Storytelling Game - Don’t memorize stories or speeches verbatim. Instead, remember the main beats and allow for flexibility in delivery. - The best storytellers play a ‘game’ with the audience, where both parties pretend the story is being improvised on the spot, even though the speaker knows the core elements. - This balance between preparation and spontaneity allows storytellers to adapt to the audience’s reactions, pivot when necessary, and inject relevant anecdotes to maintain engagement. - Avoid being a ‘word caller’ by not memorizing your content. Aim to know what you’re going to say but not exactly how, enabling a more natural and engaging delivery that feels tailored to the listener. Transcript: Matthew Dicks The first person other than me I’ve ever heard refer to it as a game. I say we play a game with our audience. They pretend that we’re making it up and we pretend that we’re making it up. When the truth, I think for the best storytellers lies somewhere in the middle, which is to say, you probably should never memorize anything that you say. I’ve never memorized the story or speech that I’m going to deliver, but what I say is we remember them. Meaning we understand the beats, we understand what’s going to happen, but if I was to tell you a story now and then tell you a story five minutes later, the sentences are absolutely going To be different, even though the events, the dialogue, the descriptions will all be there in some way. But I think that’s sort of the game we play. The best game players stand in the middle and say, I know what I’m going to say, but I don’t know exactly how I’m going to say it. And that allows you to read the audience and figure out, is this landing? Do I need to pivot right now? Do I need to pull an anecdote out of my pocket? You know, I always walk around with what I say is five anecdotes that if I feel like I’m losing the audience, I can throw that out and grab them back and hold them for a while. If you’re overly prepared, you’re sort of trapped in your content and you’re just going to be delivering it, I often call them word callers. If you’ve memorized a story, really you’re just a word caller.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks If you’ve memorized a story, really you’re just a word caller. You’ve just memorized a series of words and hopefully they’ll come out properly. And maybe you can artfully do it in a pretend acting way, but the best performers sort of know what they’re going to say but not exactly how. And that’s, you can always tell that. You can tell it because their talk like it’s just for you. Because you can look at someone and you can sort of riff on what is happening in the room. You know, I was recently speaking somewhere and someone picked up their phone and started looking at their phone. And in the middle of my speech, I stopped and I said, I really hope your kid is like on the way to the hospital right now. And he was like, didn’t get to school. I’m just making sure that, and it was a big laugh, you know, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I was a word caller. You don’t want to be overly prepared. Shane Parrish What’s the difference between a story and an anecdote then? Matthew Dicks So an anecdote doesn’t have to have change over time. It’s essentially one of those, hey, this funny thing happened to me, isn’t this crazy? But it tends not to linger. You know, a story ideally is the kind of thing that when I tell it to you, you’re thinking about it for days, weeks, months, or maybe for the rest of your life. Whereas an anecdote is you sit down and you have beers with your buddies and something crazy happened on the golf course, you know, something happened in the airport and you tell them It and they all laugh. But it’s not the kind of thing they want to go and repeat to someone. They’re not going to remember it. I often think of anecdotes as cotton candy.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks And maybe you can artfully do it in a pretend acting way, but the best performers sort of know what they’re going to say but not exactly how. And that’s, you can always tell that. You can tell it because their talk like it’s just for you. Because you can look at someone and you can sort of riff on what is happening in the room. You know, I was recently speaking somewhere and someone picked up their phone and started looking at their phone. And in the middle of my speech, I stopped and I said, I really hope your kid is like on the way to the hospital right now. And he was like, didn’t get to school. I’m just making sure that, and it was a big laugh, you know, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I was a word caller. You don’t want to be overly prepared. Shane Parrish What’s the difference between a story and an anecdote then? Matthew Dicks So an anecdote doesn’t have to have change over time. It’s essentially one of those, hey, this funny thing happened to me, isn’t this crazy? But it tends not to linger. You know, a story ideally is the kind of thing that when I tell it to you, you’re thinking about it for days, weeks, months, or maybe for the rest of your life. Whereas an anecdote is you sit down and you have beers with your buddies and something crazy happened on the golf course, you know, something happened in the airport and you tell them It and they all laugh. But it’s not the kind of thing they want to go and repeat to someone. They’re not going to remember it. I often think of anecdotes as cotton candy. It’s like delicious in the moment and lovely but you don’t really remember your cotton candies but you remember the best meals of your life. Stories are the best meals of your life.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks And that’s, you can always tell that. You can tell it because their talk like it’s just for you. Because you can look at someone and you can sort of riff on what is happening in the room. You know, I was recently speaking somewhere and someone picked up their phone and started looking at their phone. And in the middle of my speech, I stopped and I said, I really hope your kid is like on the way to the hospital right now. And he was like, didn’t get to school. I’m just making sure that, and it was a big laugh, you know, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I was a word caller. You don’t want to be overly prepared. Shane Parrish What’s the difference between a story and an anecdote then? Matthew Dicks So an anecdote doesn’t have to have change over time. It’s essentially one of those, hey, this funny thing happened to me, isn’t this crazy? But it tends not to linger. You know, a story ideally is the kind of thing that when I tell it to you, you’re thinking about it for days, weeks, months, or maybe for the rest of your life. Whereas an anecdote is you sit down and you have beers with your buddies and something crazy happened on the golf course, you know, something happened in the airport and you tell them It and they all laugh. But it’s not the kind of thing they want to go and repeat to someone. They’re not going to remember it. I often think of anecdotes as cotton candy. It’s like delicious in the moment and lovely but you don’t really remember your cotton candies but you remember the best meals of your life. Stories are the best meals of your life. The ones you reflect back and go I remember the restaurant, I remember who I was with, I remember what I ordered. That’s the story. Shane Parrish Because you’re connecting to an emotion?

Stories vs. Anecdotes - An anecdote, unlike a story, doesn’t require change over time and is often a quick, humorous incident. - Stories linger in the mind for days, weeks, or even a lifetime, while anecdotes are quickly forgotten. - Matthew Dicks compares anecdotes to cotton candy— enjoyable in the moment but not memorable, whereas stories are like cherished meals that leave a lasting impression. Transcript: Matthew Dicks So an anecdote doesn’t have to have change over time. It’s essentially one of those, hey, this funny thing happened to me, isn’t this crazy? But it tends not to linger. You know, a story ideally is the kind of thing that when I tell it to you, you’re thinking about it for days, weeks, months, or maybe for the rest of your life. Whereas an anecdote is you sit down and you have beers with your buddies and something crazy happened on the golf course, you know, something happened in the airport and you tell them It and they all laugh. But it’s not the kind of thing they want to go and repeat to someone. They’re not going to remember it. I often think of anecdotes as cotton candy. It’s like delicious in the moment and lovely but you don’t really remember your cotton candies but you remember the best meals of your life. Stories are the best meals of your life. The ones you reflect back and go I remember the restaurant, I remember who I was with, I remember what I ordered. That’s the story. Shane Parrish Because you’re connecting to an emotion? Matthew Dicks Ideally touching their hearts and their minds. If I tell you an anecdote about my son, we’re gonna laugh, we’re gonna understand his humanity even a little bit, you might even reflect on my humanity, but you’re not going to be sort Of thinking about it later on because I’m not looking to land something in your heart and mind. I’m not looking

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks When I tell a story, I’m not hoping that you are thinking that once happened to me. What I’m hoping is you’re thinking I once felt that way. Shane Parrish I once thought that way or maybe someday I could feel or think that way. That’s the goal. That’s sort of that under story that we’re always looking to tell. So before we get into more of a crafting a story, maybe it would help to have an example of a story. Oh sure. Matthew Dicks So tell you a story. Yeah Well the one I like to tell I mean for business people I’m standing Behind my school where I teach I’m a fifth grade teacher. I’m standing in front of this enormous pile of fall leaves and they’re quivering There’s a little boy inside the leaves and his hand emerges and he’s got a metal object in his hand and He looks at me His head pops out. His name is Jamie. He says look what I found and he’s this metal object. And I say, wow, look at it. And he says, yeah, it’s a spoon. And it is, it’s just a kitchen spoon. It fell out of a lunchbox yesterday or 10 years ago. It’s migrated to the bottom of this pile. And now Jamie, this little red headed boy has it in his hand. But I tell Jamie, I say, that’s not just a spoon, Jamie, that’s the spoon of power. And moment that I declare it to be the spoon of power, Jamie knows I must have it. And I know Jamie knows this because he just starts running. He doesn’t say a word, he just sprints because he knows his crazy teacher will now chase him down for the spoon and he’s not wrong. I’m responsible for like a hundred kids. I have to keep them safe, keep them secure. I don’t care about any of them anymore.

1min Snip Transcript: Shane Parrish I once thought that way or maybe someday I could feel or think that way. That’s the goal. That’s sort of that under story that we’re always looking to tell. So before we get into more of a crafting a story, maybe it would help to have an example of a story. Oh sure. Matthew Dicks So tell you a story. Yeah Well the one I like to tell I mean for business people I’m standing Behind my school where I teach I’m a fifth grade teacher. I’m standing in front of this enormous pile of fall leaves and they’re quivering There’s a little boy inside the leaves and his hand emerges and he’s got a metal object in his hand and He looks at me His head pops out. His name is Jamie. He says look what I found and he’s this metal object. And I say, wow, look at it. And he says, yeah, it’s a spoon. And it is, it’s just a kitchen spoon. It fell out of a lunchbox yesterday or 10 years ago. It’s migrated to the bottom of this pile. And now Jamie, this little red headed boy has it in his hand. But I tell Jamie, I say, that’s not just a spoon, Jamie, that’s the spoon of power. And moment that I declare it to be the spoon of power, Jamie knows I must have it. And I know Jamie knows this because he just starts running. He doesn’t say a word, he just sprints because he knows his crazy teacher will now chase him down for the spoon and he’s not wrong. I’m responsible for like a hundred kids. I have to keep them safe, keep them secure. I don’t care about any of them anymore. It’s a red-headed boy and a spoon that I must now have. And for 18 minutes over the course of this recess, I hunt this boy down.

Spoon of Power - Matthew Dicks tells a story about a student who found a spoon in a pile of leaves. - Dicks told the student it was the ‘spoon of power,’ prompting the child to run. - Dicks chased the student for 18 minutes during recess. - This anecdote highlights the emotional engagement a story can create, even with a simple object like a spoon. Transcript: Matthew Dicks So tell you a story. Yeah Well the one I like to tell I mean for business people I’m standing Behind my school where I teach I’m a fifth grade teacher. I’m standing in front of this enormous pile of fall leaves and they’re quivering There’s a little boy inside the leaves and his hand emerges and he’s got a metal object in his hand and He looks at me His head pops out. His name is Jamie. He says look what I found and he’s this metal object. And I say, wow, look at it. And he says, yeah, it’s a spoon. And it is, it’s just a kitchen spoon. It fell out of a lunchbox yesterday or 10 years ago. It’s migrated to the bottom of this pile. And now Jamie, this little red headed boy has it in his hand. But I tell Jamie, I say, that’s not just a spoon, Jamie, that’s the spoon of power. And moment that I declare it to be the spoon of power, Jamie knows I must have it. And I know Jamie knows this because he just starts running. He doesn’t say a word, he just sprints because he knows his crazy teacher

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks And I say, wow, look at it. And he says, yeah, it’s a spoon. And it is, it’s just a kitchen spoon. It fell out of a lunchbox yesterday or 10 years ago. It’s migrated to the bottom of this pile. And now Jamie, this little red headed boy has it in his hand. But I tell Jamie, I say, that’s not just a spoon, Jamie, that’s the spoon of power. And moment that I declare it to be the spoon of power, Jamie knows I must have it. And I know Jamie knows this because he just starts running. He doesn’t say a word, he just sprints because he knows his crazy teacher will now chase him down for the spoon and he’s not wrong. I’m responsible for like a hundred kids. I have to keep them safe, keep them secure. I don’t care about any of them anymore. It’s a red-headed boy and a spoon that I must now have. And for 18 minutes over the course of this recess, I hunt this boy down. I chase him across a field, up a slide, you know, down the other slide, through the woods. 18 minutes later, he still has the spoon in his hand. I can’t believe it. I legitimately tried to catch a 10-year and I could not. But he’s in my class, so it’s fine. I’ll get him eventually. He’s a 10-year boy. He’s focused now on the spoon, but he has the attention spin of like a mulberry bush. He’s gonna forget it in a minute and I’m gonna grab it. So I’m teaching math. I’m writing equations on the board. This kid, he’s put the spoon on the corner of his desk, like to dare me to get it. You know, it’s just out of my reach. So I’ve got one eye on the board, one eye on him and the spoon. He’s got one eye on his journal, one eye on the spoon. We’re in this like standoff. And then I’m reading, sitting on a stool, I’m reading a book. He’s still got the spoon right there.

The Spoon of Power - Matthew Dicks tells a story about a student, Jamie, who found a spoon. - Dicks jokingly called it the “spoon of power,” prompting Jamie to run away with it. - Dicks spent the entire recess chasing Jamie but couldn’t catch him. - Back in the classroom, Jamie taunted Dicks by placing the spoon just out of reach. - Dicks waited for Jamie to get distracted while writing, but Jamie had hidden the spoon in the library. - The next day, Jamie wore the spoon on a chain around his neck. Transcript: Matthew Dicks And now Jamie, this little red headed boy has it in his hand. But I tell Jamie, I say, that’s not just a spoon, Jamie, that’s the spoon of power. And moment that I declare it to be the spoon of power, Jamie knows I must have it. And I know Jamie knows this because he just starts running. He doesn’t say a word, he just sprints because he knows his crazy teacher will now chase him down for the spoon and he’s not wrong. I’m responsible for like a hundred kids. I have to keep them safe, keep them secure. I don’t care about any of them anymore. It’s a red-headed boy and a spoon that I must now have. And for 18 minutes over the course of this recess, I hunt this boy down. I chase him across a field, up a slide, you know, down the other slide, through the woods. 18 minutes later, he still has the spoon in his hand. I can’t believe it. I legitimately tried to catch a 10-year and I could not. But he’s in my class, so it’s fine. I’ll get him eventually. He’s a 10-year boy. He’s focused now on the spoon, but he has the attention spin of like a mulberry bush. He’s gonna forget it in a minute and I’m gonna grab it. So I’m teaching math. I’m writing equations on the board. This kid, he’s put the spoon on the corner of his desk, like to dare me to get it. You know, it’s just out of my reach. So I’ve got one eye on the board, one eye on him and the spoon. He’s got one eye on his journal, one eye on the spoon. We’re in this like standoff. And then I’m reading, sitting on a stool, I’m reading a book. He’s still got the spoon right there. I’ve got one eye on the book, one eye on the spoon. He’s got one on me, one eye on the spoon. If you’d ever been this focused in his life, he’d like cure cancer. I’ve never seen him so focused. But he’s like me, he’s a writer. He loves to write. So at the end of the day when we write, his head always falls onto his arm. You know, the strokes of his pen get long. He’s gonna get lost in his story and that’s the moment I’ll strike. I watch it happen. I just wait. See the little red head go down, lands on his arm. I sneak up the front aisle. I reach over to grab the spoon and it’s not there. And he turns to me and he says, did you really think I was just gonna leave it there for you? And I lose my mind. Like I start threatening the class. I turn to the right like, where’s the spoon? The girl says, leave us alone. We’re trying to get our work done. Turn to the, where’s the spoon? And the boy says, why are you bothering me? I’m trying to be a good student. They all know where it is. They’re all conspiring against me. Then the bell rings. Jamie’s out of his seat.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks It’s a red-headed boy and a spoon that I must now have. And for 18 minutes over the course of this recess, I hunt this boy down. I chase him across a field, up a slide, you know, down the other slide, through the woods. 18 minutes later, he still has the spoon in his hand. I can’t believe it. I legitimately tried to catch a 10-year and I could not. But he’s in my class, so it’s fine. I’ll get him eventually. He’s a 10-year boy. He’s focused now on the spoon, but he has the attention spin of like a mulberry bush. He’s gonna forget it in a minute and I’m gonna grab it. So I’m teaching math. I’m writing equations on the board. This kid, he’s put the spoon on the corner of his desk, like to dare me to get it. You know, it’s just out of my reach. So I’ve got one eye on the board, one eye on him and the spoon. He’s got one eye on his journal, one eye on the spoon. We’re in this like standoff. And then I’m reading, sitting on a stool, I’m reading a book. He’s still got the spoon right there. I’ve got one eye on the book, one eye on the spoon. He’s got one on me, one eye on the spoon. If you’d ever been this focused in his life, he’d like cure cancer. I’ve never seen him so focused. But he’s like me, he’s a writer. He loves to write. So at the end of the day when we write, his head always falls onto his arm. You know, the strokes of his pen get long. He’s gonna get lost in his story and that’s the moment I’ll strike. I watch it happen. I just wait. See the little red head go down, lands on his arm. I sneak up the front aisle. I reach over to grab the spoon and it’s not there. And he turns to me and he says, did you really think I was just gonna leave it there for you? And I lose my mind. Like I start threatening the class. I turn to the right like, where’s the spoon? The girl says, leave us alone.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks So I’m teaching math. I’m writing equations on the board. This kid, he’s put the spoon on the corner of his desk, like to dare me to get it. You know, it’s just out of my reach. So I’ve got one eye on the board, one eye on him and the spoon. He’s got one eye on his journal, one eye on the spoon. We’re in this like standoff. And then I’m reading, sitting on a stool, I’m reading a book. He’s still got the spoon right there. I’ve got one eye on the book, one eye on the spoon. He’s got one on me, one eye on the spoon. If you’d ever been this focused in his life, he’d like cure cancer. I’ve never seen him so focused. But he’s like me, he’s a writer. He loves to write. So at the end of the day when we write, his head always falls onto his arm. You know, the strokes of his pen get long. He’s gonna get lost in his story and that’s the moment I’ll strike. I watch it happen. I just wait. See the little red head go down, lands on his arm. I sneak up the front aisle. I reach over to grab the spoon and it’s not there. And he turns to me and he says, did you really think I was just gonna leave it there for you? And I lose my mind. Like I start threatening the class. I turn to the right like, where’s the spoon? The girl says, leave us alone. We’re trying to get our work done. Turn to the, where’s the spoon? And the boy says, why are you bothering me? I’m trying to be a good student. They all know where it is. They’re all conspiring against me. Then the bell rings. Jamie’s out of his seat. He runs to get his coat and he swings by and he pulls the box of books out in the library marked S. He reaches inside and he says, I filed it under S for spoon and he’s out the door. I can’t believe it. I legitimately tried to get a spoon from a 10 year old kid and I could not do it.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks We’re in this like standoff. And then I’m reading, sitting on a stool, I’m reading a book. He’s still got the spoon right there. I’ve got one eye on the book, one eye on the spoon. He’s got one on me, one eye on the spoon. If you’d ever been this focused in his life, he’d like cure cancer. I’ve never seen him so focused. But he’s like me, he’s a writer. He loves to write. So at the end of the day when we write, his head always falls onto his arm. You know, the strokes of his pen get long. He’s gonna get lost in his story and that’s the moment I’ll strike. I watch it happen. I just wait. See the little red head go down, lands on his arm. I sneak up the front aisle. I reach over to grab the spoon and it’s not there. And he turns to me and he says, did you really think I was just gonna leave it there for you? And I lose my mind. Like I start threatening the class. I turn to the right like, where’s the spoon? The girl says, leave us alone. We’re trying to get our work done. Turn to the, where’s the spoon? And the boy says, why are you bothering me? I’m trying to be a good student. They all know where it is. They’re all conspiring against me. Then the bell rings. Jamie’s out of his seat. He runs to get his coat and he swings by and he pulls the box of books out in the library marked S. He reaches inside and he says, I filed it under S for spoon and he’s out the door. I can’t believe it. I legitimately tried to get a spoon from a 10 year old kid and I could not do it. So the next day he comes in, he has the spoon on a chain around his neck and he’s swinging it around and I say, how did you? And he said, my dad drilled the hole. My mom gave me the chain and he’s walking around going, oh, it’s a spoon of power, Mr. Dix, the spoon of power.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks And I lose my mind. Like I start threatening the class. I turn to the right like, where’s the spoon? The girl says, leave us alone. We’re trying to get our work done. Turn to the, where’s the spoon? And the boy says, why are you bothering me? I’m trying to be a good student. They all know where it is. They’re all conspiring against me. Then the bell rings. Jamie’s out of his seat. He runs to get his coat and he swings by and he pulls the box of books out in the library marked S. He reaches inside and he says, I filed it under S for spoon and he’s out the door. I can’t believe it. I legitimately tried to get a spoon from a 10 year old kid and I could not do it. So the next day he comes in, he has the spoon on a chain around his neck and he’s swinging it around and I say, how did you? And he said, my dad drilled the hole. My mom gave me the chain and he’s walking around going, oh, it’s a spoon of power, Mr. Dix, the spoon of power. And as bad as I am, I like I’m a terrible person sometimes. Even I can’t hear it from the neck of a 10-year So all week he tortures me with this. And then Thursday comes. It’s time for our weekly math test. It’s time for Mackenzie to lose her mind because someday Mackenzie might get a problem wrong and that will be the end of the world for Mackenzie. So every Thursday I have to like build her up. Mistakes are valuable. It’s okay, Mackenzie. You might get one wrong. And she’s sort of falling apart as she does. And then Jamie’s there and he takes the spoon off and he says maybe this will help. And he puts it around Mackenzie’s neck and it’s the best math test Mackenzie has ever taken in her life. Somehow this spoon on her neck calms her down.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks He runs to get his coat and he swings by and he pulls the box of books out in the library marked S. He reaches inside and he says, I filed it under S for spoon and he’s out the door. I can’t believe it. I legitimately tried to get a spoon from a 10 year old kid and I could not do it. So the next day he comes in, he has the spoon on a chain around his neck and he’s swinging it around and I say, how did you? And he said, my dad drilled the hole. My mom gave me the chain and he’s walking around going, oh, it’s a spoon of power, Mr. Dix, the spoon of power. And as bad as I am, I like I’m a terrible person sometimes. Even I can’t hear it from the neck of a 10-year So all week he tortures me with this. And then Thursday comes. It’s time for our weekly math test. It’s time for Mackenzie to lose her mind because someday Mackenzie might get a problem wrong and that will be the end of the world for Mackenzie. So every Thursday I have to like build her up. Mistakes are valuable. It’s okay, Mackenzie. You might get one wrong. And she’s sort of falling apart as she does. And then Jamie’s there and he takes the spoon off and he says maybe this will help. And he puts it around Mackenzie’s neck and it’s the best math test Mackenzie has ever taken in her life. Somehow this spoon on her neck calms her down. Three days later, David’s grandfather passes away. When David comes back to school, Jamie’s by the door waiting for David. When he walks in, puts the spoon on David’s neck and says, I think you need this today. And he did.

The Spoon of Power - Matthew Dicks tells a story about a student, Jamie, who found a spoon and turned it into a symbol of support for his classmates. - Jamie would place the spoon around the neck of anyone in need, from a student struggling with a math test to a classmate grieving the loss of a grandparent. - The spoon, dubbed “the Spoon of Power,” became a source of comfort and resilience for the entire class throughout the school year. Transcript: Matthew Dicks He reaches inside and he says, I filed it under S for spoon and he’s out the door. I can’t believe it. I legitimately tried to get a spoon from a 10 year old kid and I could not do it. So the next day he comes in, he has the spoon on a chain around his neck and he’s swinging it around and I say, how did you? And he said, my dad drilled the hole. My mom gave me the chain and he’s walking around going, oh, it’s a spoon of power, Mr. Dix, the spoon of power. And as bad as I am, I like I’m a terrible person sometimes. Even I can’t hear it from the neck of a 10-year So all week he tortures me with this. And then Thursday comes. It’s time for our weekly math test. It’s time for Mackenzie to lose her mind because someday Mackenzie might get a problem wrong and that will be the end of the world for Mackenzie. So every Thursday I have to like build her up. Mistakes are valuable. It’s okay, Mackenzie. You might get one wrong. And she’s sort of falling apart as she does. And then Jamie’s there and he takes the spoon off and he says maybe this will help. And he puts it around Mackenzie’s neck and it’s the best math test Mackenzie has ever taken in her life. Somehow this spoon on her neck calms her down. Three days later, David’s grandfather passes away. When David comes back to school, Jamie’s by the door waiting for David. When he walks in, puts the spoon on David’s neck and says, I think you need this today. And he did. For the rest of the year, every single time a kid is in trouble in any way whatsoever, that spoon finds their way on his neck, on their neck. They forget their homework. They have to walk over to me, face the music we call it. They walk over with that damn spoon on their neck. They get in trouble with the principal They gotta make a long walk down the linoleum hallway. They make the long walk with the spoon They get bullied on the bus on the way to school when they go home that day to go home with the spoon

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks He reaches inside and he says, I filed it under S for spoon and he’s out the door. I can’t believe it. I legitimately tried to get a spoon from a 10 year old kid and I could not do it. So the next day he comes in, he has the spoon on a chain around his neck and he’s swinging it around and I say, how did you? And he said, my dad drilled the hole. My mom gave me the chain and he’s walking around going, oh, it’s a spoon of power, Mr. Dix, the spoon of power. And as bad as I am, I like I’m a terrible person sometimes. Even I can’t hear it from the neck of a 10-year So all week he tortures me with this. And then Thursday comes. It’s time for our weekly math test. It’s time for Mackenzie to lose her mind because someday Mackenzie might get a problem wrong and that will be the end of the world for Mackenzie. So every Thursday I have to like build her up. Mistakes are valuable. It’s okay, Mackenzie. You might get one wrong. And she’s sort of falling apart as she does. And then Jamie’s there and he takes the spoon off and he says maybe this will help. And he puts it around Mackenzie’s neck and it’s the best math test Mackenzie has ever taken in her life. Somehow this spoon on her neck calms her down. Three days later, David’s grandfather passes away. When David comes back to school, Jamie’s by the door waiting for David. When he walks in, puts the spoon on David’s neck and says, I think you need this today. And he did. For the rest of the year, every single time a kid is in trouble in any way whatsoever, that spoon finds their way on his neck, on their neck. They forget their homework. They have to walk over to me, face the music we call it.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks Even I can’t hear it from the neck of a 10-year So all week he tortures me with this. And then Thursday comes. It’s time for our weekly math test. It’s time for Mackenzie to lose her mind because someday Mackenzie might get a problem wrong and that will be the end of the world for Mackenzie. So every Thursday I have to like build her up. Mistakes are valuable. It’s okay, Mackenzie. You might get one wrong. And she’s sort of falling apart as she does. And then Jamie’s there and he takes the spoon off and he says maybe this will help. And he puts it around Mackenzie’s neck and it’s the best math test Mackenzie has ever taken in her life. Somehow this spoon on her neck calms her down. Three days later, David’s grandfather passes away. When David comes back to school, Jamie’s by the door waiting for David. When he walks in, puts the spoon on David’s neck and says, I think you need this today. And he did. For the rest of the year, every single time a kid is in trouble in any way whatsoever, that spoon finds their way on his neck, on their neck. They forget their homework. They have to walk over to me, face the music we call it. They walk over with that damn spoon on their neck. They get in trouble with the principal They gotta make a long walk down the linoleum hallway. They make the long walk with the spoon They get bullied on the bus on the way to school when they go home that day to go home with the spoon every single time It makes the kids days better. So the last day of school I gather all my kids on the floor in front of me It’s the last time we’re gonna be together as a family and they really are a family. They, we get to know each other in really meaningful ways.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks And he puts it around Mackenzie’s neck and it’s the best math test Mackenzie has ever taken in her life. Somehow this spoon on her neck calms her down. Three days later, David’s grandfather passes away. When David comes back to school, Jamie’s by the door waiting for David. When he walks in, puts the spoon on David’s neck and says, I think you need this today. And he did. For the rest of the year, every single time a kid is in trouble in any way whatsoever, that spoon finds their way on his neck, on their neck. They forget their homework. They have to walk over to me, face the music we call it. They walk over with that damn spoon on their neck. They get in trouble with the principal They gotta make a long walk down the linoleum hallway. They make the long walk with the spoon They get bullied on the bus on the way to school when they go home that day to go home with the spoon every single time It makes the kids days better. So the last day of school I gather all my kids on the floor in front of me It’s the last time we’re gonna be together as a family and they really are a family. They, we get to know each other in really meaningful ways. And so I tell them, say whatever you want, tell us what you’re feeling, you know, we’re gonna have to say goodbye now. So Jamie stands up and he walks over to me. He takes the spoon off and he tries to give it to me. And I say to Jamie, no. I say there was a day back in October when I wanted that spoon badly and had I caught you, I would have fried it from your little fingers. But you managed to keep it and do this amazing thing with it. I just can’t believe what you’ve done. It’s your spoon. And Jamie says no. Jamie says the magic of the spoon only works in my classroom.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks Somehow this spoon on her neck calms her down. Three days later, David’s grandfather passes away. When David comes back to school, Jamie’s by the door waiting for David. When he walks in, puts the spoon on David’s neck and says, I think you need this today. And he did. For the rest of the year, every single time a kid is in trouble in any way whatsoever, that spoon finds their way on his neck, on their neck. They forget their homework. They have to walk over to me, face the music we call it. They walk over with that damn spoon on their neck. They get in trouble with the principal They gotta make a long walk down the linoleum hallway. They make the long walk with the spoon They get bullied on the bus on the way to school when they go home that day to go home with the spoon every single time It makes the kids days better. So the last day of school I gather all my kids on the floor in front of me It’s the last time we’re gonna be together as a family and they really are a family. They, we get to know each other in really meaningful ways. And so I tell them, say whatever you want, tell us what you’re feeling, you know, we’re gonna have to say goodbye now. So Jamie stands up and he walks over to me. He takes the spoon off and he tries to give it to me. And I say to Jamie, no. I say there was a day back in October when I wanted that spoon badly and had I caught you, I would have fried it from your little fingers. But you managed to keep it and do this amazing thing with it. I just can’t believe what you’ve done. It’s your spoon. And Jamie says no. Jamie says the magic of the spoon only works in my classroom.

The Spoon of Power - A student, Jamie, turned a spoon into a symbol of comfort and support for his classmates. - Whenever a classmate was struggling, Jamie would place the spoon around their neck. - It helped them with anxiety, grief, and even facing disciplinary action. - At the end of the year, Jamie passed the spoon to Matthew Dicks, his teacher, to continue the tradition. Transcript: Matthew Dicks When David comes back to school, Jamie’s by the door waiting for David. When he walks in, puts the spoon on David’s neck and says, I think you need this today. And he did. For the rest of the year, every single time a kid is in trouble in any way whatsoever, that spoon finds their way on his neck, on their neck. They forget their homework. They have to walk over to me, face the music we call it. They walk over with that damn spoon on their neck. They get in trouble with the principal They gotta make a long walk down the linoleum hallway. They make the long walk with the spoon They get bullied on the bus on the way to school when they go home that day to go home with the spoon every single time It makes the kids days better. So the last day of school I gather all my kids on the floor in front of me It’s the last time we’re gonna be together as a family and they really are a family. They, we get to know each other in really meaningful ways. And so I tell them, say whatever you want, tell us what you’re feeling, you know, we’re gonna have to say goodbye now. So Jamie stands up and he walks over to me. He takes the spoon off and he tries to give it to me. And I say to Jamie, no. I say there was a day back in October when I wanted that spoon badly and had I caught you, I would have fried it from your little fingers. But you managed to keep it and do this amazing thing with it. I just can’t believe what you’ve done. It’s your spoon. And Jamie says no. Jamie says the magic of the spoon only works in my classroom. He tells me I need to take it so that next year when kids are in trouble, I can give them the spoon like he has this year. And then he pulls this little orange chair up alongside me so he can get up to eye level and he takes the spoon off and for the first time I get to wear the spoon of power.

The Spoon of Power - A student, Jamie, created a “spoon of power” to help classmates in distress. - It became a symbol of comfort and support in Matthew Dicks’ classroom. - Even during the challenging pandemic year, the spoon helped students and colleagues cope. - Dicks considers it his most powerful teaching tool. Transcript: Matthew Dicks So the last day of school I gather all my kids on the floor in front of me It’s the last time we’re gonna be together as a family and they really are a family. They, we get to know each other in really meaningful ways. And so I tell them, say whatever you want, tell us what you’re feeling, you know, we’re gonna have to say goodbye now. So Jamie stands up and he walks over to me. He takes the spoon off and he tries to give it to me. And I say to Jamie, no. I say there was a day back in October when I wanted that spoon badly and had I caught you, I would have fried it from your little fingers. But you managed to keep it and do this amazing thing with it. I just can’t believe what you’ve done. It’s your spoon. And Jamie says no. Jamie says the magic of the spoon only works in my classroom. He tells me I need to take it so that next year when kids are in trouble, I can give them the spoon like he has this year. And then he pulls this little orange chair up alongside me so he can get up to eye level and he takes the spoon off and for the first time I get to wear the spoon of power. The 2020-2021 school year was the hardest I’ve ever taught in my 26 years of teaching, the pandemic. We went right back to school in September and masks and social distancing, and everyone was afraid and lots and lots of people got sick. Kids got sick, parents got sick, we lost grandparents. My wife, who’s a kindergarten teacher, got very sick. My own children got sick. And I used that spoon more often that year than I’ve ever used it in my life. Every day, people were wearing that spoon. And for the first time in my life, my colleagues were wearing a spoon of power to get through the day. And as hard as it was, there’s the best year of teaching I’ve ever had, the most important year I will ever teach.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks And I say to Jamie, no. I say there was a day back in October when I wanted that spoon badly and had I caught you, I would have fried it from your little fingers. But you managed to keep it and do this amazing thing with it. I just can’t believe what you’ve done. It’s your spoon. And Jamie says no. Jamie says the magic of the spoon only works in my classroom. He tells me I need to take it so that next year when kids are in trouble, I can give them the spoon like he has this year. And then he pulls this little orange chair up alongside me so he can get up to eye level and he takes the spoon off and for the first time I get to wear the spoon of power. The 2020-2021 school year was the hardest I’ve ever taught in my 26 years of teaching, the pandemic. We went right back to school in September and masks and social distancing, and everyone was afraid and lots and lots of people got sick. Kids got sick, parents got sick, we lost grandparents. My wife, who’s a kindergarten teacher, got very sick. My own children got sick. And I used that spoon more often that year than I’ve ever used it in my life. Every day, people were wearing that spoon. And for the first time in my life, my colleagues were wearing a spoon of power to get through the day. And as hard as it was, there’s the best year of teaching I’ve ever had, the most important year I will ever teach. But I’ve always felt like I was the luckiest teacher in America because I have that spoon. I’ve had it for 16 years. It’s literally in that bag right there.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks But you managed to keep it and do this amazing thing with it. I just can’t believe what you’ve done. It’s your spoon. And Jamie says no. Jamie says the magic of the spoon only works in my classroom. He tells me I need to take it so that next year when kids are in trouble, I can give them the spoon like he has this year. And then he pulls this little orange chair up alongside me so he can get up to eye level and he takes the spoon off and for the first time I get to wear the spoon of power. The 2020-2021 school year was the hardest I’ve ever taught in my 26 years of teaching, the pandemic. We went right back to school in September and masks and social distancing, and everyone was afraid and lots and lots of people got sick. Kids got sick, parents got sick, we lost grandparents. My wife, who’s a kindergarten teacher, got very sick. My own children got sick. And I used that spoon more often that year than I’ve ever used it in my life. Every day, people were wearing that spoon. And for the first time in my life, my colleagues were wearing a spoon of power to get through the day. And as hard as it was, there’s the best year of teaching I’ve ever had, the most important year I will ever teach. But I’ve always felt like I was the luckiest teacher in America because I have that spoon. I’ve had it for 16 years. It’s literally in that bag right there. I carry with it. I carry it with me everywhere I go.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks He tells me I need to take it so that next year when kids are in trouble, I can give them the spoon like he has this year. And then he pulls this little orange chair up alongside me so he can get up to eye level and he takes the spoon off and for the first time I get to wear the spoon of power. The 2020-2021 school year was the hardest I’ve ever taught in my 26 years of teaching, the pandemic. We went right back to school in September and masks and social distancing, and everyone was afraid and lots and lots of people got sick. Kids got sick, parents got sick, we lost grandparents. My wife, who’s a kindergarten teacher, got very sick. My own children got sick. And I used that spoon more often that year than I’ve ever used it in my life. Every day, people were wearing that spoon. And for the first time in my life, my colleagues were wearing a spoon of power to get through the day. And as hard as it was, there’s the best year of teaching I’ve ever had, the most important year I will ever teach. But I’ve always felt like I was the luckiest teacher in America because I have that spoon. I’ve had it for 16 years. It’s literally in that bag right there. I carry with it. I carry it with me everywhere I go. It’s weirdly the most powerful teaching tool I have had and will ever have. It is this thing that I put on a kid’s neck or an adult’s neck and suddenly they feel better. It’s magic. It really is the spoon of power.

The Spoon of Power - Matthew Dicks tells a story about a ‘spoon of power’ he used in his classroom. - He gave it to students who were having a hard time and let them keep it as long as needed. - It became a powerful symbol of support and resilience, even used by his colleagues during the pandemic. - After a talk where Dicks mentioned the spoon, people lined up not for his books but to touch the spoon, demonstrating its symbolic power. - This highlights the potential of storytelling to transform ordinary objects into something meaningful. Transcript: Matthew Dicks I’ve had it for 16 years. It’s literally in that bag right there. I carry with it. I carry it with me everywhere I go. It’s weirdly the most powerful teaching tool I have had and will ever have. It is this thing that I put on a kid’s neck or an adult’s neck and suddenly they feel better. It’s magic. It really is the spoon of power. And so I like to tell that story to especially business people because essentially what I do is I take something that they have at least eight to 12 of in their kitchen, a simple spoon that They don’t see is very valuable, and suddenly it becomes something incredibly meaningful. You know, the first time I gave that talk, that story, I did it as a series of stories, during the pandemic actually, at college in western Massachusetts. And it was still during the pandemic. Everyone’s masked except for me and everyone’s social distanced. And at the end of the event, you know, I’m a novelist and I write books. So I often have a table and there’s books and there’s a bookstore and I sign the books and things like that. But we weren’t going to do it because of the pandemic. So after I finished speaking, that line formed in the aisle and I had to get back on the microphone and say, I’m sorry, we’re not going to sign books tonight, go home. And most of the people in the line, they weren’t there to buy a book. They wanted to touch the spoon. Grown ass adults who had Doritos and Netflix and pillows at home in the middle of a pandemic wearing a mask chose to line up and a spoon that they definitely have eight to 12 of

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks I’ve had it for 16 years. It’s literally in that bag right there. I carry with it. I carry it with me everywhere I go. It’s weirdly the most powerful teaching tool I have had and will ever have. It is this thing that I put on a kid’s neck or an adult’s neck and suddenly they feel better. It’s magic. It really is the spoon of power. And so I like to tell that story to especially business people because essentially what I do is I take something that they have at least eight to 12 of in their kitchen, a simple spoon that They don’t see is very valuable, and suddenly it becomes something incredibly meaningful. You know, the first time I gave that talk, that story, I did it as a series of stories, during the pandemic actually, at college in western Massachusetts. And it was still during the pandemic. Everyone’s masked except for me and everyone’s social distanced. And at the end of the event, you know, I’m a novelist and I write books. So I often have a table and there’s books and there’s a bookstore and I sign the books and things like that. But we weren’t going to do it because of the pandemic. So after I finished speaking, that line formed in the aisle and I had to get back on the microphone and say, I’m sorry, we’re not going to sign books tonight, go home. And most of the people in the line, they weren’t there to buy a book. They wanted to touch the spoon.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks You know, the first time I gave that talk, that story, I did it as a series of stories, during the pandemic actually, at college in western Massachusetts. And it was still during the pandemic. Everyone’s masked except for me and everyone’s social distanced. And at the end of the event, you know, I’m a novelist and I write books. So I often have a table and there’s books and there’s a bookstore and I sign the books and things like that. But we weren’t going to do it because of the pandemic. So after I finished speaking, that line formed in the aisle and I had to get back on the microphone and say, I’m sorry, we’re not going to sign books tonight, go home. And most of the people in the line, they weren’t there to buy a book. They wanted to touch the spoon. Grown ass adults who had Doritos and Netflix and pillows at home in the middle of a pandemic wearing a mask chose to line up and a spoon that they definitely have eight to 12 of in their kitchen. And that’s what we have to do. When we tell a story about something like a spoon, something as simple as that, it suddenly becomes not a spoon anymore. And the better we are at telling stories about ourselves, the people we love, the products we make, the services we offer, you know, all of those things, the more we are able to tell excellent Stories about those things, the more we’re able to infuse those things with whatever we want them to be infused with.

1min Snip Transcript: Matthew Dicks We offer, you know, all of those things, the more we are able to tell excellent stories about those things, the more we’re able to infuse those things with whatever we want them to be infused Shane Parrish With. I like that story. That’s a great story. And I feel the emotional like rollercoaster as you’re telling it, and I remember reading it in your book too, and I feel sort of like the ups and downs and I’m like running there with you. And one of the words that you used earlier was beat. So I’m wondering, like walk me through the architecture of that story and what makes it so effective. Matthew Dicks Sure. I mean, the first thing before I sort of talk about the structure is the idea that it doesn’t contain very many adjectives. People often think of stories as an attempt to describe something when actually nobody ever wants to know what anything looked like, unless it’s relevant to a story. What people really want is to know what you felt, what you said, and what you did. And so if you’re going to describe something, you better make sure that there’s a reason for it to be described. What I believe is leveraging the imagination of audiences. So I said to you, I’m standing behind my school, the school where I teach. But that’s all I said. I know that you know what that looks like. You don’t know what my version of it looks like, but that doesn’t matter to me. Weirdly, some people get interested in that, but you should not. You know, nobody cares about what anything looks like. Verisimilitude is not relevant in storytelling. When I say we go into our, my classroom to teach, right?

Leveraging Audience Imagination in Storytelling - Focus on feelings, dialogue, and actions, not detailed descriptions. - Leverage the audience’s imagination by using words that evoke familiar images. - Avoid over-describing irrelevant details, like eye color, which consume the audience’s bandwidth and distract from the core narrative. - Structure stories around scenes based on location, focusing on the key events in each scene. - This allows for flexibility in the telling, while keeping the core of the story consistent. Transcript: Matthew Dicks Sure. I mean, the first thing before I sort of talk about the structure is the idea that it doesn’t contain very many adjectives. People often think of stories as an attempt to describe something when actually nobody ever wants to know what anything looked like, unless it’s relevant to a story. What people really want is to know what you felt, what you said, and what you did. And so if you’re going to describe something, you better make sure that there’s a reason for it to be described. What I believe is leveraging the imagination of audiences. So I said to you, I’m standing behind my school, the school where I teach. But that’s all I said. I know that you know what that looks like. You don’t know what my version of it looks like, but that doesn’t matter to me. Weirdly, some people get interested in that, but you should not. You know, nobody cares about what anything looks like. Verisimilitude is not relevant in storytelling. When I say we go into our, my classroom to teach, right? I say classroom and I know you have a classroom in your mind. Now my classroom definitely doesn’t look like yours because my classroom has a stage with with lighting and sets because I built a theater into my classroom because I’ve been there For 23 years. It doesn’t look like any classroom you’ve ever seen but I don’t want you to see that classroom. I want you to see the one that you can already see in your mind. So when people say to me, how do you make the stories seem so real to me? I tell them I don’t describe anything. Instead, I choose words that I know already exist in your mind. I choose those images and I just extract them and make use of them. So that’s important always, because I think people over describe. And the tricky thing is we don’t have a lot of bandwidth to work with. If you say in the beginning of a story, this beautiful woman walks in the room and her eyes are a piercing blue, those blue eyes had better be relevant in the story at some point because You’ve just stolen some of my bandwidth so that I have to track those blue eyes and remember them throughout the story. And I’ve never heard of a story where eye color is relevant except for Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. And yet we describe eye color all the damn time, which really is just sort of degrading the audience’s ability to hear the rest of the story because we’re giving them a job to do. Remember this, remember this, remember this. I’m leveraging imagination throughout that entire story. But in terms of what I’m thinking about for the architecture, I’m always thinking about the scenes that I’m going to tell. So scenes are predicated on location. So if I think about that story, if I’m going to remember it rather than memorize it, I’m going to know I’m going to be on the playground and I’m going to chase Jamie and I’m going to rock them Down the playscape and through the woods, but he’s going to keep the spoon. That’s the first scene. And that’s what I have to get out. And it might come out better one time than the other, but that’s essentially

Leveraging Audience Imagination in Storytelling - Focus on what you felt, said, and did, rather than detailed descriptions. - Leverage the audience’s imagination by using words that evoke images they already have in their minds. - Avoid over-describing, as it reduces bandwidth and can make irrelevant details seem important. - If you describe something, make sure it’s relevant to the story and has a purpose. - Verisimilitude, or the appearance of being true or real, is less important than emotional resonance and engaging the listener. Transcript: Matthew Dicks Sure. I mean, the first thing before I sort of talk about the structure is the idea that it doesn’t contain very many adjectives. People often think of stories as an attempt to describe something when actually nobody ever wants to know what anything looked like, unless it’s relevant to a story. What people really want is to know what you felt, what you said, and what you did. And so if you’re going to describe something, you better make sure that there’s a reason for it to be described. What I believe is leveraging the imagination of audiences. So I said to you, I’m standing behind my school, the school where I teach. But that’s all I said. I know that you know what that looks like. You don’t know what my version of it looks like, but that doesn’t matter to me. Weirdly, some people get interested in that, but you should not. You know, nobody cares about what anything looks like. Verisimilitude is not relevant in storytelling. When I say we go into our, my classroom to teach, right? I say classroom and I know you have a classroom in your mind. Now my classroom definitely doesn’t look like yours because my classroom has a stage with with lighting and sets because I built a theater into my classroom because I’ve been there For 23 years. It doesn’t look like any classroom you’ve ever seen but I don’t want you to see that classroom. I want you to see the one that you can already see in your mind. So when people say to me, how do you make the stories seem so real to me? I tell them I don’t describe anything. Instead, I choose words that I know already exist in your mind. I choose those images and I just extract them and make use of them.

Story Architecture - Use “elephants” (initial hooks), “backpacks” (audience hopes/dreams), and “breadcrumbs” (clues) to keep listeners engaged. - Incorporate “hourglasses” (suspenseful pauses), “crystal balls” (predictions), and humor to maintain interest. Transcript: Shane Parrish And one of the words that you used earlier was beat. So I’m wondering, like walk me through the architecture of that story and what makes it so effective. Matthew Dicks Sure. I mean, the first thing before I sort of talk about the structure is the idea that it doesn’t contain very many adjectives. People often think of stories as an attempt to describe something when actually nobody ever wants to know what anything looked like, unless it’s relevant to a story. What people really want is to know what you felt, what you said, and what you did. And so if you’re going to describe something, you better make sure that there’s a reason for it to be described. What I believe is leveraging the imagination of audiences. So I said to you, I’m standing behind my school, the school where I teach. But that’s all I said. I know that you know what that looks like. You don’t know what my version of it looks like, but that doesn’t matter to me. Weirdly, some people get interested in that, but you should not. You know, nobody cares about what anything looks like. Verisimilitude is not relevant in storytelling. When I say we go into our, my classroom to teach, right? I say classroom and I know you have a classroom in your mind. Now my classroom definitely doesn’t look like yours because my classroom has a stage with with lighting and sets because I built a theater into my classroom because I’ve been there For 23 years. It doesn’t look like any classroom you’ve ever seen but I don’t want you to see that classroom. I want you to see the one that you can already see in your mind. So when people say to me, how do you make the stories seem so real to me? I tell them I don’t describe anything. Instead, I choose words that I know already exist in your mind. I choose those images and I just extract them and make use of them. So that’s important always, because I think people over describe. And the tricky thing is we don’t have a lot of bandwidth to work with. If you say in the beginning of a story, this beautiful woman walks in the room and her eyes are a piercing blue, those blue eyes had better be relevant in the story at some point because You’ve just stolen some of my bandwidth so that I have to track those blue eyes and remember them throughout the story. And I’ve never heard of a story where eye color is relevant except for Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. And yet we describe eye color all the damn time, which really is just sort of degrading the audience’s ability to hear the rest of the story because we’re giving them a job to do. Remember this, remember this, remember this. I’m leveraging imagination throughout that entire story. But in terms of what I’m thinking about for the architecture, I’m always thinking about the scenes that I’m going to tell. So scenes are predicated on location. So if I think about that story, if I’m going to remember it rather than memorize it, I’m going to know I’m going to be on the playground and I’m going to chase Jamie and I’m going to rock them Down the playscape and through the woods, but he’s going to keep the spoon. That’s the first scene. And that’s what I have to get out. And it might come out better one time than the other, but that’s essentially the goal. And then my second scene is I’m in the classroom and I know I’m going to teach math and then I’m going to teach reading and then I’m going to teach writing because that’s what I do. And I know each time he’s going to be daring me to grab the spoon but I’m not going to get it. So that’s sort of scene two. Scene three is the next day. He comes in with the spoon of power on his neck makes me crazy. Right? Scene four is Thursday, Mackenzie, the math test. Scene five is David, his grandfather passed away. Scene six is a montage of three things. I know I’m gonna say kids who forget their homework, kids who go to the principal and kids who ride the bus, that’s specifically structured to give you three different locations and Three different kinds of problems that kids have. All were real, but I could have chosen from a thousand different times that Jamie gave that spoon out. I strategically chose for that reason. The next scene is the last day of school. Jamie tries to give me the spoon. Actually what I tell you because I’m preserving surprise. Jamie tries to give me the spoon. I use the word tries really specifically because I don’t want you to think I’m gonna get the spoon. I don’t think I’m gonna get the spoon either. I’m rejecting the spoon thinking there’s no way I’m taking this spoon from you, kid. And then he forces it upon me because I want you to be as surprised as I am. And then the last scene of sort of that pandemic, you know, that pandemic explanation about what that year was like. But that’s what I’m thinking about in terms of remembering the story. And then to maintain entertainment throughout it, I’m always thinking stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor. Those sort of the four Mount Rushmore ways to maintain interest. Regardless of what you’re doing, whether you’re telling a story like what I’ve just done or I’m working with a marketing team on a deck that they’re building and it is completely absent Of stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor, which is why nobody ever pays attention to anything anyone ever does. Because instead of being entertaining, we’re trying to be informative. When informative is important, but only if people are actually listening and that first part, how we’re gonna get people to listen is the one nobody ever pays any attention to. They somehow think that their information is going to be interesting to people. The world is filled with information. The internet exists. You’re competing against every bit of information that has ever existed on the planet. So you’d better give me a reason to listen. So I’m always thinking of that throughout that story. Constantly asking myself, do I have stakes? Is there a suspense? Am I preparing for a surprise?

Entertaining vs. Informative - To keep an audience engaged, prioritize entertainment over simply conveying information. - Incorporate elements of stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor to capture and maintain attention. - Information is readily available, so focus on how to make people listen in the first place. - Don’t assume information alone will interest people. - Make it entertaining first, then informative. Transcript: Matthew Dicks But that’s what I’m thinking about in terms of remembering the story. And then to maintain entertainment throughout it, I’m always thinking stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor. Those sort of the four Mount Rushmore ways to maintain interest. Regardless of what you’re doing, whether you’re telling a story like what I’ve just done or I’m working with a marketing team on a deck that they’re building and it is completely absent Of stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor, which is why nobody ever pays attention to anything anyone ever does. Because instead of being entertaining, we’re trying to be informative. When informative is important, but only if people are actually listening and that first part, how we’re gonna get people to listen is the one nobody ever pays any attention to.

Entertaining vs. Informative - To keep a story compelling, focus on stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor. - Most presentations lack these elements and are merely informative. - Information alone isn’t enough to capture attention in today’s information-saturated world. - Prioritize entertainment to make people listen before trying to inform them. - Without engagement, even valuable information gets lost. Transcript: Matthew Dicks But that’s what I’m thinking about in terms of remembering the story. And then to maintain entertainment throughout it, I’m always thinking stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor. Those sort of the four Mount Rushmore ways to maintain interest. Regardless of what you’re doing, whether you’re telling a story like what I’ve just done or I’m working with a marketing team on a deck that they’re building and it is completely absent Of stakes, suspense, surprise, and humor, which is why nobody ever pays attention to anything anyone ever does. Because instead of being entertaining, we’re trying to be informative. When informative is important, but only if people are actually listening and that first part, how we’re gonna get people to listen is the one nobody ever pays any attention to. They somehow think that their information is going to be interesting to people. The world is filled with information. The internet exists. You’re competing against

Story Stakes - The Elephant - Start stories with a clear “elephant” - something big and interesting to grab the audience’s attention. - Stakes make the audience wonder, worry, or root for the protagonist, motivating them to hear the next sentence. - The elephant doesn’t have to be the main point of the story, but it should provide an initial hook. - Steve Jobs’ iPhone introduction is an example, where his first sentence created a stake by highlighting his two-and-a-half-year wait to share the news. Transcript: Matthew Dicks You’ve identified is sort of what I call the different versions of stakes in a story. The elephant is sort of the most important one. It’s essentially what has grabbed the audience’s attention initially. It doesn’t actually have to be what the story is about, but oftentimes people begin a story without anything interesting that’s going to grab the audience. A stake is essentially what are we worried about, what are we wondering about, why are we rooting for the protagonist, why are we not rooting for the protagonist. It’s the thing that makes us want to hear the next sentence. An elephant is the idea of, here’s a thing that you should care about. In the story I just told you, the here’s a thing is, there’s a boy with a spoon and Matt wants it. The steak is, will he get the spoon? We know that’s not what the story is actually about, but it gives the audience an initial thing to be thinking about. In movies, we often get a trailer. So if you see the movie trailer, the stakes are already laid out. And oftentimes they’re laid out anyway. If I say, let’s go to a romantic comedy, we know what the stake is. Two people are not in love and eventually they will be in love. So we know what those stakes are. But when I open my mouth and I start telling a story, in any context, nobody really knows what I’m there for. You know, no one knows what’s about to be said. No one knows why I’m speaking. So we have to give them a reason. Something interesting that grabs them. And it doesn’t have to be much. You know, when Jobs introduces the iPhone in 2007, his first sentence on stage is, I’ve been waiting two and a half years to share this with you today. That’s a stake. That’s the CEO of Apple has been sitting on something for two and a half years.

Make Your Audience Happy You’re Talking - Strive to have your audience be happy you are speaking. - This ideal scenario is achieved when they eagerly anticipate your next words. - Humor is a potent tool for achieving this. - It alters brain chemistry, fostering closeness, perceived intelligence, and improved cognition, thereby priming the audience to listen. - Early humor eases audience anxiety and builds confidence in your abilities. Transcript: Matthew Dicks If you just think back on how many times you’ve heard people speak, how often have you thought, I’m so happy they’re still speaking. If I can get that, now that’s the platonic ideal, that’s the sort of really difficult to achieve, but when the audience is happy that I’m talking because they can’t wait to hear the next Thing that I’m saying, then I’m waiting every time. Shane Parrish And humor. Matthew Dicks The tricky thing about humor is I do stand-up comedy. And there are certain people that can just make lots of things funny. And in that Spoon of Power story, I could have had you laugh in the whole way through. That’s not useful to me in terms of a storyteller. Now, if I do stand-up, it’s very useful for me. But humor is a really powerful tool that gets underused completely in business all the time. Humor changes brain chemistry in really meaningful ways. You know, causes you to feel closer to me, causes you to perceive me as intelligent, even if I’m not intelligent. Makes you feel better about the world, actually improves your cognition. All of those chemicals get released due to humor, which primes your brain and gets you ready to hear me better. But it also does things like if I make you laugh in the first 30 to 60 seconds of a story, you now feel at ease. Because an audience always has that concern. This concern that this is going to get awkward for us because you’re not going to do a good job. Many, many times I have sat in an audience and thought, buckle up, this guy’s gonna fall apart. And I don’t want anyone to think that. So if you make someone laugh in the first 30 seconds of a story or a talk or a keynote, whatever you’re doing, they relax, they go, oh, okay, she knows what she’s doing, she made me laugh, Like continue. It’s also useful in the boring parts

Hourglasses in Storytelling - When you feel the audience is hooked, make them wait as long as possible for the next part of the story. - This builds anticipation and makes the payoff more impactful. - Slow down your speech, and even describe unrelated details to draw out the suspense. - Use this technique at crucial moments. Transcript: Matthew Dicks An hourglass is the idea that once you know you have the audience’s attention and they’re dying for the next sentence, you make them wait as long as possible. You flip the hourglass over and let the sand run. Like a great example of that is the matrix. Bullet time in the matrix is an hourglass. Meaning we’re going to change the way a gunfight happens in this movie. Meaning we’re going to watch the bullet move through space and time so that you will wonder more if someone is going to be hit by the bullet. Because before bullet time, gunfights were a lot less entertaining because it was just a matter of whether the person got hit or not. Now we get to wonder where the what the course of this bullet is. Any moment where I know the audience wants to hear the next thing, I will slow things down. And that’s the one time I will start describing stuff for no reason whatsoever, right? So that orange chair, I simply use the word orange as a means of making you wait one more second to find out what’s going to happen. If you pay attention to the way I tell that story, I start speaking slower the closer we get to the moment where Jamie’s going to hand me the spoon. I just know that if I say these words with a reduced pace, your anticipation increases and therefore when I get the spoon, it’s more likely that you will have an emotional reaction to It. And that’s just a matter of judging, now I have them. Let’s make them wait as long as possible to hear it. Crystal balls. And crystal balls are something we use in life all the time. It’s essentially just a prediction. It’s an out loud prediction about something that’s going to happen because human beings are prediction machines. That’s why gambling is so difficult for people. It’s not really the money as much as it is, I think the cowboys are going to win this week and I’m going to put money down on it to prove that I’m right. Those people don’t like wait till Monday and open the newspaper to see if they won, right? They’re watching it at the moment the game’s playing because we’re prediction machines. So when I say to you, it’s okay because I’m gonna get that spoon in a little while, right? I’m making a prediction about the future.

Crystal Balls in Storytelling - Matthew Dicks describes ‘crystal balls’ as predictions about the future within a story. - These predictions tap into the human tendency to anticipate and create suspense. - Giving the audience a glimpse of what might happen makes them eager to know if the prediction comes true, keeping them engaged and invested in the narrative. - This technique can be applied in various contexts, such as earnings calls where guidance acts as a ‘crystal ball’. Transcript: Matthew Dicks Crystal balls. And crystal balls are something we use in life all the time. It’s essentially just a prediction. It’s an out loud prediction about something that’s going to happen because human beings are prediction machines. That’s why gambling is so difficult for people. It’s not really the money as much as it is, I think the cowboys are going to win this week and I’m going to put money down on it to prove that I’m right. Those people don’t like wait till Monday and open the newspaper to see if they won, right? They’re watching it at the moment the game’s playing because we’re prediction machines. So when I say to you, it’s okay because I’m gonna get that spoon in a little while, right? I’m making a prediction about the future. And now you’re gonna want to hear as an audience whether that prediction is going to come true. Earnings calls are just like that. When they give guidance, right, their attempt to give guidance is both to make sure shareholders sort of know the direction of the company, but when they give guidance, you know those People are gonna come back at the next earnings call to see if that guidance played out or they’re gonna pay attention over the course of the order to see what the results are. So guidance is nothing but a crystal ball saying, here’s what we think is going to happen. And then you wait three months to find out if it actually happened. The more we can do that, the more we get our audience to want us to continue to talk. I always say, I want my audience happy that I’m talking. If you just think back on how many times you’ve heard people speak, how often have you thought, I’m so happy they’re still speaking. If I can get that, now that’s the platonic ideal, that’s the sort of really difficult to achieve, but when the audience is happy that I’m talking because they can’t wait to hear the next Thing that I’m saying, then I’m waiting every time. Shane Parrish And humor. Matthew Dicks The tricky thing about humor is I do stand-up comedy. And there are certain people that can just make lots of things funny. And in that Spoon of Power story, I could have had you laugh in the whole way through. That’s not useful to me in terms of a storyteller. Now, if I do stand-up, it’s very useful for me. But humor is a really powerful tool that gets underused completely in business all the time. Humor changes brain chemistry in really meaningful ways. You know, causes you to feel closer to me, causes you to perceive me as intelligent, even if I’m not intelligent. Makes you feel better about the

Humor in Storytelling - Use humor strategically in storytelling, especially in business contexts. - Humor improves brain chemistry, making the audience feel closer to you and perceive you as intelligent. - It eases the audience, making them more receptive to your message. - Incorporate humor in the boring parts of stories or data presentations to keep the audience engaged. Transcript: Matthew Dicks The tricky thing about humor is I do stand-up comedy. And there are certain people that can just make lots of things funny. And in that Spoon of Power story, I could have had you laugh in the whole way through. That’s not useful to me in terms of a storyteller. Now, if I do stand-up, it’s very useful for me. But humor is a really powerful tool that gets underused completely in business all the time. Humor changes brain chemistry in really meaningful ways. You know, causes you to feel closer to me, causes you to perceive me as intelligent, even if I’m not intelligent. Makes you feel better about the world, actually improves your cognition. All of those chemicals get released due to humor, which primes your brain and gets you ready to hear me better. But it also does things like if I make you laugh in the first 30 to 60 seconds of a story, you now feel at ease. Because an audience always has that concern. This concern that this is going to get awkward for us because you’re not going to do a good job. Many, many times I have sat in an audience and thought, buckle up, this guy’s gonna fall apart. And I don’t want anyone to think that. So if you make someone laugh in the first 30 seconds of a story or a talk or a keynote, whatever you’re doing, they relax, they go, oh, okay, she knows what she’s doing, she made me laugh, Like continue. It’s also useful in the boring parts of stories or actually in the boring parts of data. You know, if you have to speak for 12 minutes about your data, you better be funny. You know, I’m always helping tech companies when they’re doing the demo of their newly added feature to their platform and they’re just gonna run through it like and show you what it Is.

Using Humor Effectively in Storytelling - Use humor strategically in storytelling and presentations, especially in business contexts. - Making the audience laugh early on puts them at ease and makes them more receptive. - Humor is particularly helpful during the boring parts, like data presentations or product demos. - Create relatable characters or scenarios to make the information more engaging and amusing. - Humor can also be used to manipulate emotions, heightening the impact of subsequent serious points by creating contrast. Transcript: Matthew Dicks But it also does things like if I make you laugh in the first 30 to 60 seconds of a story, you now feel at ease. Because an audience always has that concern. This concern that this is going to get awkward for us because you’re not going to do a good job. Many, many times I have sat in an audience and thought, buckle up, this guy’s gonna fall apart. And I don’t want anyone to think that. So if you make someone laugh in the first 30 seconds of a story or a talk or a keynote, whatever you’re doing, they relax, they go, oh, okay, she knows what she’s doing, she made me laugh, Like continue. It’s also useful in the boring parts of stories or actually in the boring parts of data. You know, if you have to speak for 12 minutes about your data, you better be funny. You know, I’m always helping tech companies when they’re doing the demo of their newly added feature to their platform and they’re just gonna run through it like and show you what it Is. And I’m always saying like, why would you do it that way? That’s awful. Like, let’s create two characters. Why don’t you pretend to be somebody? Let’s make the data amusing. Let’s make a fake company and let’s make the fake company that’s gonna access your new platform. Let’s let that be amusing so that people are smiling while you’re showing them what your new product does. So it takes the boring parts and makes them a lot less boring. You can also manipulate emotions with humor. Right before I’m gonna tell you something terrible in a story, I like to make you laugh so that the terrible thing hurts more. It increases the contrast. If you’re dating someone for three months and you discover you’re dating a monster and you need to dump that person and you really want to like make them hurt because they’ve hurt you, The best thing you can