? So that, as far as the length goes, making sure you give enough time to be very clear and then even reiterate in sort of different phrasing throughout the talk, what you want them to do is just so important.
Chris Wofford: You know, I've heard this, and this is my little quick five second thing, but using someone's first name when you're talking just to one single person or among a group goes really far too.
I'm certain you experienced that in the political realm as well.
Mark Bayer: Yeah. You have to be careful not to overdo it. But if you sprinkle it, what you're signaling to the person is I see you like on a human level. And that gets to this connection point.
Chris Wofford: So what I've seen you do here in this last example and the through line that I'm starting to hear, here is the idea of the objective is to give the listener some kind of degree of emotional stake in [00:22:00] what's going on.
And you're engaging emotions. you used a term the other day when we were talking about modulating audience emotions. What do you mean by that? How do you do that?
Mark Bayer: Yeah, it goes to this question of I need to be interesting so the person continues to pay attention.
Okay, so how do I do that? Well, there are a couple of different ways of doing it, and the one that we're focused on here with the emotions is ask yourself, how do I want the listener to feel at different times during the story? Because if the listener is feeling different things. Then it's much more interesting.
Right. So let me give you just an example from this presentation. So, I started out by telling you what the 10% takeaway was, what the three Rs were, what I meant by the 10% takeaway. And you didn't really know what the three Rs were or the second one was the impact zone, which we haven't got to yet.
The third one was rhetorical tools, which we haven't got to yet. So maybe you felt a little curious. So your emotion was, [00:23:00] ah, you felt curious. Then I also showed you the kitchen. I told you the kitchen story. So that was meant to be humorous, right? So maybe you felt amused, right? So that's very different from feeling curious.
You felt amused. And then high level, like maybe you're feeling informed by this presentation. So that's a third emotion. So when your listeners are feeling different emotions at different times, that also helps with our number one priority as far as receipt of the information is, are they paying attention?
So when you modulate those emotions, all those things I showed you were are true. Of course, I exaggerated a little bit for what the picture of the of the messy kitchen looked like for purposes of humor. 'cause I want you to feel amused. You're really maxing out your ability to keep the listener attentive.
Chris Wofford: So I want to, I wanna get some more advice from you on things that you should not do. What is a big common storytelling mistake that you see professionals or non-professionals [00:24:00] make when they're trying to influence other people, to influence an outcome for stakeholders, et cetera?
What are some pitfalls?
Mark Bayer: Right. It's funny because people talk about, oh, storytelling is so important. You really should think about storytelling. But what should you tell your story about? What is the substance of your story? So here's how I look at it, right? And I call it the impact zone.
This is what you should tell your story about. On this side you've got your tasks at work. What are you doing? What are you working on? And then on this other side, you have, what are the priorities of your constituents, your stakeholders, your team, your boss, potential funders?
What are their priorities? And so where those two overlap is where you want to tell the story. You want to tell the story about something that you are recognized as, if not an expert, you're recognized as someone who's very knowledgeable about it 'cause you're working on it and it happens to be a high priority [00:25:00] of your listener.
So you have credibility to talk about it because you work on it, you're kind of viewed as the go-to person on it, and your listener cares about it. So a common mistake is that people tell stories about things that they're working on, that the listeners don't care about. 'cause they're not relevant to them.
They don't see the real world impact, they don't understand the results that are gonna occur from the work that you're doing. So when you really narrow in on what are the priorities of my listener, and then where among those priorities am I viewed as someone knowledgeable or a go-to person, that's where I want to tell the story.
That's where I want to use these techniques and strategies that we've been talking about is during this impact zone. Tell a story about something that falls within the impact zone. So you're gonna focus again on their most pressing priorities, and you're gonna showcase your ability [00:26:00] to help them achieve them.
Chris Wofford: Thank you for that. I want to give you a question that came in from listener, Alicia, who asks, as a minority and a woman in a male dominated field. How do we create a reflection standpoint for someone who does not physically or socially have any mirrored experiences? So we're talking about bridging divides, overcoming differences, et cetera.
Mark Bayer: Yeah. Thank you for asking and I will tell you a brief story that's true. I was giving a keynote speech at a major research university and I talked about how to connect, you know, you need to find connection points. And I gave two examples. Both of my examples actually had to do with connecting about faith, about religious faith.
Right how in both cases someone was able to call on their religious faith, reference their religious faith to form a connection with their audience that they otherwise would not have had. Great. So q and A, [00:27:00] this. Scientist in the back of the room says to me, she said, I just wanna say this, most scientists are atheists so they don't believe in God.
And so both your examples that you used have to do with religious faith. So clearly that's not gonna work when you're talking to scientist. So I walked over and it was a big room and everyone was, it was packed. And I walked over to the woman who asked the question, the scientist who asked the question, and I said, oh, you know, it's really interesting.
Oh, by the way, is that your daughter? 'cause there was a little girl, little, she was probably seven or eight because sitting next to her. And this was at a university, so most of the people were either professors or they were grad students. And she, the woman said, yes, it is. She is.
And I said, oh, well what's your name? How old are you? Um, and she, you know my name. I'm, I'm eight years old. And I said, oh, that's really cool. What do you like to do? Because I have an 8-year-old at home as well. I have an 8-year-old daughter. And at the time I actually did, she's now a senior in high [00:28:00] school.
And she told me what she liked to do and I said, oh, that's interesting. 'cause I know my daughter likes to play the ukulele. And so, have you ever thought about that? Oh yeah. You know, I like to. So then I turned back to the mom and I said, you see. We can connect on so many different levels.
We can connect on parents of 8-year-old girls. Right, and you know, as long as it's authentic and it's true, you'd be amazed at how that opens the channel of communication because the person starts to see you as sort of one of them in some ways. If you've ever spent time in a hospital in, let's say the pediatric ward, and yet parents.
From all parts of the US and maybe abroad. And it's funny because unfortunately I have spent a significant amount of time there when my my son was younger. When you see these other parents, you kind of like nod or maybe you, you make eye contact, maybe you say a few words. And I think the reason you do that is because, you know.
If their child [00:29:00] is in the pediatric ward and your child is in the pediatric ward, then on some level you really understand each other. And so if you think a little bit more about the person, you think about how I can connect with that person on a human level. It can be superficial, it can be alma mater, same hobby. You're both dog people. You have a 7-year-old. Like whatever it is. And it doesn't take long. You know, the same person, which is another thing that I sometimes talk about. I don't know you, but we both know the same person. So therefore I sort of know you in a way. And it changes the interaction between us
'cause we have a mutual friend.
So great question. I think the way to approach it is just to dig a little deeper and think about things that you might think this isn't gonna make a difference. That they also, like to, to, to play darts. But you'd be surprised.
Or they're also a Philadelphia [00:30:00] Eagles fan. But it does, it makes a big difference because it reaches something deep inside of us that's sort of fundamental. Like, this person understands me on some level and that makes me feel safer and interested in engaging with them.
Chris Wofford: There you go. So knowing your audience. Um, so I don't suspect that we are going, our audience is gonna leave today fully empowered, educated expert storytellers. So when we think about continuing education, what to do next, right?
How do you get training in this? I think a lot of what we are covering today maps to courses and topics that are covered in a course that you're a faculty author for. It's called the Media Strategy for Policy certificate Program. Again, maybe there are some people in our audience who are.
Want to take their storytelling to the next level, or like you influence public policy, make professional impact, get scientific consensus on something, whatever it may be. Can you tell us about how you teach, within the context of, you know, something more rich than what we're talking about [00:31:00] today, for a course program?
How does what we cover today kind of map to those.
Mark Bayer: Sure. Absolutely. And the third piece of the 10% takeaway, which very much maps to the course or the program, which is four courses, is rhetorical tools. So there's good news is that we actually have the tools to do many of these things very efficiently.
And when I say rhetorical tools, I mean things like a metaphor, which is a comparison without using the words like, or as, or as simile, which is a comparison using like, or as like, I'm as cold as an iceberg would be a simile. Or say the rough moon, you know, that would be the roughest sandpaper moon or whatever.
That would be a metaphor. And so the good news is these rhetorical tools are things you should include in your stories because you're making a comparison to something that is new. That's why you're making the presentation and telling a story. You have some new [00:32:00] information and you are comparing it to something that people will recognize.
So again, it helps the brain be very efficient. It's sort of like this. Now, what I'm talking about now, a little different. It's sort of like this other thing that you know about. It doesn't mean it's exactly like it. Yet it does give you your listener a short hop to the understanding as then you go into deeper detail which allows them to go just from that point of the metaphor to something even more detailed, rather than making this big jump, which requires a lot of energy on their part. And when you choose a metaphor that they recognize, that helps with connection. So what I do in the four courses is really from start to finish, you have an idea, you have an initiative, you have a new program.
And you want to get it out into the world so that it can be successful. So they can be adopted by companies that it can become policy across a particular country. How do you [00:33:00] go about that? So it's really everything from the initiative itself or the idea to the impact.
How do you start to build a coalition around this idea? So it's not just you saying it's a good idea. It's a whole constellation of groups and we did a lot of this on Capitol Hill. It's the environmental groups think is a smart idea. It's the people who work on childhood nutrition think it's a good idea.
You start to build this coalition and then how do you talk about that initiative to press? And that is where you bring in a lot of rhetorical tools. 'cause you're gonna say, oh, this new program, it's sort of like this except it does this other thing. Or in addition to this, it also does these other things.
And so you're using these rhetorical tools, which are so important. And then how do you make it interesting to press? And that incorporate some of these things you're talking about. It's surprising. Well, who supports it? Well, this bill is supported by say a very conservative group and a progressive environmental [00:34:00] group.
They both think it's a good idea. Oh, well if I'm a press person, I'm thinking, well, what? Those two groups don't typically agree on anything why? But yet they agree on this initiative. So what's that all about? So that sparks my interest that is newsworthy. And so I kind of take the students through from the beginning.
What is their initiative? They come up with that? They bring that, or we use that as a exercise in the program. And then how do you build a coalition around it? How do you message around it? Meaning how do you write about it? How do you present about it orally? How do you pitch it to press?
How do you put a package together for the nightly news or your local paper or an influencer who has a big following, it has a newsletter and you want it included in there. How do you do all that? And the whole idea is how do you expand your influence? How do you make change? How do you do it efficiently?
How do you do it in a way that's organized? And obviously, how do you do it in a way that's authentic and fact based?
Chris Wofford: And I should just [00:35:00] underline that, that's central to the course experience, right? You're with a cohort and you're learning and you're applying what you're learning while you're learning it to a professional scenario, to what your objectives are within your work.
So good to know. Uh, today's keynote was produced in partnership with the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy. you're also a faculty member for a program called the Executive Master of Public Administration. Tell us a little bit about that. Who are you teaching there? And what are the desired outcomes?
Are they similar to what we're talking about with their certificate program?
Mark Bayer: They are, and I'm really excited 'cause there are 52 people in this cohort that is going to start in January that I'll be working with. And it will be a course within, like you said, Chris, the executive MPA program.
This 52 cohort group will be taking it with me, and it will focus on how do you really make change both from a messaging standpoint, an organizational and political organizing standpoint, so that you can um, hopefully make the world a better place. Or yes, you can do [00:36:00] that, and also for a marketing standpoint, how do you really educate people and encourage them to support something that you're marketing, for example.
Chris Wofford: So short of your online education programs and in-person cohorts, there are other ways you could learn from Mark Bayer. One great one is to check out his newsletter. It's called One for the Week. you've got a lot of resources there. You've got a a pod that you point to, some learning downloadables, et cetera.
Set us up for a little bit for the newsletter. Why would somebody check this out? Out or audio?
Mark Bayer: Sure. The URL is one, like written out ONE for the week, all written down, one for the week.com. And what I do is, the idea here is get one free resource every week in your inbox that you can apply right away to maybe get promoted faster or get buy-in for your initiative or get funding for your startup, or persuade your team that this course of action is really the right one. It's a free newsletter. It's designed so that it's easily digestible. It's like one [00:37:00] idea. And those ideas usually fall in the category of strategic communication, persuasive communication, things you can apply to your writing and also to your presenting.
And in January it's gonna be four years old, so I'd welcome folks to subscribe to that. It's free. And also connect with me on LinkedIn. If you'd like to, you can find me on LinkedIn as well. I think Mark Daniel Bayer is the search to get. You have to find my LinkedIn profile.
Chris Wofford: That's perfect.
So let's review our takeaways, your desired takeaways for our audience. You set the table early on saying you're really only gonna retain 10% of this. What's the 10% you want our audience to hang on to?
Mark Bayer: These are really the 10% of things I hope that stay with you beyond the next two days, right?
They are; focus your story on your listener. And demonstrate the results, the relevance, and the real world impact to your listener. That has to be the key. It's not about [00:38:00] your process steps, what you had to do to get there. It's all about your listeners' priorities and how you can help them achieve them.
Which leads to the second point is the impact zone. So yeah, stories are powerful, but most stories are terrible. And that's because they don't focus on the right substance to tell the story about. You wanna tell a story about something that is important to your listener and a subject that you're knowledgeable about.
How can you help your listener achieve a goal that they're working on? That is the impact zone where you are knowledgeable and they care about the result. And the third is kind of the good news here, is that we have these rhetorical tools that have been in use for more than 2,500 years of human communication.
And our brains are essentially the same as they were back when Aristotle, who came up with a lot of these was talking about them. You know, the metaphor, similie, allusion. You know, A-L-L-U-S-I-O-N. You're alluding to something that someone [00:39:00] knows already about. Hyperbole. A good a gain of hyperbole was, was the whole slide about the kitchen.
Right? Obviously it was an exaggeration to heighten effect. That's what a hyperbole is. And when you see it, you're like, whoa, I didn't expect that. Which is good 'cause you were surprised. And they like, oh, that's kind of funny. So that's another emotion. I want to be able to authentically modulate your emotions so you stay interested.
So if you remember the three Rs, the impact zone and the need to use rhetorical tools, then I will have felt that I've been successful. And the reason I say that is because I want you to be successful. And I think if you do use these things, you will be.
Chris Wofford: Thank you for listening to Cornell Keynotes. If you are interested in learning more about Professor Bayer's Media strategy for policy and PR certificate program from eCornell, be sure to check out the episode notes for details. As always, I wanna thank you for listening and subscribe to Stay Connected with Cornell Keynotes.
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