On July 20, 1969,
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the Moon.
Down on Earth, a 9 year-old boy in Southern Ontario watched and decided he wanted to become an astronaut. The problem was, in 1969, Canada didn't have a space program.
Undeterred, he studied hard in relevant fields like engineering, flight, and aeronautics.
In 1992, Canada finally launched the Canadian Space Agency, and received over 5,000 applications.
They narrowed it down to 20 qualified applicants and invited them to Ottawa to perform a series of tests.
One of those tests was a mock press conference, and 1 man stood out from the rest.
It was one of the deciding factors in the final decision of the Canadian Space Agency.
And that man's name was...
Chris Hadfield!
His education, skills, and experience got him to Ottawa...
But his ability to tell a story sent him to space!
Knowing how to tell your story matters!
Aesop was a slave in Ancient Greece
2,600 years later, we're still telling his stories, like 'The Tortoise and the Hare' and 'The Boy who Cried Wolf'.
Our brains are wired for stories, and it's how we've passed on lessons for thousands of years.
Many presentations rely on Powerpoint, which is a great tool, but usually lack the emotion required to make information memorable. Stories are memorable and emotional.
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPod and, later, the iPhone, he tapped into the power of storytelling to make his products memorable, just as Aesop had done millennia earlier.
The great news is that storytelling is a skill - anyone can learn it!
Tokyo won the 2020 Olympic Games by telling stories in their Olympic bid.
John F. Kennedy inspired a nation with his vision story of landing on the moon.
Pixar distinguished themselves from the crowd by putting story first.
The Miami Heat won the 2006 NBA Championship with a story of inspiration.
Winston Churchill inspired a nation to fight the Nazis with a 180-word speech.
Your Story Matters! Learn how to tell it!