Sean Buvala, Storyteller with Extra Searchiness.

Yes, here it is, the Sean Buvala, Storyteller, Google search video. Now, I know you have been thinking, "How can I best make a my life just that much easier?' when along comes this silly Google project. Much fun to be had by all, as they say. (giggle)

Now, see don't you feel more pep in your step? Toe-tapping music, no? Okay, back to your regular blog surfing now.
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The is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

No, I Don't Want You Drunk On Emotion. (Response to Fast Company Article)

Yikes. A "master storyteller" does not want an audience "drunk on emotion."

Over at the "Fast Company" website (major business magazine), there's a poetic but off-base article about business storytelling: "Why Storytelling is the Ultimate Weapon." Take a read of the article if you'd like. Here's my reaction. I posted it on the FC website but the formatting went wonky. Here is a clearer picture, adapted from my comments I posted on the FC site:

To put my response in context: I’ve been thinking about this article from the perspective of a storytelling professional. That’s biz coaching, story performance and authoring books for some 26 years. I’ve been working with online discussions of storytelling since before Google even existed.

It's a good article on the science of storytelling overall. After that, I am not sure what to think. I don't know what this article adds to the "business storytelling" discussion specifically, except more theory. And, as I experience it, there is more than enough business storytelling theory floating around. Let’s be much more practical and put out some serious how-to versus more emotional-focused poetry.

If I am reading this correctly, the article is filed under this site's category of "Industry POV." I don't see an exclusive business POV here. Substitute "education,” “health care” or “babysitting" whenever the word "business" is mentioned and the article still works. Maybe use the words "teachers,” “doctors” or “low-paid teenagers" for the word "professionals," too. This could easily have been about “storytelling in education” in the NEA magazine instead of business in the Fast Company magazine. Maybe it was just poor placement by Fast Company that leaves me so underwhelmed.

I do struggle with the author's well-intentioned closing. Discounting the use of logic/facts in trade for (insert soft music here) narrative really damages the truth of what story can do. The purpose of story (real-life, world tale or fairy tale) is to carry logic and reason, not to replace it. I mentioned this earlier in a response to another poster: my goal as a storyteller (in any situation) is rarely just an emotional response. Oh, sure, I can achieve that when it’s desired. However, what I want is to go beyond the emotional with a longer-lasting (but slower in forming) lesson, meaning or message. Emotional response is more a feature of good theater or acting techniques. However, storytelling is not acting, including when used in business settings.

This takes me back to: "master storyteller" does not want an audience "drunk on emotion." I actually think this is rather comical.

Insisting (as I think I see in the article) that we *must* begin with "once upon a time" for every audience all the time discounts the very nature and work of a storyteller in the boardroom or on stage. As a storyteller, my experience teaches me to know both when to lead with a story and when not to. Being mindful of story placement is a real skill.

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The is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

New Project "How to Write an About Me"

Here's my posting of a couple of videos for my newest project "How to Write an About Me." I've created a multi-media training kit with a .pdf ebook, four webinar-style videos of about 10 minutes each and the audio-only mp3 files from the videos.

If the kit generates enough interest and sales, I will have transcripts made for the videos as they have an idea or two not listed in the book. When I get talking, ideas pour out. I get requests for "I need to write a bio" rather frequently and thought this story-infused approach would be helpful for my guests and clients. It's rather straight-forward in my No-Nonsense approach.

At the moment of this writing, the kit is a download for just $7.00. That price will change soon. Get yours at this launch price if you are interested. Details at http://www.howtowriteanaboutme.com .

Here is a sample clip from one of the videos.


Here is the promotional video we put together to post on Youtube.


I'd enjoy helping you create your next About Me bio for your projects and websites. Come grab your copy of this affordable resource.

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The is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

The New "No Nonsense Storytelling" Webinar. Freebie.

I'm doing a freebie webinar next week. Isn't it time you shook up your storytelling skills? Visit http://nononsensestorytelling.com/. Allow our video to bring you your pipe and slippers...




****** The is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

10 Habits of Good Public Speakers

(Note: I wrote this for another website that wanted a quick article with this title. I'm sharing it with you, too. Maybe there is a tidbit or two within it for you?)

Public speakers can motivate, educate, challenge and entertain audiences. The best public speakers can do all four at the same time. A good public speaker is flexible and enjoys the diversity that each audience presents. It is an honor to speak with an audience and the best public speakers never forget that.

Always strive for excellence when you are speaking in public. In no particular order, here are 10 behaviors that public speakers should incorporate into their professional conduct.

A great public speaker. . .

1. . . .meets the audience.
When I speak at an event with other presenters on the schedule, I am always amazed that the speakers congregate backstage and away from the audience. While some prep time is always needed before an event, make it a point to go out and casually mingle with the audience, doing more listening than talking. You will meet some great people and more of the audience will feel like they already know you when it is your turn to speak on stage.

2. . . .knows their subject matter.
Speak about what you know and subjects that capture your energy and focus. You should know your subject well enough that you could spontaneously speak without notes in any situation. Be devoted to the subjects you speak about.

3. . . .uses sound equipment.
While it may seem more casual to ditch the microphone, I am seeing and hearing many speakers in my coaching work that insist they do not need a microphone. Making your audience strain to hear your words is not respectful. Any group gathering that cannot fit around a conference table will require a microphone.

4. . . .dresses comfortably for the audience.
Keep your clothing choices just a step above the casual or formal dress of the group. For example, if you are expecting an audience filled with blue-jeans casual, you might choose a business-casual attire.

5. . .listens to other speakers.
Just as you want to meet an audience before events, it is important that speakers participate in those events. In particular, make it a point to hear the speakers that are before you on the schedule so that you will be able to make good tie-ins with the group's experience.

6. . . .incorporates learning styles.
Not everyone in your audience can learn from a singular presentation stytle. Mix your presentation with audience activities, slides, stories and your direct input.

7. . .uses good speaking mechanics.
Are you using first-rate nonverbal techniques? Vary your pacing, tone, eye contact, gestures and movement as your presentation progresses. Be interesting to watch.

8. . .customizes presentations.
It was popular advice a few years ago that you should be a speaker who developed a single presentation and presented that to every audience. In addition to being arrogant, it is rude to your audience and is a way to guarantee you will not be rehired. Tweak your presentations for each audience.

9. . .uses appropriate humor.
While the days of the "start with a joke" are well behind us, it is still good to use your own natural humor- staying away from traditionally sensitive topics such as religion or politics. Rather than try to be funny, simply share things that are funny to you and let the audience decide what they will laugh at.

10. . .shares good stories.
Good stories, used to illustrate your points, can help an audience remember your presentation. Be on the lookout for good stories from your own life and literature that can be used for future presentations. Learn good storytelling techniques to adjust each story for your audience. In my "Storytelling 101" Eworkbook, you can learn how to develop and present stories in a step-by-step manner. You can learn more at http://www.storytelling101.com.

Use this list as a place to start, but I encourage you to develop your own list of habits that will make you an excellent speaker.

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Sean Buvala is a "hard-core how-to-do-storytelling coach" working and teaching internationally since 1986. He has served variety of clients with big names down to the smallest one-person business. An award winning storyteller, he's able to help you develop and fine-tune your business speech. To set up your coaching session with Sean, fill out his contact form on his website at http://www.seantells.com.

Frosted by Storytelling: False Storytelling Sighting

Slightly tongue in cheek, but not much. . .

In a rare moment of casual TV watching, I stumbled upon one of these ubiquitous cooking challenge shows. The contestants were making cakes and trying to prove them to a line of random judges.

As the judges came to one table, the cook chef, said something like, "I have here for you today a chocolate cake that has three kinds of chocolate bits in both the cake and the icing. Enjoy."

The judges tasted. The judges pondered something highbrow to say.

And then, further proof-that-storytelling-is-now-a-fad fell from the judge's lips, "This is delicious and the chocolate pieces really tell a story." Without further comment other than everyone nodding their heads, the judges walked away.

It is a good thing that the TV universal remote controls are just $5 at Walmart. I keep breaking them throwing them at my television as I hear awful uses of the word "storytelling." I have no doubt that the producers of the TV program were in over-the-top joy over as someone placed into the show's dialogue the latest business catchphrase, "storytelling."

Sorry. Storytelling was taking place in the chocolate bits? A story was not even present in the chocolate as expressed during this program. The flavor wasn't storytelling. Here are four reasons why:

1. Storytelling requires words.

Chocolate bits cannot speak. Chocolate bits could represent something in a story, but the bits themselves are not storytelling. Only people, using words, do storytelling.

2. Storytelling is a spoken art form and business communication tool that needs the audience and the storyteller together, live and in person.

Chocolate bits do not speak. If the chef had said, "These rare chocolate bits in the cake are the last remains of hand-made chocolate my immigrant grandfather brought over from Germany. My family insisted that you, worshipful judges, be the last ones to savor them," we might have had the anecdotal start of a story. If I had heard something like this on the cooking show, then I could somehow forgive the judge for his error in the misuse of "storytelling."

3. Stories have arcs.

Taste alone is not the beginning, middle and end of a narrative. I do understand that flavors can remind the taster of a story. However, that is not what the judge said. He grabbed the word-of-the day and stated that these three flavors "really told a story."

A singular moment cannot be a story. The moment needs to be placed within the story arc in order to be called story. "My mother used to make a cake with three kinds of chocolate in it and…" That would be the start of a story.

4. Not every idea is (yet) a story.

Sadly, we no longer pay attention to our words. Every breath, uttered word, idea and fleeting thought is now called "story." There is only one answer to this: the power presence of "story" and "storytelling" has been completely diluted in the modern world. Flavors, utterances, insights, conversations are now all labeled "story" or worse "storytelling."

So, how do we fix these issues?

1. Develop some discipline in how you approach language.

Say what you mean. Know that words have meaning. Walking is not Running even if both are ways to move. Eating is not Storytelling even if both, are, well they aren't the same thing. Definition and understanding empowers us to do great things with them.

2. Stop cheating with the story tool.

Storytelling cannot be done on film alone. It cannot be done by paint itself. It cannot be done alone by chocolate. It can only be done with people. If a client says to me, "We want storytelling in our company but can't commit any training time to it," I will tell them then that they can't have storytelling in their business. They will need another way to communicate their story, even if it is not as buzz-worthy as "storytelling." Recapping: People are for storytelling and chocolate is for eating.

3. Spend the time to learn how to tell a story.

In the least, learn how to make a true story from your great ideas. I know, your communications consultant may have told you that storytelling is easy and cost-free. You have been misled. Maybe you are assured that everyone in your organization is a storyteller. They are not, no more than every cook is a chef. I do have some hope for you: it is easier to become a good storyteller than it is to become a good chef. Both becomings take work and focus.

4. People count.

There may have been a great story to go with this chocolate-bitsy cake. To find the storytelling within, I would have to peer over the top of the cake, crumbs trailing on my lips, look into the eyes of the chef and say, "So, how did you become expert enough to make this cake I'm eating? How did you come across these fine chocolate bits?"

In that response, I would probably find the real story behind the chocolate. I might even find a storyteller within the chef.

That (you knew this pun was coming) would be the real icing on the cake.

P.S. The cake in the picture was one my 12-year-old made for the 24th wedding anniversary for my wife and I. It had one type of chocolate. It was delicious.

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Sean Buvala has been storytelling for 25 years and is the author of the book, "Measures of Story: How to Create a Story from Floats and Anecdotes." Get your copy at Amazon.com or come by http://www.howtocreateastory.com to learn more.

Unboxing StoryPlay Cards

When I am not busy making the business world safe for storytellers everywhere(dramatice pause as I am flipping my cape back and staring deep off into the horizon), I still am the director of Storyteller.net. In one of our latest fun things, we take a look at storytelling card game for families and kids. Review here. Video below.




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The is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

New Book! "Measures of Story"

I've released a new book! For the next few days, you can get the book (Ebook or Kindle), a free teleseminar and the audio version of the book for just $6.97. Yes, that's just about giving it away. To get the teleseminar and the audio book, please order by the 11th. Details on the site.

I have a free chapter to read, a free chapter to hear, the table of contents to download all on the new website for the book. No registration is required for the free reads or audio.

Come grab your copy of "Measures of Story: How to Create a Story from Floats and Anecdotes." Features include:

*Explore the differences between stories, anecdotes and floats.

*Replace your archaic “elevator speech.” Understand why real stories make better communication tools.

*Learn the most overused floats that aren't the stories you might think they are.

*See how these anecdotes and floats become stories with examples for the personal and business world.

*Create your new stories with Sean’s “Take Action!” activities.

*Discover more online resources to help you learn to share convincing stories with associates, friends, students or family

Learn more:
http://www.howotcreateastory.com

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The is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

Falling from the Roof on July 4th

One particular July 4th* sticks in my mind. My best guess is that I must have walked too close to the edge of the roof, but I don't remember falling.

But first, the Aesop story:
A young man was in the midst of a long journey and, on the second night, found himself exhausted and fatigued. As night fell, he found a deep freshly-dug well and drank fully from it. He then laid down to sleep right next to the edge of the well…

I think I was 19 years old and for employment, I was managing a restaurant. Somehow or other, I was able to get enough of my work done to take the evening off, leaving the assistant manager to handle the final few hours the store would be open. As any of you who have worked in the food industry know, major holidays are not vacation days for food workers.

It was a July tradition to climb up on the roof to watch the fireworks. This was not the first time I had been up on the roof. All previous adventures up top had been without incident.

What was different on this July 4 was the short amount of time I was on the roof. I remember climbing up the ladder and taking a few steps around. Then, my next memory was that I was painfully on the ground. It seems my falling was not a problem but in the landing I busted my right ankle. This was not much of an injury but enough to leave me wearing one of those plastic and Velcro cast-like contraptions for six weeks.

Aesop Continues…
As the young man slept, the Goddess Fate came to him and shook him to wake up. She said to the young man, "Wake yourself up before you fall into this well. For if you do, other mortals may blame Fate for your troubles rather than seeing that the blame truly lies with you. Move away from the well before your own folly causes you harm."

Some holidays are more memorable than others are. Falling off the roof is really a way to remember the 4th of July. Silly me. It must have been my "Fate" that led me to my fall. Now, I live in two-story home so the viewing of fireworks is done through an upstairs window, where Fate cannot push me off the roof.

Happy 4th to you all.

(*For my international friends: July 4 is the U.S. Independence Day celebration, right in the middle of the Summer season. Food, family and fireworks are traditional parts to the holiday celebration.)

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The is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

The Mythology of Business Storytelling, Part Two

In the last post, I gave some background to these "myth" thoughts. Read the part-one posting before you tackle this post. Consider these two posts as one continuous chat. By the way, I am not suggesting that any "Storytelling expert" who has hopped on the Storytelling bandwagon of late is trying to deceive. I believe there sure is a lack of understanding of story and storytelling.

Myth 4. Storytelling has no rules. Story is whatever you want it to be.
Not every conversation is storytelling. There is a difference between a story and an anecdote. Storytelling is an oral art. Writing a story is not storytelling.

Let me switch gears and be the BEST STORYTELLING CONSULTANT(TM) (giggle) you could ever have: "Hey, why constrain the everybody-make-their-own-reality freedom? Whatever you want is the most important thing here! Go on, storytelling is whatever your company tells me it should be. Thank you for hiring me. That will be $2,500, please."

Would you hire an accounting consultant that thought like that? Would you hire an Internet Security consultant who just wanted to make things easy for you?

Let me share my adaptation of a Hungarian folktale.

Once there was a little bear who loved to sing. However, when she sang the song was awful. She could not carry a tune. While her family loved her, her singing was so bad they had to cover their ears when she would break into song.

One day, the little bear asked her mother a question. "Mother, do you not think that my singing is the best in the world?"

The mother bear gave her daughter a hug and said, "Well, I love you very much, but the truth is that your singing is not very good. It hurts the ears of all who hear it."

The little bear was undisturbed. "Why, then, if you don't like my singing, I shall go out and find others that think my songs are the most beautiful of any." And with that, she walked out the door.

A few blocks down the road she ran across another bear. She looked at him and said, "Do you like to sing?"

He replied, "Yes, of course! Here, let us sing a song together."

The two young bears began to sing a song so off-key and so acoustically jarring that dogs began to howl in pain and even the birds in the tree overhead flew away as quickly as they could.

"Now," the boy bear asked of his newfound friend, "what do you think of my singing?"

She immediately answered, "I think your voice is the most pleasing thing I have ever heard. Tell me, what do you think of my amazing voice?"

"Your voice," he announced, "is satisfying like cool water on a hot day. Come, let us sing for everyone we meet."

And so they did, raising their voices in song to whomever they met. To this day, they continue to sing their outrageous songs, but they find that fewer and fewer of the other animals will listen.

Myth 5. Everyone is a storyteller.
Let me be direct here. Not everyone in your company should tell stories or be required to create stories. "Yeah, but Bob in Shipping tells the funniest jokes in the lunch room." Telling jokes is not storytelling. There is an art and discipline to seeing story as it happens in your company. Yes, train everyone about business storytelling, but do not require that they immediately start to tell. Begin the story biz process slowly in one area of your company and let the enthusiasm spread. If everyone is a storyteller, then no one is a storyteller.

"But, Sean, we have a schedule to keep. We need 100 stories by Tuesday. Everyone must tell their company story." I am sorry, but that will not happen. If you force people to create stories, you are going to get piles of….fake stories.

Myth 6. "Just tell your real story. That'll win 'em over."
I once had a loose-lipped colleague who said his grandmother always chided him, "Don't tell everything you know."

I see this myth often when dealing with small-business or personal coaching consultants. I agree with the ideas of transparency. We should be "real" with our clients and let them know we are human. However, use caution. There is a fine line between sharing with your audience the struggles you have overcome or just dumping (or bragging about) your life on your listener. Sharing personal tales takes (here I go again) discipline and crafting of the story. Ask yourself: Does my self-exposure invite the listeners to move forward with their needs or does it make them like (or feel sorry for) "me" more?

So-
With both Part 1 and 2 of this "myth" series, I have written about some of the problem areas I see with the current corporate storytelling movement. Story and storytelling make up a strong world-mind that we all share as human beings. However, even something as transcendent as sharing our stories can be diluted by hype and noise. As you explore story for business, take a deep look at the understanding you may have about its power. There is so much good to be had if we keep ourselves focused and on track.


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The is official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach. Illustration in this blog post comes from www.gapingvoid.com and is used under his Creative Commons license. See Sean's storytelling training workbook at www.storytelling101.com

The Mythology of Business Storytelling, Part One.

The backlash against any business fad begins slowly. Hype buries the good ideas that are contained within a business movement. For example, when people discover that you can't manage people in just one minute or that there really isn't much fun in throwing stuffed toy fish around the office, the genuine value (read that "the work") of a concept gets abandoned with trappings and hype.

Storytelling and other forms of story expression can work well in business and non-profit organizations. I have seen this played out repeatedly since I began this journey of coaching and training back in 1985.

Of late, I am seeing the rumbling of hype-backlash in the discussion, teaching and preaching of business storytelling. Here are the first three types of buildup of which I think we all need to be aware. I will take on more in the next post. I have gathered these myths from personal experience, social media, blog posts and email.

By the way, "a myth" does not mean "a lie." Myth is truth covered in an agenda.

Myth 1: Storytelling is instant corporate relief.
In tough economic times, everyone is looking for that quick fix to make business work or to grow donations to a non-profit group. The challenge with story, and especially delivery via storytelling, is that it actually takes real work to develop. It takes training to do it well. When you look at how storytelling is being discussed today, do you often see a discussion about the amount of focused work it requires?

Is there a return on investment (ROI) when using storytelling? Yes, there is, but it comes slowly and requires a long-term commitment. (I have written before about what storytelling won't do for a business.) A one-off dive into story work is represented via such slogans as "This year, our company training focus is 'Storytelling!'" Short-term investment reduces the authentic stories of your real customers and employees to gimmicks. Gimmicks have no genuine ROI.

Myth 2. "You must believe in your story."
I have seen variations of this on Social Media more than once, with the emphasis on the word "believe" as an otherworldly transcendence into the metaphysical. Your IT and accounting departments are most likely filled with people who are not going to buy this whole "storytelling" thing. Throw in some Matrix-movie-like dream-world discussion and you will lose both departments. You do not have to believe in metaphor or transcendence in order for a corporate story to be effective.

Your corporate stories must be true and sincere, but they do not have to be magical. Storytelling, done well, creates "deep listening." Many people think that deep listening must be magical. The reality is that in our instant-everything and low-imagination world, we have forgotten that people used to listen like that all the time.

By the way, I do understand the attraction. It sounds like fun to tell stories instead of doing marketing or selling! It is fun to talk about the transcendent nature of storytelling and the stories used within storytelling- but do not make acquiescence to those ideals as a requirement for corporate storytelling. I do not understand 25% of what my technology-guru brother is talking about in regards to computers, but I sure know how to use this word-processing program.

Myth 3. "Storytelling in business is a different type of storytelling."
Like all myth, this has truth at its core. The truth is that every time you speak to a different audience, the experience of the story you are telling changes, even if the teller and the story are the same. I can tell the same story to an audience of entrepreneurs and an audience of 12-year-olds and the experience will change.

Where this myth is false is not understanding the "mechanics" of all storytelling. All storytelling uses the same skills, such characterization, pacing, crafting and gestures. For example, while my characterizations in a story for 12-year-olds might be much broader than the same story told for business leaders, characterization still is used. Knowing how and when to use gestures is as important in a presentation to your nonprofit supporters as it is to "Mother Goose Story Time" in the public library.

Finally, all business stories must be properly crafted in order to be impactful on the listener. It is not enough to just want to use story and storytelling- you must spend the time to construct the story. That crafting process is the same for any setting.

Remember, not every conversation you have should be labeled as storytelling. Sometimes small talk is just small talk. Sometimes a call to customer service is just a phone call, not an epic journey.

I am already at what looks to be the world's longest blog post. I will post part two sometime over the weekend.

PS. I have been asked, "Sean, who died and left you in charge of storytelling?" All I am opining on is what I see from my unique vantage point of experience and practiced approach both on and offline. I could be wrong about all this. Do not believe everything you read on the Internet.

Or, I could be right.

(Read Part Two at this link now.)
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The is official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach. Illustration in this blog comes from www.gapingvoid.com and is used under the Creative Commons license. See Sean's storytelling training workbook at www.storytelling101.com

The Grid of Storytelling

Over on her very interesting blog, Limor Shiponi is struggling to create a visual interpretation of storytelling. It's worth looking at the post, the diagram and to read through the comments on all three parts of her postings on this. While I have tried to impart a definition to storytelling before, she is deeply into this process. Here are my comments on the process so far.

I like what you are doing. What I enjoy more is watching folks “talk” through this. Below are just my thoughts, in no order or fully expressed ideas:

1. There are no solid lines between story, storyteller and audience. The lines are dotted or dashed. The flow of each of these parts plays with and against each other at all times. If the lines are solid, then this is acting and not storytelling.

2. Doug Lipman has done some of this triangle work already in his book “Improving Your Storytelling.” It's on page 17, to be precise. While I disagree (with complete respect) with Doug that the teller does not influence the interpretation of the listener/witness, I do find that his model makes it very clear for the beginning storyteller (which most “business” storytellers are these days) that the creation of a storytelling event requires all three pieces of the puzzle. I usually use his model (with attribution) when working with neophyte storytellers.

3. I think that most “(Some Super Adjective!) Storytelling” phrases these days are primarily for marketing purposes. There was a time that we could just say that we specialize in storytelling for business, but not any more. The field is too crowded with piles of marketers all trying to stand out, thus we get all those adjectives you refer to in your post. This is all part of the mythology that is developing about “Biz” storytelling. I hope to have my first post about these myths up later this afternoon.

Just my two cents here.


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This is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

Stories and Cocktails: "Is Storytelling Always Like....This?"

The Woman stopped the Storyteller on his way out of the main room.

"Is the storytelling always like…this?" The Woman asked, wrinkling up her face in a type of "smells bad" nose-pose and pointing to the front of the room where the Slam had just earlier finished that evening.

"What do you mean?" asked the Storyteller.

"Well, these stories don't sound like things you would hear, you know, if you were out with friends having cocktails and sharing stories. I think that is the best storytelling." she replied.

He answered, "Everybody has their favorite type of storytelling. As well, there's a big difference between telling stories on a stage in front of strangers you don't know and telling intimate stories over drinks with a few good friends."

"Like how?" inquired The Woman.

"If you are out with friends," he answered, "then you are dealing with an audience that you understand well, I hope. You might be freer with descriptions, glossing over the parts you already know that they would know and spending more time on the parts that would be of interest to them. When you tell 'cold' on a stage with a group you just don't know, you have to be more responsive to how they react and be able to make lightning-fast changes to your delivery."

"I don't see how it would make a difference," she responded, "I mean you get your story ready and then you just tell it."

The Storyteller shook his head in disagreement. "As a storyteller, I never 'get my story ready' and put it into a singular form. Every time I am with an audience, three parts of the experience are constantly changing. The storyteller, the audience and the story are involved. If I have memorized how to tell my story, then really I am just acting."

"I never thought of that," she said as the nose-pose she had been holding softened.

"In fact," added The Storyteller, "we might have seen some of that tonight. Most of the storytelling was pretty good. But, we had storytellers who are so used to telling their story 'one way' that it didn't work here tonight with a much more casual crowd and distracting atmosphere. Then, we had people telling to a room of 70 people as if we were all across a nightclub table from them, talking too fast and dropping their sentences. Too uptight or too casual are both signs that the storyteller is not reading the audience."

The Woman thought a bit as sparkles of recognition danced across her forehead. "So, a storyteller has to be able to 'go with the flow' and be ready for audiences that might be stuffy or an audience of friends who are going to be silly. It's not all the same all the time."

"Yes," he laughed, "a good storyteller is constantly adjusting their telling as they tell."

"I think I will have to learn more," replied The Woman as she shook hands with the Storyteller, waved and walked away.

"Hmm, I think we just wrote my next online post" the Storyteller thought to himself as he walked on, looking for where the rest of his car companions had gone.

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Photo courtesy of Fotolia.com. The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

Every Word Is Not A Story

I've been engaging in a fun (friendly, non-flame) conversation with big-thinker Trey Pennington over on his blog. He related an incident where his daughter used good negotiation skills to convince Trey to put some items on her Christmas 2011 list. In May of 2011.

His blog and comments are a good read and you can find his blog here. He believes that his daughter used a "story" to convince him of how reasonable her request was. In the comments section I noted that while she did use great negotiation techniques, she didn't use story.

In friendly disagreement, Trey's response, among other comments, was to state the definition of story: "What the tool looks like, feels like, behaves like, might very well be different depending on the hand that holds it."

I've responded:

I'm not nearly as much of purist as some believe, but if it's "everybody into the pool" then those who deny it's water are going to drown.

So, the answer is, paraphrased, "(Story) is whatever you want it to be?"

Nah.

You'll have to excuse my lack of PhD in trying to explain this, but I will do my best with my tiny storyteller brain. (LOL)

If I call you about your car you have for sale, I know that a "car" means at least four wheels and some type of enclosure where passengers sit.

You assure me that you have a 2001 car for sale and I should come take a look at it.

When I get to your house, sitting in your garage is a 2001 Motorcycle. I am not happy as you've wasted my time.

"But," you say, "isn't the truth of what car is really in the hands that hold it? Silly Sean, you're such a purist. You should be completely happy with this two-wheeled, open air contraption. After all, I think it's a car. Look, over there in the corner is a car that has two wheels and you use your feet to pedal it. I will even throw in the bell on the handlebars at no extra cost."

::Insert giggle here::

My clients would be pretty sad if they booked me to teach them story, storytelling and public speaking only to have me arrive at their doorstep and say, "So, what do you think story is? Here, let's paint the side of your building with this geometric design."

Story has form and substance: a narrative with a beginning, middle and an end.

By the way, please note that I am not defining "storytelling" here. Storytelling uses story but they are not the same thing, just as fertilizer isn't the same thing as the shovel used to move it.

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Photo Credit to Fotolia.com.The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

The "Business Storytelling" Warning Label

Nowadays, it seems we have warning labels on everything.

Yesterday, I purchased one of those mesh-fabric laundry bags. It looks something like fish netting, but it is cloth, very soft and full of holes.

There is a huge warning sticker strongly attached inside the bag. It reads of dire warnings of how children should not play with this bag and there could be terrible consequences if the bag were used for anything other its intended use.

Shudder.

I have been thinking a lot lately of the happy-go-lucky approach to business and non-profit storytelling I have seen of late. It is like 1973 all over again. By that, I mean 1973 was one of the birth years of the often-cited Renaissance in oral storytelling in the USA. Sound bites abounded and they might have been such as “Everything is possible with storytelling. We are going to change the world with our stories! Mountains will be razed and valleys will be raised up.”

Groovy.

Nobody was talking “business storytelling” back then. However, we sure are talking about it in the last few years. “If you only believe in your story, your company will be recreated.” “Customers only want your story, not your facts.” “Story is now your unfailing Brand builder.”

Many of the messages about storytelling aren't true. Maybe we need to attach a warning label to storytelling. Here is is what I might write:

! Warning !

This is not a toy. Story, via storytelling, will leave permanent marks on everything that it touches. Off-label uses may include stains you would rather not have.

Business Storytelling must be only be used with the "Intentionality" activator. Untrained employees or well-meaning volunteers should not tell every organizational Story they think they know. Do not allow your company or nonprofit group to attempt Storytelling as a company-wide mission unless your CEO is willing to be the most active storyteller.

Do not use Storytelling as a replacement for all Story. Storytelling should only be used as a person-to-person, live-action, unique and singular experience of Story. For best results, use a blend of personal, business and world-tale Stories in your Storytelling. Other methods used to share Story, such as digital or written word, carry their own warnings. Read those carefully as well.

Misuse of this Story and Storytelling can result in a toxic substance known as “Manipulation.” Manipulation is always fatal to your organization. Storytelling should not be used to replace "Integrity" in any level of your organization.

Yes, I know I am being silly. Or…am I? Proceed with caution.

Check the label.


P.S. I've written before about what storytelling won't do for your business or nonprofit.

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This is the official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

Story for Business Nay Saying.

First off, go take a look at a very good article by Kathy Hansen on her blog: "Not Everyone Thinks Applied Storytelling is a Good Idea." (Note: Dr. Hansen consistently supplies excellent commentary on story and storytelling and should be on your "surfing" list.)

I agree with the issue she's presenting and have added my comments:

How about this article on "10 Things Storytelling Won't Do for Your Business."

You can find it at: http://seantells.com/storywont

Backlash is to be expected at the moment. Sadly, we have gobs of storybiz philosophers out there right now that can comment eloquently about the "why" of story but few comment well about the "how" of story. What we are left with is a pile of people who are energetic about the concept but have no way to really make it go. I've actually seen business people (who should know better) breathlessly say (or Twitter or Facebook) that we have to "believe in" the story for it to work. They're using the word "believe" in the same way that Peter Pan tells the audience that clapping your hands and believing will bring Tinkerbell back to life. No, you don't have to "believe" your story but it must be true, it must be honest and it must have relevance. Story is not cod-liver oil or any panacea.

Another issue is that folks are replacing facts with story. Story frames the facts, it does not replace them. Story carries Truth- not replaces it. For example, there is a reason that XYZ company lost money last year and they need to look at those figures. What story can do is frame the experiences of loss and recovery. As another example, if you have bullies in your elementary school, the simple act of storytelling alone will not solve the problem. Done wrong it will actually make it worse.

I am pre-reading yet another book on biz storytelling before it comes out this Spring. It's full of stories but has no content. Lots of people are going to pick it up and be very disappointed. Those folks will put the book down and abandon storytelling as fluffy cocktail-hour bragging- when it could have made a huge difference in their organizations done right and in context.

I'm pro applied story and its various deliveries, but I am deeply aware that the message often sounds like a 1970's peace-and-love TV commercial to many folks. You'd like to buy the world a Coke? That's great and your vision inspires me. Now, how are we going to pay for it?

The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

What is Storytelling: Thinking About What I Do

A friend of mine recently posted a small Facebook update about his work in pursuing his PhD. He is at the stage now where it is no longer just a dream but is actually close enough to be seen just over the metaphorical horizon. In his post, he posted the a long description of his PhD work and then tongue-in-cheek asked "And what are *you* doing?"

"What am I doing?"
That is not a hard question for me as a professional Storyteller. As well, to give credit, Limor's Storytelling Agora posting really pushed this post to the front for me.

What I am doing is
teaching all these folks with a "D" in their titles how to speak about their complex ideas so that the rest of the world can understand them. My clients come with all kinds of doctorates: JD, MD, PhD, PharmD, DMin and so forth.

I do not just train
the "D's" in storytelling technqiques. Some of my clients have "M's" and "B's" in their titles. Many have no titles at all. Some are still in elementary, high school or college.

What do I do as a storyteller?
Only a small percentage of my time as a working teller is actually involved in telling stories. Mostly, lately, I am training my clients how to speak their truths and content in a way that their audience can grasp and understand. As these others get the basics, the stories get deeper and more complex. Not everyone is a "D" nor should they be.

Complex ideas need to be expressed
in Story. Business to classroom to stage to home, I teach people to do just that.

This "how" is done through Story.
While I prefer storytelling, there are many ways to express Story. The new buzzword is "transmedia storytelling" As a storyteller and an artist first, I am open to the many ways to express Story, but only storytelling is storytelling. If you cannot see your audience and interact with them, allowing them to be cocreators in that singular moment of the Story, then you are not storytelling. You might be doing another equally important and useful art form. However, you will not be storytelling.

Let me clarify what I mean.
All dance is dance. But Tap dance is not Ballet. All Story is Story. Reading a book aloud is not Storytelling. These expressions of art are equal, different and needed.

Some of my expression of Story has been in writing.
My "DaddyTeller" book and workshops are a way to reach dads (moms, too) to urge them to fully engage with their children with by using storytelling. My "Storytelling 101" workbook is a bedrock "how to" of Storytelling essentials. My free Ecourse teaches folks some more tips for storytelling one piece at a time. I have written hundreds of articles and blog posts. I have two more books in different stages of development. I am the director of Storyteller.net where we were talking about storytelling online even before Google existed.

Back in 2008, I did a project
where I posted a near-daily update and picture of my work as a storyteller. It's at http://www.2008pics.com . That is a singular snapshot of one year. Every year is different. Every year has new clients. Every year is another unfolding of Story and storytelling for me.

I have been doing this since 1986.
I have paid my dues enough to be able to put forth theories, understandings and definitions. I am also enough of an artist to know that life is rather fluid and tomorrow is another chance to see what I have not seen before. You can agree or disagree with the ideas I have. It is okay

This post is not ego.
It is clarification for some future posts and projects. Storytelling has burned in my bones for 25 years and it has lit more than its share of fires.

I wonder
if this is an "Artist Statement?"

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The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

Storytelling Tips: 9 Things to Know For Better Storytelling Anytime

Knowing a few good storytelling tips can make your presentations better. If you want an effective ways to share a story, you will find that storytelling is one of the best ways to make an impact with story. I've listed nine basic storytelling tips below for you to think about whenever you want to create a storytelling experience.

1. Select a story you like.

Choose a story you like wherever you are telling: for kids at the library, for a sacred setting or to leaders of business or nonprofit groups. There are so many stories in the world. Take advantage of that variety. Use the ones you like.

2. Work to understand your story.

You need to know how to tell a story. You need to hear or read the story multiple times. Think about your story as parts and not a whole when you are learning. A video camera and a friend who can be gentle yet honest with you will help as you practice.

3. Take out the parts of the story that slow down the action.

Beginning storytellers will hear or read a story and then try to retell every nuance of the story. With each audience, you will remove the parts of the story that do not fit for that audience. Think, "Is this piece required this time? Is it critical?"

4. Speak clearly.

You have chosen a good story and prepared well. You will be confident. Speak with clarity and confidence. Remember you basic speaking skills of enunciation and projection.

5. Use good pacing.

When you are confident, you will not be in a hurry. You want to speak slow enough so that the story is easily absorbed by the audience but do not speak so slowly that their minds check out of the room.

6. A microphone is required.

Use the microphone. Respect the group enough to let them hear you speak. That is why they came to your talk. If you have much experiences as a public-speaker, you probably need a mic when you have more than twenty-five listeners. Beginners, use the mic unless you are speaking to a few folks at a luncheon round-table event.

7. Keep good eye contact.

Look into the eyes of the audience. Some members of your audience will think you are speaking just for them when they know you look at them as a person, not part of the crowd.

8. Use natural gestures.

"You looked so confident up there. I never know what to do with my hands." When people say this to me, I am thankful that I took the time to prepare which gestures I would use and when I would use them. Make gestures that come naturally to you, but plan and prepare them ahead of time.

9. You can skip the here-is-what-to-learn conclusion.

Stories teach. Storytelling is a most effective way to teach with story. Your story gets diluted when you attempt to tell people how to feel and think about that story. If you can't resist telling the moral, at least let the audience speak first. Their answers might teach you.

I've shared 9 storytelling tips to help you create a story with good storytelling. Newbie or veteran speaker- take these nine easy steps into your next speech prep.


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The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

The Future of Storytelling is In Its Past (Part One)

I have been intrigued by some online conversations lately about the past and future of corporate storytelling. I will be writing a few more posts about this subject. Here's my first post.

The future of storytelling for business and nonprofit work is in its past. The foundation of storytelling has not changed. The need for storytelling has not changed. There is a reason that "how to tell a story" is a major Google search term.

Let's define some terms. "Story" exists in many forms. Beginning, middle and end all create a narrative "thing" that can be expressed through a variety of mediums such as dance, written word, digital audio and video and then, yes, storytelling.

"Storytelling" is another term we keep tossing about these days. To tell a story you need at least two people together at the same time: the teller and a listener. Without the storyteller in the room with the audience, you do not have storytelling. You have another expression of story. Without an audience in the same place as the storyteller, you may also have another expression of story, but it's not storytelling.

How you express story is your choice. As a storyteller, I have also used story in video, podcasts, on the page and in audio recordings. Those are not storytelling. Only when I can be with my audience, when I can see and hear them breathing, laughing and responding am I storytelling. Storytelling techniques are not digital techniques.

So, the past of storytelling was/is in the hearts and souls of millions of listeners. These millions of listeners heard the story proclaimed, saw the storyteller as real and human and participated in the creation of the storytelling event.

In that past, storytelling took one more leap into the next breath of the future. 2000 years ago, 200 years ago, 20 minutes ago, story moved forward in storytelling.

So now, we're abuzz with the buzz of "storytelling" for business and nonprofit use. After 25 years of doing this, I have seen the groundswell rise until we have a cacophony of experts, guides, coaches, conferences and strategists all ready to speak about story. Business owners are desperate to know what is the newest and latest technique to bring storytelling to their clients.

Look to the past. Storytelling is a relationship and conversation. It is an agreement between at least two parties to delve deep into the way "what if" became "what was" leading to "what will be." To business and nonprofit leaders, I ask you: what is your face-to-face relationship with your clients and customers? Are you still "we" to their "them?" Can any of your customers put a name to the storyteller they've met in your company?

Are you filling the conversation with noise? Is there a chance for your clients to meet a real person or are they forced to run only through your gauntlet of the social media cocktail-party and look-at-me loud videos?Are they lost in your forest of customer service? Where in your plan is the person-to-person live interaction? The future of storytelling is its past: converse with your customers. Tell and be heard. Hear and be informed.

In the past, storytelling taught the values of the community. Storytelling gathered the tribe to hear and feel the history of the group. Storytelling laid the groundwork for new innovation not because of the sophistication of the story but rather the listeners' ability (need?) to touch and interact with the mind of another live, in-the-moment storyteller. A story is an expression of "this was." Storytelling opens the door to "this could be."

If you want to move forward with storytelling for your business, you need to embrace this basic human need: "I need to talk with someone." The future of storytelling for your organization lies in its past: human interaction trumps noise. Stop being noisy and move to interaction.

I think we need to keep at the many ways to express story as I listed up at the top of this article. But don't call them storytelling. Rather, teach every member of your company the stories of your group. Teach them how to bring forth the stories of your collective past and to catch the stories as they continue to happen. Teach them to speak those stories to each other and clients.

The future of business storytelling is in its past and foundation:
people to people,
voice to voice,
face to face.

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The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach. Photo courtesy of http://www.fotolia.com/ .

How To Tell A Story: Quick-Learn Storytelling Techniques!

So, we were digging around a vault of old films from the 1910's and look what we found. Who knew "how to tell a story" was so important in the Chaplin days?

Working Artist Coach: I Pack Parachutes

Do you need your parachute packed? Or, are you taking a leap and hoping you magically discover a net below?

Just reflecting today on how one sentence from a good coach coach can change your life. That's happened to me on several occasions. One huge statement came from a coach that never charged me a dime and several other life-changing moments from coaches to whom I paid more money than what most storytellers make in a year.

The power of a good coach is phenomenal. As artists, we've got to get our navel-gazing, narcissistic selves out of the way so that we can learn how to truly impact our world with our art form. Any coach that wants you to think more about yourself than your clients is not helping you. Get a coach who will nudge you off the cliff.

"Leap and the net appears." Just BS and it's wrong. Leap with a parachute instead. Find a good coach to help you pack your chute if you have never done it before.

I am very grateful today to those that have coached me and continue to do so both formally and informally.

If you need some help with that leap, contact me. I will be glad to push you over the edge.


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The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

A Short DaddyTeller Video 114.

Here's the latest video talking about my DaddyTeller book. 1:14 seconds. The 30 second spot is on it's way.

DaddyTeller™ #11: Storytelling Is Long-Term Protection for Your Child.

So, if you run out of gas in your car, you have a small problem. If you run out of oil, you have a large catastrophe. Stortelling with children is like putting oil in the car- long term and required. My latest free video from http://www.daddyteller.com



The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

"How to Tell Stories with Your Kid" Radio Interview

Here is part one of four of my interview about the DaddyTeller Book with Dr. Stan Frager. Fun interview, great host and guests.



The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

Telling Stories for Children: Grandparents- How to Tell a Story

http://www.tellingstoriesforchildren has a new video teaching grandparents how to tell a story. Simple and fun.



The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

A Voice Announcer Dumps His Brain Out

From http://www.voiceannouncer net here is a video of my voice losing my mind in the Arizona heat. I just was working a warm up for a voice over and the microphone was on. The result is a silly video that we added some pictures too, but I do think the very last frame at the end of the film is "awesome!" That may be my new catch phrase. Please enjoy and don't look for deep meanings here in this video.



The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

Corporate Storytelling for Manipulation

In an interesting blog post with a "digital storytelling" video from way across the pond, storytelling coach Raf Stevens asks the question:

Is storytelling in a business context today not mostly used as a manipulative corporate communication tool?

I answered:

I must have missed the storytelling in the video. I see electronics, I see pictures, I see a giant toy, I see distraction. No storytelling. Frankly, not even digital storytelling.

I am with you that storytelling needs to be reclaimed. And...I have been banging that drum for a long time. Storytelling requires me and you. Not "me away from you" via digital anything.

Face-to-face is an essential component of storytelling. If I can't see you, one-to-one or even one-to-an-audience, I am not storytelling. I may be acting. I may be selling. I may be performing. But I am not storytelling until I can hear my audience breathe and take in their energy and contributions. That is storytelling.

When we forget that the audience breathes with us and co-creates the story, then our branding is sales or at worst, manipulation.





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The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

Best Book Reviews: DaddyTeller

Best Book Reviews: Daddyteller: "DaddyTeller is a wonderful resource to help Dads learn how to tell stories to their children. With the limited amount of time that Dads spen..."

The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

Transcript: What about Fathers and Storytelling Techniques?

(Sean Buvala, author of the DaddyTeller book, talks about bedtime kids stories, storytelling techniques, parenting and fatherhood in an interview on Iowa radio station KBIZ. This is an edited transcript of the interview.)

Voiceover: The mid-morning magazine with Mike continues with page two on 1240 KBIZ.

Mike: Welcome back to mid-morning magazine on this Thursday morning. Well, according to a 2009 national PTA poll, get this my friends, nearly half of all dads fall short of their parental responsibilities. Dads claiming jobs and outside the home responsibilities are seriously limiting their family time. The results can be very serious indeed. Now national storyteller K. Sean Buvala says that one simple solution is to engage your children through bedtime storytelling. Storytelling in all its forms is important for building reading and math skills according to Buvala. He says it’s also an easy way to spend quality time with your children. Now Sean, a father of four has been a full-time national storyteller and business coach for over two decades, nationally traveled workshops and keynote presenter for 23 years, 17 years experience as a youth and family coordinator for a variety of non-profit organizations, founder and director of Storyteller.net, a leading online resource for both tellers and listeners of stories, and has received numerous rewards from the National Storytelling Network. He joins us this morning. With that, I say a very pleasant "good morning," Sean.

Sean: Good morning, Mike, what a great privilege it is to be on programs like yours, thanks for having me.

Mike: It’s nice to have you on. Sean, why is something so simple as telling a bedtime story so important to our kids today?

Sean: You know, Mike one of the things that happens in this world is we as parents, and as grandparents, and aunts, and uncles, we get so busy trying to survive that we miss out on the most basic things that affect our children. One of those things is looking our children in the eye, bonding with them, and passing on our values, That’s the power of telling stories to our children: to pass on our values, to bond with them, to be a hero in their eyes. We talk about fixes to education; but if more parents, more dads, would sit down and spend 20 minutes a day telling stories, not just reading, but telling stories to their kids they’d see a huge improvement in everything about (their child's) education.

Mike: You know, I can remember when my two boys were real little, that’s one of the things we did during the evening time was both my wife and I, we would read stories to the kids and we would read until the point they finally fell asleep. I don’t know if it was because we were boring readers or what, but today, boy, I tell you Sean, it’s a completely different story today. Everybody is too busy doing too many things.

Sean: You know, that’s true. Some of those same studies talk about the fact that we as dads maybe spend, maybe on average, spend thirty minutes a day – and the purpose of my book and my work is not about "let’s bang on dads and say how bad they are." It’s not that at all. It’s to say there’s a way for you to change what you’re doing in 20 minutes a day; not just reading books but even putting those books down and engaging your children completely in the telling of stories. Yeah, it is part of helping them go to sleep at night, you’re completely correct about that. But, it’s more than that. It’s giving them reading skills, math skills, relationship skills as well.

Mike: Sean, I have to tell you, the cover on your book Daddy Teller; I’ve seen a lot of book covers but I think this one’s probably the neatest and the cutest one I’ve ever seen. It’s a picture of a dad, obviously, and his son, little son and they’re just kind of got their foreheads together and to me that’s a pretty touching picture there and a nice cover for your book.

Sean: Thank you very much, I really appreciate that. We worked really hard and went through tons and tons of pictures and said, "which one of these really captured what we were talking about?" It would have been easy to have a bedtime picture on there, but (the book) goes beyond that. Storytelling is not just for bedtime. That photograph is from an Australian photographer and I think she did a great job on it.

Mike: You make a point, Sean, about the difference between reading books and telling stories. Expand on that just a little bit.

Sean: Oh sure. You know there are two different skills that we’re talking about here. There is, of course, a lot of value and importance in reading books to our children and in sharing stories that way. That brings in a very particular set of skills for children to learn; reading skills, following along, all of that. As well as doing that, I help people learn to tell stories. Put that book down, and create stories that can be used to teach children certain values. Sometimes as dads, because of our business in our life, we just kind of pick up the first thing that’s there. What we did in the Daddy Teller book was create eight stories, there’s actually nine when people join the group, but we give them eight stories that tell them exactly what to do, what to say, where to put your hands, all of that. You’ve seen the book, Mike, so you know, it’s all laid out there. There’s a lot of detail in there. I also encourage our children to tell stories back to us. Telling stories back and all of that, those are pre-reading and even, believe it or not, pre-math skills. And so not only when I tell my kids a story am I just having story time, but I’m really helping their future as well.

Mike: In your book, DaddyTeller, you focus very much on helping dads learn storytelling skills. Is there any particular reason why your chose the fathers over maybe the mothers?

Sean: It’s really interesting. I think, as it should be in our world, there is a great deal of support for mothers and mothering. I think sometimes, though we say to dads, "Well how come you’re not doing better?" But, we don’t provide dads the resources for that. The other side of that is very practical. I spend most of my work as a storyteller working in corporate situations, you know people fly me into Iowa and I do these corporate workshops and corporate communication. When I get done with one of those workshops, the men will come up to me, women as well but we’re talking about men, men will come up to me and they don’t talk to me about what I was hired to do this workshop. What they say to me is, "boy I bet your kids are really lucky to have a storytelling dad." And I say "Well, yeah they’ve learned to say 'only tell me the funny parts.'" Then, the men at the conference, they say to me "I wish I could tell stories like that." You know, Mike, they’re not saying to me I wish I could be a storyteller, what these dads are saying, when you get into conversations is, I wish I could communicate with my kids. Isn’t that what all of us want as dads: To really be in real communication with our kids?

Mike: Oh you bet. Now Sean, I’ve got to get myself on even keel here because I know the ladies are probably – if I don’t mention the mothers after the show they’re going to be calling saying, "Hey Mike,you didn’t say a thing about moms here." So, can your book also be used by moms too?

Sean: Absolutely, it’s written very much from a guy perspective. You have a copy in your hands there, so you know that it’s designed as a very unintimidating book. I mean I really designed it for the men in my life; my brothers. (There are) men in my life that hate to read, and so the book is very much written from a guy perspective. I had a woman, another professional storyteller with four sons, say "They’re actually going to be able to read this book." Do mothers use the book? Absolutely and anytime I do a workshop, of course, we’re not eliminating any genders and telling them they can’t be part of this process. The book certainly can be used by anyone who has any connection with children.

Mike: How does a dad get started in telling stories to his child, Sean?

Sean: The first decision is to decide to do it. By far, the thing that I hear the most from men when we talk about the book in the workshop, they say "what if I do it wrong?" To be really honest about it, you can’t do it wrong. When you are looking your children in the eye and talking to them and giving them the attention they deserve for that ten minutes, or that twenty minutes, you will not fail. So that’s the first thing. The other one is to simply dive in and get started. If people go to the (daddyteller.com) website, there’s a free story they can download- they could be telling stories tonight. But just get started. We do a number of little free training videos on the site. So what do I do first? The answer is open your mouth and start telling stories. Don’t, don’t be afraid and don’t worry about failure. It’s not going to happen, not going to happen.

Mike: Well, Sean, I think if more people read your book like I have and also see it, I think our world would change a heck of a lot; there’s no doubt about it. Quickly, how can listeners get a copy of your book?

Sean: The main site is daddyteller.com, and of course the easiest, fastest way as we do in the world now is Amazon.com. So go to Amazon.com and search for Daddy Teller. There’s a couple of different ways to purchase the book. You can also get it as an e-book, as a download from the Daddy Teller site as well. I just hope that people go to the Daddy Teller site because there’s so much free stuff there and resources as well. So, Daddy Teller or Amazon.com.

Mike: Sean, thanks for joining us this morning and thanks for a job well done.

Sean: Thank you and I again really appreciate being on your show. Thanks for your time, Mike.

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The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach.

The Five Essentials of Storytelling

The essentials of storytelling remain the same regardless of where you are using storytelling.

I often get requests via Email or telephone that are similar to something like this:

"I work in the (fill-in-the-blank) industry. Can you teach storytelling to my staff in my (fill-in-the-blank) industry?"

The answer is always yes. The essentials of "how to tell a story" do not change regardless of the industry in which you want to use storytelling. You name it: health care, education, politics, nonprofit, business, marketing, entertainment, sacred- the essentials of storytelling remain the same. I've taught storytelling in those niches and even in some more unusual niches, such as the mining industry. That's right, some people who dig deep into the earth learned storytelling for their work from me.

In any setting, these 5 essentials of story always apply:

1. You must be audience focused.
Before you speak to any group, you need to know what they need from you. Simply repeating the same stories over and over again for different audiences is self-indulgent. Although I may use some of the same stories from group to group, how I tell the story and which parts of the story I tell changes with each audience. There is no such thing as canned storytelling.

2. All storytelling must use the components of beginning, middle and end.
A story must start somewhere. The story then has tension or issue in the middle. At the end of the story, there is some type of finality or resolution. An anecdote may have just one or two of those parts. A mix of storytelling and anecdote may be what your audience needs to hear. Remember, an anecdote is a moment in time. A story is a complete experience.

3. All stories must be broken into episodes.
In any industry, your stories should not be viewed as a one-perspective masterpiece but rather as an image that changes based on where the audience sheds their light. Break your story into episodes, determine which episodes are the "core story" and then add or subtract the other episodes as needed. Life looks different at dawn than it does at noon- both in reality and in metaphor.

4. You need to use good public-speaking mechanics.
Whenever you speak, you need to be heard. You need to know what to do with your hands and gestures. You need to enunciate. A good storytelling coach can help you master your storytelling techniques and your presence.

5. You need to blend personal and world-tales together.
In many industries, an audience grows weary of too many self-referential tales. They also might doubt your professional experience if all your stories are "once upon a time" folktales. Work to make your presentations a blend of stories form multiple sources.

Storytelling helps you to achieve your goals in all industries, markets and businesses. Use storytelling to advance the work of the industry of which you are a part. As a storytelling coach, I have helped many people go past story theory to the fun and effectiveness of successfully telling stories. Let me know if I can assist you.


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The official blog for K. Sean Buvala, storyteller and storytelling coach. ©2010 Sean Buvala