Elements of surprise: Finding your “Bus-in-the-bank”

In workshops about speaking I always stress that you should put something compelling at the beginning to get the attention of the audience. So instead of starting with something dull and predictable like “Good evening, my name is…” you should do like screenwriters do and begin with a memorable scene. Then you can introduce yourself.

When I ask people which movies have the best beginnings someone will always mention Christopher Nolan’s Batman reboot from 2008, “The Dark Knight”, written by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan from a story by Christopher Nolan and David S Goyer. They are not alone. Even the Writer’s Guild of America West recognizes this movie as number 26 in their 101 Greatest screenplays of the century (so far).

People remember this movie because it begins with an epic bank heist. When I ask in workshops why that scene is so memorable most people say that it must be the intense action. But The Dark Knight is 152 minutes of mostly action and the first five minutes are far from being the most dramatic in the movie.

But when you look at the script you realize two things. First of all that scene is written very tightly, without a wasted word. Every line of dialog moves the story forward. And then there is the surprise. Nobody watching this movie for the first time expects a school bus to drive into the bank — an element of surprise that is amplified by the skillfully crafted dialog:

Most people struggle to remember the beginning of movies that they have seen just a few weeks or months ago. Nobody forgets the bus-in-the-bank surprise in the The Dark Knight. Even people who remember nothing else about the movie remember “No. I kill the bus driver.”

In everyday life you can’t go through life crashing school buses into things, but you can exploit the unexpected to make your content more memorable, even if your business is deep tech or otherwise not normally as exciting as a Batman movie.

One typical example in my notebook comes from a Bloomberg interview with Walmart CEO John Furner in October 2023. In this interview Furner conceded that new weight loss drugs like Ozempic were actually impacting food sales in the US. To me at least that was unexpected, and if I had to do a talk about these drugs that might be one line I use to make it more memorable. There are bus-in-the-bank moments like this for every topic if you know how to find them.

But how do you find bus-in-the-bank moments for your own field? The secret is to collect them when you see them, rather than looking for them when you need them. Keep a notebook in your pocket or a note file in your phone and every time you hear something that surprises you make sure you write it down. One day it will come in useful.

And increase your chances of collecting bus-in-the-bank moments by consuming more quality content from more sources, especially people known for being dependable sources of the unexpected. And ask other people what surprised them. After every talk or workshop I always ask attendees which part was the most interesting, most useful or most surprising. That last part is much more useful than you might think because it helps me to identify potential bus-in-the-bank moments.

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“Elements of Surprise: Finding your bus-in-the-bank” is an extract from Andrew Hennigan’s speaking workshop “Use Screenwriting Techniques to Make Your Speaking Impactful and Memorable”. Contact speaker@andrewhennigan.com if you would like to talk about an in-person or digital workshop for your organization or one-to-one coaching for individuals.