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Funneling

             There are times when your story is so long winded that the audience need some time to relate the ending with the rest of the story. This could be fatal to your storytelling since the audience cannot flip back to previous pages or rewind the tape. There are also times that your chosen anecdote illustrates a point in your talk but needs a little analysis to be appreciated. These kind of illustrations are perfect in reading materials but not for storytelling.

A story or anecdote would suffer with the abovementioned situations. A good remedy to these is the funneling technique. In it you are “summarizing” the body of the story immediately before the punch line. Funneling clearly shows the link between the protagonists’ effort emphasized in the bones, and the outcome of the story. The net effect will be a crystal-clear moral of the story and immediate reaction from the audience.

I used this technique to emphasize the essence of the story about the merchant and Anki. Examine the underlined phrase immediately preceding the punch line. Would it be effective when you delete that part?

               “The merchant stood dumbstruck. The native, who claimed he is very, very poor and has nothing to give for some glue had, in fact, almost covered the inner wall of his hut with hundred dollar bills”

           In the story about the numbered joke, strictly speaking the underlined parts are not really necessary to complete the story but I included it to highlight the punch line.  Without it, the story ending would be too abrupt and hard to appreciate readily.

             “What happened?” Juan asked greatly alarmed. “Am I not allowed to tell a joke?”

“ Certainly, guests are allowed to tell a joke, Juan.”

“Is it a bad joke, then?”

“No. In fact it’s one of the best.”

“ Then, what’s the problem?

“Juan, it’s how you tell the joke.”

          The effect of the underlined phrases heightened the listeners’ interest for the punch line. It sets the bomb.

The technique is effective for humorous anecdotes. Many times I was embarrassed after delivering the punch line of my joke – my listeners simply stare at me waiting for more not knowing I’m through. At times I had to smile first and crudely indicate that I already delivered the punch line. 

You can avoid this experience with the funneling technique. Practice using the technique on some anecdotes you knew. Those witty fillers or anecdotes from Readers Digest or other magazines can be good materials. Identify one and develop it into a considerable anecdote using the techniques we have discussed so far. For practice, modify it till you are sure that your listener could appreciate it.

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