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 of frustrating to receive these because I’ve never been in a situation where I could easily travel to a Moth event.
But The Moth has come up with a rather obvious solution for people like me. If you can’t travel to a Moth event, create one of your own, called a MothUp, in your own home.
On a page called MothUP – The Living Room Satellite Moth, The Moth tells how to hold such an event.
The Moth is quite serious about these events and institutionalizing them as part of The Moth. “Videos from your MothUP night will be featured on our website,” the MothUp page states. “Posted stories will be considered for our radio program, The Moth Radio Hour. You and your friends could end up on our show! If your event continues to grow, and you can establish that you have a large enough crowd to warrant moving to a larger venue, your city could become the next place for an official Moth StorySLAM.”
Another indication of the seriousness with which The Moth regard this initiative is that participants are asked to download a set of MothUp guidelines, complete a form, and agree to The Moth’s terms.
Here are excerpts from the organization’s basics of holding a MothUp:
What you need:
- A group of friends, co-workers and acquaintances who you can lure to your place to share a night of true, first person stories. You’ll meet once a month. All stories should be true as remembered by the storyteller. You must have a minimum of five people, but you set the cap for the max number of group members.
- A video camera to capture the stories. If you have the gear, we also urge you to record the audio in broadcast quality. We want you to record your stories, so that they can be shared around the world and your group can become part of our storytelling community. The best video content from the MothUP groups will be featured online (at the sole discretion of The Moth).
How to start:
- Send out an invite stating the theme of the evening. (See our webpage for each month’s suggestions, use our prompts and send folks to our “Storytelling Guidelines” webpage for hints, tips and rules) Provide the where and when info. Tune into The Moth Podcast and The Moth Radio Hour for inspiration.
- Provide snacks and drinks, or ask folks to bring their own. Turn OFF the tv, the radio, the cell phones and the computers. Have enough seats for everyone, or have friends flexible enough to sit on the floor.
- Ask everyone who comes who has a story to put his or her name in a hat.
- Have a timer and some sort of musical instrument or noisemaker handy to warn each storyteller when he or she gets to the five-minute mark!
- Take pictures and record good audio of your livingroom MothUP.