The Perils of Robot-powered Podcast Guesting

Yesterday, I met on Zoom with the wise and wonderful David Baer to record an episode for his podcast.

I told a bunch of stories…

…the one about the executive coach who used storytelling to turn her content from boring to brilliant…

…the one about the world’s greatest copywriter who never suffered from writer’s block because he “discovered the story” before he sat down to write…

…and the one about the copywriting seminar where ordinary business people learned to write captivating sales emails about their lunch at a Thai restaurant.

David noted for the audience how I used storytelling to make important points about storytelling.

(Kind of like I’m doing here.)

All of this got me thinking about AI.

What if I depended — like so many — on robots to be my storytelling stand-in?

I picture myself in the Zoom room with David. He asks me a question and I respond…

“…ummmmm… can you press pause, David? I have to run to the bathroom.”

I turn off my mic and camera.

I summon my GPT-powered copywriting robot, B-9(?), repeat the question David asked, and say, “Gimme a story to answer the question. And HURRY!”

In 6.8 seconds, I have an OK story.

I turn on my mic and camera.

“I’m back.”

David unpauses the recording. And I launch into my OK, robot-generated story.

Then David asks me another question. 

“…ummmmm… can you press pause, David? I have to refill my water glass…”

(And I turn to my robot for another OK story.)

I love my GPT-powered robot, B-9(?), and I miss my old robot Bjorn. I wish I hadn’t tossed Bjorn in the landfill (backstory here).

Robots have helped me in countless ways…

…to supplement my market research…

…to generate story ideas or expand ones I’ve come up with…

…to produce rough drafts that I turn into polished content…

…to tell me stupid dad jokes.

But I don’t rely on them as stand-ins.

I still have to master and hone my storytelling craft…
…and so do you…

…if you want to stand out, be noticed, and get hired above all the other competitors who are dishing out the same old, push-button, OK, robot-generated emails and social posts.

At some point, you have to show up as the brilliant human you are…

…in the Zoom room for the podcast interview…

…on stage for the big presentation…

…across the table for the sales consultation…

…in the conference room for service delivery.

Your robot can’t save you then.

One last thing:

Why was the podcast so popular at the dinner party? It always brings lots of ‘food for thought’!

[Good one, B-9(?)]

Thanks for reading. 

p.s. Whenever you’re ready to master and hone your storytelling craft, reach out to me. Several options listed below…