I’ve published several entries recently about April’s Storytelling Weekend in Washington, DC (April 15-17). Steve Denning has now provided a one-stop link to learn about all three days of the weekend and links to register. More details and a registration link are still to come for the Saturday event, Golden … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Artistic Intent and the Story Behind (and Beyond) Still Photos
I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of artistic intent. What story is an artist trying to tell, or what statement is the artist trying to make in a given work of art? Having worked for a while in an art gallery, I came to realize that most artists don’t … Continue reading
Taking-Hope-Into-Our-Own-Hands Stories
A year ago today, my heart soared as Barack Obama was inaugurated. While my regard for the president remains undimmed today, I find myself tending to agree with Arianna Huffington, who wrote in Huffington Post yesterday that the US political system seems to be broken (largely by bitter partisanship and … Continue reading
10 Intriguing Storytelling Blog Posts
Lou Hoffman, president and CEO of The Hoffman Agency, writes about storytelling as seen through a business prism in his blog Ishmael’s Corner. He has identified his top 10 storytelling-related blog posts of 2009 in two parts: Part I Part II
Transitioning from the Written to the Spoken Story
Over the weekend, Jared (who doesn’t use his last name on his blog), writer of the fascinating and popular blog Moon Over Martinborough, told me about a dilemma he’s having. He recently added a podcast to his blog. Here’s the issue: I’m aware that these podcasts are more ‘books on … Continue reading
Three Outstanding Story Events to Consider
Sometime last year, I started a protocol of listing story-related events on an inside Story Events page instead of here on the main page of A Storied Career. Recently, though, I’ve broken that protocol and listed story events here. I’m afraid I let the Story Events page get horribly outdated. … Continue reading
Story-Development Approaches in Applied Storytelling: Each to His or Her Own
I had a bit of an epiphany the other day while reading a blog post by J. Timothy King on his blog Be the Story. Story practitioners whose practice includes story development tend to adopt very specific approaches for developing stories. Sometimes they create these approaches on their own. Sometimes … Continue reading
Create Your Own Moth Story Event
I love The Moth and have written about it numerous times, most recently here, where I shared some favorite stories from The Moth’s podcast. I receive regular email updates from The Moth, announcing its events mostly in New York City but sometimes in other parts of the country. It’s kind … Continue reading
Golden Fleece Extends Conference-Proposal Deadline to Jan. 25
Madelyn Blair and Denise Lee are planning this year’s Golden Fleece conference, with Madelyn noting the organization has received several proposals but wants more. They’ve therefore extended the date for submission to January 25.
This year’s theme is “You, Me and We: Connecting through Story.”

Golden Fleece is a superb and rich applied-storytelling conference. I wish I were attending this year, but I’ve established a pattern of attending in odd-numbered years — plus, this year’s event is very shortly after we will have made our big cross-country move. I’m glad Madelyn shared this info because at least one reader has asked me for details about the conference. I see that the conference is back at George Mason University (after several years at the National 4H Center), where it was when I first attended in 2005. The photos above are from the 2009 conference.
DETAILS OF THE RFP
The Golden Fleece is seeking proposals on “You, Me and We: Connecting through Story” for workshops and presentations on storytelling in the workplace and our teams, communities, and beyond for our upcoming one day Conference to be held:
Date and Time of the event: Saturday, April 17, 2010 from 9 to 5.
Theme: You, Me and We: Connecting through Story
Location: George Mason University, Arlington, VA, Campus
(Washington, DC area)
Workshop Proposal Submission Deadline: January 25, 2010.
Golden Fleece, in conjunction with the 2010 Storytelling in Organizations seminar of the Smithsonian Institution’s Resident Associates Program (April 16, 2010), is pleased to announce the ninth annual International Storytelling Weekend in Washington. This one-day conference offers the possibility for change leaders, executives, storytelling professionals, organizational development practitioners, students and researchers to conduct workshops, present findings, and discuss the important aspects of using story to explore all of the myriad of contemporary challenges we face today and in the future.
GOLDEN FLEECE IS CONVENING THIS DAY TO:
- Open a Forum for peer-to-peer learning about what has and hasn’t worked and to create insight into the experiences of those who use story in their work with organizations including an examination of constraints and difficulties – and how they were resolved.
- Introduce New Tools through presentations, experiential workshops, case studies and discussion in a collegial atmosphere. We will explore chosen topics in-depth and are especially interested in identifying new tools and applications with the expectation that participants will have gained enough specific knowledge to adopt/adapt these after the session.
- Promote Inclusiveness by creating an event that encourages new faces (especially students) to feel open to participate
- Strengthen Golden Fleece by enlarging our community of practice.
See proposal guidelines in the extended entry.
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Storied Presentations: Reminders and Resources
I’ve written in this space several times about stories — as opposed to data-filled PowerPoint slides — as the linchpin of effective presentations. In her Musings blog, Christine Thompson recently compiled several excellent resources for better — and often storied — presentations. Nancy Duarte, Garr Reynolds, and Dan Roam are … Continue reading