 Thank you for that introduction. So actually, my first touch point, so to speak, with the CFA was in Paris, where I live. And I'm originally from Los Angeles, but I'm Parisian because I call Paris my home for the last 12 years. But I presented to the CFA chapter there. And then in January, I was in Geneva, and I had a presentation at the American International Association of Geneva, the National Club of Geneva. And I met Philip Sunquist, I don't know if you know him. And so I spoke with him, and he said, oh, maybe the chapters in Geneva and Zurich would be interesting. So last week, I presented to your colleagues in Geneva. And this week, I'm here. So thanks for the opportunity. So how many of you received the e-book? I sent you all the e-book. I don't know if you had time to peruse it, but it'll make more sense after my presentation. And you can read it at your leisure. But I'll be referring to it a lot during my presentation, because you can use it as a resource, a tool to jumpstart fusing a storytelling with your personal brand. And I also sent you a quiz. We can do a little audit, aha. And so how many of you filled out the quiz? All right, OK. And anyone who want to share what their score was? I'm going to read it. Change. What's up? Yeah? Did you all take it and think, oh, I really need to come to this presentation? Well, I'm glad you're here to find out more how to get your ranking up. But there was one key question on there was in terms of googling yourself, did you all Google yourself and find out what pops up on the first page? How many are on LinkedIn, first of all? OK. All right. And how many found that your LinkedIn profile when you Googled yourself was near the top? OK. That's usually what for the rest of you, what popped up first when you were Googled? Well, there are some significant people with my same name, one who was a witness in a trial. And so all those things are always towards the top. OK. And your LinkedIn profile, where did that pop up? Middle to bottom, not in the middle of the first page. OK. And how many of you just, in general, when you're going to be meeting somebody, Google them before meeting them? I do that, I think, about 95% of the time. And usually what pops up first for these people, if they're professionals, is now, I think, 280 million professionals on LinkedIn. So usually their LinkedIn profile will pop up first. And since a lot of people are familiar with that LinkedIn landscape, that's where they're going to go to find out about an individual. So if you're on LinkedIn, and maybe with the quiz and everything, it was the first time you thought, aha, I should be Googling myself to see what other people are seeing. And if it is your LinkedIn profile that shows up on the first page, then you should really pay attention to what's there. And I'll get into this a little deeper, but there's a great place on your LinkedIn profile to tell your story about the brand called you. OK, well, let's get started. So we're going to be talking about using personal branding and storytelling. And there's five chapters to my presentation today. First, I'm going to convince you of the impact of storytelling. And then we're going to segue into what is a brand, and then to personal branding and storytelling, and then how to fuse those as a professional online and offline. And like I said, my book is a good reference for crafting your story in the end. A little while you're here. So can you all hear me, by the way? This, in fact, is not a microphone. I'm all hooked up with things for videotaping. But can you all hear me OK? All right, otherwise, you can go further. OK, well, once upon a time, in Spitzedurch, what do you say? Well, once upon a time. Is war ein Mal? Oh yeah, is war ein Mal. I know a little bit of German. Is war ein Mal. So do those words conjure up memories, maybe of your favorite story as a child. Might have been a fairytale. There might have been a villain, a prince, a princess. In fact, what was your favorite story as a child growing up? Because I can see you all are going back a few years. And you're all smiling. And you're thinking, what was your favorite? John's thinking a confrater or a member one. Not the favorite one. Anyone want to share their favorite childhood story? Or just the name of it? Yes? The Snow Queen. The Snow Queen, OK. Anyone else? Nothing comes to mind. No, or your children's favorite story? Probably maybe. Little red writing books. Aha, capuchon. OK, well, my favorite story actually growing up was the stories about this fairy, this leprechaun. I'm of Irish descent. And there were stories about this little wee leprechaun who appeared on St. Patrick's Day, it was March 17. And this little leprechaun was quite mischievous. You would play all kinds of tricks. In fact, waking up in the morning on March 17, the milk would be green. There would be gold dust sprinkled everywhere. My mom, who had never even been to Ireland, though her parents were born there, would take on this Irish accent. I mean, just crazy things happened on St. Patrick's Day. And this little, this character, we never saw him. My brothers and sisters and I would try and find him. We'd find traces of the leprechaun. But we never found him. However, if you did catch the leprechaun, in order to set him free, he would grant you three wishes. So you would not believe the amount of time that I spent with my siblings thinking, oh, what would those three wishes be if we ever found this leprechaun, this fairy? So that was one of my favorites. Well, stories aren't new. I mean, in fact, every culture has their master storyteller, the European troubadour, the Native American shaman, the Gaelic Baird. And their master storytellers, they're not talking about facts and figures. So stories aren't new. In fact, anthropologists feel that 70% of what we learn is through stories. Yeah. So what is new is that, and stories, by the way, play across a host of settings in song, in dance. I mean, just today, you've probably told a number of stories around the water cooler during lunch, like networking events. You're telling stories all the time in mine. So as I said, stories aren't new. And in fact, when you think about it are ancestors sitting around the campfire, eating berries, telling stories about why coyotes howl at night, why snakes don't have legs, why volcanoes erupt. These are all stories that explain these situations. So they're not new. But what is new is recent neurological evidence and that validates the speculation that stories have impact. Well, these nuggets of information are conducted through fMRI, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. We've actually identified that our brains are hardwired to absorb information in story format. Why? Because through storytelling, it connects the left, the logical, rational side of the brain to the right, the emotional and the feeling part of the brain. So it connects the subconscious and the unconscious. And this all happens through storytelling. So it's really a very natural process in terms of absorbing information in narrative form. We easily digest that. So that's one nugget of scientific evidence. They've also identified that story learning increases memory retention sevenfold. And they've also identified, and there's a host of other examples as well, but just one more nugget, is that they've identified that the first five most often uttered words for children across all nationalities. As you may imagine, the first and second ones are usually mama, papa. But in the top five is the word story. So that's why on the cover of my book, I actually have the word story in various languages. Well, what is this scientific evidence triggered? Why an actual movement, a storytelling movement, and there's people like me running around storytelling evangelists talking about the impact of storytelling. And it's played out across different levels. In higher education, there's more than 40 universities that offer storytelling courses. I give courses and workshops at NCAD, IMD, Edec, I should say, on storytelling. And there's blogs and forums and conventions and all kinds of events around storytelling. Well, here's one in front of you that you already have, actually. At a different level, at the corporate level, why some of the top corporations intentionally encourage the art of storytelling. For example, 3M, you've heard of 3M, of Post-it fame, that actually banned the use of bullet points in their presentations in favor of telling stories, strategic narratives. Procter and Gamble, why they bring in directors from Hollywood to coach their C-level executives on telling stories. And I'd read about this, right? But in a presentation I just had last week in Geneva, one of the participants was from Procter and Gamble. And she was saying yes. I mean, she was involved in a course on storytelling. What's another corporation, Motorola? They send their executives on courses around in promptu and improvisation and storytelling. So it really is an art, and it's become a leadership skill. So it's an art that can be developed. Also at the primary education level, the way I thought about that, child psychologists who study the effects of fairy tales on children actually encourage parents and teachers to nurture the art of developing narratives amongst children. In fact, I love this quote by Einstein, where he said, if you want your children to be intelligent, read them stories, read them fairy tales. If you want your children to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. I like that idea. So across different levels, the impact of storytelling is being realized and developed. But what is the definition of a story? Here's one definition, a narrative tale or recounting of a sequence of real or fictitious events. There's various definitions, but in my opinion, at the very basic level, a story has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And of course, there's boring stories, lackluster stories. What makes for a good story? You want to volunteer? Yes. Some element of identification with some characters, usually. All right, you identify with some of the characters in the. OK. You have a big villain, usually. What was your favorite big villain? Well, I like Sauron and all of the women. Zoro, OK. All these kind of things. OK, anyone else? And so Marilyn, that makes your eyebrows go up. Like, ooh, how can that be? Uh-huh. Suspense, catcher, suspense. OK, I like the eyebrow idea. Excitement. Excitement, OK. Well, I think you're all right. And a good story is one that grabs you at the beginning, keeps you engaged, and then there's some kind of defining moment. Do you hate it when you're all set up for a story and then there's no end? You're just like left there? But what makes for those fabulous stories that are memorable? Those are the ones that trigger the senses and touch the emotions. And what could those emotions be? Fear, hate, love, suspense? So those are the ones that are really memorable. And we all have our favorite fairy tales. Before I turn the page to the next chapter about what is a brand, I wanted to just tell you about my aha moment when I discovered the impact of storytelling. I don't know if anyone's been to the Canadian Rockies. Yes? Oh, OK. So this is near that area. So it is on the way to the Athabasca Parkway. So I had a stint of being a tour director for about actually seven years with a very high-end company. And so as a tour director in terms of the training, we trained with two other tour directors where we sat in the coach and took notes. Well, this was the first day of the tour, and we're going down this highway. Look at that scenery. And it was amazing. And we were going to be stepping onto a glacier at the end of the day. Well, the tour director, he was going on and on about the glacial precipitation, the retreat of the foot of the glacier, the statistics about the floor and the fauna, and the geology and everything. I looked around on the coach, about 40 people on the coach. And they were sleeping. You got it. Some of them were polite enough to put on sunglasses. But then they had their mouths open. And their mouths weren't open because of the beautiful scenery because they were in awe. But they were catching flies and snoring. So I looked at them and I thought, when I have that microphone and I'm in front of the coach talking to my groups, no one is going to fall asleep. Because they're taking expensive naps for the first part. And they're missing all this great scenery. And so how did I get around that by telling them stories? And I talked about the Native Americans, about the trappers, about the climbers. Because a lot of these peaks, actually, believe it or not, were named after Swiss alpine guides. Why? Because the Canadians kept on falling off the mountains. So they called on the Swiss alpine guides to show them how to climb these peaks. And so they named a lot of the peaks after the Swiss climbers. So I wrote stories. And yes, the guests and the clients on my tours, they learned about the floor and the fauna and the glacial retreat and all that. But it was all weaved around stories. So that was my aha moment. So I pretty much became a professional storyteller throughout for about a seven-year period. So before I just, I found, I'm on a, I have my Google Alert set to storytelling, artificial intelligence, things like that, neurological research around storytelling. So I just, before I go to the next chapter, this came up recently. It was a quote from an artificial intelligence guru, a visionary guru called Roger Schenck. And he was talking about the progress in artificial intelligence. And he was saying that it's held back because of the computer's inability to understand narratives. So true artificial intelligence can only be possible when machines or computers can tell and understand stories. So I just thought that was interesting. So the next chapter, you ready? Have I convinced you of the impact and the power of storytelling? OK, good. Actually, one of the psychologists that I interviewed in my book, she was, she gives presentations all over the world and she noticed over time, she didn't realize it right away, but she noticed that when she would just mention the word story in her presentation, physically she could see people kind of perked up. So even the word, and actually I noticed that when I started my presentation, I asked you all to think about your favorite childhood story. You definitely all changed visually. It was very nice to see you all relaxed and thinking back. So the next chapter is about identifying what is a brand will dive deeper into personal branding and then fuse how you as a professional confuse personal branding storytelling. So there's various definitions of what is a brand. The marketing association has one that's about 200 words. But this is my definition of what is a brand. So it's an intangible, you can't touch it, image or perception created by a unique bundle or accumulation of emotional, rational, and sensory experiences and stories. This all makes sense in a little bit. But just out of curiosity, what are some of your favorite brands can be across any category? Apple, OK, I'm with you on that one. I even saved the packaging when I, you know, I mean, it's just impressive. Patagonia. Patagonia, OK. I'm sure you, yes? Hazel. OK. Anyone else? Well, think about why those are your favorite brands. And for each person, it's unique. So it's something that's intangible. But your financial analyst, yes? Sometimes when there's emergent acquisition, the actual price tag they put on this image or perception of the brand is more than the physical assets. So it's quite amazing there's different formulas to figure that out. Maybe some of you even are involved in something of that nature. And it has a financial value to it. So it's interesting to identify what makes this image or perception. And what could be a brand? Why all the Eiffel Tower is a brand? The CFA is a brand? Madonna is a brand? Yorah a brand? OK, Nike, Starbucks. But what makes a simple cup of coffee into this experience? Well, Starbucks, for example, well, the stimulation of the senses. I mean, you walk into a Starbucks, I actually, like I said, I grew up in Los Angeles, but I moved to Europe about 12 years ago from Seattle, home of Starbucks. I'm not a great Starbucks fan. But it's pretty amazing how they touch all the senses. You walk into Starbucks cafe. There's the smell. There's the sight. There's the taste of the coffee. There's the music. Everything's orchestrated the way the barista's greet you. So all these experiences or touch points that you have with the brand create this image. So these are some of the top brands that you all recognize. And think of the touch points that you have with these brands. And also the use of stories. Stories behind the founders, or the stories that they use in their advertising. In fact, I know with American Express, after I did my MBA, I was hired by American Express in London in their travels check division. And at the time, they were running these ads about the frantic, the tourists, lost their travelers checks in some remote country. But, aha, they were American Express travelers checks. So they were refunded right away. And you really felt, I mean, you had that emotional contact with that person. The campaign, the commercials actually touched your emotions. So that was much more effective than identifying how many currencies American Express travelers checks come in or how many places they can be refunded. So the use of stories is captivating, and engaging, and more memorable. So what makes for a strong brand? I boil it down to four C's in storytelling, of course. And this will apply to your personal brand as well. But a strong brand is clear in their target. Who their target is. Is, you know, Volvo targeting teenagers. No, they're very clear. And in their messaging, they're very clear on who their target is. In terms of coverage across various platforms, not just billboards, not just signage, not just in a magazine ad. And consistency in terms of consistent touch points and experiences. So you go into one Starbucks, for example, and you're expecting a Starbucks in another country to be consistent. Or say, for example, you bank with a particular bank and their ads, say Societe Genoja, their ads say, oh, you know, the tellers are friendly. You go into Societe Genoja. You won't have to wait very long in line. So you have these expectations. You go into the branch. The teller is in a bad mood. You waited 20 minutes. So inconsistent touch points. Strong brands are consistent across all touch points. And constancy. Strong brands are constantly in front of their target. And they did a study in the states where they identified, on the average, how many times the average American sees the brand or has a touch point with the brand Coca-Cola, which could be someone mentioning the word, drinking it. Any guesses on how many times on the average per day the American has a touch point? Five, OK, good guess. Four? 100? 17? Yeah. So strong brands are constantly in front of their target. And stories. So how do brands use stories? Really, I just want to bring back this definition again, because it might start to make more sense in terms of all of these touch points. But how do brands use stories? And there is a prize for this slide. And the prize is a signed copy of my book with a bookmark. For the person who can guess the story behind this picture. Can you elaborate? They probably ruined a few off-lines. Yeah, it's OK. Are you from Oregon? No. OK. Where did you hear the story? Or are you just guessing? I guessed. I totally guessed. I mean, they just said that's the story that that picture told. Because I've had different wild guesses. But that was maybe the first time it's happened like that, where you hadn't heard the story before. But you're exactly right. So Bill Ballerman, one of the founders of Nike. This was in the 70s. And he was experimenting with creating a sole for running shoes that would grab the tarmac. And so it was Sunday morning, looked at the waffle iron, and thought, aha, let's experiment. So he actually poured urethane into the waffle iron and stuck it on the bottom of a pair of running shoes. And that was the launch, the beginning, of the waffle trainer in the 70s. So stories like that are repeated, memorable. But stories are captivating. And so brands, political service brands, the companies, the brands that you work for, they use stories. Subway, for example, they run these ad campaigns where the portly gentleman who eats at Subway for a period of six months or so, all of a sudden is slim. So there's stories that are used in advertising. And non-profits use stories as well. And you're one familiar with Kiva. Well, they're an organization based in San Francisco. And they provide microfinance loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries. And in fact, proceeds, partial proceeds for my book, go to Kiva. Their logo is on the back, and I talk about Kiva in my book. But the reason why I love Kiva is because, well, not only what they do in terms of providing microfinance loans, but the fact that their website is chock full of stories. Because you can actually read the stories of the various entrepreneurs who might need $1,000 or $2,000 and what they're using it for. You can read about their story. In terms of financing, it's increments of $25. So you're allowing to these entrepreneurs with other people, and you can find out the stories on the other people that you're in this group. So it's just to show you that non-profits as well use stories. All right, ready for the next chapter of the book and of the presentation. And this is about personal branding. So we're diving deeper, getting closer to how you're going to fuse your personal brand with storytelling. Well, how did this whole concept of personal branding start? Well, it was in 1997, actually, when an article was written by Tom Peters in Fast Company Magazine. It's still one of my favorite magazines. And the actual article was called The Brand Called You. And this triggered the personal branding movement, which was actually just the idea of taking the same tools and methodologies that are used with your favorite brands, which some of you talked about, and applying them to people. So that's the whole idea of personal branding. And it was triggered by this article. And it made perfect sense to me. I had worked about 15 years in marketing and branding for Fortune 500 companies, Procter & Gamble, DHL, on the advertising agency and client side, Sachi and Sachi, for example. So this whole idea of using the same tools and methodologies with people really resonated with me. So that's when I made a gradual transition to personal branding. And believe me, I find it much more satisfying with instead of working with disposable diapers and traveler's checks, now I get to work with people brands and help them identify what makes them unique. So what is personal branding? Well, it's the whole idea and process of identifying, clarifying, and communicating what makes you unique. So what could possibly be those touch points or experiences that people have with the brand called you that create that image or perception? So we talked about product and service brands and different experiences or touch points that create that image or perception. But what about for the brand called you? What could some of those touch points be? Someone likes you. OK. Every interaction you have with people every day is actually creating your brand. I mean, I know there's also LinkedIn, et cetera. Every time you open your mouth, every time you write an email, you're presenting something about yourself today. Exactly. Those are all touch points. I mean, it could be something as basic as the message that you leave on your telephone. That's a touch point. But exactly how you present yourself, what you look like, what you're wearing, the car you drive, all of these. And there are hundreds. It could be thousands of different experiences or touch points that create this image or perception. And it's all different for different people. And of course, ladies, it's always the shoes, right? So yes, so you're exactly right. It's your LinkedIn profile. It's what's out there on Facebook. It's the car you drive. It's the computer. It's all of these different touch points or experiences create this image or perception about the brand called you. But what's the difference between just the perception, which is where there is a multitude of different ways and things that you get across and the pieces that make the brand? Because obviously, that's got to be simple and condensed and repeated and stuff. So, well, I guess, yeah. So that was the question or comment? What makes the difference between those tons of different things that you do and say and communicate every day and what really makes that condensate that needs to be a brand? I mean, the golden arches of McDonald's and the Apple thing, that's a brand. But we don't have that, right? So how do I improve it, my personal brand? Right. OK. Yes. We're getting to that. All right, so you have all these different touch points and experiences that you have with other brands and that people have with your brand that create this image or perception. And a really great way to communicate your personal brand once you've identified your target, for example, and clarified what makes you unique, which is a process. It's not in the book it can outline the process that I take clients through. But it's a process in identifying that and developing it. But a great way to communicate your personal brand is through storytelling. And I've already convinced you about the impact of storytelling. So where are you telling your story? In offline and online situations. In offline situations, you're telling your story oftentimes in the interview. So how many of you have interviewed people? And I think we've all been on the other side of the table. So in interviewing people, aren't you just begging for really good stories that are going to convince you that this candidate is the ideal person for the job? And those behavioral questions affecting my book, I have the top 10 behavioral questions that are just begging for stories. And if you're on the other side of the table, why do you want to have some good stories ready to tell that are going to convince a person or the hiring manager that you're the right one for the job? So what are those stories that you're going to tell? How do you find them? How do you develop them? Another place where you're telling your story offline is, oh, by the way, this is my favorite image. It's the chameleon. Why? Because you're changing your story all the time, depending on the situation, who you're talking to. I don't mean changing your story in terms of spin or you're not Pinocchio, where you're going to be telling stories. You know it gets longer and longer. You don't want to be Pinocchio, but you do want to adapt your story to who you're speaking to and what are the stories that are going to resonate with that particular person? The elevator pitch. Have you heard of that expression? Or your 60-second commercial? These are some elevator doors from a building that is in New York. Anyways, it's the whole idea where we have an elevator and the door's open. You walk inside. Who is inside the elevator? But the person that you want to impress professionally we're talking about. And it could be the CEO of the company that you want to work for. It could be that prospect that you've been looking, searching for to set up a meeting. So you get in the elevator, you're going up to about the 100th floor, so about 60 seconds or so, the doors close. What are you going to say? So that's the idea. So it's your short version of your story, right? I'm not saying that anyone got a job in an elevator. But it's the whole idea of condensing and in short 60 seconds identifying what you're going to say. You're a short, high-level story. And in fact, you've probably heard of speed dating. Well, I do a lot of speed networking events, which are really fun. I kind of launched the event with talking about the elevator pitch, what to say. And then throughout the course of the evening, everyone gives their elevator pitch maybe 10 times to various people. So it gets a lot of practice. And they're timed, right? After 60 seconds, the bell goes off and you have to wrap it up. So that's an offline situation where you're telling your story. What about in online situations? Where are you telling your story? LinkedIn? Get to that part. It's the summary area just to give you a little indication where you can tell your story. On Facebook, does the CFA, do they have a site where you can post your profile and your story or your bio? Do they have a member? Or maybe you're a member of an alumni association, where I put my thunderbird as my alumni association. So I put the logo up there. So for our alumni association, we can post a picture, a bio. By the way, how many of you have a version of your bio or professional story that you've written or used in the past? OK. And just out of curiosity, what was the situation where you used your professional bio? For an article that was published and you did the bio, are also, of course, speaking of events? I know as an author, I have maybe 10 different versions of my bio, short one, long one, depending on the placement. And was it written in the third person? Yes. Yeah. So normally speaking, professional bios are written in the third person, so as if someone's talking about you. But actually, there's a show of hands here what were the occasions where you used your bio? It was fairly similar to what was mentioned, like writing articles in newspapers. OK. Or just a short presentation as a speaker. OK. Yeah. And also, they come up with websites, who we are, and we have a couple of names, picture, bio, can't have a plane, what they stand for, et cetera. OK. So it sounds like a lot of you have some version of your bio that was written or adapted to the target, the placement, and the usage. Amazon, have any of you written a book review on Amazon? Because if you're looking for Google juice, writing a review on Amazon is great for your Google results and for your Google juice. Why? Because it's an often searched site. But also, when you write a review, you can post your picture, you can post your bio, and it really increases your Google juice. In fact, the first review that I wrote was some years ago on a book called The Banker to the Poor by Mohamed Yunus. And so I wrote it, and it still pops up. And this was a number of years ago. When I Google myself, it still pops up on the first page. So you might want to think, these are just little tips of how to increase your Google juice. And these are other areas where you're telling your story online. And also, in terms of your story that you've already, some of you have already created a version of your bio. In my book, I talk about maybe 10 or 15 different ways of using your bio. For example, for investment, for business plans, and for presentations to investors. They want to know about the founders. So I work with startups and helping write their stories as authors on LinkedIn, that summary area. So there's all kinds of places where you can tell your story online. So some people say, well, if you don't show up in Google, you don't exist. Well, I'm not saying that everyone has to be visible on Google, or I'm not saying that you all have to be on LinkedIn. But if your target is going to be looking for you on the web, then you want to be visible. And as you realized, most of you, if you had the time to Google yourself, which is something I highly recommend that you do on a regular basis, if you did Google yourself and you're on LinkedIn, I'm pretty sure your LinkedIn profile came either one first or second result, or for sure on the first page. And you may have other entries. Some of you mentioned if you didn't publish, there might be something about that, or presentation, or an article. Those results will appear as well. But because there's 280 million people that are familiar with LinkedIn, they're going to go there. And expect to find some information about you. What's the first thing that's going to have an impact when you go onto a LinkedIn profile? Picture. Yes. So that, if you think of it, your picture could be the first experience or touchpoint that someone has with your brand. So you're all thinking about what your picture looks like. I mean, you can't help but make some kind of assessment or judgment when you see the picture. So you want it to be professional, looking inwards. And in my book, I talk about the photo and give you some tips on what should be the face. It should actually take up about 80% of the frame. So LinkedIn is really your professional window to the world. And there's a great place in the summary area to write your story, which is where you have about 2,000 characters. And I looked at some of your LinkedIn profiles. And if we have time, we can look at some of them and bring them up on the screen. But in that summary area is where you have 2,000 characters, including spaces, to tell your story. And so lots of times, because the first thing I do with clients who are in my workshops, I have people Google themselves. If your LinkedIn profile comes up first, then we directly address that. And so that summary area is a place where you can message your story. Written in the third person is usually how bios are written. But it's not the place, by the way. And I saw this where I can see you cut and pasted the top of your resume, where you have a little profile. I saw a lot of that, or bullet points, or that's a place where you can tell your story. But you want to make it a good story, captivating, engaging, and write it so it has a good structure and flow. But it has to be written to your target. So what are the stories that you might develop? Well, they could be stories around your emotional intelligence skills, your leadership skills. If you happen to be transitioning from one industry to the other, you want to bring forward, in story, to make reference to, the transferable skills, the leadership skills. I had one client who was transitioning from the tobacco industry. And he had seen level positions globally in the tobacco industry. But he wanted to get out of the tobacco industry. And he ended up transitioning into the luxury industry. And primarily, we messaged in his messaging in his story his transferable skills around his leadership skills. So your resume, the bio is not your resume. Because your resume, as you know, is chronological. Well, the bio doesn't have to be chronological at all. It's written more to your direction. And besides, there's word out there. This may be, you may have heard this today for the first time. But they say that the resume, ready for this, is dead. Why? Because people are going online to find people. In fact, these are some recent statistics around how recruiters and headhunters are using LinkedIn or the internet. So 89%, this is from a job-vite study, will recruit through social media. 90% of HR professionals Google people before meeting them. 70% of employees were rejected based on their online information. And 85% said that positive online reputation influenced their decisions. So like I said, that first touchpoint may be your LinkedIn profile. So in my book, and like I said, I sent you all the e-book. So because this presentation today is only an hour, might even be going over an hour. So it's not going to walk away with a clear idea of how to write your bio. But in my book, there's different sections that help you kind of trigger the inspiring questions that help you trigger the stories that you can develop. But the idea is to first discover those stories. And in working with clients, it's an interview process. But those stories are behind those bullet points in your resume. And also in the book, there's different tools that I use. In fact, I have an accompanying workbook that goes with the book. So there's different tools that can help you develop those stories. And then you want to document them, write them down, and then distribute them online and offline. One of the tools that is really a foundation tool for my process, I call it the Visibility Branding Storytelling Tool, it's quite basic. But it's actually where you identify the situation, the challenge, the action, the results, whether any testimonials. So in my workshops, we get more into this. But I suggest that you all have at least three to five really great stories in your back pocket that can be used and adapted to various situations that can answer some of those top interview questions or when you're presenting yourself to clients. So this is a foundation tool that you can read about in the book. And like I said, I run whole courses on this. There's some other tools in the book around your leadership and emotional intelligence skills. So I network a lot with head-hutters, recruiters, HR professionals. And they're calling your EQ skills, your emotional intelligence skills. They call that the new yardstick. That's how they're judging and evaluating candidates is through their emotional intelligence skills and leadership skills. And are those really found or messaged on your resume? Not exactly. A few bullet points here and there. But it's actually through stories that you can message those. The good stories, good structure, flow, that's the challenge. So there's different tools that I use. I use a lot of pie charts. And I just thought I'd throw up my favorite pie, which is lemon meringue. I don't have a slice of it. I know. It's probably all getting hungry. But the tool actually is basically where leadership skills. For example, I talk about six different areas of leadership. And you read about these different areas. And then you divide up the pie in slices according to where you feel you're strongest. Now the ideal leader, if that person actually exists, would be strong in all six areas. But we all are stronger. We have different areas of specialty. So you identify, you cut up the lemon meringue pie. And so you have the biggest slice that could be around vision and values or developing people. And so then the next step is, well, you identify that big section. What are the stories behind that? So these are just different tools that can help you identify the stories and lead you to writing them down. There's another tool in the book on the elevator pitch. And again, you're constantly changing your story based on your target and the placement. So what I recommend in your career tool kit is a few things. Resume, OK, some people say it's dead, but it's a recognized document. You want to have your resume in there. I suggest business cards. I know some of you forgot them today, but that should be in your tool kit. Recommendations, a good professional photo. And I recommend three different versions of your bio. So the short Twitter version, 140 characters or so, which actually can be used on your LinkedIn profile just next to your photo. By default, they'll grab the title of your current title. But in fact, that's an area where you can tell your short story, which can be keywords, by the way. It doesn't have to be a phrase. It can be just keywords. So that would be the short version. And then the medium version, which is around 200 words or so, because for a lot of you who already have a bio, maybe requested for a publication or for a speaking engagement, when you ask, and when they say, oh, can you send in your bio? And then you might ask, well, how long? And they usually will say, oh, 150, 200 words. So a little paragraph. So I recommend having that version in your tool kit, in your career tool kit. And then the other version is the longer version that could be appropriate for LinkedIn. Where you can actually develop some stories and tell a little bit more about your key skills and attributes, but in a narrative format. So before, how are we doing for time, by the way? OK, it's 1.10. How does that, it's some Q&A or? Well, I'm sure. I mean, you've got another couple of minutes. Don't put the past, I'd say. And then you can do that. OK. Come on. I have a quick question. One of the comments you say is consistency. And I always have consistency. At the same time, you showed us a chameleon that showed variability. How do you resolve that with both consistency and flexibility? OK. OK, by consistency, as it applies to your personal brand, in terms of being consistent across touch points, it means that your LinkedIn profile is professional. There's no typos, good flow, good structure. Your photo is consistent at the same level. Your interviewing skills, your presentation skills. So that's what I mean by consistent touch points. Sometimes I'll look at someone's resume and it'll shine. I mean, it's beautiful. And I'll look to their LinkedIn profile. I was like, ugh. And the thing is that their LinkedIn profile oftentimes will be seen first before the resume. So just out of curiosity, how much time have you spent on your LinkedIn profile, on your professional image to the world that everyone has seen when they're Googling you? Yes, how long? Are you on LinkedIn? If you raised it, actually, I used to have one. Oh, so you're not on LinkedIn? OK, that's why I'm not saying everyone has to be on LinkedIn. No, when I did it, I spent a couple of hours, I guess. OK, a couple of hours. All right, 15 minutes? OK. OK, we'll think about how much time you took getting ready for the day. I mean, 15 minutes on your professional image to the world. You might want to take another look at it. Or how much time have you spent on your resume? I mean, over time. Hours and hours, I'm sure. But like I said, the resume could be dead. That's not what people are seeing first. So you might want to look at what's on your LinkedIn profile and using stories. Yes? I've got one question. I mean, I get the importance of the narrative and how important storytelling is. And you mentioned that you should adapt the story to your target, to the other end, to the counterpart in your talk. However, how does that match with the branding? How does that gel with the brand? Because my mind, a brand actually is a compensation, is a very simple write-down or something that's recognizable and repeatable easily. But that doesn't quite, in my mind, that doesn't quite gel with what you said about adapting it and having it changing. OK, well, the very first part of the process is identifying your target. So for example, on LinkedIn, your target is quite broad. So you have to identify what your target is and what are the personal brand attributes that are going to resonate with that target and clarifying those and messaging and communicating those. So that's to address the chameleon. You adapt according to the situation. Your bio, by the way, your story evolves over time. So it's basically where the placement is, the target, and the usage. And, like I said, this is a very short presentation, but a lot of this is developed more in my book, which, hopefully, will be a launch to get you jump-started to writing your story. And oh, by the way, remember the leprechaun and the three wishes that you could have if you caught the leprechaun? Well, I actually just remembered what or thought of what my three wishes might be. The first wish would be that I have more wishes. The second wish is that I can come back to Switzerland. I love getting out of Paris and beautiful mountains and the lakes and everything. And then the third wish would be that we all develop the art of storytelling because your children, grandchildren, friends, colleagues, they will all appreciate it. And if we all develop the art of storytelling, we'll all live happily ever after. Yes? One question. I mean, isn't that also dangerous that you recommend everyone to tell a story? I mean, there are people that are just not capable of storytelling. They try to tell a story, can't get very... Yeah, everyone thinks everyone can tell a story, but that's just not true. Some people, they're capable of some things and other things they're not capable of. Why should everyone be able to tell a good story about where he stands and what he is and what he wants to present for the world? I mean, it's like telling everyone, hey, just be non-linear mathematicians. And that's also not something that is attainable for everybody. No, I agree with you that there's... And if everyone goes out and just starts writing a story, hey, I heard I have to write a story about me and myself on LinkedIn and now I write this story. This can be... I mean, it can't go wrong. Right, and I've seen really bad stories. So right, so it is an art that can be developed. So it has to have good structure, flow. The content has to resonate with your target. It's not something that you can do in a few minutes. So it really is an art and a structure that needs to be developed. And that's what I help people do, is tell a good story. And it doesn't matter, I mean, I'm a wordsmith, I love writing. With my clients who come from all different, or from different nationalities and cultures, it doesn't always mean that the native English speakers are the best writers. Because it really is more the flow and the content that people have problems with in identifying how to tell a good story. It's maybe it's a bit of a work of learning that Holly and Harry is one of our journalists. Oh. Talked to all the colleagues that has received a prize also recently for some stories as well. Oh, okay. Well, I think this is a good time to basically wrap up the presentation. You're certainly around as well for the lunch. And available to ask questions about your individual stories at personal level. So let's give Bernadette a hand. Thank you. I would just like to...