Tying Story to Time and Place
The end of a fiscal work year is an interesting tug-o-war between personal psychology and practical logistics. On the one hand, the calendar changes over from one month and number to the next, December to January, 2025 to 2026. It feels like a new slate, wrapping one period and stepping into the next. On the other hand, life for the most part rolls on as usual with barely a break, the same processes and daily expectations continuing a couple of weeks later despite the resolutions and Auld Lang Synes.
For me, I celebrate completing the year's last contract. Despite knowing that the coming year's first contract – event, presentation, coaching – starts a few short days past the short holiday bend. Some stories we tell ourselves make sense, some not so much. But we tell them for a reason; stories mark time and define place. Connecting content to some sort of here and now helps it stand out and remain accessible as life rolls by and the years stretch on.
Memory Connection
We process millions of bits of data per day, trillions per year, every one competing with every other for severely limited mental bandwidth and defined value in our cerebral processing. Unfortunately (or fortunately) most information sounds the same, easy to forget and keep space free for what actually counts. The more we encounter, the more rare the differentiators we opt to latch onto or deem worthy of retention.
How can any of us recall a statistic from six months back let alone six years? What about that amazing taco we had a few years back in… where was it?
One of our strongest focus and recollection techniques happens when we link shared content to a specific location and moment in our lives. When #CorporateStorytelling is enhanced and supported by the physical surroundings and occasion of where and when something sparked interest, the spark stands out, attaching itself to the information, taste, or experience.
In public speaking, this is known as memory connection, tying a tangible environment to a verbal engagement. Memory connection acts as a trigger, increasing odds that our words take on greater weight and expand their impact. Listeners invest more deeply in what they’re hearing, then recall content in more detail and with more clarity in the future.
Why is This Night Different From All Other Nights?
The opening question of the Passover Ma Nishtana sets the ceremony apart from the de rigueur , highlighting the unique rituals of that specific point in the calendar year and identifying key symbols that recall important turning point events in cultural history. Intelligent leaders and session speakers know to work the same sort of occasion-defining magic with their spoken content.
As we listen and learn, our brains forge neural synapse pathways to strengthen and streamline information as it’s being processed. Winning communicators spark those synapses by helping their team or audience not just hear the message, but internalize and lock it in for near-term inspiration and long-term recollection. Tying a team meeting or keynote speech to the venue, the carpet pattern, the room temperature, or the day's surprising trend makes the talk hit harder.
Consider these simple yet highly effective memory connections in your own life: Remember when you were 5 and heard the ice cream truck coming down your street? Think back to your first kiss. Picture the best teacher you ever had. What's your single favorite travel memory? Each of these likely has you clearly picturing a unique time and place, a sight, smell, feeling, or environment tightly tied to the moment rather than just the moment itself.
Bottom Line
An effective team leader helps their employees recognize how this particular meeting is special. They know that this new directive or strategic group adaptation has to begin right here, right now, based on timing and position along the company's transformation journey.
Which is why the best speakers don't just deliver typical scripted content; they assure their content lives and breathes in a particular moment, shaped for a particular audience, forever connected to the particular second and space they’re speaking in.
I vividly remember my first corporate speaking job for Tivoli Systems in 1997 at Uniforum in San Francisco. I remember my first speaker coaching session, the first time I led a team training, my first keynote. None stand out for being first. Or for their brilliant content or delivery (which, in truth, were neither). They stand out because of their locations, environments, occasions, and the people who shared those occasions. Without those connective ties, my career would all run together and blur.
