The Storytelling Expert: How to Speak so That Everyone Listens (Matthew Dicks #202)

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Farnam Street

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2024

⏱️ 118 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Shane Parrish sits down with Matthew Dicks, a renowned storyteller, author, and teacher, to explore the nuanced art of storytelling. They go deep into the techniques that turn mediocre stories into masterful ones.

You’ll learn what makes a story truly resonate with an audience, how to identify and highlight the pivotal moments that create emotional impact, the architecture of compelling stories, how to structure narratives for maximum engagement and how to use techniques like suspense, stakes, and humor to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. This conversation covers broad frameworks, like how to structure a great story—and the granular details, like when you should talk quietly to refocus the audience.

Matthew Dicks is novelist, storyteller, columnist, playwright, blogger, and teacher. He’s published fiction and non-fiction books, the latter of which include: Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling and Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life.

(00:00:00 Intro

(00:03:28) What makes a good story

(00:06:57) Stories vs anecdotes

(00:08:29) A Story: The Spoon of Power

(00:17:42) The art of story architecture

(00:21:28) Create compelling stories

(00:36:30) Common mistakes & how to fix them

(00:55:01) Strategic listening

(01:03:32) Can you lie in stories?

(01:05:10) 'And' stories vs. 'but / therefore' stories

(01:10:05) Finding engaging stories in everyday life

(01:20:05) Structuring a story

(01:24:00) Storytelling for an unforgettable brand

(01:31:20) Learn confidence

(01:38:40) Writing vs telling a story

(01:51:53) Teach kids to love writing

(01:55:15) Define success

Newsletter - The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at https://fs.blog/newsletter/

Upgrade — If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of the episode, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://fs.blog/membership/⁠⁠ and get your own private feed.

Follow me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://beacons.ai/shaneparrish⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tkppodcast

Sponsor: Overlap https://www.joinoverlap.com/ - Listen to podcasts like never before.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You've probably been telling not so good stories all your life and you've probably heard people who tell amazing stories all the time.
0:09.2	It turns out that's not actually something that people are born with.
0:13.0	It's just strategic.
0:15.0	And if you become a little more strategic, you can be one of those people, right?
0:20.0	Now we want to know.
0:21.0	Now we're curious.
0:22.0	We're not giving anything away. we're not indicating the end, but
0:25.5	we're finding something that's gonna like appeal to people in a real emotional
0:30.3	way. We're gonna identify a need they have and if we identify an appropriate
0:33.7	need then we're going to grab our audience and they're going to the knowledge. Welcome to the Knowledge Project, the Bi- Weekly Podcast exploring the powerful ideas, practical methods, and mental models of others.
1:01.0	In a world where knowledge is power, this podcast is your toolkit
1:04.8	for mastering the best of what other people have already figured out. I'm your host, Shane Parish.
1:09.6	Before we dive in, I have a quick favor to ask. If you're enjoying the show and listening on Apple
1:14.0	Podcasts, Spotify, or any other platform, please take a moment and hit the follow button now.
1:19.0	The more followers we have, the better guests we can bring on to share their knowledge with you. Thank you.
1:24.0	If you want to take your learning to the next level, consider joining our membership program at
1:28.7	FS. blog slash membership. As a member, you'll get my personal reflections at the end of every
1:34.5	episode, early access to episodes, no ads including this, exclusive content,
1:39.9	hand-edited transcripts and so much more. Check out the link in the show notes for more.
1:45.1	My guest today is Matthew Dix, who is perhaps the world's best storyteller.
1:49.0	I'm not kidding.
1:49.8	He's won nearly every major storytelling competition.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Farnam Street, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Farnam Street and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.