Keeping the best for last

… is a great way of finishing strong. But what would happen if you turned that upside down and started with the best?

Would people stay to hear the rest?

If not, then why not?

And more importantly: Why would you want to bother your audience with it, anyway?

This, I believe, is one of the easiest ways to distinguish mature communicators from beginners: great communicators don’t withhold information, they build up tension by speaking about the things that truly matter to their audience so that it wants more. Great communicators care for their beginning to be strong not because it doesn’t tell the audience what it came for but because it’s so relevant that the audience will stick to their lips.

If there’s a need to withhold information, most likely it’s because you haven’t nailed the story.

When a story truly nails it, people will be dying to know more. And what appeared to be the second best are actually the pieces that make the whole story even more adorable.