Blake Snyder wrote a book on screenwriting called “Save the Cat.” The title refers to a literary device wherein the hero has to do something like save the life of a cat to establish that the hero has a good heart.
Like I said in Creepy Creators I just can’t get on board with certain people. When we are leading a group through education or entertainment or action, we want enrollment. Instead of forcing them to participate, we want to draw them in to sharing a mission with us. That means they need to agree with us. They need to see us as having good intentions. Any disagreement can lead to distrust. Leading without trust is a tough job.
It’s mostly social
A strong audience is a tribe. They are communal and they are vibing together. Weirdly, they instantly setup a set of laws for the tribe that are completely unspoken. For a standup comedy crowd, the rules of what’s funny and what’s not are agreed and communicated through laughter, applause, groans, and heckles. People don’t want to laugh at the wrong things because they will be rejected from the tribe. Our animal brains tell us if we’re rejected from the tribe, we die.
So, death.
Getting on board with the wrong leader will take us to the grave. It’s not logical, but it’s an emotional reality.
Let’s save the cat
Here are some things we can do to attract people to our mission.
- random act of kindness. Do something sweet. Even small small signals like showing genuine gratitude for applause can make us more endearing. Compliment someone. Do something with not much payoff that obviously takes a lot of effort.
- share ethos. “I’m doing this because…” helps a lot. There is a greater purpose to the things we do. We want to make the world a better place. Sharing ethos helps to clarify the true intensions behind our sometimes confusing actions.
- make ’em laugh. it’s kinda a random act of kindness, but it’s also an ice breaker.