1.
WITH COEN TAN
CRAFTING YOUR
SIGNATURE
BRAND STORY
A Webinar with

2.
December 2014
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

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Some Examples of Interesting Exhibits in the
Guggenheim Museum

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• Turn your Video ON
• Mute yourself, unmute ONLY when you want to speak
• Make use of the CHAT Function to ask questions,
comments and network
• What’s said here stays here
• The slides will be made available to you on request, so
you don’t have to screenshot every slide
Some Housekeeping Agreements:

5.
Checking In
Type (using the Chat Function) in the Chat Box below:
• Name and Role
• Describe how you feel with 1 word/sentence
• Why would it be helpful for you to learn about personal
branding through stories?

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What this Workshop IS NOT ABOUT
Dramatic Storytelling
Therapy
Wordsmithing Slogans

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What this Workshop IS ABOUT
• Excavate: Having awareness of key highlights of your
life that make a compelling authentic brand story
• Curate: Strategically curating and crafting your story to
create a brand that resonates in others’ lives

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Why Stories?
While working with patients with
damage to their pre-frontal cortex,
he made a stunning discovery:
• They struggled to make basic
decisions.
• Decision making is not just a logical
process
USC Professor and Neuroscientist António Damásio

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When you share insights with stories, you’re able to take advantage of the special
express lane that the brain reserves for narrative
Why Stories?

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Still Not Convinced About the
Importance of Stories?

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Let’s do a simple experiment
Read the following sentences and share what
comes up for you in the chat…

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What comes up for you? Write it in the Chat…
For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.
Let’s do a simple experiment

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Our bedroom. Two voices. I knock.
What comes up for you? Write it in the Chat…
Let’s do a simple experiment

14.
Paramedics finished her text, “. . .
love you.”
What comes up for you? Write it in the Chat…
Let’s do a simple experiment

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Ernest Hemingway

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These are all examples of 6-word stories:
• For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.
• Our bedroom. Two voices. I knock.
• Paramedics finished her text, “. . . love you.”
All they do is supply the Context (Where? What? When?)
Our brains supplied the rest of the story (Why? and How?)
Let’s do a simple experiment

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We are All Natural Storytellers

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Princetown Neuroscientist Uri Hansson, discovered when we share stories with
others, neural coupling occurs in which the listener’s brain activity mirrors that of the
storyteller’s. Storytelling enables us to connect with an audience and transmit ideas
to them more effectively.
Why Stories?

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In today’s splintered world,
people do not need more
information…
They need reasons to believe,
derive meaning and maintain
hope…

20.
Fill the Empathy Gap

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If a picture paints a thousand words…
Then, a story plants a thousand beliefs!

22.
Children should be
seen and not heard

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Excavate: Identifying your Signature Brand Story

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• What is a high-point moment in your life?
• A time when you were truly happy? When you were feeling
proud of yourself, for being able to make a difference in
people’s lives?
• A meaningful experience for you?
Your High Point Moment
Copyrights © 2019 Coen Tan

25.
Connection

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Discovery

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Self-Expression

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Adventure

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Fascination

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Growth

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Dreams

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• What is a time in your life where you were facing
tremendous challenges?
• A time when things just did not go right for you?
• A time when you felt lost? That what you needed in order to
be successful and happy were beyond your reach?
Your Moments of Challenges
Copyrights © 2019 Coen Tan

33.
At the Crossroads

34.
Face your Fears

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Grief

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Lost Opportunities

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Searching for Self

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Taking Risks

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Coen the Marriage Counsellor?

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I should be seen
and not heard

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• Look back at your high point moments
• Now, look back at your moments of challenges
• If you were essentially the same person, what has changed?
What is the main difference between you high point
moment and low point moments? Are there similarities? Are
there differences?
Tying it Together
Copyrights © 2019 Coen Tan

42.
Curate: Strategic Selection and Crafting of Stories
for Impact

43.
Level of Details
Too Little:
• Unconvincing
• Bland
Too Much:
• Unfocused
• Boring

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Level of Dramatization
Too Little:
• Not Engaging
• Unrelatable
Too Much:
• Theatrical
• Distracting

45.
Level of Emotions
Too Little:
• Unrelatable
• Flat
Too Much:
• Flooding
• Overwhelming

46.
Empowering
Conversations
For Career
Development
With Coen Tan
connect@coentan.com