I’m thinking about submitting a talk for our local TEDx event, which means I’m now in the dangerous phase of trying to make one idea feel worthy of the red circle.

The hard part isn’t the topic. It’s the angle—the one that feels fresh, earns attention, and makes people lean in. If have any insights, tips or advice on the TEDx application process or helped shape a talk that got selected, I’d *LOVE* to hear it.

Thanks for reading!

🎵 Today I'm listening to George Benson​

Supported by iSpring

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Your Stats Have a Memory Problem

Stats are great at winning the slide. Stories are better at surviving the weekend.

That’s the insight from a paper in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Researchers found that the persuasive impact of a statistic faded by 73% within a day. A story faded by only 32%.

Same information. Different shelf life.

That’s a problem for L&D because a lot of training still acts like facts are enough. Here is the policy. Here is the percentage. Here is the chart. Here is the deadline. Please go make better choices.

The issue is not that stats are bad. Stats give scale. They make risk visible. They help serious people feel serious in meetings with very serious chairs. But stats are often terrible at one important job: coming back at the right moment.

And that’s the moment that matters.

Not when someone is clicking through the course. Later, when they’re busy, rushed, distracted, halfway through lunch, and trying to clear one more email before the day falls apart.

That is when your training needs to show up.

So the better question is not, “Did they understand the statistic?”

It’s this:

The fix: turn the number into a moment

A statistic says:

“Verify unusual payment requests.”

A story says:

“It’s 4:47 p.m. on Friday. A message from your CFO hits your inbox. The tone is urgent. The vendor looks familiar. The request is simple: update the payment details before the end of the day. What do you do next?”

Now there’s a scene. A little pressure. A choice. A tiny alarm bell the brain can replay later.

That’s the move.

Don’t throw away the stat. Give it a place to live.

Use this simple formula:

Person. Pressure. Choice. Consequence.

Start with a person. Put them in a real situation. Add pressure. Force a choice. Show what happens next. Then bring in the statistic.

Most training does this backward. We lead with the number because it feels credible. But the story creates the shelf. The statistic sits on it.

Try this next week

Find one piece of content that leans on a statistic, policy point, or abstract rule.

Then ask:

Where would someone need this in real life?

Rewrite it around that moment. Keep the data, but stop making it do all the heavy lifting.

Because the goal is not for learners to admire your evidence. The goal is for the right idea to come back later, exactly when they need it.

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Go Deeper

Stories, Statistics, and Memory

This is the original research behind the 73% vs. 32% finding. Useful if you want the serious research version of why stories often outlast statistics.

The plain-English research summary

A faster skim of the same core idea, without having to put on your academic hiking boots.

How to write scenarios people actually want to finish

Cathy Moore’s scenario-based training hub is the better practical bridge from “stories stick” to “what do I actually build?” It has examples, tips, and the kind of no-nonsense guidance that helps you turn information dumps into realistic practice.

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The Bottom Line

Statistics can make a point.

Stories help the point survive.

That does not mean we should ditch all data. It means the number is not enough by itself.

If you want people to remember, decide, and act later, put the information inside a moment they recognize.

Give them a person, a problem, a choice, and a consequence.

The stat proves it. The story carries it.

📍Where I'll be next

• ​ATD Core4,
  Sept 29-Oct 1Indianapolis,IN

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