By
Clare on
December 28, 2010
Improving Your Storytelling by Doug Lipman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is aimed at the reader who has already had some experience with storytelling and is ready to learn more. Given the authors professional background, much of the book is focused on ‘performance storytelling’ so may not seem all that relevant to those that are interested in storytelling in other settings (particularly business/organisations). However, I particularly enjoyed the chapters on ‘What is a Story?’, ‘Learning the Story’ and ‘Discovering the Meaning’. The information in these chapters is valuable and applicable to all storytelling, regardless of the context/environment. Compared to ‘The Story Factor’, ‘Improving your Storytelling’ is a more practically focused book and offers more ‘how-to’ type information.
My notes from Improving your Storytelling: Beyond the Basics for All Who Tell Stories in Work and Play
[Disclaimer: The notes below are rough, and may be a mixture of direct quotes, paraphrasing, and my own thoughts/ideas/reminders. They're written here primarily for me (so they may not make much sense out of context, especially for those who haven't read the book)].
(11) Whether you think of yourself as a ‘storyteller’ or not, you tell people what happened to you.
(13) The best assistance doesn’t ‘fix’ your story or tell you what to do. The best help improves your ability to make your own decisions. It doesn’t paint the screen. (more…)
By
Clare on
December 19, 2010
Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Enjoyable read with some good ideas. A couple of the parts that really ‘stuck’ were:
- the danger of focusing too much on idea generation at the expense of the execution phase (becoming addicted to the ‘brain-spinning indulgence of idea generation’)
- the three types of people (dreamers, doers and incrementalists)
- importance of follow up and persistence
- need to share ideas (‘the more people who lie awake in bed thinking about your idea, the better’)
The book also goes into detail about the Action Method (personal productivity/project management/to-do system) which I found quite interesting, but it’s not a system that I’ve implemented or that I think could work for me (at least not at this point in time). (more…)
By
Clare on
December 19, 2010
The Story Factor by Annette Simmons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Anyone who has an interest in how storytelling can be used for more effective communication (in business as well as personal situations) should read this book. It makes an incredibly compelling and clear case for the use of story and highlights a range of potential applications and benefits from using a story-based approach.
As I made my way through the book I was hoping for some more ‘how to’ information. The new chapter in the paperback edition, ‘Story Thinking as a Skill’, was certainly the chapter I found most useful. While this chapter stops short of providing a step-by-step guide on how to elicit, structure and present stories, I realised, after making my way through the book, that this would be impossible. There is no one-size-fits-all formula or approach to storytelling, and as the author writes in the last paragraph of the book – ‘Agility improves with practice and coaching. This new chapter is my best shot at the coaching part. Now it’s time for you to go practice’. (more…)
By
Clare on
December 18, 2010
Gamestorming by Dave Gray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is a really great resource to have on your bookshelf. It describes a series of different facilitation techniques/exercises or ‘games’ that can be used in a range of different organisational settings. While I was familiar with many of the games (or some variant of the games) but it is great to have them described in a single book. It was enjoyable to read the book cover-to-cover, but it’s more of a reference book that you’d keep on your self and refer to when facilitating meetings/workshops to get some ideas about certain techniques to use.
Experienced facilitators may find that they already have several of the games in their existing ‘toolkit’, but it is a useful reference source for stimulating new ideas.
By
Clare on
December 2, 2010
Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. I just heard about it via Buster Benson’s blog and thought it sounded like it was something worth trying out.
The idea is that each day you visit the Reverb 10 website to get a new creative prompt and then you respond to the prompt via a blog post, photo, tweet etc.
So the day 1 prompt…
One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
Action is my word for 2010. I tend to be much more of a thinker than a doer, but this year I’ve put in place some deliberate attempts to ‘do’ more…. getting involved in TEDxCanberra, making an effort to connect with new people and starting a new side-project with Em (instead of just daydreaming about all the side projects we could start)! We’ve also taken some action around the house – building the deck, painting some rooms, installing the blinds. Stuff we’ve been thinking about for ages but hadn’t quite gotten around to.
For 2011, I think I’d like my word to be commitment. Jason and I are getting married in April so that’s clearly a big commitment which is going to be a big focus of next year. I’d also like to commit to a path forward for my work/future career (at least a short-medium term commitment).
So, that’s day 1… If you want to get involved too, sign up at Reverb 10.
Published:
December 2, 2010 | Tagged: reverb10 |
