What I learned from the Story Slam

This past weekend I went to my first story slam. I was laughing the entire night. What great fun.  But I also learned quite a good deal about effective story telling.

While I was listening to the stories, I kept thinking about what Ira Glass says are the three most important elements of story telling.  He says, that story telling should include a series of actions.  This happened, then this happened, and then we did this or and then I thought this. Next stories need to ask questions along the way and answer them.  And finally, good stories, the moment of reflection.  What is the key point?  What does this all mean?

Turns out that really GOOD stories have all three.  At the slam I noticed that the second and third elements were often missing. The story that “won” that evening did include the first two elements and hinted at self reflection, but there wasn’t an overt moment of reflection that gave the story meaning.

Here are some of the other things I noticed or was reinforced based on the stories I heard that night.

• The opening sentence can be attention gaining, or simply setting the scene.  “It was 2001 and I was traveling in India”.  Twenty-five years ago, I was a single mom, working by day as a banker and a topless dancer at night.”
• All stories need to include dialog.  Self-dialog that reveals genuine thoughts or emotions (that perhaps you wouldn’t normally share) will make the story stronger.  Sharing thoughts of when you got it wrong is also good.
• Descriptive detail is very important.  The more descriptive and specific the better.
• Using facial expressions are very important and need to be exaggerated.
• Changing the speed of delivery is important.
• Involving the audience is important.  If they react, acknowledge the reaction.
• Body movement should demonstrate as much as possible.

I’m going to the Grand Slam at the Painted Bride in Philadelphia on Saturday November 7th. If you are planning to go, please drop me a line so I can say hello in person.

Interesting advice from The Art of Speaking Business.

People often cite that public speaking is the greatest fear, but it's not. It's a myth. Hey, I didn't see anyone at the party dressed up as a public speaker -- you know, the ones on the circuit with the creepy Botox, amazing dental work, and buttoned-down business garb.

We all might be creeped out by these kinds of public speakers, but no one's really scared of public speaking itself. Not really.

They're scared of what happens as a result of public speaking. Like me, they might be scared of being a social outcast or ostracized for something they say (or how they say it.) They might be afraid (like my buttoned-down party pal) of sounding unnatural and inhuman.

Those are some of the real fears behind the myth of the fear of public speaking. The oft-parroted "fear of public speaking" myth prevents folks from addressing their real fears.

Fun for Halloween and thoughtful. Follow the link to read the whole post.

Another interview that claims to be with the oldest Toastmaster in the world, but this one is engaging and entertaining, and it's well produced too. This interview should have made it to the Toastmasters podcast.

It's the birthday of Ezra Pound, (books by this author) born in Hailey, Idaho (1885). Pound was born within a few years of James Joyce, William Carlos Williams, D.H. Lawrence, Marianne Moore, Hilda Doolittle, and T.S. Eliot, and he was instrumental in promoting the careers of each one of these writers — as well as many, many others. He was a champion of modern poetry and prose; Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair proclaimed that it was Ezra Pound "more than anyone who made poets write modern verse, editors publish it, and readers read it." He was extraordinarily generous with his clout, often described as "the poet's poet." Pound's mantra was "Make it new."

Schmaltz is the Yiddish word for rendered chicken fat.   For Jews who keep kosher, schmaltz substitutes for butter when cooking meat.  That’s important because, as everyone knows, butter makes everything taste better.

And if your  “bubbeh” (Yiddish for grandmother; rhymes with tubby) wanted to give you something delicious, she would spread  salted schmaltz on a bagel (Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it).  In other words, it adds flavor.

When I tell people to add schmaltz to a story, I mean that they need to add the flavoring that fills out the tale and makes it more interesting to the listener.

I have to admit the title got my attention first, but there's good advice here. Follow the link to see it all.