You probably know the film, Finding Nemo. But did you know that the person who had to pitch the idea for this film, Emma Coats, used a structure of storytelling that involves these six sequential sentences – and she used them for every film she pitched to Pixar because they all have the same DNA narrative.

As you can see from this pitch of Finding Nemo above, the 6 key sentences are:

1. Once upon a time there was … This talks about the current context.
2. Every day …   This can talk about habits, rituals, daily life (of the user or consumer for example) you can also bring in statistics/proof that this is happening.
3. One day … This is the catalyst. The reason for change (the reason for your project.)
4. Because of that …  Perhaps the user’s habits changed (for better or for worse)
5. Because of that …  Here, we should move towards a good outcome. What your project can do for the user/consumer.
6. Until finally … Your solution!

And if you want to go deeper, she also published 22 rules about how to create a great story. Here they are Emma Coats’ 22 rules for great storytelling

Why use it?

1. It gets you to focus on the all the key points around your project with 6 small sentences.

2. It’s engaging. More so, than an Elevator Pitch. When you tell a story, or an anecdote, people remember it more.

3. Using images with it, you can bring it to life to create a dynamic, short pitch to your someone interested in your project.

4. It’s a great, short, creative exercise to use in groups to pitch against each other, rather than a standard ppt presentation.

5. It’s fun!

My colleague, Jay Bautista, came up with the expression Story-selling the other day when we were using this exercise in class. It pretty much sums it up.