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

Marketing Worskhop: Video Endorsement

Our next marketing workshop is on May 15, 2010 in Vista (San Diego), California. Registration deadline is May 1. See the website at http://www.outsideinstorytelling.com.My thanks to Mark Goldman for this video.


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

Tweens & Teens: Listen or Tolerate?

Just the other day, I had a captive audience. But, this audience kept talking back to me as I was telling stories. They had something to say about nearly everything as I spoke. They laughed, too, even at the parts I didn't make "funny."

Was this a rude audience? No! It was a school room filled with junior-high teens (13/14 year olds) and doing exactly what they should do when they listen to stories. I will share with you one of the most important things that I have learned: a quiet classroom of teenagers usually means they are not listening to you. Instead, they are just tolerating you and your presentation.

I have been telling stories to teens and tweens for more than two decades, even before the word "tween" existed. I will just be using the term "teens" for the rest of this article, but know that I am taking about kids between the ages of 11 and 18 specifically. Here are three quick tips for you whenever you are speaking to this age group:

1. Tell Your Face.
When you enter a classroom of teens, do you look like you are going to have a good time? Do you plan on enjoying the next hour or so? Does your face know it? Save the "professional" face for the staid adult events when you have to pretend to impress someone with your history. When telling to teens, smile and enjoy yourself. Mingle with them as they arrive in the classroom. Respond to even the most casual comments made to you before the event.

2. Build Your History.
With an adult audience, I could partially rely on my list of accomplishments, travels and years of speaking experience to get their attention. Or at least get them to quietly applaud. With teens, these histories mean nothing. Your PhD, your 100 years of experience are not something their 13 years of life experience can process. You have to earn the right to be heard. Speak with energy and genuine enthusiasm and be transparent about your purpose. Kids base their evaluation of you based on their (or their immediate peers') direct experience of you.

3. Encourage Response.
Especially in the area of storytelling, I want my audience to build the presentation with me. When teens enjoy you and your work, they will respond to what you are saying and doing. Often this begins with a silly comment or random shout-out designed to call attention to themselves. When you respect and use this initial comment and incorporate it into the story or presentation, you will begin to get comments from the audience that are relevant to what you are saying, not just self-referential remarks from your young audience. Think of these shout-outs as logs to toss on the fire you are building.

When the teens have enjoyed your presentation, they will tell their friends. You would be amazed how fast word can travel in a school. In the few minutes between classes this week, the first group had told the second group how much fun my presentation was. That type of word-of-mouth is invaluable with teens.

At the end of the sessions, a group of girls was standing in a huddle and giggling, scribbling something on a notebook. Finally, the artist approached me and handed me the "portrait" she had done of me (attached to this article over on the left) and said, "Thanks for coming to our school today. We really had a lot of fun."

Working with teens can be rewarding and is a good opportunity to make a difference in the world. Besides, pencil drawing can be among your highest compliments.

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

Review: A Storytelling House Concert

Storytelling events come in all shapes and sizes. This was a bit more home party.

We had a great time Saturday night at a storytelling house-concert held at the home of Dwight and Sandy Oglesby in Paradise Valley, Arizona, a northern suburb of Phoenix. (In the picture- Sandy is on the right standing next to Liz Warren.)

Sandy had announced the house-concert some months ago, giving people plenty of time to get the event on their calendars. She ended up with about 20 folks (adults, no kids) with many of our familiar friends and a few new additions (in the audience and "on stage") to the storytelling community of Arizona.

Sandy put out a nice spread of cheese, fruit, dips, breads, crackers and other snacks served along with a selection of wines, juices, teas and coffee. The crowd was casual and talked freely with each other as they snacked on good food. She had a basket at the door for attendees to contribute a few dollars to offset costs.

Leading off the night's storytelling was Harriet Cole. Harriet told her good blend of "parrot folktales" that move along well with her accounts of a life-long dedication to birds of all sorts and sizes that she and her husband keep in their home. Think of the idea of "1001 Arabian Nights" from the parrot's perspective- but it's much more complex than that. I was one of the first folks around here to do this weaving of personal and folktales- so I am always glad to hear someone else do this method. Harriet had previously told these "for adults" parrot tales at one of our StoryRise events and I enjoyed hearing how the crafting of the tales has progressed.

Harriet was followed by Annie Gustafson who is new to the storytelling scene in Arizona. Annie told a tale about the origins of how she and her brother were named. Since coming to Arizona, Annie has dived right into telling and exploring storytelling. She's also working hard to create a spoken word/storytelling show on our local RadioPHX community radio station. We are very fortunate to have Annie working among us.

We took a short break for refilling of plates and emptying of bladders. After all, some wine was involved, and as the Merovingian from "The Matrix" films can attest, there is a cause and effect. How's that for being direct with an obscure reference?

We were back to the stories with Liz Warren. Liz began with a very funny tale of trying to decipher the writing of a friend's note on her (recent) birthday card. Then, she told her tale of a family party and the powerful effects of good food, stories and family love that she calls "Eating Memories."

I've noticed a change in storytelling from Liz in the last year. She's always been a good teller, but there seems to be a brand-new comfort level in her telling. Although I am familiar with her story, tonight I found myself thinking, "I am hearing this for the first time." I experience a lot of stories and storytellers from my perch at Storyteller.net, so I don't easily get "lost" (in a good way) in the work of other tellers. With both this telling and her recent appearance at StoryRise- I think Liz has stepped up to a whole new level of both grace and professionalism. She is also the director of the Storytelling Institute at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix.

After Liz came Sule Greg Wilson. I have been hearing great things about this musician and performer so it was good to finally experience his work. He journeyed us through a set of tales of movies and film, leading up to a story about the homeless that had a surprise twist. When a teller can surprise you with an ending that you just did not predict, then you know they have a gift. Sule is not new to performing and I am looking forward to hearing more from him as he continues to explore storytelling with our community.

To my surprise, Sandy asked me to tell. I had planned to be just a part of the audience tonight, but she called me forward. "Hmm, what to tell?" Annie's early story about her name led me to think about my children's' names. One of my daughters has "Rose" in her name- which we jokingly tell her comes from the Disney movie of "Sleeping Beauty." So I dusted off my take on "Briar Rose" from my "Seven Ravens" CD, discovering a new opening sequence about the "queen's tears" emerging as I told it. I realized that I still wanted to fix the ending. I realized this as I was ending the story- so I hope that was not too distracting. For a surprise telling, I think I was coherent at least.

Our super-host Sandy then recounted a story from Maya Angelou's new book, Letter to My Daughter before we took an intermission with a reset of the food table into the dessert table. Following that little sugar feast, Sandy concluded the night with a risqué tale of what happens when you let the wife do all the work and not have any of the fun. I'll just leave it at that. Sandy's' fun and conversational style reminded us all why she's been a "featured teller" at the Mesa Storytelling Festival.

We had a great night with a variety of adults stories from folktales to personal tales. Thanks to Sandy and Dwight for opening up their home for this experience. I'm looking forward to the next one. Maybe you should try on in your area?

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

New DaddyTeller Intro Video: Let Me Be Your Coach

We updated the new intro video over at the main DaddyTeller.com site. Here's the latest incarnation as we work harder to help dads learn how to telll a story to children. Learn more family storytelling techniques in all the free videos at daddyteller.com/vids.






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

Storytelling Is the ON Switch for Your Next Audience.

Is storytelling a "switch" you can flip to make things happen in your corporate or personal life? I was recently on a panel-discussion show where one of the other experts said that he believes that storytelling is not a lever that can make things happen. Is he right?

Yes, storytelling can be used to inspire and create new behaviors but you need to know how to use storytelling techniques.

Wandering through one of these home-improvement warehouse stores the other day, I passed through the aisle that has electrical supplies. Some of these stacks of bulk supplies included hundreds of wall switches of various types. What do I know- I thought a switch was a switch? Apparently, different lighting situations require different wall switches.

However, any one of these switches by themselves cannot turn on a light in my house. I need to have it installed by a trained electrician who will put it in a box, hook up the power and be sure that the bulb in the light socket the switch is connected to is actually a good bulb.

By itself, the switch is just a tool. In context and setting, it can bring light to the whole room

Storytelling is like a switch, too. Here are four ways that storytelling goes from a "prop tool" in your bag of communication tricks to a vital part of lighting up a room.

1. Storytelling needs to be installed.
I cannot buy a single light switch and throw it onto the floor of a darkened room hoping it will give me light. I need someone well-trained to install it properly. So, too, there are plenty of books published where you can get stories for trainers, speakers and presenters. In and of themselves, these stories are not very useful. You cannot just toss a story out and hope it works. However, properly presented by someone who knows how to tell a story, a tale from those collections might be able to bring understanding to the listener.

2. Storytelling needs to be in the right setting.
I could just hook up that switch to some wires in my house and leave it hanging there, hoping for the best. Of course, if I do that, my house might catch on fire or someone might be electrocuted from exposed wires. With storytelling, too, I need to be able to place the story in the correct context for my audience. Stories not properly presented or framed for an audience have burned down many presenters for either being too complex or simply childish.

3. Storytelling needs energy.
A light switch installed but without electricity flowing will do nothing at all. Stories presented by boring presenters will be boring. Storytelling won't fix a presenter that doesn't like to present.


4. Different audiences need different types of storytelling.
I may have installed and energized a light switch, but if the bulb is broken in the socket, there will not be any light. I may have a story that I love to tell, but if the audience is not comfortable with the story, my storytelling will fail. Not every story is for every audience. If you run 115 volts of power to a bulb that needs 220 volts, you will not get much light. Choose your stories based on the needs of the audience, not your needs as a presenter.

Hundreds of light switches on the shelf at the home-improvement store looks impressive, but they are useless unless I know what I am doing with those switches. Storytelling can look like such an impressive idea, but, it too, needs to be used with the right know-how.

Done right, you can switch on great understanding and teaching with storytelling. You can light up a corporate boardroom or your child's bedroom- or any room in-between.

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

DaddyTeller Free Training Video #5

(from my www.daddyteller.com site)
Dads: Should you get close to your kids? Yes! The father role in bedtime kids' stories is get close and snuggly. You can't do that with a book in your hands! Here's more information in this free "how to tell a story" video. See all our videos of storytelling techniques at http://www.daddyteller.com/vids .

Get the DaddyTeller Paperback at Amazon.com via this link here.

If Amazon is sold out, order a paperback copy of this book direct from the printer. Please click on this link now.
All the free vids are listed on this page here.

New FrogKisser Storytelling CD from Storyteller.net

Press Release Synopsis:

Storyteller.net releases a new storytelling CD titled "Frog Kisser" with stories including "The Frog Princess" and seven other tales of enchantments. Especially for adults and teens, the CD is available now from Amazon.com.

Avondale, AZ- Storyteller.net announces the release of their latest storytelling audio CD "Frog Kisser." "If you are looking for a story of the princess and the frog, we've have that as well as seven more unusual tales of enchantment and changelings," says Sean Buvala, director and producer of the CD. The "Frog Kisser" CD is now available at the FrogKisser.com website as well as Amazon.com. Featuring the work of seven unique storytellers from around the United States, the CD contains eight stories that are designed for adults, teens and tweens. Buvala, also one of the performers on the audio CD, continued, "All over the world, there are many stories of beings changed through love, commitment and challenge. In this CD, we have captured both world folktales and original stories to remind folks that things are not always as they seem." Comments from and about all seven storytellers are available at www.frogkisser.com.

"We know that in this 2009 holiday season, with the latest Disney animated movie, there will be renewed interest in the stories of enchantments. We created this CD so that folks who would like to explore great stories of changeling beasts can do so with a mix of traditional tales, original works and new perspectives on old themes," says Mr. Buvala.

The "Frog Kisser" project is a unique listening opportunity for fans of storytelling. "Our CD is unusual in the storytelling world. There have been very few collaborative storytelling projects like this at the national level, and nearly none that are aimed at a slightly older audience like 'Frog Kisser'," said Buvala. "I went to some of the best storytellers from our Storyteller.net site and invited them to join me on this new creation. We're very happy with how this turned out and I am looking forward to the next project and new discoveries with other good storytellers."

Sean Buvala, a 23 year veteran of national storytelling, is available for expert consulting and media interviews on the nature of storytelling, fairytales and legends connected with this project and all media releases based in story and storytelling.

Contact Information:

K. Sean Buvala
Available nationally for Radio, Print, TV interview
sean@storyteller.net
http://www.frogkisser.com
623.298.4548

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

Free Training Videos at DaddyTeller.com

Here's a picture of the first fresh-off-the-press DaddyTeller™ book! You can order yours from Amazon if you'd like. Also, there are many free training videos on the www.daddyteller.com/vids site.

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

About Sean: From the DaddyTeller™ Site.

(Here's the bio page from my new DaddyTeller™ book.I hired a professional write, Durga Walker, to create it for us. )

K. Sean Buvala is a Trainer, Corporate Coach, and Speaker. But first and foremost, he’s a Storyteller.

If you’re anything like me, this word evokes images of rapt little faces gathered round the yarn-spinner, mouths agape, hanging on every word. It should. Storytelling is an art that appeals to the deep emotional memory in all of us. Unlike motivational speaking, which seeks to uplift the listener and spur to him action, storytelling strengthens our powers of creativity and problem solving by drawing on our own imaginations.

In short, storytelling conveys information in a way the listener will never forget.

In 2007 Sean Buvala was presented the Oracle Award by the National Storytelling Network for his work in the promotion of storytelling, including the development of Storyteller.net, an online goldmine of resources for storytellers and their audiences alike.

His work as a trainer and coach in the corporate word demonstrates his ability as a master storyteller. On the premise that good leadership requires strong communication skills, good storytelling techniques and the ability to convey information with impact, Sean designs workshops and seminars specifically for corporate groups, where he trains leaders to lead more effectively by improving their storytelling abilities. Here, he teaches real skills—not theory—that corporate management can implement immediately. In executive-level workshops that identify what already works for the company and what needs fixing, participants are shocked to see dramatic improvement in their public-speaking and leadership abilities.

Now Sean has applied his years of experience as a storyteller—and, not incidentally, father—to a project designed to help Dads convey valuable information to their own children. DaddyTeller: How to be a Hero to Your Kids and Teach Them What’s Really Important By Telling Them One Simple Story at a Time is a step-by-step e-book guide for teaching Dads to become storytellers for their kids.

As the father of four daughters, Sean knows this subject intimately. Based on the premise that any father can learn to tell his children stories that convey values and ethics to his children, DaddyTeller offers nine simple stories (eight plus a bonus) aimed to turn story time into a meaningful and loving experience for both parent and child.

Beyond the book, Sean provides ample support, not just for Dads but for anyone who wants to learn to tell a story with impact. His video clips and audio files are abundant. Watching him perform is inspiring, and even if all you do is watch, I guarantee you’ll tell your next story with just a touch more panache.

Sean describes his own style as somewhere between “in your life and in your face,” depending on his audience, and he has ample opportunity to adjust his approach. In addition to his work with teenagers, he is an expert presenter for corporations, teachers’ groups, colleges and universities, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations. His expertise includes communication and presentation skills, group dynamics, arts marketing, theatrical training, ministry management, and entrepreneurial development, to name but a few.

As a storyteller, he travels to where the need is, performing in schools and libraries, nonprofit groups, businesses and corporations, festivals, and churches—anywhere people will gather round the yarn-spinner. Using myths and legends, fables, sacred stories, and observations about life, Sean chooses stories that speak to the specific needs of each group

A group with needs was, in fact, exactly where Sean Buvala got his start 23 years ago, in a classroom of wild eighth graders on a very wild day. Desperate, he called out over the din, “Once upon a time....”

A hush settled over the room.

“I grabbed the first kid,” he says. “I led him to the front of the classroom and said, ‘Once upon a time, there was a man who had two sons....’”

He grabbed the next two boys and placed them next to the first one, where they became the sons. In turn, he brought each child up to be cast as an actor in the story. And the rest is, well, history.

-- by Durga Walker




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

The Power of Touch in Bedtime Stories

Even more on how to tell a story. Storytelling techniques with your own children need to include touch. When you buy the DaddyTeller.com book, you will be able to acces many more in-depth videos as well.




You can learn more about or buy the DaddyTeller™ book at this link now. There are many more free DaddyTeller™ videos at this link here.


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

A DaddyTeller Moment.

A quick DaddyTeller moment:

Good day at the Mesa Storytelling festival yesterday. Met a Dad there who had purchased the www.daddyteller.com Ebook and had already told one of the stories to his preschool kid. The Dad said how much he liked the breakdown of the book all the way to telling him what to do with his hands during the story.

When he told the preschool son in his arms that I was the guy who wrote the "donkey story," the child was completey unimpressed wtih me, but totally in love with his Daddy. As.It.Should.Be.



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

StoryRise Adult Storytelling Podcast #1 Posted

Free audio stories for adults from StoryRise events. (Click here for the podcast.) We're really happy to kick off our new Storyrise podcast. Leading us off is storyteller Sandy Oglesby from Phoenix, AZ. She tells the story of "One Wish," an Irish folktale with a twisted path and ending. Enjoy. Don't forget to join us at Storyrise on the 3rd Saturday of each month in the West Valley of the greater Phoenix, AZ area. Sponsored in part by Storyteller.net and the DaddyTeller™ Ebook.

More Podcasts will be posted soon from StoryRise. We have a huge backlog of stories to share with you. Subscribe to our updates at the StoryRise.com site and/or follow StoryRise on Twitter at @storyrise.

Video: Fathers Need Communication Advice

Here is an adaptation of the article below this one, but set to a short video.





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

3 Things Dads Can Do to Communicate Better with Their Children

The world needs fathers. Study after study confirms the important role of the father in a family. Let's improve your father-children relationship. Here are three quick and easy ways for Dads to relate better to their children.

1. Put down the distractions.
If you want to communicate better with your young kids, then learn to pay attention. Listening to a child while you channel surf, web surf or refrigerator surf is not really listening. Put down the remote or the mouse or close the 'fridge door. Pay attention to what your child is saying. By the way, this rule changes a bit when your kids, especially your sons, are older. A great way to get your teens to talk is do a shared activity together. You'll notice that I used the word "shared" in that sentence, right?

2. Look your child in the eye.
All the media your child is exposed to shares one thing in common: all of it has your child's eyes and ears glued upon it. When you talk to your child, do you have their eye-contact? One of the greatest gifts we give to our children is looking them in the eye. Let them see you seeing them. Put down the storybook and tell them a story. Involve them in the tale. Advertisers are not hesitant to look your kids in the eye. You should do no less.

3. Make your child's needs the priority.
As more and more dads, thankfully, become much more active in parenting, I read more about fathers who do not like kiddie things. I have read several posts, for example, about how some stay-at-home dads don't like kid's music and wish to substitute rock artists for kids musicians.

Although some of these daddy-blogger posts are written tongue-in-cheek, there is an underlying issue: kid things are not designed for dads. They are designed for kids. Don't be in a hurry to bypass the usefulness of all the kiddie toys and noise that is out there.

The "Wheels On The Bus" song is driving you crazy? Let it make you crazy and let your kids listen to it a hundred times a day if they want. Raising four kids in our house, I can assure you that this phase doesn't last long. Very soon, you'll be dealing with the wheels on the car which is under your teen's control as it is driven from your home.

The repetition of songs and stories is important for your child's development and even future skills for learning and school. Be focused on what your kids need, not what you want.

In reality, all three of these ideas are really expressing the same need: Dads, give your kids the gift of your attention. You don't need to be father of the year. You need to be the best daddy you can to your kids.

**********
Sean Buvala, father of four and a professional storyteller, is the author of the book "DaddyTeller™: Be a Hero to Your Kids and Teach Them What's Really Important by Telling Them One Simple Story at a Time." You can read more about his Daddy/Child improving work by visiting http://www.daddyteller.com.




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

The Elevator Speech is (still) Dead

I think the entire idea of developing an elevator pitch should be scrapped.

Over at A Storied Career Blog, Katherine has posted a discussion about the issues of putting storytelling into one's elevator speech. Overall, I think Katherine has a great blog. This particular post, however, reminds me of one of my frequent battles: The Elevator Speech Is Dead.

My podcast on this subject is at:
http://seantells.com/morethanspeaking

It always surprises me to see people teaching this archaic communication tool. The "elevator pitch" (EP) is designed to snag or sell. Are we still doing that in today's world? Are we still trying to "get" people? Is this the 90's where the whole world is full of dot-com startups begging for a venture capitalist to give a moment of attention?

Storytelling is a sole and single source of business communication that contains everything you need to communicate. Our job, no matter what our work is, is to create our Core Story. Once that is done and done correctly through the use of episodic creation, we now have a tool that can be broken down into the very quickest of communication in an elevator to a full-on presentation in a keynote.

Trying to make a story fit our EP (uggh) is like building a house and then wondering if you can find a way to pour some cement into the foundation now that the house is finished. Start with storytelling and your core story, not with an elevator speech. Start with the full knowledge and understanding of your story and then the rest falls right into place. Yes, it's still work but at least you are not trying to fit an elephant into a tutu.

There is so much going on where folks are dabbling in storytelling rather than embracing it for the essential and most foundation too that it is. I've been teaching my clients for years now: choose a project, wipe the slate clean and build your new approach upon the foundation of the story and storytelling techniques.


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

DaddyTeller™ Ebook Now Released!

From Storyteller.net:

Today we launch our latest Ebook! DaddyTeller™ has arrived.

Focusing on helping any Dad tell stories to his kids, this affordable Ebook is available today with an instant download by visiting http://www.daddyteller.com.

(Moms can use this Ebook, too. Just know that it's written in guy-speak.)

Written by award-winning K. Sean Buvala, a 23 year veteran of the storytelling movement, we help Dad put down the storybooks and look into the eyes of his children while he tells them stories that pass on values, build communication, improve reading and math skills and create memories that will live far beyond the moment.

Filled with training and coaching, the book includes 8 stories with step-by-step instructions on what to say and how to say it. Going beyond fathering tips, this is a very specific guidebook.

The "DaddyTeller™: Be a Hero to Your Kids and Teach Them What's Important by Telling Them One Simple Story at a Time" Ebook is available now at the initial launch price of just $14.95.

This Ebook is just the beginning of the DaddyTeller™ project. Be part of the first to join this unique learning and telling community.


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