“(Sean) helped me make my presentations more effective by incorporating stories into them. Specifically, he provided detailed and actionable advice that has helped potential clients…connect with my business. As a result, my business has grown significantly since our sessions together.”
-Nicole Witt, The Adoption Consultancy

FIVE Free “Storytelling in Biz” Podcasts: http://seantells.net/podcasts

1. “Old Time” Video
Here is the “how to tell a story” video- including the sound that was missing from Friday. Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOA8mUflH-Q

ARTICLE: “How to Tell A Story” http://www.storytip.net/howtotellastory

2. The “trigger words” exercise is from this “Storytelling 101” workbook by Sean.

3. Free Article: “Storytelling for IT Departments” http://storytip.net/istory

4. Free Article: “Learn to Pace Your Story” http://storytip.net/pacing

5. Free 30 Lesson Storytelling Ecourse from Sean: http://seantells.com/free-storytelling-ecourse/

6. Free Article: “The Dangerous Corporate ‘Lure’ Story” http://storytip.net/lure

7. Free Article: “Five Essentials of Business Storytelling” http://storytip.net/5essential

8. Free Article: “The Elevator Speech is Still Dead.” http://storytip.net/espeech

9. Sean Buvala at Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/storyteller

10. Sean Buvala at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/seantells

11. Sean Buvala’s Blog http://www.seanblogs.com

12. Free Article: “Grow Your Nonprofit with Storytelling Techniques” http://storytip.net/grownp

13. Free Article: “Three Tips for the Nervous Public Speaker” http://storytip.net/3tips

14. Sean’s DADDYTELLER book at Amazon: http://www.daddyteller.com/amazon

15. Free Parenting Training Videos at DaddyTeller http://www.daddyteller.com/vids

16. The “Meausures of Story” book: howtocreateastory.com

17. “How to Write and About Me” Training Kit: howtowriteanaboutme.com

GENERAL LINKS

::: Follow Me on Twitter @Storyteller

::: My DaddyTeller Book
Book at Amazon
See the Videos

PROGRAMS AND RESOURCES REFERENCED IN THE WORKSHOP

::::Handouts from the Friday Marketing Workshop
Sean Buvala’s One Sheet
The “Yellow” Sheet
The DaddyTeller Book’s One Sheet
The “Outside In” Diagram
Flyer Sample

::::Audio from the Five-Things Marketing Workshop on Friday Morning
Listen here in .mp3 file.

::::MORE Audio: 15 More Things about Marketing (The Yellow Sheet)
Listen to this audio with this link now.

:::EXTRA Audio File! Learn about Sean Buvala’s “Outside-In” Storytelling Model
Download this diagram first.
Listen to this .mp3 audio file.

::: Social Oomph Program
Allows you to automate some parts of your social media presence. This is the
program I use to Tweet daily tips and content and I highly recommend it.
http://www.storytip.net/so

::: Hoot Suite
Also allows pre-loading social media.
http://www.hootsuite.com

:::PostCard Samples
http://seantells.com/postcard/

::::: Vista Print (Printer for Post Cards)
I use and recommend these printers.

:::What You MUST have on your Web Site.
Your Media Kit Page On Your Website:
1. Your one-sheet
2. Crystal-clear contact information (and maybe contact form)
3. SEVERAL downloadable pictures in b/w and color.
4. Your BIO in plain TEXT format
5. Your intro card (optional)
6. Your CD/product links

:::Examples of One Sheets
http://carolknarr.com/
http://www.timereneta.com/media-kit.html
http://www.visitharriettubman.com/pages.asp?pageid=89667
http://ellouisestory.com/index.php?page=media-kit
http://daddyteller.com/mediakit/
http://www.seantells.com/sean_onesheet2.pdf

:::Books I Suggest

I had the honor of watching Stefan Swanepoel develop this concept from a brilliant glimmer of an idea into the full-blown book he sent me for review. Calling upon his eclectic upbringing and unique view of the Serengeti, Stefan frames business wisdom into a book that invites you to think more deeply about your profession. As a side benefit, you will be surprised at how much you will learn about animals that heretofore you may have only experienced in a zoo or in an anthropomorphic animated movie. Note: Stefan does not just discard the interests of animals after he has used them in his book. Instead, a portion of the purchase price goes to the Africa Wildlife Foundation.

However, this is not just a metaphysical romp into trying to connect you with your inner Serengeti beast and then leaving you for the next buzz-wordy jeep that comes along. Rather, Stefan’s book encourages you to immediately apply the learning from each animal encounter with a series of “how-to” tips that wrap up each chapter. You will find this to be an easy, fun-to-read book that is part parable, part workbook and part energizing guide. Stefan’s fresh concepts are strong enough for your business needs and yet are still inviting and approachable for any of your family’s budding teenage entrepreneurs with whom you will want to share this book.

***
Early on in Stefan’s project, I developed a series of stories for this website. You can hear them at this link: http://www.serengetibook.com/your-safari/storytelling-podcasts/

1. Stay true to your style.
We have enough public speakers in the world who are trying to sound perfect. Vanilla, over-rehearsed speeches that are more a mechanical delivery of words instead of an invitation to understanding are everywhere. Mr. Obama has several speech tics, including his inability to pronounce the word “to” in any speech. He consistently says a shortened “ta” instead of the complete pronunciation of “to.” Like an accent, these tics make his presentations unique to him. As well, the President has distinctive hand-gestures that he uses consistently in every presentation. These idiosyncrasies are unique to his style and bring a familiarity to each of his presentations.

When you watch video recordings of your own speech and presentations, look for your own subtle and unique traits. Consulting with your speaking coach, decide which traits bring unique flavor to your speeches without being distracting. For example, Mr. Obama has a distracting tendency to drop his hands to the podium, resulting in a loud “thud.” Keep your positive traits and abandon the distractions.

2. Bring the big ideas down to the local level.
Typical of most SOTU presentations, the President gives concrete examples of the concepts he is speaking about. Using examples of ordinary citizens, from solar-panel companies to school principals who have schools with improved graduation rates, he gives his audience examples and anecdotes that become a “hook” for the listeners’ memories.

When you speak, are you using simple, audience-relating anecdotes that help your audience to understand how your concepts apply to real life? They say that all politics are local. The focus of your presentations should also be local and relevant to your audience.

3. Use the ideas of others in your talk.
In his SOTU presentation, Mr. Obama used several quotes. In his quote attributed to Robert Kennedy, he united his content to foundational ideas from the past. While this can be risky, it is always a good idea to try to bring in the thoughts of others into your presentations.

You can use quotes that both support and challenge your themes. With the Internet, it is easy to find quotes for your presentation. Whenever possible, try to find at least two different sources for your quotes before you attribute it to any author.

4. Acknowledge tough or contentious issues with simple humor.
In a presentation like the SOTU, there are plenty of people in the audience looking for any chance to pounce on the speaker. By making brief, quick humorous content on such things as acknowledging disagreements on healthcare, the TSA security procedures and government redundancy, Mr. Obama briefly diffused some of this antagonism to allow his presentation to be heard. Has salmon ever been discussed in a State of the Union event before?

When you have audience members that have plenty of agendas of their own, it is okay to make fast humorous comments to break the ice. The key to this type of humor is keeping it short and light while immediately moving on in your presentation.

5. Conclude with a strong story that summarizes your essential points.
In the President’s attempt to drive home his idea that “we do big things” in the United States, he used a very strong story of how one U.S. company created the equipment that performed the work to impact the world. His story of the U.S. involvement in the Chilean miners’ rescue demonstrated the existence of one such “big thing.”

In your presentations, use powerful stories to both introduce and end your presentation, leaving your audience with strong visual images to remember your core ideas.

How can you apply these five techniques to your future presentations? The next time you watch a presentation, think about the techniques the speaker is using. Adapt those things that work for you.

***
Sean Buvala is an author, professional storyteller and business communication coach. For 25 years, he has taught people how to communicate with memorable clarity. You can learn more about his work at http://www.seantells.com. Get his training workbook at http://www.storytelling101.com . He is based in Arizona.

Flag pic courtesy of http://www.ace-clipart.com/index.html

One of the most searched-for communication skills on the Internet is “how to tell a story.” I would like to give you a quick step-by-step guide to this process of story telling, drawn from my 25 years of being a professional storyteller. This is the fast and quick method to learn a new story.

1. Decide on a story. Sounds elementary, but at some point, you need to find a story that you love. If you are having problems, search the Internet for some simple Aesop fables or find some good stories at a site like Storyteller.net .

2. Break the story down into an outline of events so that you can remember the episodes of each story.

You have two choices for step three. Do one or both if you would like.

3A. Write out or draw out the parts of the story. Using longhand, that means pencil and paper, write out the episodes of the story in your own words. Do not copy the story. Rewrite it in your own words. Doing this process by hand allows your brain to overcome any resistance you might have to the story. Knowing you can do this process with your story is also a way for your brain to overcome some fear of public speaking that might hinder you from telling this story.

3B. The other way to break down a story is via “storyboarding,” a technique that many storytellers use. Take a letter-sized piece of paper. Fold it in half along the length. You now have an eleven inch piece of pager that looks like a taco. Then, fold the right side up against the left and then fold the same way again. When you unfold the paper you will have a piece of paper divided into 8 segments.

Starting at the top segment, draw out each step of the story. This is only for you to learn so stick figures and bad drawings are just fine. This visual method may help you grasp the story better than writing alone.

4. Begin to tell yourself the story, aloud, using your own words while looking at one of the #3 tools above. Repeat this process several times.

5. Think about the story you are telling. Are there parts of the story that do not really need to be there? Do they drag down the story? Cross them off the list or the storyboard and tell yourself the story one more time with those parts of the story removed. Again, at each of these times, you are speaking your story aloud. Let your face get a feel for the story.

6. Put your notes down and tell yourself the story a few more times. This is a great exercise to do while you are driving your car or cleaning your house. Just keep talking to yourself.

7. Call up a friend or find an associate and tell them your story. Use no notes or storyboard. When you finish telling the story to your associate, ask them if it makes sense to them. Did they think you left out any parts? This is not the time to see if they “get it” or understand the deep meanings. You just want to know if the essential delivery of the story makes sense.

8. As your confidence in the story grows, you will want to start thinking about the emotions represented by different words in the story. You may find that you wish to emphasize one part or character over another. These things come with time. If you feel better about saying “once upon a time” at the beginning or “the end” as one of your story endings, then do so. As you grow to understand storytelling even more, you will learn so many other ways to start or end a story.

9. When it is time for your story’s debut, be confident. Look at your audience. Speak clearly. Slow down and enjoy the story experience. As a professional storyteller, I can tell you that it takes a dozen or more tellings of a story to find the your true rhythm and delivery for each story.

There you have it, how to tell a great story! This is a quick, get-it-now guide to storytelling. There is so much more you can learn about how to tell a story. Remember- get started today telling stories. Like a painter who must paint often to get better at painting, you, too, must speak stories often and to many groups in order to improve.

Some resources:

To get my free ECourse on storytelling, see the front page of my website at www.seantell.com.

To order the EWorkbook on storytelling that includes live coaching and audio files, please visit www.storytelling101.com

****
Based in Arizona, Sean Buvala is a full-time professional storyteller and storytelling consultant who works throughout North America teaching storytelling for business. Along with storytelling techniques for corporate communication, Sean is also sought after for teaching storytelling for teachers of middle school and high-school students. For more information about Sean’s work as a storytelling coach, please see his site at www.seantells.com.

Welcome, #Reinvention and #Story10 guests!

I hope you are enjoying the ReInvention Summit presented by the good folks over at Get Storied. I am pleased to offer you some follow-up links and resources from my workshop “Just Enough to Make a Story: Building Stories from Anecdotes.” Presented in no particular order, I know you will find useful and conversation-starting links below. While you are here, why not sign up for my free 20-lesson Ecourse on “how to tell a story” and storytelling techniques? Enjoy.
-Sean Buvala

Less Theory. More Results:
Sponsored by our results-heavy Executive Speaker Training Workshop.

::::.Notes from Workshop

Here are the visual notes from my “Anecdotes and Floats to Story” workshop presented at Reinvention..

::::.Contact
Twitter: @Storyteller
My Blog
Contact Form

:::::. Video: How to Tell A Story (Just for Fun)

::::.My “Storytelling 101″ Training Manual (Purchase)
Learn more about this affordable Eworkbook at this link now.

::::. My free Business Storytelling podcasts are at this link, including more about anecdote and story.

:::::. A Variety of Free Articles

“The Elevator Speech is (Still) Dead.”

“How To Tell A Story.”

“10 Things Storytelling Won’t Do for Your Business or NonProfit.”

“Adapting World Tales for Corporate Storytelling.”

“Three Ways to Connect to an Audience in Any Presentation.”

“9 Storytelling Techniques for Any Situation.”

“Storytelling for IT, Science and Research Professionals.”

“When Your Corporate Storytelling is Wortheless.”

“Grow Your NonProfit with Internal Storytelling Techniques.”

::::. Several Audio Interviews

Storytelling for Business with Sean Buvala (Jay Handler and Trey Pennington)

Make Your Speeches Memorable with Storytelling Techniques

::::.Video: Gestures in Storytelling

::::.Sean Bio

Professional Storyteller, Coach, Author

Sean Buvala is a professional storyteller, presenter coach and a veteran of the storytelling movement, connected to all areas of story since 1986. He describes his work as somewhere between “in your life and in your face” depending on the needs of the group he is with at any given time. Sean has been telling tales, training storytellers, providing private corporate coaching and creating practical applications for stories in many industries. He has had the honor to consult within the travel, telecommunications, health care, non-profit, publishing, government, community development, social media and manufacturing industries both in live events and through the new technologies of the Internet.

Sean Buvala is the director of Storyteller.net, which provides information for those who use storytelling in any environment. He has also received the Oracle Award from the National Storytelling Network for creative leadership. He has created the brand-new “Executive Speaker Training Workshop” to bring the concepts of communication via storytelling to the non-storyteller. Sean has authored the training workbook “www.storytelling101.com“used by clients throughout the world. He also wrote the book, “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“ for parents and families. Most importantly, Sean is the father of four and husband of one. His home and office is in Arizona. To learn more, please visit his website at http://www.seantells.com

Sponsor:
Sponsored by our Executive Speaking Training Workshop.

The Episodes:

Episode Five: “The Elevator Speech is Dead”
Sean talks this week about the archaic concept of the elevator speech. The elevator speech: when you learn a singular “speech” to talk about your business with new clients and customers. Rather, Sean talks about learning the power of your story to be used in different time frames. Sean also tells you the obscure Grimm tale of “Not Much.” You’ll also hear from a listener who called in to tell us his reaction to these podcasts.
Listen in: Episode Five

Episode Four: “Storytelling is Not a ‘Soft Skill’: Sure Looked Easy”
Sean brings you some tough-love this week to help you understand that storytelling is a “hard skill” for your business. Fail that understanding and things can go bad. Get real coaching and training to sharpen your skills.
Listen in: Episode Four

Episode Three: “Jokes Anecdotes Stories: Just Enough”
A listener wants to know more about what makes a story instead of a joke or anecdote.
Listen in: Episode Three

Episode Two: “What Did the Plumber Know?”
How can you use even an old, familiar story in your business presentations? How you say what you say is important.
Listen in: Episode Two

Episode One: “The Guy Complaining in the Bathroom”
Sean talks about how every business and every person in the business needs the power of storytelling, even those who think they are “above” something so simple as storytelling. Boy, was he wrong.
Listen Now: Episode One

Phoenix has a major airport. “Sky Harbor” is one of the busiest in the United States, hosting major hubs for airlines such as US Airways and Southwest. Yet, this huge airport has been rated as one of the friendliest anywhere and boasts a large team of volunteers able and ready to assist travelers. Your conference guests will find them in the purple jackets in all terminals. This clean airport is easy to access from anywhere in the greater Phoenix/Scottsdale area and should be a big factor in choosing your next meeting location.

Another factor is the great weather. Few storms or winter complications delay air travel or car travel. How many times have you worried about the impact of weather on your conference travel? Come to Arizona and relax. Instead of being limited to certain months to hold your event as you are in other major cities, you can even have a great conference in the middle of December if you wanted to.

Transportation is easy in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Many of the hotels will pick up the guests from the airport, free of charge. In addition to that, there are many good choices for affordable ground transportation into the Phoenix suburbs should you be holding your event in one of those cities. These transportation issues give you peace of mind for safety of the guests of the conference.

Once they get to the hotel, they will have plenty of things to do. Many of your conference guests will come in a day early or stay an extra day to take in day trips to locations such as the Grand Canyon, the artsy city of Sedona or the laid-back vibe of historical Tucson. They can also schedule a visit to the historical Hoover Dam and the newly completed “Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge” which in itself is an amazing piece of construction. If your team has golfers as members, there are dozens of excellent courses that will challenge their golf skills.

Arizona is a hospitality state, too. You can easily make a list of hotels that will give you a price break for holding the conference. Check with your meeting planner at the hotel and find out if the hotel will give discounts on attractions in the area to give the guests a break and discover Phoenix.

There are plenty of things to do in downtown Phoenix and the surrounding area. Make some creative ideas for your conference and have a theme. Then, see if some local businesses like restaurants and clubs will give discounts for your guests.

Your next conference in Arizona could be your best yet.

When you choose Arizona for your next event, why not use an Arizona-based presenter or speaker? You will save money on travel costs while still getting national-level training. For example, consider Sean Buvala as your Arizona event’s speaker. Teaching communication skills and storytelling techniques since 1986, Sean has spoken to thousands of people across many industries. Your conference attendees will benefit from a keynote, workshop or breakouts session with Sean and your accountant will love you for making a smart financial move. You can contact Sean at his website at http://www.seantells.com.

Maybe you just want to come to Arizona and have us do the conference for you. Explore our “Executive Speaker Training” event. Sean and his team offer this one or two day training workshop that focuses on developing unique skills and presentation style. Learn more at http://www.executivespeakingtraining.com today.

Just for fun, folks. Parents: listen before sharing with your children

Real stories can change your company. The best way to express story is through storytelling.

However, your stories must be true and they must be a central focus of your entire organization to work. As a storytelling coach and trainer since 1986, I have been using story long before it was the current buzzword of today. I know both the power and the illusion of story. One of those illusions is that story always works in every situation. It will not. Here are ten things storytelling will not do for your company.

1. Fix difficult management.
If your CEO is not onboard with your new storytelling process, your process will fail. If your management team has significant problems, control issues or is otherwise unhealthy, a good story will only cover it up for a brief moment. Truth will always win-out.

2. Correct a Bad Promise.
If your company makes promises it never intends to keep, your storytelling will be perceived as lies. Lies will destroy a business or a nonprofit organization.

3. Fix financial misbehavior.
If there are questionable corporate money issues or books that have been “cooked,” storytelling will not cover financial impropriety.

4. Keep your clients after bad service.
Your great story, expressed in storytelling or any other media, may bring in many new customers. However, if these new people experience poor service, they will not return. Rather, they will create a new story of how your company really works- and you can bet that story will spread on the Internet faster than any story you have tried to bring forward.

5. Keep employees who are mistreated.
Telling stories of how great your organization is will not win out over a worker’s long-term negative experience. While storytelling can help with healing after major changes and real apologies, reality always conquers any fake fable the company may create.

6. “Make” people buy your widget.
Repeatedly, business owners want me to teach them the magic words that will make floods of customers come in their door. This does not happen. Your multiple stories will become bedrock upon which deeper relationships may be developed. Let your customers build their trust in you on this rock, not the sand of jingles and campaigns.

7. Force a “viral” anything.
A true “viral” Internet experience is hard to create and is rather random at any rate. The few marketing campaigns of late that have gone viral usually did not equate to profits for the companies involved. Skip the gimmick and focus rather on the genuine stories of your group.

8. Replace all your other marketing.
While research shows that storytelling can carry big ideas, storytelling is not the last marketing tool you need. Older methods of marketing such as direct mail and the latest tools such as social media should be used to bring your story to your new and current clients.

9. Survive the “gimmick” mentality.
In my corporate career, I have Moved Cheese and Flung Fish all while trying to connect with folks in One Minute. These fad trends have come and gone. On the other hand, the importance of story seems to be hard wired in our DNA. If you treat storytelling like your last gimmicky management trend it will fail, too. A phrase like, “Our focus for this year is on storytelling” is a coffin nail for success. Make story your new baseline for your company’s future and you will do much better.

10. Be free of charge.
Not everyone is a natural storyteller. I think that each person in your company can easily learn to recognize and recall stories but they will need training and coaching to learn to express them in forms such as storytelling, writing, video and more. This takes time and training to get this correct for your company.

Do not get too lost in these ten warnings. Story still contains the same power to change lives, connect people and build communities just as it has done throughout history. Having realistic expectations of this tool will help you use story to its full potential.

****

The author, Sean Buvala, has been speaking about and training clients in the use of story since 1986. Hundreds of companies and thousands of individual learners have experienced his work as a coach. He is the executive director of Storyteller.net and a recipient of an “Oracle Award” from the National Storytelling Network. Sean is based in Arizona where his wife says he’s a great cook.

For more information about Sean’s two-day workshop that teaches you to harness the power of business or corporate storytelling, please visit our website at http://executivespeakingtraining.com/. To get Sean’s free 30-lesson Ecourse, visit his site at http://www.seantells.com today.

Photo Credit: ©BOOJOO – Fotolia.com