Cal Fussman shared this advice for interviewing on the Tim Ferriss podcast. His story about interviewing Mikhail Gorbachev was amazing!
Story-eliciting picture cards
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reading about story-telling lately (see my recent book reviews) and want to find more ways to use and promote ‘story-telling’ in my work and my side-projects. I am a big believer in the utility and power of pictures to elicit stories (and memories, opinions etc) so I’ve made myself a set of picture cards and am quite pleased with the result.
Mostly the images are (creative commons licensed content) from Flickr (with a couple of my own photos included) which I had printed as 6×4 photos at Officeworks (for 10c per print). I recorded the Flickr attribution on the reverse of each photo and laminated them, and now have this great set of 33 cards (which I’ll keep adding to).
Book Review: Improving your Storytelling
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. [Read more…]
Book Review: The Story Factor
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’. [Read more…]
The Power of Storytelling
I became interested in storytelling (as a business/personal communication tool rather than as a creative/artistic pursuit) about 6 months ago and am doing heaps of reading and watching on the subject. Right now I’m making my way through Annette Simmons’ The Story Factor. I’ve just read the chapter in which Annette discusses the different aspects of storytelling: gestures; facial expressions; body language; sounds, smells and tastes; irrelevant detail; virtual reality; timing and pause; and tone. Yesterday I watched this fantastic video of master storyteller Jay O’Callahan talking about the power of storytelling at The 99 Percent Conference. Jay demonstrates each of the aspects of storytelling so clearly and effectively, so it’s the perfect practical accompaniment to Annette’s text!
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/14806071[/vimeo]
Also, appreciations is a technique that O’Callahan uses to improve the storytelling skills of his students and he touches on this really nicely as well in this video (O’Callahan’s use of appreciations and how the can be applied to building any creative strength is further discussed in Scott Belsky’s Making Ideas Happen).