How to Tell Better Stories with Matthew Dicks (Lenny's Podcast Episode)

View my Gamma Site of this same content here :)

“You’ve never asked to see a PowerPoint presentation the second time.”

5 second fundamental moments of change 

Story is about a singular moment (1-5 seconds) 

  • Transformation - I was this kind of person and now I’m a new kind 

  • Realization - I used to think something and now I think a new thing 

Accumulations of things and thoughts (may taken a long time) and then a singular moment when the flip happens. Purpose of a story is to bring that moment to the greatest clarity possible to the audience so the audience can experience that flip along wait the storyteller. 98% of the story is the context to bring that single moment into fruition. Knowing the moment of change tells you how the story will end as the storyteller. Non-fiction storytellers starts at the end true stories about ourselves products companies etc 

That 5 second moment ^^^

“You’ve never asked to see a PowerPoint presentation the second time.” 

You’ve never dreamt about a PowerPoint presentation 

Movies we’ll watch a hundred times. Our minds are wired to enjoy story 

Dinner test- a little bit elevated than what you would naturally share at dinner. Speaking in a natural way. Remove the “you knows,” and not staring with dialogue or a sound 

Telling your own story - if it’s not yours then it’s fiction. It’s an outt someone else in the world and therefore Unable to express any vulnerability 

Key part of storytelling is being vulnerable 

I’m going to say stuff in a meaningful way, offering my heart and mind 

The shortest version of every story is the best version of every story. Starting as close to the end of the story is the best place to begin. (Ex: if I have a moment of realization during dessert in a restaurant in Aruba, I may never tell them I’m in Aruba, I may start the story with ‘the desert hits the table and my wife said something that made me think.’) 

  • Stakes = what your audience should be worried about , wanting for you, concerned about, wondering about 

If they’re not wondering what you’re about to say they’re no longer listening to you 

“I assume all the time 100% of the time that no one wants to hear anything I have to say so I am relentless in my attempt to be constantly wondering what the next sentence is.” 

Stakes:

  • Elephant = upfront letting us know what to worry about (ie. Little spaceship in Star Wars) 

  • Backpack = telling us what your plan is so we can hold your hopes and dreams too (ie Oceans Eleven) 

  • Breadcrumbs = offer a bit of what’s going on but not everything, drop a hint (ie there’s a gun in the room)

  • Turning over an hourglass = where the more they want the next sentence that is when I prolong the arrival of the next sentence, you load your story with details as they’re on the edge of their seat 

  • Crystal ball = predict the future and doesn’t need to be an accurate future (ie. If I pick on Eileen she might cry and 22 kids will be around her the next year, false future but worried nonetheless) 

A moment of surprise = best thing you can offer an audience  

Common mistake: People will load the front end of the story with all the stakes thinking that’ll hold the audience’s attention but what you want stakes continuing to building throughout a story. Give us something to wonder about and then gage when we need the next thing to wonder about. 


Corporate leaders being more personable 

Looking for ways in your narratives to insert yourself 

Working clients into the story 

“Personal interest inventory” list of things you should be saying about yourself that has an addressable market — how many people can this hit and the intensity of the connection 

  • Married \ commitment relationships = big TAM 

  • Marathoners = high intensity low TAM

Don’t want to hear spokespeople share information, want to hear human begins connect with you and offer you something perhaps has value 

Mindset = no one cares to listen to what you have to say 

4 ways to keep attention: 

  • Stakes -

  • Surprise - Steve Jobs in the master of this 

  • Suspense - keeping audience suspended, leads to surprise

  • Humor - daring to be funny 


Storytellers afford themselves time to think about themselves 

Most people don’t forget their talk they forget their transitions in their talk, forgetting where they are going to next. Train yourself for the transitions. 

Disagrees with the notion of “go do crazy things and you’ll have great stories” some of the best stories I tell are about tiny moments in our lives where nothing extraordinary happened except something in our head. Most things that happen to us happen in our heads not when we’re hanging from a cliff. It’s usually when we’re walking across the parking lot and then something hits us, it’s been building up for three weeks but suddenly just hits us. 

Kaila Lim