The Secret to Telling a Great Story — in Less Than 60 Seconds | Jenny Hoyos | TED

55,160 views

2025-01-30 ・ TED


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The Secret to Telling a Great Story — in Less Than 60 Seconds | Jenny Hoyos | TED

55,160 views ・ 2025-01-30

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:04
Have you ever wondered how much ice cream you can get for a dollar?
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Or what's the cheapest thing in an airport?
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Or if it's faster to go inside or a drive-through?
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Probably not.
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But somehow, answering these weird questions
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and sharing those experiences
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have become my life's work.
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Now even though I only have five minutes to share my viral storytelling framework,
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great stories should be told in less than 60 seconds.
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And it's not just about becoming a viral social media star.
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It's about making your conversations better,
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whether you’re with friends, family
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or trying to convince your boss for a raise.
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So here's how to make every second count.
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Many great stories start with a question,
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because it will make people stick until the end to find out the answer.
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And remember, you want to get your audience's attention immediately,
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so you want to start by asking something shocking.
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And one of the things I've always wondered
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was if fast food was really as fast as they say.
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So I answered just this in a video
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and got over 45 million views.
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Let's check out how I hooked my viewers.
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(Video) Can I have a burger?
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Can you put cheese, lettuce and tomatoes? This thing's not hot enough.
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(Laughter)
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(Stage) That thing really wasn't hot enough.
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But as you can see, I took this question very seriously.
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And after you've hooked your audience, you want to take them on a journey,
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building up to your answer,
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where you want them to feel constant progression,
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so we're moving closer and closer to our answer
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so we feel like we can't stop listening.
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And in my case, I did just this by saying
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that I’ll be adding tomatoes, lettuce and cheese to the burger,
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so now we know how close I am to finishing the competition, thus the video.
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But if everything is smooth sailing, then nobody cares,
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which is why we need to add conflict before getting to our answer.
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So here's how I did that.
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(Video) Yes, please. And cheese.
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Mother: There's smoke in here.
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Jenny Hoyos: This thing is still raw. Good thing there's a line.
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Oh my goodness.
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Mother: What are you doing? You're going to burn that car.
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JH: I'll cut the tomatoes while this cooks.
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Mother: I hope I don't have to eat that.
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JH: Tell them to slow down.
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Mother: You're doing all this for one subscriber?
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You're going to make a mess.
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JH: Put the ketchup on the buns.
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(Stage) As you saw, without conflict, the audience just isn’t as invested,
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which is why I used my mom as the B plot.
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So you’re now not only invested in the competition
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but also curious to see what's going to happen between my mom and I.
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And after enough buildup, we finally need our answers.
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Will I cook the burger faster?
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Will I accidentally set my mom’s car on fire?
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The key here is to build tension by making the answer feel uncertain
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to make a satisfying ending.
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Here's how I did just that.
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(Video) We’re one person away.
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We just need the burger to cook faster.
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Mother: We're moving, we're moving.
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JH: No, my burger is not done yet. You're driving too crazy.
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It needs to cook faster.
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03:00
Mother: We're next.
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(Music)
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JH: We're pulling up to the window.
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(Music)
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And, oh my goodness!
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(Music)
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We cooked faster and better.
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(Laughter)
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(Applause)
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And that's it. We cooked faster than the drive-through.
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Does it matter that my burger was basically raw?
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Absolutely not.
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Because the viewers wanted an answer,
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so I gave it to them quickly and concisely, in an engaging way,
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which led our video to getting over 45 million views.
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And you might be impressed to know
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that instead of telling this talk in five minutes, I actually did it in four,
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so you now have an extra minute to practice your 60-second story.
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(Laughter)
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Because if it takes longer to tell your story than it does to make a burger,
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then you're probably overcooking both.
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(Laughter)
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Thank you.
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(Cheers and applause)
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