Vivek Bedi at Product School, New York

1. Storytelling for Product Managers
/Productschool @ProdSchool /ProductmanagementNY

2. www.productschool.com
Storytelling for Product Managers
Vivek Bedi
- Head of Product at LearnVest
- 13 years of Product experience at
Goldman Sachs
- Over 17 Years of Industry experience

3. Storytelling is Product
Management
July 6th, 2016

4. Story-Telling is like Joke-Telling!

5. Know your punch lines.
Make people care.
Have great delivery!

6. What’s my story?

7. Career
Summarize my career of
over 15 years in a crisp two
minute story!

8. Why do stories matter?

9. Ever been in meeting and
have no idea what the
presenter is saying?
Join the club.

10. We are impatient.
We are selfish.
We love drama.

11. Why should we care?

12. #awesomestoryteller
Tell compelling stories about
your products.

13. I usually know if I want to hire
someone by one question.
What’s your story?

14. #1: Be Yourself!

15. Show
Your
True Side
No
Fancy
Words
Know
Your
Audience

16. #2: Be A Movie Director!

17. Storyboards
Stories are like
movies with
actors, plots,
and drama.

18. Let’s talk “Components”
Why did we
build it?
How we
build it for?
Who built it?
Why should
people
care?
Why it
matters?
How will it
affect
people?
Other
products
like it?
What’s great
about it?
What sucks
about it?
How will
people
access it?

19. Find your groove
when storyboarding!
No Distractions
No Meetings
No Phones
No Laptops

20. # 3: First Impressions Matter!

21. Thank the audience.
Be cool.
Be creative.
Be true.

22. #4: Get Personal!

23. We crave the
emotional
connection.
90%of purchases are made
ON EMOTION

24. Talk about your family.
Mention your friends.
Discuss failures.

25. #5: Make fun of it!

26. Failed MVPs.
First versions.
Geeky code
release names.

27. #6: Be a Politician!

28. It’s not about you!
It’s about the team.
It’s about the
journey.

29. #6: Show & Tell!

30. 100%
MORE ATTENTION
WHEN 2 SENSES
50%
OF BRAIN ACTIVITY
DEDICATED TO SIGHT

31. ADD VISUALS
ADD HUMOR
DO DEMOS
ADD SCREENSHOT
SHOW EARLY
TALK ABOUT

32. #6: Use Peeps!

33. Engage
Convo
Use
Pauses
Find An
Actor

34. #8: Don’t be Old School!

35. Turn Data into
Drama
It’s important to use data to
support your case but
quickly find the emotional
connection.

36. #10: Don’t Over practice!

37. Don’t be a robot.
Immerse your
audience.
Leave a mark.

38. Let’s Create a Great Story!

39. Situation:
We work for a big fortune 100
company that has been around for
over 100 years.

40. Product:
We are about to release their first
ever mobile app.

41. Team:
A team of developers, designers,
subject matter experts and us (the
product managers) have been
working on this for months.

42. Presentation:
Before the launch we are going to
present the product to a group of
clients.

43. Elevator Pitch:
Let’s discuss what a 2 minute
pitch would be for your story.

44. Reminder:
1. Be Yourself
2. Be a Director (Storyboarding)
3. First Few Minutes
4. Get personal
5. Be a political
6. Show & Tell
7. Make fun of it
8. Use Peeps
9. Data to Drama
10. Don’t over-practice

45. Thanks
Email: vivekbedi@gmail.com
Twitter: @blaqindo
Blog: bediweb.com/career

46. Upcoming Courses
New York
Weekdays: August 9th
Weekends: August 6th
APPLY AT
www.productschool.com
www.productschool.com

47. www.productschool.com
Upcoming Workshops
Rsvp On Eventbrite
July 13: Improv for Product Managers
July 20: Intro to Product Management: How to Influence Stakeholders and
Meet Product Goals
July 27: Product Management Course - Info Session
August 3: What's in your customer discovery toolkit?
August 10:How Launch A Product No Matter Where You Work by PM from
American Express and TheStreet