How to tell better stories

Matthew Dicks, a 59-time Moth Story Slam winner, elementary school teacher, and author of the book Storyworthy, discusses how to tell better stories. The conversation covers the core structure of stories built around a single moment of change, practical tools like stakes and humor, and how storytelling can make business communication memorable.

01Key learnings

• Build every story around one five-second moment of transformation or realization, and make the rest of the story context that leads to it.
• Start stories as close to the end as possible, because the ending moment determines what you need to say and where to begin.
• Apply the dinner test: tell stories the way you would at a dinner table, only slightly elevated, without performance tricks like unattributed dialogue.
• Tell stories about yourself rather than others, since vulnerability is what makes an audience connect; avoid vacation stories unless a real moment of change happened.
• Keep audiences hooked by continually adding stakes, using tools like crystal balls, hourglasses, backpacks, breadcrumbs, and an opening elephant, rather than front-loading them all.
• Assume no one wants to hear what you have to say, and use stakes, surprise, suspense, and humor to keep listeners engaged.
• Practice Homework for Life by logging one or more daily moments in a simple spreadsheet, building a bank of stories you can deploy later in business.
• Use theme and message adjacency: find a personal story sharing the same meaning as your product or idea rather than matching content directly, and insert personal details that create connection.

02Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.