After 28 years with NBC News, anchor Brian Williams hosted his final episode of “The 11th Hour With Brian Williams” last week and, of course, wrote his own farewell. The words of his signoff, as well as all the words of his years of journalistic reporting, represent a high-level of compositional rhetoric. Variety, the media and entertainment industry magazine, put it best with their description of his “talent at making guests look good and his zeal for well-turned phrases and in-the-moment narration.”
Let’s look at five of Williams’ narrative techniques and how you can use them as a role model to craft your own narrative.
1. Outward Focus
In sharp contrast to the supersized personalities who dominate the media—and in sharp contrast to the business world where people deliver narratives that are all about themselves and their business and are of no concern to the audience—Williams was always humble to a fault. In his farewell, he reinforced that point of view:
To my co-workers, my love and thanks, and I say again, everyone I’ve worked with has made me better at what I do.
To the guests on this broadcast…it’s always been about you. Otherwise, I’d be staring into the camera for an hour, five nights a week, and nobody wants to see that.
Whenever you craft your narrative, make it as much, if not more, about your audience than about you. Engage your audience by telling them what’s in it for them.
2. Continuity
In sharp contrast to the rapid-fire pace of other news programs where news stories and commercials bump up against one another in machine gun syncopation, and where, if there is an attempt at continuity, it is with an inordinately long tease to the next element, Williams often used a succinct and sophisticated way to say “Stay tuned…”
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When introducing a film or video clip relevant to a particular story, his usual lead was to say: “We’ll talk more about it on the other side…”
Or, when leading to a commercial during an interview with guests, he would say: “Our guests have graciously agreed to stay on with us…”
In your narrative, be sure to create a narrative in which every element flows clearly into the next in what is known as a Story Arc.
3. Well-turned Phrases
Variety’s description of Williams’ creative language recognized his frequent use of analogies. He did so again in his farewell when he said:
After 28 years of peacock logos on much of what I own, it is my choice now to jump without a net into the great unknown.
Analogies, or comparisons of seemingly dissimilar subjects, help explain concepts. Think of a one-stop-shop to explain a full-service agency.
4. References
Williams often made references to quotes or literary works to illuminate his subject. For instance, in his farewell he referred to the small town in the perennially revived Christmas film, It’s a Wonderful Life:
It’s as if I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning in Bedford Falls.
You can refer to familiar literary tropes to reinforce your subject. For instance, an executive trying to open a new market for a new product could encourage the audience to take an opportunistic risk by citing the popular phrase from the film Field of Dreams:
If you build it, they will come.
5. Humor
Readers of this post know that I consider comedy the Bermuda Triangle of rhetoric. Even professional comedians cannot guarantee laughs. Yet Brian Williams made humor work with his whimsical Friday night signoff:
Have a good weekend unless you have other plans.
He didn’t use that trope in his farewell, but he did conclude by returning to his audience focus:
And you… well, without you, there is no us.
I’ve bookended this post with audience focus to reinforce this factor in every communication you make. Of equal importance is continuity, a challenge in these days of shuffling slide decks. Brian Williams’ other three techniques—humor, references, and well-turned phrases—are icing on the cake, and if you deploy them, they can make your narrative
