Every story has a message
I had my first coffee at 18 years old. My father and I went to a Fumador on Fish Lane for a Cuban coffee and cigar. It was an intermission cigar, named for the time it took for you to consume it (in an intermission of a performance).
The Paladar Salon The coffee I had was strong, even if it wasn’t my first. The cigar was bitter with a touch of vanilla. I miss that place. The rouge red space stood in south Brisbane for 7 years after the owner retired down south (not a euphemism, he still replies to facebook comments).
The owner of the Paladar still reads his comments.
Coffee, specially black coffee with no sugar, forms a strong memory in my mind. It reminds me of father/son bonding, of listening to the owner’s stories of traveling to Cuba, of the bitter smoke billowing from my mouth as blew it out. It reminds me of the rouge red of the building that stood out in South Brisbane.
This was a time before oat milk. I don’t smoke anymore, not that I ever smoked much to begin with. I still drink coffee though. You probably do to.
I want you to filter coffee.
Every story has a message Stories always have a point. They always something the storyteller wants you to know. If it doesn’t, it’s an anecdote. If there is anthropomorphism, it’s a fable. If it’s got Gilgamesh in it, it’s old.
Often we, as we tell stories, forget that the purpose of the story is your message. You can be entertaining, you can have the best slide deck, you can give away free stuff but if your audience can’t remember your message, it’s all for nothing.
There are many ways to tell a story, but your message is the key. Is your message to raise capital in your series A? Better make sure that’s front of mind for the investors.
Awareness isn’t a message. Just making someone aware of you isn’t a message. Ol’ Jimmy Collins talks about the BHAG in Built to Last: the Big Hairy Audacious Goal. It’s a way you are able to put focus into a grand goal, a goal worth of an epic saga (like our Saga BHAG: To be at every TTRPG table, digital and physical). Your message doesn’t have to be the BHAG but you should a logical step towards it.
My dog ate my copy of the Inventor’s Dilemma (It didn’t but I wish it did) Align to your message to your monumental goal and get that message across. Use whatever storytelling techniques to best illustrate that message. Test the waters, drink a batch brew, practice it in the fields, do it backwards, do it forwards. Be the best storyteller of this story.
What about this batch brew? Why do I want you to drink batch brew? Why do I want you to drink black coffee. Is it because it’s a communal coffee that one brewing serves 4-5 people? Is it because you get a fuller and more indulgent appreciation of the flavours of the coffee beans? Is it that when a pot has been brewed the service time is severely reduced for both barista and consumer?
The other week I tried to get a batch brew from two separate cafes in the Valley, I won’t name names but they offer batch brew/filter coffee. They didn’t have any ready and wouldn’t be putting on a pot for me.
My BHAG is to walk into a cafe and know in my heart of hearts that I can get a quick, delicious and complex coffee. I want to walk into a cafe and not have to explain what a batch brew is. I want to go for a walk in my area and know that the best coffee I’ll be able to get isn’t one in my own home.
One of the ways, as a storyteller, is to tell you this tale. To be like Temuera Morrison inviting you to try something new.
Another, more as a designer and maker of things, is to take matters into my own hands. If you can’t go to the mountain, the mountain might just have to come to you.
In either case, I want you to drink batch brew.