SeanTellsDotCom

My Real Blog

For the most up to date blogging, please see my "real" blog at www.seanblogs.com . I keep that updated. Here at Typepad, this blog is mostly a place holder so that I can keep up with my friends and clients who use this service.

To learn more about my services and how I might work best for and with you, please visit my main site at www.seantells.com .

For more information about Storytelling, please visit www.storyteller.net .

One Less in 2007

2007 lost several storytellers. Some known by all. Some only known to a few.

Chet Ambrose was one of those. He passed away in July 2007. As he told me, he was the youngest of 5 brothers, with his oldest brother being in his late 90's. He was a retired school teacher and administrator and LOVED telling stories to children.

He never made it to be a festival teller. Wasn't a "Dragon Teller." Wasn't on a committee of Elders, 'cept at  his own local church. Wasn't on the hay wagon back in TN way back when. I guess he wasn't successful by our sometimes myopic organizational viewpoints. I don't even think he was in the NSN. He was a member of Storyteller.net.

But he made a big difference in his telling to the children who heard him.

He wanted his stories posted to Storyteller.net so that his big brothers could "hear them and read them." His big brothers?! Chet was 77!

Come take a look at his page at Storyteller.net. Listen to his stories. Read a few. Click over to the site that his family made for him when he was still here and then have updated after his death. It is an interesting website and look at how storytelling effects/affects in a local circle.

http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/cambrose

We lost other storytellers in 2007. We miss them all.

Peace. Life is good. And fleeting. Love 'em while you got 'em.

Enchanted Movie and the Storyteller

What really would happen if fairy tale characters took the leap into our world? Would modern Americans be ready for all that darkness? The premise of Disney’s newest movie http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/enchanted gets a fresh look with Storyteller.net director and professional K. Sean Buvala in our latest edition of our podcast at storytellerpodcast.net.

Listen to the podcast now when you click http://www.storytellerpodcast.com/seantellsdotcom_enchantedpodcast.mp3

Avondale, AZ November 18, 2007- "Fairy tales showing up in the middle of modern life? That’s not new. They’ve been there, in all their twisted goodness, since the beginning of humanity. Fairy tales have been making the leap into the ’modern world’ since human beings first experienced their imagination and understood the differences of good and evil," so says Sean Buvala, a full-time professional storyteller and director of the premier Internet storytelling site, Storyteller.net. And he ought to know. He’s been travelling the United States for more than 21 years sharing tales with adults, teens and children.

In the latest Podcast at Storyteller.net, Buvala discusses the role of darkness and challenge in fairy tales. "In the new Disney movie, ’Enchanted,’ the characters get trapped in modern day situations and the movie appears to ask the ’what if’ question. Stories, and fairy tales in particular, however, have been asking that same ’what if’ question for hundreds of years. What if we were confronted between the choices of morality, doing what is right and selfless behavior and the more appealing less sociable behaviors? These confrontations are the core of the meaning of fairy tales."

In a genre-busting premise, "Enchanted" puts the pure-love and doe-eyed behaviors of its main characters in the midst of our own seen-it-all society. However, Buvala says these calm, loving behaviors would be nearly unknown to fairy tale characters if they came to life. "In the real versions of fairy tales, there is very little of these types of Disney-nice actions. Rather there are behaviors of deceit, treachery, child abuse, punishment, rewards and swift justice. Fairy tales aren’t the politically correct or sanitized stories of animation. They’re hard-core, ’act right or else’ ultimatums in many cases. Children punished by death, people doomed to walk the earth as ghosts for stealing pennies and losing true love for minor infractions: these would be the behaviors fairy tale characters would expect to see in modern life."

The irony of a Disney movie parodying the contemporary understanding of fairy tales is especially fun for Sean Buvala. "The Brothers Grimm would not even recognize the Disney animated versions of ’Sleeping Beauty’ or ’Cinderella.’ In many ways, it seems that Disney made ’Enchanted’ to poke fun at the one-dimensional nature of fairy tale characters. However, those wide-eyed people in our imaginations are Disney’s own spawn. They must be having a fun time ’dis" Enchanting their own dragons."

Sean goes further in depth regarding fairy tales in modern life and examines the power a genuine storyteller has with a live audience in the latest podcast at Storyteller.net. The free-of-charge podcast can be found on the front-page of the website at www.storyteller.net or maybe be downloaded at www.storytellerpodcast.net.

Will Buvala be seeing the "Enchanted" Movie? "I’ll be in the Disneyland area next week. Maybe I’ll go see it right there in the Downtown Disney attraction," the nationally travelled storyteller says with a wicked grin.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
K. Sean Buvala
Storyteller.net
623.298.4548
sean@storyteller.net
http://www.storyteller.net
http://www.arizonastorytelling.com
http://www.storyteller.net
http://www.seantells.com

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The Red Pen Storytelling Tool

Being able to craft a story is an essential skill for both beginning and experienced tellers. That crafting, much like sculpting, involves knowing what to trim away and what to keep. For storytellers, our sculpting tools should  include the red “cross it out” pen.

There is an old comedy album, heard once in my youth, where the comedian says, “When you are trying to tell a story, try having a point. It makes it so much more interesting for an audience.”

I’ve attended a number of storytelling events of late that bring that old comedy routine to mind. I’ve wanted to hand the tellers a giant red pen, hoping they’d cut out, cross out and eliminate the bloated-ness of their tales.

Although it’s not always possible to have a clear cut point in telling folktales or world myths, it is important for storytellers to know “why” they are telling any particular story. If not, stories end up as rambling and meandering exercises in hearing ourselves talk. When that happens, the stories lose their interest and our audiences just lose interest.

It is easier to do the red pen routine with personal tales, so let’s begin there. First, understand that storytelling is an audience-centered art form. It’s not a form of therapy for the storyteller.

Grab yourself a piece of paper and do this exercise with me. First, choose a personal tale from your repertoire. Then imagine the type of audience you’ll be telling to and with. With those thoughts in mind, ask yourself this: Why am I telling the story? What is my point?

Identify this first thought, this singular crystal-clear point and write it across the top of the piece of paper. Use large, bold letters.

Underneath those big bold letters, write an outline your story. What’s first, second third.....sixth, etc? Try to include all the elements of your typical telling of that story, including those tangential side trips you might be normally inclined to make.

Now comes the step so many tellers are unwilling to make. Grab your red pen.  Re-read your main point. Go down your outline and ask yourself for each numbered item, “Does this item illustrate or lead to my main point?” If it does not, cross it out.

This is the point where some storytellers start to reach for the oxygen mask. “But, but, what you want me to cut out is (funny, cute, touching, meaningful, pretty, insightful, witty, makes my grandma laugh, tells people I love dogs, will save the world, etc). I couldn’t cut out that part.” Yes, you could. Yes you should. If it does not move your story towards your main point for the audience that you are addressing, then draw a line through it and drop it from you story. Most likely, the parts you’ve redlined are or could become stories in their own way.

The process I have just described is a good exercise to do with your storytelling coach. Ask that person to help you identify and redline the excessive parts of your story, those parts that drag down your work. One of the challenges with storytelling as an art from is our excessive focus on internal (“How does your storytelling make you feel?”) coaching, so it may be hard to find a mentor that will be honest with you. You may need to assure your coach that it’s okay to have an opinion.

This ability to redline one’s work, to focus on the needs of the audience,  is essential for good storytelling. Tellers who are unwilling to red line their stories just leave me wishing for the door. A storyteller who tells a story that has been redlined and crafted leave me wishing for more of their craft. Isn’t that the goal- building a love for stories and storytelling in our audiences.

http://www.seantells.com

Business Storytelling: Five Minutes of Fame

Here is my latest challenge for you.

Let's pretend that the Woman who runs the World's Largest Afternoon Talk (WLATS) show wants to talk about your business on Her show. You Know Who I mean. She is going to randomly pick an employee from your organization to speak.

Let's pretend that YOU have been chosen to represent your company on Her  WLATS show. You will have only 5-10 minutes on the show to share your experience and to convince people that they should be calling your company for their needs. Like it or not, 10 minutes on that show can translate into bazillions of contacts. So, you have 5-10 minutes to grab the attention of the audience.

What would you say? If you said you'd talk about your financial security, how nice your buildings are and your 24 hour service, then you lose. All of your competitors say they have those, even if they don't.

You've got 5-10 minutes. What story, the one that touches the heart and imagination of the audience, will you tell? Stop now and choose one. If you have taken my training work, you have your Intentionality Journal to help you. My training courses give you tools that work.

Side note for some of you:  This is *not* an exercise in the "elevator speech" process. "Elevator speeches" are dead. Relationships are alive. Stories build relationships.

1.Choose your story.

2.Choose your point.

3. Choose where the story will start.

4. Choose the other episodes that help you get your point across.

5. Choose the ending. Maybe you go back to the opening sentence to close?

6. Find someone and tell them your story. Open your mouth and tell the story. The only way to learn is to do it.

This exercise is for everyone in your company. It is for the Executive Team. It is for the new cashier who was just hired this week.

"Hah Ha, Very funny. WLATS is going to randomly pick an employee? Oh, that will never happen." you say. Do you want to bet? It is already happening every day. Potential customers, guests and potential employees randomly meet your staff every day. Are all of your current staff ready to tell a story or two?

Executive People: Will you model your 5-10 minute talk-show story for the rest of your company within the next seven days?

www.seantells.com

PodCast May 2007

http://www.storytellerpodcast.com/podcast_may2007.mp3

Of Thank You Notes and Colored Pencils

Chapter One of this Generic Story: The Thank You Note
The latest thank-you note I got was from a 7th grade boy. It was written with one of those pencils where the lead changes color every few strokes. It's like a box of crayons exploded all over the letters. Every kid thinks they are the first person to ever write a note with those kind of pencils. Adults couldn't have possibly ever had something so cool as this. In his cascading colors note, he told me that he and his friends thought my stories I told in his school were "exciting."  I, of course, thought this note was a classroom assignment. You know, something like: write the Storyteller and say "thank you." Turns out, this was a spontaneous action on this kid's part. He wrote a note, put it in an envelope, got a stamp and sent it. Getting these notes, from adults and kids, is one of the things I really like about being a professional storyteller.

When's the last time your (teenagers or students) experienced anything that made them hand write a note...for which they were not getting graded?  When was the last time the teens in your life had something that wasn't electric grab their attention so thoroughly? That is the power of live storytelling and that is what I do.

Chapter Two of this Generic Story: Corporate Secrets
I'd like to share with you a little reality. Your customers aren't paying attention to your advertising and sales slogging anymore.

They've heard it all before. Numbers no longer slake their thirsts. If you are using the "we're number one" bit, that doesn't impress them. Your "100's of locations" map doesn't matter.

You've burned out their patience and their "Broca's" region is turned off.  Your old "hard skills" have worn down to fracturing thinness. Yawn.

I know, you want to hold on to your slick presentation folders, your staff full of degrees, your nice office building. Your professional self-image. Yikes.

So, what are they, your customers, paying attention to? They want you to "surprise Broca." Go ahead and Google that. They're paying attention to and they are thirsting for, the one thing or two that sets you apart. This thing that will scream past their boredom, grab hold of their right-brains and poke them squarely in their mind's eye.

They want your stories. YOUR stories. What makes YOU in YOUR organization exist? You know, if you were really honest about it, your company is not that much different
than your competitors. Go on, no one's looking. Be honest. Let go of your "corporate mythology" of how your Goliath-ness is David proof.

What is different? Your stories? Do you have the most compelling reasons, narratives, records of what keeps your current customers with you? What's the story?

Put my money where my mouth is? What's my story? There are lots of storytellers out there. Principals at schools get packages from storytellers all the time. What makes Sean different?  Here's one of many things: I capture the attention of Junior High kids so deeply and so that they run to their textbooks and computers when I am done to learn more about the literature and world folktales that I've been teaching and storytelling. When I work with teens, they write me thank you letters afterwards. Yes, handwritten letters. It's amazing. 13 year olds (even guys) writing, even when they don't have to. That's what sets me apart: stories about how teens are motivated to read, research and write when I am done in the classroom.

Hold on to your slick handouts and your Powerpoints. Facts are okay and needed. What your customers are going to remember are your stories that frame and focus your number and your facts.

Relationships sell. Relationships are built on our stories. They who tell the best story get the sales. They who tell the best story get the most conversion and buy in. This is a hard skill. "Connecting" is no longer an optional skill in business.

And after all my blathering above, what you're going to remember is the story about the multi-colored-lead pencils. Why? Because you probably had some when you were a kid or you've bought them for your own kids. Connecting.

PodCast April 2007

One of my favorites, all Junior High Stuff.

http://www.storytellerpodcast.com/podcast_april2007_storytellerdotnet.mp3

Happy Birthday Storyteller.net

Happy Birthday to us at http://www.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 http://www.storytellingproducts.com 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.

PodCast May 2006

http://www.storytellerpodcast.com/podcast_may2006.mp3