I’m happy to let you all know that the very able and talented Kaitlin Meadows will be taking over this blog very soon.  You will still be able to gather the latest buzz about storytelling in Tucson, Southern Arizona and our neighbor to the north, Phoenix.

Kaitlin Meadows and Penelope Starr at Antigone Books

I’ve had a lot of fun writing this blog for the last 3 years. Thanks for following along with me.

Just in case you are reading this Wednesday afternoon, you might head over to Fluxx tonight at from 6 to 9 p.m. to hear six tellers at “SOMOS/ Stories of Our Youth” telling personal stories from the Latin@ LGTBQ Community, family and allies. Also featured is music by Salvador Duran and an Art Exhibit by Latin@ LGTBQ artists and allies. Cohosted by Sarah K. Smith and Jerry “Che” Diaz, this event is free with donations accepted. Fluxx Studio & Gallery is at 414 East 9th Street Tucson. This event is cosponsored by Odyssey Storytelling, Wingspan’s Puertas Abiertas, and Fluxx.

Hypnotherapist, Julia Ingram, once told me that many of her clients come to her to deal with a very common phobia: the fear of public speaking. Feeling more confident and having some skills are two more great ways beat the jitters if you are nervous about public speaking. There is a lot of advice out there about how to remember a story or presentation and a lot of it is pretty good.

Andrew Bryant from Self Leadership International starts out this video with “know your stuff” and you will have a lot more freedom. Here is a link to his whole series on How to Prepare a Presentation.

Google can taks you to many interesting and unexpected places. The Open Forum on the American Express website has a good article called 9 Easy Ways to Remember Your Presentation. And I found Tips and Techniques for Memory Enhancement at the Ambassador Care Givers website.

Teacher Joe, who apparently can teach you to speak English fluently, has a good series called Public Speaking Articles that range from how to organize your speech to connecting with the audience.

Diane DiResta writes about writing and speaking and she has a good list of tips at How to Remember Your Speech Without Memorizing.

There is a lot more – just Google and see where you end up.

Mark Goldman, a storyteller and promoter in Phoenix, puts out an interesting email newsletter called News from Storyteller Mark. The last issue included the interesting and useful “tip for story creation” below. He was inspired by an article by Sherry Norfolk called A Story About the Power of Story on the National Storytelling Network blog.

Here’s a tip for story creation:

Dig out a photograph you have. Could be old, new, of you or a friend, or a place you visited. Or it could have nothing to do with you.

1. Write down who and what you see in the picture, everything.
2. Write down who or what may be there, but is not visible in the picture.
3. Describe What is happening RIGHT NOW in the picture.
4. Describe what happened BEFORE the image in the picture.
5. Describe what happened AFTER the image in the picture.
Somewhere in step 3, 4 or 5, SOMETHING NEEDS TO HAVE CHANGED.
You should now have a beginning, middle and end…a story.

If you are looking for storytelling events in the state, check out AZStoryevents.com, another website Mark manages.