Practice, Practice, Practice

Today we learned ways to bring our senses into a story and how visuals can stimulate emotional responses with your audience. We discussed ways of using notes and an ancient technique for memorizing speeches. We also saw Garrison Keillor accept an award for his storytelling by sharing the reason why he became interested in stories. And we discussed how the placement of elements, the shape of the font, and the location and size of the words can change the emotional response we have to a message.

Wow. What a busy day.

Now that you've turned in your outline, I want you to use Thursday to practice your speech. Remember, there is no class on Thursday. Use the day to practice. If you have questions email me. I'll be helping and presenting at the SWCA conference here at the Noel Studio on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so I'll do my best to schedule a time if you need to meet with me.

In keeping with our theme of great story tellers, listen to advice from Ira Glass of "This American Life." He gives some great advice to those of us who feel like what we do, what we create, isn't living up to our standards. This, I think, is something we all face when we give an oral presentation, write a paper, or design a flyer.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Email me if you have any questions.