Storytelling Bootcamp in August

Hey, remember when I wrote about Sean Buvala's Outside-In Storytelling Bootcamp? He's doing it again, and I'm helping him again, all things being equal. This camp is about how to do the business of storytelling, how to think like a CEO, how to work from a model that considers what your customers need first.

Camp? Sort of. It's not in the woods. It's in a hotel in Phoenix, and it's run the way other corporate events are, designed to give you a huge amount of useful information. Phoenix in August? Think air-conditioning. You might even want to bring a sweater.

There's still time to register for the August event. If you follow the links on the site, you'll even get a discount code for 20% off.

Outside In Storytelling Boot Camp

Remember this? Back in February I flew out to Phoenix to join Sean Buvala of Storyteller.net at the first Outside In Storytelling Boot Camp, which focused on marketing. We spent three days immersed in practical ideas about how to make a living as a storyteller (or other performing artist).

Tonight we had a follow-up conference call with a few of the participants. While I knew that I had benefited from the camp, I didn't know the extent to which others had. It was great to hear about specific changes participants have made since then, such as redefining their niches in storytelling, getting new promo pictures taken, launching web pages, and rewriting marketing materials. It was inspiring to hear how people's perspectives about the business of storytelling had changed for the better, thanks to the camp.

Sean has asked me to join him for another OISBC in August (he's doing a special one-day Storyteller.net Live in Austin, TX on May 10, so check that out if you're nearby). They'll have to crank the air conditioning up at the conference hotel, because all those good ideas generate lots of energy and heat!

P.S. on taxes

At the Outside In Storytelling Boot Camp, we heard valuable information from Alex Lowy, CPA. He highly recommended the book Lower your taxes big time by Sandy Botkin. My copy just arrived. Maybe I'll have time to skim it before my tax appointment.

Of course, that would require me to stop other stalling techniques such as blog writing...

Home from Phoenix

It's 29 degrees Fahrenheit here. I've got a fire in the woodstove and am considering moving from the cold office to the warm living room (I don't usually keep the front doors open, but it made a better picture). What a contrast with last week in Phoenix, where it was 80 degrees. Not that I'd want to live in Phoenix (think of July!), but it was wonderful to bask in the warmth for a while.

In fact, the whole trip was pretty wonderful. On Monday, I told Queen Berta and King Pippin to Liz Warren's class on long stories at South Mountain Community College. The beginning storytelling class next door came over to listen as well. What a great audience! Afterwards we had a long discussion, with lots of useful feedback. Did I get a recording of it? I thought so, but it turns out I need to reread the manual on my minidisc recorder. Grrr.

I'm so impressed with the Storytelling Institute at South Mountain. If I lived in Phoenix, I'd take classes there to keep my skills sharp. The next day, I told stories to two more beginning storytelling classes, one Liz teaches and one taught by LynnAnn Wojciechowicz, director of the institute. I gave them a mix of stories and puppets, with storytelling tips thrown in for good measure. Very fun! I've had a couple of e-mails from students in LynnAnn's class since then.

The Outside In Storytelling Bootcamp began on Wednesday. That was my original reason for going to Phoenix. LynnAnn kindly gave me a ride over to the west side of Phoenix, as she was also attending the bootcamp. That was after an entertaining morning of hanging around with Liz and her husband Mark.

OISBC is the brainchild of Sean Buvala, director of Storyteller.net. When he called me last fall to ask if I'd be interested in being a co-presenter, I agreed right away. I knew that whatever Sean planned would be well worth attending. His idea is to use a corporate training model to teach storytellers how to succeed. The session last week focused on marketing. While I did give the participants my perspective on being a full-time storyteller, I also learned a ton. Sean has broad experience with marketing and he brought in a CPA to talk about taxes for one session. (More on the bootcamp in the March/April issue of Storytelling Magazine.)

One of the key elements of OISBC was the way the attendees bonded during the three days of intense learning. It was a lovely group. I'm looking forward to being in touch with the others, as we help each other keep on track. Sean blogged about it, with plenty of pictures, most taken by his daughters.

An added bonus was getting to meet and hang out with Sean's family (Kelsey, did you learn to drive yet?).