changingminds.org

How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

| Menu | Quick | Books | Share | Search | Settings |

Using props

 

Techniques > Storytelling > Using props

Manage the timing | Selling with props | See also

 

'Props' is short for 'properties', which are the physical things used on stage in drama productions, from telephones to chairs. They are thus the 'property of the drama company'.

Story props can be anything from handy items such as balls and books to pictures and pieces of clothing.

Real or symbolic

Props can be actual things being told of in the story, or can by symbols, physical metaphors used to indicate something else

Real

If you are talking about a knife being used in the jungle or as a deadly weapon, you can pull one out and say 'just like this'.  Real actions thus create a visceral quality, making the story immediate and hammering home an important action.

Symbolic

You could also use the knife symbolically, for example if you wanted to talk about separation of a father and son, you could solemnly cut the air with the knife. Likewise, you could take a picture of the father and son and rip it down between them.

Note how props can be used to enact physical actions in the story. Thus the knife can stab, cut, slash and so on, either recreating physical acts or symbolizing change.

Manage the timing

Props, when well-used, can have a powerful impact on what you are saying. However, they are 'silver bullets' in that you can only use them once, so you should think carefully and use them at the right moment.

The 'hook'

Pop music uses a technique called the 'hook', which is a particularly memorable sequence and which drags listeners into the music. Props can do the same for storytelling. Used well, the prop acts to ignite the imagination of the listener, bringing a sense of concrete reality into the fantasy.

Selling with props

In storytelling and persuasive situations, you can use props to enliven and give at least some physical substance to your stories, where they effectively can become a 'physical metaphor' that is used to symbolize something important.

Ziglar (1982) tells a story about a colleague who used to take a marble, a baseball and a beach ball on sales visits. He would give the marble to the customer and ask them to put it in their pocket and then tell how easy it would be to forget. He would then do the same with the baseball and tell how it would be difficult to forget such a heavy item. He would then blow up the beachball (whilst the customer looked on, intrigued) and show how this could not be held in the pocket.

Then, making the metaphorical leap, he would declare this to be the same as a financial policy. If bought early, it would be like the marble, quickly forgotten and easy to carry for the rest of one's life. Bought later, it would be heavier and always noticeable, but at least it still could be carried, unlike the beachball, whose unpocketability was analogous to buying a policy too late in life.

See also

Zig Ziglar (1982). Secrets of closing the sale, Berkeley Books, NY

 

Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

You can buy books here

More Kindle books:

And the big
paperback book


Look inside

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

* Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed

Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed