A Storied Career
Kathy Hansen's Blog to explore traditional and postmodern forms/uses of storytelling.
|
This Might Just Be the Holy Grail of Presentation Storytelling -- About Storytelling
I’ve long been interested in storytelling in presentations and have followed the SlideShare presentation contests (especially the Tell a Story incarnation), as well as storytelling-in-presentation gurus like the guys at ethos3, Nancy Duarte, and Joyce Hostyn. Somewhere in the midst of my study of this subject, reader Raf Stevens brought me up short by asking what exactly constituted good storytelling in presentations. I looked extensively into possible answers to that one but never felt... |
|
Recapping Business Novels and Adding a New One
Since the early days of this blog, I’ve been fascinated by the concept of the “business novel” or fable and have blogged about every one I’ve come across. At the end of this entry, I’ve listed all the biz novels (I think) that I’ve ever featured in this space, with links to the original posting about each. I’m also adding a new one to the roster: The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea, by Bob Burg and John David Mann. Here’s... |
|
Last Five Months in Storytelling: The Re-Mix
Up until a week or so ago, I felt I was playing a massive game of catch-up following our cross-country move and completion of our new house in Washington. I purposely lined up a slew of new Q&A interviews with story practitioners to run during this period when I felt I might not have time to meet my personal commitment of 7/365 blog entries. During some of its life, the purpose of this blog has been to curate storytelling news and bring it to the attention of fans of applied storytelling.... |
|
Story Drives Dance: National Dance Day Is Today
My earliest and most sustained ambition was to be a dancer — specifically a ballerina. After five years of childhood dance lessons, I realized I was no good at learning steps. Many years later, I identified my disability as a very poor capacity for kinesthetic learning; my brain simply could not observe a teacher doing dance steps and translate the same movements to my own body. My inability to learn dance steps has always seemed like a cruel joke of nature, and there’s still a tiny... |
|
Update on NPR/Flickr Girls' Diary Project
NPR and Flickr have added more scanned pages from girls’ diaries, as part of the project I reported on here. I also belatedly realized that this diary project is connected with the Hidden Life of Girls project I wrote about here. I wish the connection were more clear on these sites. |
|
Designers Sought to Tell Stories of Sex-Trade Victims
Michael Margolis’s newsletter made me aware of this worthy project, “Be a Biographer” from The Blind Project: “Be a Biographer” invites designers, artists and creative-minded people to help tell the stories of victims and survivors of the commercial sex trade through their designs. “We want to connect your talents with her needs. For freedom, love, hope, dignity and protection. Our role is simple. To tell her story. To be her biographer,” said Anthony... |
|
Questions About Organizational Storytelling, Linguistic Sensemaking, Antenarrative?
David Boje is one of the leading scholars of organizational storytelling. I encountered large bodies of his work while in my PhD program, and I must admit it takes me an enormous amount of effort and brain power to wrap my head around his research and concepts. But he has a prodigious Web presence, so there’s no lack of material to try and understand. One of the newest — or at least one that I have most recently come across — is StoryOrgs, described as a “Knowledge Sharing... |
|
Daily Literary Quote
Thought it would be nice to have a daily lit quote as an entry: if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('de2e1b2a-c9ff-4ae1-bf95-01cf18564f66');Get the Daily Literary Quote widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info) |
|
Pet-Loss Stories Sought
Robin Souers (who happens to be my sister) is writing an article or perhaps a series of articles on pet loss and grief. She’s seeking stories that are more than just facts. “I’m especially interested in the thoughts and feelings people experience when they lose a pet and how they cope,” she says. The stories can concern any kind of pet, and any kind of loss. Incentives/rewards may be available for stories she uses in the article. Robin asks that folks email submissions... |
|
Permanent Entry: What Story Practitioners are Tweeting
Here’s a little widget with the tweets of all the story folks I follow on Twitter on my @AStoriedCareer account. It’s supposed to have a shell and a nice header. Who knows why it doesn’t. new TWTR.Widget({ version: 2, type: 'list', rpp: 30, interval: 6000, title: 'Tweets by', subject: 'Story Practitioners', width: 300, height: 300, theme: { shell: { background: '99FF99', color: '#ffffff' }, tweets: { background: '#ffffff', ... |
|
Anecdote's Story Finder Is a Treasure Trove
A week or so ago, a friend asked me to help her come up with a seven-minute story to read for a Toastmaster’s assignment. I was flummoxed and disappointed with myself. Here I am exposed to stories all the time, but I lacked any type of mental or virtual database from which I could easily draw a story that would meet my friend’s needs. But that same day, I got a newsletter from Anecdote, the Australian consulting firm, that announced its Story Finder. There it was — a database... |
|
Will You Take the 12-Week Story-Blogging Challenge?
Michael Margolis has proclaimed a 12-week story blogging challenge for himself and has invited others to join him. He’s challenged himself in conjunction with his Social Media Jedi Program, which launched last week. The challenge is to blog at least weekly. In the comments to his entry announcing the challenge, I said: Great idea, Michael. How do you define “story blogging” and how does it align with “personal musing[s], stream of consciousness idea[s]?” (He had... |
|
Facebook Stories: Story Data from Large, Diverse Population
My blog feed runs on Facebook, where occasionally, my entries generate more comments than they do here on the actual blog. Such was the case with my followup blog entry about Facebook marking its 500 millionth user by launching Facebook Stories. The entry generated a lively discussion on Facebook among me, Terrence Gargiulo, and Sean Buvala. Terrence first wanted to know: “Do these read as stories? How would you characterize the range of ‘story responses?’” My response: Well,... |
|
Q&A with a Story Guru: Eric James Wolf: Exciting Projects in the Works
See a photo of Eric his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Q&A with Eric James Wolf, Question 5: Q: You seem to have lots of storytelling projects going on and more planned for the future. Which projects are you most excited about now? A: Depends on which day you ask me. Right now I am pretty excited about these projects: The launch of “The Application of Story” Podcast as a part of International Storytelling School, where I answer questions... |
|
Q&A with a Story Guru: Eric James Wolf: Storytelling Award Means the World
See a photo of Eric his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3. Q&A with Eric James Wolf, Question 4: Q: You are to receive the Oracle Award in recognition of your work as producer and host of the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show during the last evening of the National Storytelling Conference this month [July 2010]. What does this award mean to you? A: The National Storytelling Network is made up of some of the most committed people, and I am very flattered to be... |
|
Q&A with a Story Guru: Eric James Wolf: He Seeks Passion and Expertise in Podcast Guests
See a photo of Eric his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2. Q&A with Eric James Wolf, Question 3: Q: In your list of questions for me*, you asked what characteristics attract me to the story practitioners I interview in my Q&As. Let me turn that question around and ask the same of you: What do you look for in the storytellers you interview in your podcasts? [*Eric interviewed me here.] A: Passion and expertise is key. I am continually surprised by America’s willingness... |
|
Update: Facebook Reaches Half a Billion Users and Launches Facebook Stories
Updating my entry from Sunday that included a mention of Facebook stories: Facebook acquired its 500 millionth user today and decided to ficus not on those staggering numbers but on the stories behind them. Hence, the social-media venue is launching Facebook Stories today. Pretty significant when the biggest site on the Internet focuses on stories. |
|
Q&A with a Story Guru: Eric James Wolf: Storytelling Is Best Tool to Teach People Right Livelihood
See a photo of Eric his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A. Q&A with Eric, Question 2: Q: What inspired you to “cross over” and explore the applied side of storytelling, e.g., your interview with Steve Denning (pictured)? A: I have always been an applied storyteller so I do not view what Steven has done and what I do as any different in terms of application. What changed for me was my willingness to admit that I had anything to learn from someone who had once worked for... |
|
Q&A with a Story Guru: Eric James Wolf:
See a photo of Eric his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A. Q&A with Eric, Question 2: |
|
Grayson Uses Story to Urge Passage of Unemployment Benefits
I know Alan Grayson from near my former congressional district in Central Florida is a pariah to many, but I am citing this powerful, very short speech because it starts with a story — about his grandfather searching for stuff in the dump that he could sell to support his family of seven children during the Great Depression. He uses his story to make a point about what’s happening today. I think it’s effective. What do you think? |