Diane Ragsdale has been giving a talk for two years now on what is happening to live audiences and arts organizations. If my reading of the dates attached to the top ten references on her talk "Surviving the Culture Change" is correct, her work is well received and her insights are in demand. Here is an interesting quote that made me think of our storytelling community in New England.
“It's been interesting to see how arts organizations have responded to the economic crisis-everyone seems clear: Measures must be taken! We need to keep expenses under control and work hard to keep and cultivate our loyal patrons "in these times." But what about the past 30 years? It doesn't seem as though many of us were having night sweats as the audiences gradually turned grayer, and more conservative, and eventually dropped off. Why not? Perhaps because it took 30 years to reach the abyss rather than 30 days?
If you know the story of the boiling frog then you may be familiar with the idea of 'creeping normalcy." Creeping normalcy refers to the way a major change can be accepted as normality if it happens slowly, in unnoticed increments, when it would be regarded as objectionable if it took place in a single step or short period.Some couples wake up years after being madly in love to find that the intimacy that was created in the early days has faded slowly and silently because they stopped noticing and nurturing each other.
Relationships require attention to be sustained. Perhaps, like the couple that wakes up one day to realize "We don't know each other anymore; we have nothing in common," we failed to see that our communities were changing, and that art and artists were changing, and that we, as institutions that exist to broker a relationship between the two were not changing in response. We failed to see the culture change. We lost the plot." Surviving the Culture Change http://tinyurl.com/ybrngru
Dunno about my comrade artistes but I have been worrying about the plight of arts "organs" and been trying to study up on the situation of working artists and sustainable practice for nonprofits for the last 7 years. Attached below is a small but thought provoking collection of the studies I have read ( read? well, skimmed more honestly ) They give us lots to work with as we consider how to live as artists in the 21st century. Google any of the titles and you will find a pdf on line. Or simply go to massmouth.com/forum where the pdfs are uploaded.
“Arts for All: Connecting to New Audiences”Wallace Foundation (August 2008) How can arts organizations use marketing, research and new technologies to expand their audiences? Cultivating Demand for the Arts Arts Learning, Arts Engagement, and State Arts Policy This is the third in a series of documents describing a multiyear study of the changing roles and missions of state arts agencies (SAAs) by theRand Corporation State Arts Policy Trends and Future ProspectsAnother RAND publication 2008 Projects what thefuturelikely holds forstatearts agencies and forstate arts policyif currenttrendsand current strategies prevail. (pdf attached below )
Quoted above Diane Ragsdale's talk Surviving the Culture Change is widely published. This is a link http://tinyurl.com/ybrngru . US arts philanthropy expert and Carnegie Mellon scholar, Diane Ragsdale has given this keynote address all over the world. Just google the title and download a copy for yourself.
One frequently asked question at a workshop on Web 2.0 was - what to do first when getting started in online marketing... here is a one answer written with Luddite friends in mind.
Hardware: You need access to a good computer, a digital camera and DSL internet connectivity. If you are lost already by my list, then we need to slow down and have a heart to heart. I was once where you are now and found the very words I now spout with ease, alienating. The technical jargon of any field can be daunting from the outside, but we must get beyond annoyance and fear. We all need some level of mastery in computers in the twenty-first century, and there is nothing to be gained by refusing to learn about a tool most of you are using already.
Your computer needs a high speed processor. This means it has at least 1 Gig hz on PCs and Microsoft XP, or the newest operating system. (Skip over Vista if at all possible; even Microsoft admits that it is awful. Windows 7 is just out.) You’ll need at least 80 gigs of memory (more is better) on your hard drive, and you’ll need an external hard drive as well. The good news is most libraries and cable TV stations have these kinds of computers and you could simply get a 4 gig or larger gig thumb drive and a small digital audio recorder for as little as $50. And along with any size digital camera (I like the Canon Elph for many reasons – quality, reliability and because it makes decent videos as well), but even a CVS digital recyclable will work. With these three tools you will be good to go.
Software: All public computers have the tools you need. Having these same tools at home on your computer is a huge help and FREE — you simply download them from the Internet. You’ll need: A photo editing/online posting account, like Picasa, Photobucket. For sound Audacity works on PCs while Apple computers come with GarageBand. You wil also need a way to get video into a digital file you can send to youtube. I use a MacBook (laptop) and highly recommend Apple computers for people who are easily frustrated by technology. All the software you need for a Mac computer is pretty standard and for $100 you can take a lesson a week at your local Apple store. These lessons are great and, at two dollars or so a lesson, very cost effective as well.
Some people may have their hackles up already. To you I say: you didn’t jump into a car and expect to drive it without learning how, did you? Computers are way more complicated than cars but much less intuitive as well. While they are hard to figure out, unlike cars, no one gets hurt while learning new skills. Of course, when computers don’t cooperate, we all — geeks and techno-peasants alike — want to throw the machine out and get a dip pen and a pot of ink. BUT if we intend to communicate about our art and entice the wide world to come and hear us, our PR must look good and make sense. So if you lack computer know how, I suggest you find a beginners computer course at your local Adult Ed center, public library or Cable Access TV station. Or find a friend who will teach you, or a kind person who will carry you. Or find a friend to work with as you learn. Education is key to excellent, up-to-date marketing tailored to who you are and what you do. Independence and skill are the keys to nearly free access. You owe it yourself — unless you want to pay someone to do all this for you, and that is really very expensive !
It wasn’t that long ago that I hired someone to fix my computer at home and teach me how to use it better. Those six hours, plus one year of Apple lessons and countless disasters and experiments on my own, have served me and all the people I have taught, very well. There are so many ways to connect using the internet. This article aims to tell you what to do (once you have the basic skills) and where to do it. You are the choir – you already know about storytelling. Instead, what I am preaching and teaching is some new hymns to the choir.
New Hymn # 1 – Amazing Blogs! Okay, you have no website — maybe you don’t have the time or money to develop one — but anyone can have a blog, which will connect you and give you web presence. When someone hears your name or sees it any place, they will google you; and if they can’t find you on line, you lose credibility as a performer. And you lose business.
I could write you a step by step outline, but I would just repeat what is already on line at www.blogger.com. You will be doing this online, it’s easier to move from screen to screen than from newsletter to screen and back again. To access this free service, you will need to start a gmail account. This is very simple as well. Read and follow the directions at gmail.com, and you will be on your way.
At first glance, a blog is really just an online journal that displays a series of posts, displayed in chronological order. But blogs also have space for contact information and pictures and video. These posts are typically written in a conversational, informal tone, and invite response. Blogs are a huge part of social media. Here are some positive features of blogs:
• Blogs are interactive - it is both conversation and up-to-date information.
• Blogs can be updated by anyone who knows how to send an email and remember a password.
• Blogs are really easy - it is easier to blog than to keep track of emails.
• Your blog is a dynamic flyer about your events and performances.
• Blogs can attract a whole new demographic - younger people online- to storytelling.
• A blog URL can be sent to other discussions, widening the awareness of our work.
• A blog can be attached to the website; not meant to replace it.
• People can subscribe to blogs and get notice of updates automatically.
• Blogs can contain video and links to sound and pics – look elegant and so simply
• I love this part – BLOGS ARE FREE. Completely and absolutely.
If you do not have a website, I hope you will go to blogger.com and set up a blog. Today. Take a look at the blogs of some storytellers you know for ideas about content.
New Hymn # 2 – I have a friend in Facebook! It’s free and a way for people to find you. Facebook is great place to post your videos and keep up with a ton of fans and other storytellers. Facebook will also link to your blog, etc. If you are in the swing, you will set up a Twitter and join a storytelling .ning. But first, join Facebook. And make sure you add a profile picture. A profile without a picture is as jarring as a business card with your name spelled wrong. You will stand out but not in a good way. Once you have a profile picture you like, you can use it over and over again. If you want, you can use another image — an icon or anything — but if your thought is to be known and hired for live performances, people want to see you.
Once on Facebook you need to “friend” people. You can use your email contact list to see who you already know on Facebook. Or friend someone you know who will suggest people to friend you.
Tom and I made and uploaded video this at the work shop.
New Hymn # 3 – Youtube can Be Saved! Once you have a gmail account, it is very easy to create a free youtube channel and post your work as video, and/or you can post sound recordings with as few or as many images as you like. You can post and direct prospective clients to recordings of your stories there.
New Hymn # 4 – Onward LinkedIn Storytellers - LinkedIn is like Facebook, but it is all about business. Build a profile the same way you did for Facebook and use your email account to see who you know already is LinkedIn. Your name and the profession of storytelling will be in the workday world of millions. You fill in the data the same way as with any of the above sites. Use the same “connection”- building strategies as you used for Facebook to get the word out about you and your work.
And yes there is more, but this is plenty for a start and never forget this old chestnut...
Old Hymn - Live meetings will Never be Replaced - There is no replacement for getting out there and talking and performing. Creating the opportunity to do so is what these web site presences are for. They are as expected as a business card (still used – with your web info on it) and a good brochure once were. It is important to have web presence because it is very expensive to send out press kits and CDs and DVDs. In fact, presenters may not want load your discs onto their computers for fear of viruses. Instead, presenters will look at your information on line. They will expect to find you online, And if they do not? Or, if what they find is inferior quality sound or video? They will think you are not serious about what you do. In fact, if they do not find you, to them, you do not really exist.
The more you post, the more people will find you. And everything on line with your name on it raises your rating with google, so people will find you more easily. But, everything you post should be of the highest quality possible. And that is another article.
So start now, with Hymn #1 — a blog and some good digital pictures of yourself. Always include contact email and phone in everything. And work your way up to singing all the new hymns.
What is News? We think that the massmouth.com storytelling and story slams in Boston ARE news. massmouth has the Proximity that the Moth lacks. We are Prominent in that we are singular - the only group of our type in the area, or region. It is an Oddity that the art of story still exists in this high tech age and even more unusual that we neo-luddites have gladly married live story to Web 2.0. There is Suspense in how our Big Mouth Off will turn out. And our grande finale event will be of Consequence for the winners and all those who practice the art of storytelling. Did I miss something? Perhaps to say thank you to our sponsors and donors and supporters? That we have them is glad news indeed.
Posted August 20th, 2007 by fairtest Experts agree that defining news can be a difficult task. Most journalists agree that the following eight elements make up what is considered "news."
* Immediacy:
Reporting something that has just happened or is about to happen. Time is a strong ingredient, "today, yesterday, early this morning, tomorrow." The newness of the occurrence makes up "immediacy" in the news.
* Proximity:
Facts and occurrences that are important to you personally; inflation, the Iran situation particularly if one of the hostages is someone you know or a family member of a close friend, the closing of a fire station close to your home. Such a closure is less important when it occurs across town. The question most asked by journalists is: "If this happened outside my immediate area, my city, my state, would I be interested in reading about it?" Keeping this question in mind is particularly important to the organizational PR person. You must "take off the I love this organization hat" and examine your story to see if indeed it would interest other readers.
* Prominence:
Prominence as a news element is well-known to most of us. The public figure, holders of public office, people of renown or those who stimulate our curiosity, people in positions of influence all enjoy news prominence. For your visitor or speaker to qualify for news prominence, he or she must be well enough known to command the attention of readers either by reputation or by the nature of the topic to be discussed.
* Oddity:
Oddity is often news. The bizarre, the unusual, the unexpected often make news. Generally those people who perform striking feats in emergency situations are news, such as a woman lifting an automobile off her child, traveling around the world in a sailboat, unusual recycling methods, use of materials in a different way. In journalism, oddity is defined as the "man bites dog" formula. Consider the reported rabbit attack on President Carter. That certainly made the "news."
* Conflict:
Conflict is one element most observed in todays with the clash of ideologies making headlines worldwide. Although most businesses and organizations shy away from the reporting of conflict, it is understandable that this element is firmly based in the news formula.
* Suspense:
Suspense creates and expands news appeal. The outcome of the Iranian hostages is suspenseful news. For the most part, organizations would rarely experience this type of circumstance. It is helpful to remember that news suspense is not the same as mystery suspense. However, mystery suspense in news does occur when a crime has been committed and the search is on for a suspect.
* Emotions
Emotions are a news element commonly called "human interest" stories that stir our recognition of the basic needs both psychological and physical. Stories that prompt the reader toward sympathy, anger or other emotions in all their variety are commonly handled in feature-type stories. Organizations should be alert to the possibilities of "human interest" stories.
* Consequence
The last element of news, consequence, is more difficult to explain, but generally for a story to have consequence it must be important to a great number of readers. It must have some impact for the reader. Such news will affect him or her in some personal way...the safety of the city's drinking water. The dumping of toxic wastes into the Snake River Aquifer is being examined from the standpoint of consequence now and in the future. Thus it becomes an important news story.
From this discussion of news story elements, it becomes clear that you should have these guidelines in mind when you're deciding if your message is news or an announcement; whether it's a feature or an item of limited public interest. From this you decide which format to use for distributing the information and the medium that is most likely to use your information.
Last year this was written about the BPL new president:
The Boston Globe Library director turns a new page: Economy offers huge challenge
By Nancy Cook Globe Correspondent / March 29, 2009
"...Even with the good will and early accolades, Ryan will face tough decisions. Personnel costs make up 65 percent of the library's budget, so she and the librarians' union have been negotiating a wage freeze to last through September 2010. Even if union members approve it, the library still may have to lay off 44 staffers this spring and leave vacant 20 open positions.
"It has affected the services we provide," says Liz Smith, a librarian at the Hyde Park branch and president of the Communication Workers Association, Local 1333. "You can't provide the same level of service when you don't have people there on a regular basis. That's especially important at the branches in the neighborhoods where you see the same people."
As Ryan looks to trim costs, she says she has also tried to communicate openly with her staff. She sends out a weekly newsletter, circulates memos she receives from City Hall with both good and bad news, and solicits ideas about cutting costs. She says she's received about 1,000 suggestions that range from turning off more lights to opening up a gift shop. She is also halting construction projects, reexamining contracts, moving the Kirstein Business Branch from the financial district into the Copley branch, and rethinking tasks like how the library catalogs books.
Ryan is also big on partnerships between the library and outside organizations such as Bank of America, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, and the Boston Children's Museum that bring performances into libraries or that offer writing or reading workshops. Some of these are not new ideas - her predecessor already had in place a homework assistance program.
Original or not, Ryan says that these types of programs are significant to her. She wrote her master's thesis years ago on the role of libraries in economic downturns, and that topic is particularly relevant now as people looking for new jobs or to go back to school head to libraries for help.
"Libraries make sense of the world," she says. "They're informational. They're a cultural anchor. They're a place for community gathering."
Skip ahead to this year and a statement presented by Amy Ryan on Tuesday, March 9, 2010. Excerpts with my emphasis, below. Click on title below for the full report
The Trustees, staff and I all know and appreciate the importance of the library in your lives. People care deeply about the Boston Public Library. We are in this together. The vision and our discussion today is a continuation of a public process started a few years ago with the neighborhood services initiative, continuing with recent community meetings and the many public comments. This is the next step in a complex decision making process....
THE CONTEXT
We are at a crossroads. This is a moment in time when we have the opportunity to re-shape the BPL for ourselves and for our children and their children. We all know that the world of information continuously transforms itself... We owe it to the people of Boston to re-imagine the BPL into one that truly provides tomorrow’s services today. Essential to that commitment is enhancing our core services: hours, books, story times and programs, computers, research services at Copley and preservation of cultural treasures. Now we must go further. We can’t take a car designed in the 1970s onto today’s information superhighway. Now is the time to challenge ourselves to re-imagine the BPL for a successful future.
VISION Our vision is that the Boston Public Library touches every Bostonian and is transformative in providing system-wide services in three ways: (1) in buildings, (2) online and (3) in the community.
....The Boston Public Libraries are staying in the neighborhoods—still the library you love and have loved since childhood. Only they could be better. But right now, we are struggling to provide the right level of staffing—we are stretched to the point where we have had to close for lunches and dinners due to inadequate staffing, positions remain vacant such as children’s librarians, front line staff and others. The status quo is not working—for the staff or the public.
We can excel if we re-align our services. Our goals for both Copley and the branches are to:
Repurpose staff time to increase programming and classes and to form partnerships that have a direct, positive impact on the public.
Change library hours across the system to include more evenings, Saturdays and to increase staffing at peak times like after school hours.
Create a pool of staff who are program experts linked to services rather than locations for specialized programming like early literacy, computer skills, and book discussions.
Increase the number of computers so people don’t have to wait in line to fill out job applications, scholarship forms, write their resumes, view pictures of their grandkids, and on and on.
Our libraries are cultural anchors and learning institutions, and we must ensure that if the sign says Boston Public Library, we have committed the resources for families, adults and kids to find it open, well stocked with books and computers, with stimulating programs and the right level of staffing.
In the Community
Along with serving people in buildings and online, a third way and perhaps the greatest potential for transformation for library staff is to be in the community, meeting people where they are.
We need to redefine the boundaries of library services. Redraw them outside the walls of our buildings through community outreach. Our current staffing model does not allow us the flexibility to visit childcares, senior centers, or community events. We have passed up partnerships due to lack of staffing to support the innovative ideas...
CONCLUSION
This is just the beginning of building a truly 21st century library as we join with the community to forge ahead. We know this will take time. We can deliver on this vision, given our resources, if we choose to align our funding and staffing in a new way. Now there is a sense of urgency because of the financial challenges. Budget reductions for the upcoming fiscal year will take a serious human toll. This is the second year in a row where funding has necessitated layoffs...
Now I would like to talk about a methodology that measures our services, operations and proximities to other libraries. Before I do, though, we all know that every branch has an individual story, and part of the reason we are considering many data sources is that not one or two types of data tell a true story....Remember, we will also look to members of the public, friends and others to complete the whole picture.... ( my emphasis )
I have spent a lot of time with mental health professionals in my day. For the most part they have been affect- less and really weird. Whenever I visited my family members in metal hospitals I was often struck by how out of it the nurses and especially the doctors looked. the vacant stares, the limp, soggy hadshales, the lack of eye contact. I wonder if this article sheds some light on why my sister and I and those helping professionals did not ever "get along" ? The main exceptions were the social workers who usually were kind and efficient people who seemed to care for us and our sick family members. Or, has this research and theorizing been debunked in the 5 years that have passed since this was published?
"Are bio-medical scientists and experimental psychologists temperamentally well suited to the task of understanding human emotions and feelings?
Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is also co-director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge. Autistic individuals have a deficit in their capacity to perceive the feelings which other people experience in social situations. They also have difficulty recognizing that circumstances and events can be interpreted in a variety of ways by different individuals. Simon Baron-Cohen refers to this type of deficit as Mindblindness (the title of one of his books).
There are milder forms of autism in which cognitive functions are not impaired, and some individuals can have exceptional mathematical, musical or artistic abilities. Simon Baron-Cohen believes there are innate differences between male and female brains. In his view, female brains are predominantly wired for empathy, whereas male brains are predominantly wired for understanding and building systems. He describes autism as an extreme version of the male brain, which may explain why autism is more common among males.
The range of impairments, from mild to extreme, is referred to as the "Autism Spectrum," and encompasses cases of Asperger's Syndrome. Components of these various disorders include poor social skill, poor communication skill, poor imagination, exceptional attention to detail, poor attention-switching and a narrow focus of attention. Not all of them are necessarily present in each individual case.
A self-test is available as a PDF document on the Autism Research Centre's website. One particular study was designed to develop a brief, self-administered test for measuring the degree to which an adult with normal intelligence has traits associated with the autism spectrum. The report has the long-winded title "The Autism-Spectrum Quotient: Evidence from Asperger Syndrome/High Functioning Autism, Males and Females, Scientists and Mathematicians." If you read the research report it might help to keep in mind these acronyms:
AQ - Autism-spectrum Quotient.
AS - Asperger Syndrome.
HFA - High-Functioning Autism.
The research study assessed four groups of subjects:
Group 1: 58 adults with Asperger Syndrome.
Group 2: 174 randomly selected controls.
Group 3: 840 students in Cambridge University.
Group 4: 16 winners of the UK Mathematics Olympiad.
The report states:
"Among the group of 840 students, scientists scored significantly higher in autism spectrum traits than humanities and social sciences students, confirming an earlier study which showed that autistic traits are associated with scientific skills."
Within the subgroup of science students, mathematicians, engineers, physical, and computer scientists were found to have the highest scores, followed by biologists, experimental psychologists and medical students.
It is always nice to hear that people read my books and then have a party...which is what seems to have happened at the Ford Elementary School in Michigan, 800 miles from Cambridge, MA. The news article is titled" Using their noodles: 'Diversity celebration' tied to book" by Paula Evans Neuman is excerpted below...
Photos by E.L. Conley - Second-grader Tyler Crispell digs into a plate full of different pasta dishes, while his Fordline Elementary School teacher, BethAnn Taylor, and student teacher, Amanda Green, look on.
Oodles of noodles were piled on plates at Ford line Elementary School in Southgate recently.
The occasion?
A lesson on diversity keyed to a book, “Everybody Brings Noodles,” read by student teacher Amanda Green to the second-graders in BethAnn Taylor’s classroom.
The book, one in a series by author Norah Dooley, is about a little girl who organizes a block party in her multi-ethnic neighborhood.
To her surprise and delight, everyone brings a different sort of pasta, her favorite food. The book includes recipes.
Green asked the Southgate children’s parents to make the dishes in the book so they could be shared during a “diversity celebration” at school, Taylor said
Well, first of all, massmouth's upcoming slam is linked here. So we are very happy. But check out yourself this amazing collection of links on storytelling from Gregg Morris at What's Your Story? I have picked a few faves to highlight here.
Endings
"...it's important to focus on the end. We remember the whole in terms of what happens at the end. With the colonoscopy research they found that just leaving in the tube for longer and not wiggling around too much gave people a happier ending. It's no coincidence then that a common plot structure is one where the story builds to a strong ending.
You can use this type of plot structure to plan and deliver a presentation so everyone remembers the experience. Of course a good memory of the event happens when the last thing you did is satisfying."
A storyteller uses characters to help communicate the key themes in a story. You’re the key character in your story, but there are undoubtedly others too — the people in your contact network, your colleagues and clients, mentors, family and friends, idols and heroes.
Characterization involves using the information you have about yourself to best effect in giving others a clear picture of you.
Building Your Character
If you were to think of yourself as a character, you can see that the information you choose to distribute about yourself, and the means you use to distribute it, will help others build a perception of you.
A storyteller selects crucial defining information about their characters and focuses on communicating that clearly, in a way that suits the character. We can do the same to build our personal brands efficiently.
Applying characterization techniques in personal branding is less a question of, for example, avoiding mentioning that you eat dinner at an unfashionable restaurant each week than it is about meeting your audience’s desire to know you in the most effective way.
We all know that there’s a plethora of options for communicating your character though personal branding, including:
the channels you use
the language you use
your profile data
the photos you publish of yourself and others
your interests, pastimes, and the topics you focus on, including links and other content you promote
your frequency and depth of public engagement with others
the places you like to visit or meet others
The other side to the characterization coin is to work out which pieces of information most clearly define the key aspects of your character. Few of us have time to transmit every piece of the minutiae of our days or nights, so we need to choose what we’ll communicate. How do you know what will best illustrate your character to your contacts?
The answer will depend on your character! I usually only communicate about things that I feel very strongly about — topics I’m passionate about — which in itself reflects my character to some degree. You might decide to focus on communicating the things you enjoy or like the most, or information regarding what you feel are the main, or most important, areas of your life. Conversely, you may choose predominantly to communicate about lighthearted, non-serious topics if you’re that kind of person.
Characterization in Practice
Some of my contacts are extremely good at characterization. One, a designer, uses a combination of his blog, Twitter and Flickr to communicate his professional and personal interests in a very coherent form, though at first glance, it may seem fragmented. He uses his blog to chart his creative pursuits and interests, Flickr to illustrate his role as a husband and dad, and Twitter to make brief philosophical comment on the world.
He rarely, if ever, links between the three, so he possibly sees these channels as serving different audiences. But as a friend and creative contact who I follow fairly closely through all these online channels (and see pretty often as well), these efforts combine to make him a very clear-cut character.
Another friend is a computer programmer by day and singer/bassist in a band by night. Between his blog, his Facebook page (he’s just polled his Facebook friends about whether he should cut his hair or not), his Twitter comments (he was recently snapped manning the BBQ at a backyard concert and tweeted the link) and technical articles he writes occasionally, as well as my personal contact with the guy I know and love, I have a clear idea of his character.
Obviously, since personal branding involves a range of channels, consistency of your character across all of these is key, but as my friends’ cases illustrate, it doesn’t mean you have to communicate the same pieces of information across all of those channels. But it may. Ultimately, the way you communicate your character is limited only by your creativity and personal preferences.
However you implement characterization, it will help your personal branding if you think about yourself as a character in your own story. I should help you put yourself in your audience’s shoes, and choose to communicate that character efficiently, effectively, and thoroughly through various channels. How do you communicate your character online?
The telling of a story not only suggests the physical presence of a storyteller and an audience, but the relationship that exists between the two, the relationships between members of the audience, the relationship between humans and the land on which they live and in which the action of the story transpires, etc.
…[T]he shared experience of listening to a story makes the entire audience into one being. The story is the ligament that binds us. … Regardless of the length of the story, the setting in which it’s told, the experience of the teller or the teller’s background, when we tell authentically tell a story it binds audience members to each other and to the teller. Stories are connective tissue in culture and families as well. They are how we identify ourselves, how we know that I am of this group, so this is my story.
Some good things to muse upon as we enter the final phases of our story slam season.
