April 2007 Podcast is Here!

I’ve posted our latest podcast from Storyteller.net and Seantells.com. The link is below or you can find it on Itunes. You can also find it on my Myspace page.

We did something a little different with this podcast. I recently spent a day as guest artist in a 7th grade classroom. That’s with young people about 12 and 13 years old. I recorded large portions of the day. I’ve narrowed those recordings down to a 35 minute podcast. There are four stories in there and a coaching moment. Even the coaching moment comes from the day with the kids.

You’ll hear this again on the podcast, but I wanted to talk a bit about this here. As you know, those of you who have taken my storytelling training or coaching, that although you as a teller and your stories may remain consistent, when you change your audience you change your style. So for this group, I was speaking specifically to a small group (25 or so kids) in a small room. It was a close and intimate environment as oppsed to a big stage or an entire school assembly. The kids had also just finished a week of Arizona's mandatory testing, so they, and the teachers in the school, were pretty exhausted. We like to describe these mandatory tests as "no child left untested." We had a casual, informal day together.

The risk anyone takes when they put forth recordings of themselves is that the listeners will think, “Oh, that is the way they always tell.” That’s simply not true of any storyteller anywhere. Well, at least the ones who understand their craft.

As you listen to this piece, keep the above paragraph in mind. Like all tellers, I have a variety of styles to choose from (and have chosen from) when my audience is 2 or 2000, aged 12 or 72, big stage or small classroom.

And, before you write me (ha ha!) about the Hades and Demeter comment, please know that I know it’s Persephone that brings the Spring, not her mother.

Our podcasts are sponsored by StorytellingProducts.com. Please stop by and support our work by purchasing a CD or Book from there. Thanks.

I hope you enjoy this month’s podcast. Click here to get it now.

Happy Birthday to Storyteller.net

Happy Birthday to us at Storyteller.net. This month, April 2007, Storyteller.net turns 10 years old! Ten years is forever in Internet terms. Excuse me for a moment as I enjoy this. It is rare to read a note from me that is so "yay for us" in nature, but I think we deserve it this time around.

I am proud of what we have done and what we have achieved. Others have said, and I agree, that Storyteller.net has helped storytelling move forward not only on the Internet but in the world community as well. I had already been working nationally as a storyteller for 10 years when we created Storyteller.net. As a pro, I knew what needed to happen on the Internet for storytellers and was fortunate to be able to create that. Storyteller.net has never been "Sean's site." Rather, it's been "our site," tellers both near and far, since the beginning. Our remake in 2002 just made a good thing better. Storyteller.net has been a labor of love for many years, a gift to tellers and our guests.

We were the first to offer a comprehensive online directory for storytellers initially at no cost and now just $25 per year. More than 400 tellers have used or are using our services and we're glad to have given you a home. We've watched tellers transition and grow from simple, beginning local tellers to some of the best nationally-travelled tellers in the business. What a joy that has been.

We were the first to offer a diverse collection of online audio stories, free for listening for audiences all over the world. There's also a growing collection of written stories on our site. We were the first with an online, no-charge events calendar.

We've had two editions of the Storyteller.net store, with our current store at StorytellingProducts.com going strong. Again, if memory serves me correctly, we were the first to offer the ability for national online sales to the local tellers of the world. There's some imitators coming along, but we were the first to "level the playing field" for storytellers everywhere.

We were the first to offer the pod-cast like Amphitheater with storytelling interviews and performances. Yep, we were doing "podcasts" before they even had a word to describe "podcasts." I remember my business partner telling me that I was "crazy" to do those Amphitheaters and then several days later saying he thought the idea would prove to be brilliant. Little did we know that what we were doing was very far ahead of the Internet pack.

In ten years, we've had a variety of other firsts. I always enjoy reading when another storytelling organization or individual promotes their idea as "the first ever..." when we've been doing it since 1997. Lots of people imitate our model. We're pleased to be able to have offered so much, usually at no or very little cost, to so many people. Thousands of people each week come and take advantage of everything we have at Storyteller.net. We're glad you are here.

Watch for more changes in this our 10th Anniversary year. Over the coming weeks and months, we'll be sharing with you reviews and comments from our guests and members. We'll also be introducing new features to help you learn more about the Art of Storytelling. We have a live event (they call it "brick and mortar" in 'Net lingo) in the works that I think will be one more risk-taking, cutting-edge offering from Storyteller.net, one we hope will help change the way we all think about the nature of storytelling and who the "best" in storytelling are or will be. Whew! I am nervous just typing that one out!

I think you'll be pleased, tickled and challenged by what's over the bend for the next ten years.

Thanks for indulging me in this birthday letter.

Thanks for being with us.

Darkness and Light

Dark and cold usually surrounded these moments, but darkness was always required. We’d be gathered with 20 or 200 city teens under the stars, usually standing together in a circle. Sometimes the circle was more clumpy than circular. The depths of how dark it could be, out in the clearing of the forests of Prescott, always astounded them. Their astonishment always astounded me. And, once they turned off their flashlights and were truly surrounded by a smothering blanket of deep night, they would gasp in astonishment. How easy it was to succumb to the darkness, that darkness which we thought we had mastered.

The kids would always start to chatter in the darkness as if their noise would hold back the monsters or at least the unkown. I’d ask them to be silent. When they were able to do so, I’d ask them to look up and that’s when the deepest gasp and awe would begin. For although they had been out here many nights during the week, they had never actually looked up. For if they had, the would have already seen the thick smear of stars across the night sky. Silence would settle over them and I’d begin to sing:

"You are child of the universe,
No less than the trees and the stars.
You are child of the Lord of Life,
Be still and know I am God, you are child."

Eventually they’d join me in song. A Cappella singing by teens in the forest: Mind Opening.

I was and am moved by the power that even these little bits of light, concentrated in such a small area, can have on people. I found it ironic that although we walk amongst the stars for many nights and months, we seldom look up. How many times have we walked (under near over around) points of light and missed it? Is that storytelling in itself?

The Long and Winding Thank You Note.

Last week, I had the chance to be a guest speaker at a Master Class for children's literature course. The class was composed of elementary school teachers working on their Master's degree. We had a great time learning about storytelling and its classroom role. I tend towards a very active presentation regardless of the the audience. We told stories, we laughed, they risked, we all learned. What was most interesting was the hand written thank-you note the group of students. It was printed on a standard 8.5" x 11"sized piece of yellow construction paper and appears that they passed the paper around to build the story. Each section after the leading ellipses was in a new handwriting. This has to be one of my favorite thank-you notes ever. Sharing it with you now:

"...Once upon a time, there was a boy named Sean who liked to tell stories.

...His story started as soon as he walked in the classroom. The faces looking at him and waiting in anticipation made his heart thump and his creative juices flowing.

...The class was mesmerized by his first story, enjoying every word immensely.

..And then he asked his audience to PERFORM. This wasn't meant to be tit for tat, as they say. But this boy named Sean was a risk-taker, a challenger, a rumple-stumple hell raisin' kind of guy and he shook up the crowd for sure!

...The there was an absent gal who's hearing all the grand details...that now is feeling an aweful void in her heart wishing she was there.

...She sure missed the loud voice that come from his lungs and heart. Can't wait to hear such a story in voice on November 21st at Barnes and Noble.

...I hope Sean knows and realizes he has made a great impact on us. "

Such fun. Thanks for the note!!

(Blog keywords: storytelling, storyteller, children's, story, storyteller.net, buvala)

10 Pieces of Quick, Blunt Advice for Those Who Are Starting Out on the Road to new Teller-dom

<>10 Pieces of Quick, Blunt Advice for Those Who are Starting Out on the Road to New "Professional" Teller-dom.

1. "Professional" is about you and your ability to deliver above and beyond what your clients need. Professional is knowing what those needs are before your client knows they have them. If you call yourself "professional" just because you make money at it, stop. Always give value above and beyond what your client has paid for. Give, give, give.

2. You need a repertoire of at least twice what your client and audience seek. If they want 1/2 hour, then you need at least an hour. If you want to work festivals, you need at least six hours of no-repeat material and another two hours as back up.

3. Get listed in on-line directories. Your clients are searching the Internet no matter if you "get it" or are "comfortable with it." Start with the best (and yet still most affordable) directory at Storyteller.net.

4. Use both sides of your business card.

5. Large postcards are king for direct postal mail. You need to have at least monthly contact with everyone on your mailing list. Some pros I work with say at

...Read the rest at Storyteller.net at:
http://www.storyteller.net/articles/210

Repost: Tellabration Part Two

To hear part two of the Tellabration Podcast, click here. To hear part one, see the entry above or below this one. You can also hear (in Windows Media) individual parts of the program in our Amphitheater at Storyteller.net.

Tellabration Pictures.

November PodCast: Tellabration 2006 (Part Two)

Part Two!! Storyteller.net was pleased to present a Tellabration(tm) in Avondale, AZ. Part of our regular monthly "Storyteller.net @ Borders" events, our Tellabration featured seven tellers from around the state of Arizona. As a treat for you, we have the entire night presented in a a two-part Podcast for you right here! The Tellabration is a trademark program of the National Storytelling Network, which coordinates (loosely) more than 300 storytelling events around the U.S. and the world the third Saturday in November. Our online store at Storytellingproducts.com is our sponsor for the Borders nights.

To hear part two of the Podcast, click here. To hear part one, see the entry above or below this one. You can also hear (in Windows Media) individual parts of the program in our Amphitheater at Storyteller.net.

November PodCast: Tellabration 2006 (Part One)

Storyteller.net was pleased to present a Tellabration(tm) in Avondale, AZ. Part of our regular monthly "Storyteller.net @ Borders" events, our Tellabration featured seven tellers from around the state of Arizona. As a treat for you, we have the entire night presented in a two-part Podcast for you right here! The Tellabration is a trademark program of the National Storytelling Network, which coordinates (loosely) more than 300 storytelling events around the U.S. and the world the third Saturday in November. Our online store at Storytellingproducts.com is our sponsor for the Borders nights.

To hear part one of the Podcast, click here. To hear part two, see the entry above or below this one. You can also hear (in Windows Media) individual parts of the program in our Amphitheater at Storyteller.net.

Our night was attended by 40 or so participants. Our Borders nights are pretty fluid so the crowd changes from moment to moment, but the core group of people remained steady at 40. I'm grateful to our tellers for their permission to share this night in audio form with you: Sandy Oglesby, Bonnie Angster, Glenda Bonin, Penny Morningstar, Elly Reidy and Carol Knarr for their stories and their time. I also was in the line up and our night was MC'd by Erin Benites.

I've gotta say it was a great night of storytelling. Sandy, Penny, Glenda, Elly and Carol all told personal tales. Bonnie shared a quick humor tale and I told an obscure Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Great night and great telling. I hope you enjoy our digital Tellabration(tm) as much as we enjoyed it live in Arizona! Look for other Podcasts in this blog!

50 Reasons to Use Storytelling in Business: #1

Reason #1: Storytelling transforms work from what “they make us do” to “what we do together.”

Many folks outside of your management layers don’t always clearly and concisely know what is going on in the organization. Trust me, you do have layers no matter how hard you might try not to have them. They are there. Learning to share the corporate story helps the “them” to become the “us.” Ownership and buy-in increases when “we are” working together on a commonality instead of “they are” working us. When I know the story, when I participate in the formation of that story, I then become vested in it.

Let's look at this another way. Think about the task of preparing a meal. Will you provide more love and care with that meal if you are going to eat the meal instead of simply preparing it for others? Of course you would do better! In the same way, those who form, know and enjoy the story. . .well, you get the idea.

So, when we are forming and sharing the story together, knowing the history, knowing the arc of the narrative of our corporate story, we grow as a team toward a common set of goals.

October 2006 Podcast: Stories of the "Season"

Time for some late October seasonal tales, yes? Let's see, we have nightmares and cats, ghosts and graves, bones and dancing, and ghosts with black eyes.

The October 2006 Storyteller.net Podcast is here! You can listen with or without an Ipod or an mp3 player! Click this link right here to listen on your computer.

You can also get the October Podcast on Itunes when you use this link now.

This month’s Podcast, posted late in the month for the stories "of the season," features storytellers Priscilla Howe, K. Sean Buvala, Ellouise Schoettler, and Bob and Kathie Myers.

The Podcast is sponsored by StorytellingProdcuts.com. Come see the brand new online store!

Storyteller.net Podcast, September 2006

After our Summer Vacation for July and August: It's now here, the September, 2006 edition of the Storyteller.net Amphitheater: Podcast Edition!

The Podcast is free of charge to you the listener! Sponsored by Storytellingproducts.com.

Featured on this September 2006 Podcast:

Stories by: Sean Buvala, Kindra Gayle McGrane, Joe Keenan.
Product Review: "There Were Three Crows"
Coaching Tip: Wild Gestures


Listen and/or Download the PodCast now at:
http://www.storytellerpodcast.com/podcast_september2006.mp3

Find us at Itunes at:
This Link!

Everybody Listens Differently

Everybody Listens Differently.

During a recent performance at a camp deep in the forests of the Prescott mountains, I watched with interest a young man, about 14 years old, in my audience. He sat in the front row of this large, high-school-aged crowd with a group of his friends, all of whom appeared to be watching me intently. However, this young man stood out for his lack of attention. Every time I would look at his group, he would be looking off to one side or the other. Now, I am not so egoistical as to demand that my audience watch my every move, but unlike his friends who seemed to be engaged, he appeared to have something better to do than watch this storyteller.

Positioned by the exit door at the end of the night, I was shaking hands with kids as they left. My non-attentive young audience member came through the line and stuck out his hand. "Thanks for the stories tonight, they were very good," he said. Not sure he had heard anything at all that I had said, I asked him which stories he liked the best. He answered quickly, "Oh, the one about the giant guy and the other one about that boy who lost his hat that his dad gave him. They were pretty cool and they made me think."

Although I am used to audiences of teenagers and their listening styles, I had to pursue this one just a moment longer. I said to him, "Well, I am glad you liked them, but it didnât look like you were enjoying yourself. You never looked up." He replied, "Yeah, I thought it was better for me to listen to you sideways so I could get the pictures in my head."

Mama Java's Gig

I had a performance at "Mama Java’s Coffee House" in Phoenix last night. The event was "Word Spoken" sponsored by my friend Resa. "Mama Java’s" is a neighborhood coffee house that hosts a variety of artists and art forms and skip the commercialism of the chain places like, well, you know who they are. Everyone needs a $5 cup of corporate coffee? But, Mama Java’s has better scones, that is for sure.

The audience was about 20 people, many of them spoken word performers themselves. My set consisted of "Drunk Mr. Daniels," my R rated version of the story that is on the PG rated "Calling Out a Rising Sun: Stories for Teenage Boys" CD. I followed that with the Irish Pooka tale of "The Fiery Steed" and my warped version of "The Demon Cat."

I also threw in two Grimm fairy tales that I know Disney will never do. It’s funny that when I mentioned that very fact to the audience, several of them applauded. It’s good to know that so many people are concerned. Giggle. My Grimm tales where "Dog and Sparrow," a fine, bloody, horse-killing, dog murdering, house destroying, manslaughtering tale of revenge and violence. I also included "The Mother in Law" as an example of the Grimm obsession with family violence and cannibalism. Obviously stories I don’t get to do in the library and school shows.

I had a fine 45 minute set followed by a bawdy Irish tale by Resa, followed by another 45 minutes of listening to open-mic telling from mostly poets of all different levels and experience. Great evening of "everyday" storytelling in an unusual environment.
There are days I not only like my job but rather love my job. This night was one of them

Storyteller.net PodCast, 6/1/2006

It's here, the June 1, 2006 edition of the Storyteller.net Amphitheater: Podcast Edition!

The Podcast is free of charge to you the listener! Sponsored by Storytellingproducts.com.

Featured on this June 1 Podcast:

Stories by: Sean Buvala, Kindra Gayle McGrane, Harriet Cole and Laura Bobrow.
Product Review: PitchAStory Board Game
Coaching Tip: Episodic Telling
"Talk Back": Our newest feature launches

Listen and/or Download the PodCast now at:
http://www.storytellerpodcast.com/podcast_june2006.mp3

Find us at Itunes at:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=128917838&s=143441

New Feature Starts This Month: Talk Back to the Podcast.

Call us and join in the fun. Our "question of the month" this month is:

"What's your favorite story?"

Think through YOUR answer and call our recording hotline, Leave your first name, your location and your answer. Speak loud and clear and your answer could end up on a future edition of the Storyteller.net Podcast!

Call us today at ( 1) 206-600-6172. We want to hear from you. You can leave a message about anything involving Storyteller.net, the Podcast or the question of the month.

Call us! (206) 600-6172. This number is for Podcast recordings only.

Call Us and Get On the PodCast!

We've added a new feature to the podcast! Now, you can call us and leave us your thoughts, answer our "question of the month," or othewise participate in the PodCast. If you call, your message may be featured! When you call, give us your first name, your location and your comment or answer to our question. Call today and tell us what you think about podcasting, storytelling or the storyteller.net podcast. Maybe you have a question about storytelling? Call and ask! The number is 206-600-6172 (country code is 1 if you need that.). Call us and talk back!

May 2006 Storyteller.net PodCast. Listen up, youse.

The new (free of charge) Storyteller.net Amphitheater:PodCast Edition for May 2006 is now online! Click Here to Hear It Now!

In 30 minutes, we include three stories- "The One Bedroom Apartment" by Kindra Gayle, "Two Farthings" by Sean Buvala and "Grandpa Al and Max" by Glenda Bonin. There's a coaching moment with Sean Buvala and a CD review of "The Family Gazette." Sponsored this month by storytellingproducts.com.

Talent and Links:
Sean Buvala (host, stories and coaching): .http://www.seantells.com.
Kindra Gayle (stories): http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/kmcgrane.
Glenda Bonin: http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/gbonin.
Storytelling Coaching: http://www.seancoaches.com.
CD: "The Family Gazette" : At Storytellingproducts.com .
Jyl Woolfolk (Announcer/VoiceOver): http://jylwoolfolk1.voice123.com/
Storytellingproducts.com: http://www.storytellingproudcts.com

Here Comes the New Podcast!

Our new Podcast is coming May 15. I am so excited, I can hardly hold my trembling hands still to type this. Woo hoo.....

The Search for the World's Worst Pie

I have a storytelling friend who's listed on our site at Storyteller.net. Her name is Priscilla Howe. You can find her web site at www.priscillahowe.com. At any rate, one of the things that Priscilla Howe does as she travels across the country is intentionally seeking out what she refers to as the "world's best pie." Maybe I'm getting the name of her exact quest wrong, I don't know. However, she has inspired me to also pay attention to the food that I eat when I'm on the road. It's very easy to just shove food in your face when you're traveling. One of the rules of the road is: If you find food, eat it. The idea is that you don't always know where your next meal is coming from. For those of you who travel frequently, you probably know exactly what I am talking about.

So, on the one of my recent road trips, after driving for two hours, I had a chance to stop and eat and change my shirt before my next event. Now, I didn't change my shirt because I was going to spill food all over it, but because I had worn a shirt that I had been sweating in the car and I thought I should not give the people who booked me the treat of smelling me as well as hearing me.

After ordering and eating the soup of the day, I thought I would treat myself to a Boston Cream Pie. Now if you know anything about pie at all, you know that a Boston Cream Pie is usually some type of chocolate pudding-like base covered with whipped cream over a standard yellow crust. I can say to you at this time that Priscilla's search for the best pie in the world does not need to occur in Prescott, Arizona. I might get sued if I actually tell you the name of the restaurant that served me this really awful Boston Cream Pie. Let's just say that this pie, well at least the chocolate part of the pie, was one of the most awful experiences in food I had ever had. The chocolate was a mixture of melted chocolate chips along with some wax that had apparently been scraped off the altar of a local church. I'm sure there was some type of gelatin in the chocolate as part of this dietary destruction that was happening on my plate. I'm not kidding, the chocolate actually wiggled on the plate. And I don't think it was because of me bumping the table. It was just wiggling of its own accord.

I don't think that there is anything that you are supposed to learn from my experience. I just know that if Priscilla ever had a chance to come to the northern section of Arizona, there is one restaurant that she can mark off her list. She won't find the best pie in the world at this place. Sigh. I'm just sorry that I had to discover this pie. At least it wasn't as bad as the "shrimp on toast" that my team was once subject to in South Dakota.

But that, as they say, is a story for another time.

Video from a Borders Event.

Here is a video from our Storyteller.net @ Borders event on March 18, 2006. It features Jeff Gere telling a Pele story, and we don't mean the soccer player. The Video is here. By the way, this is a home-style video which includes all the, umm, ambience, you get when you perform at a Borders.