John Azoni John Azoni

#113 - The Most Important (and Hardest) Part of Storytelling: Finding the Stories to Begin With

In this solo episode, John tackles a problem he thinks is way more foundational than filming or editing: casting. Before you can tell a great story, you need someone willing to raise their hand and tell it — and John argues that's the part most higher ed teams are actually failing at.

Drawing on conversations with clients and his own experience running Unveild's story-sourcing process, John breaks down why the standard approach — a mass email asking people to "tell your story" — usually falls flat, and walks through what he's currently experimenting with instead: smaller asks, better timing, and specific prompts that help people recognize they actually have something to say.

Key Takeaways:

  • The hardest part of great storytelling usually isn't the production — it's finding people with real stories who are willing to participate in the first place.

  • Mass emails asking people to "tell your story" tend to underperform because the ask is too vague, too impersonal, and easy to ignore.

  • Many students and alumni self-disqualify because they assume their experience isn't dramatic enough — but the most compelling stories often live in small, specific, unpolished moments rather than big "hero" outcomes.

  • Faculty and staff referrals are valuable, but without training on what makes a story compelling, they tend to surface the same safe, polished profiles over and over.

  • Lowering the barrier for a first ask — a 30-second voice memo, a one-sentence response — works better than pitching someone straight into a full production, and lets you screen for communication skill and enthusiasm along the way.

  • Specific prompts ("tell us about a time a professor changed how you think") help people self-identify far more effectively than open-ended asks like "share your story."

  • Timing matters: asking during emotionally heightened moments — graduation, capstones, final critiques, the end of a clinical rotation — captures better material than following up weeks later.

  • Story sourcing needs to become an ongoing campus habit rather than a scramble that starts only when a campaign kicks off.

Resources Mentioned:

  • NPR's The Moth – referenced for its low-friction voicemail-style story submission format

  • Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman – specifically the "Armchair Anonymous" segment, cited as an example of how specific prompts generate better story submissions

  • Glengarry Glen Ross – referenced in passing for the "always be closing" line, which John riffs on as "always be casting"

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