A Lobster Will Help Promote a Program

Is a picture worth a thousand words?

It is when I can make my photography hobby works to promote my storytelling programs!

 1  lobster + 1000 words photo value +  25 words script = Super way to  let people know about an event. This is a pre-conference seminar I'm leading at Sharing the Fire Northeast Storytellers Conference in Albany, New York March 16 from 1-5 p.m.. It is open, I can help Non- Profits, artists, agricultural business and more. Register at www.lanes.org

A photograph can elicit emotions, humor,anger, or  even peace as this one does.

So what are your promo pictures saying?

Cute Always Works!

Keep a file of photos to work from and  instant fun promotions begin!

My Web Presence is Dead

And Other Fear Factors

                                                                      
      This is your chance to  get over those technology fears and begin to build web presence for marketing through my workshop. Announcing the  4 hour in-depth version to be given in March.

It is being offered to anyone, as a pre-conference  at Sharing the Fire the Northeast Storytelling Conference sponsored by Lanes www.lanes.org  March 16 from 1-5 p.m.  in Albany, New York. All the details are on the Lanes website.

This is not just for storytellers, this will help anyone wanting a better grasp of the major platforms of the web. Artists, small business owners, agriculture business, Non Profits, social groups and more can benefit!  Everyone is welcome at Sharing the Fire!

Can you send an email? Do you have a lap top  that can come to the workshop with you? We will begin your campaign to  build a web presence from the ground up.

I promise to tell the story of how my web presence REALLY  was dead!
I will share  how I fixed it, what's next, and how you can work to fix yours.

Don't think you are going to sit there tied to your lap top for 4 hours...NO WAY!  This workshop will be fun and full of action.

This is what was said about the 90 minute version given at the 2011 CT.Storytelling Festival:

"This workshop validated what I was doing right, how to improve on what I was
doing, and how I could increase my presence even more. The hand out sheets
will not be used for scrap but uploaded into my resources page of my
computer. I have attended networking workshops in the past, but this one
spoke in a language I could understand and gave me time to ask questions. My
only drawback it could have been longer..and the facilitator set time limits
on the responses from the audience. I would highly recommend this workshop
to be extended for next year and if necessary, I would pay an additional
cost to attend. It is what we need as Artist to get through the tech mire
of the computer world."
Gwendolyn Quezaire-Presutti


"Carolyn took us through the basic steps but gave us so much more in the process. She seemed to know what our fears and our questions were and answered them before we could even ask. She gave clear and insightful information and encouragement to try new things and why it is important to do so."
Chris Rothe

Hear is the magic wand granting their wish for a longer workshop....  4 hours of dedicated time!

                                       
Did you want to learn more about Facebook and your business, how about twitter, what's that all about?

I tube, do you-tube?  Making you-tube bring  people to your website. Blog anyone? How about a simple effective website, you can do that too!
                                         
I know, I know...you are really busy and there is a lot to learn. We will take it one step at a time, get you started on some fun projects and focus on what you want most out of this.

                                                             
This Grandma, farm wife, storyteller wants to help you get  over your fears and get in gear!
                                                          If I can do it - so can YOU!
                  Go To www.lanes.org and register for the  pre-conference today!
                    
                                                        See you in New York!

Report From the 30 th CT. Storytelling Festival

My Report from the

30 th  Connecticut Storytelling Festival and Conference

April 29, 30, May 1, 2011 at Conn. College New London, CT.

         Anticipation hardly covers the feeling of excitement  I feel when my car heads toward New London, CT. I know before long my brain will be swirling in a sea of story. That I will be swept away on a tide of spoken word is the  desire and is always satisfied. This year there was such a richness to the stories that stretched from teary drama to side splitting laughter. Back and forth we  went from one extreme to the other stretching my mind to absorb the images and emotions and music that poured at me. The Friday night concert of stories was so much fun, as was the Saturday morning tribute  concert.

At he lunch break there was a sharing room and I slid in with my plate and settled. I listened to quite a few relaxed and enjoyed the stories finally getting up near the end to share one when a lull had come.  I told a favorite horse story, I have a lot of those. Stories my horse experience helps me with to evoke the feeling of going for the ride, of hearing that mud suction the hooves in rhythmic pattern. My friend Kelly grabbed my camera and caught this picture of me mid story.

I attended the first afternoon concert to see Megan Hicks of Virginia and I loved her Stories from the Homefront. These came from memories of her mother, a young woman in the 1940's. The performance was brilliant! She shared the stage with Simon Brooks of New Hampshire and formerly of England. Here was a great balance as I laughed so hard at a couple of Simon's tales, well told and animated.

Then it was time for afternoon workshops.  I was sharing my new workshop titled; "My Web Presence is Dead and Other Fear Factors" It didn't take long for people to follow these "digital footprints" up the hall to the room I was in. I had a really nice group participate and we  used our 90 minutes to get an overview of the different social media platforms that can be used to spread the word about storytelling and  promote our websites, work, venues and events. The goal was to give people a layman's terms explanation and inspire them to try some new things after the workshop. 

We looked at simple websites, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs,You-Tube. Up on the screen everyone could see the examples of my pages we discussed content and key words and where to begin. We even had a web grow with in the room to make a visual representation of the World Wide Web and how things are found and move about. Workshop attendees were reminded that if I can do this so can they. I hope they have a little more courage to face the web and know they can always escape or send me an email question.

Saturday night brought the powerful main concert with Tim Tingle of Oklahoma followed by my Campus Slammer Showcase mic. We had 60 people in the showcase mic room and heard some very fun stories.  The Campus Slammer blog will have a report on that soon at http://www.anansihelps.blogspot.com/  Many thanks to my friend Kelly Trueb who came to all the Campus Slammers and helped out and was there behind the scenes at  the CT. Storytelling Festival working away.

        Sunday morning came and I was tired, but ready for more stories. We began with coffee which is always welcome!  Tim Tingle and Carol Birch shared the stage with a comparative between two tellings of the same story - a very interesting look at  the effects created by how and who delivers a story and the voices that they use to impart a story. There was a long question and answer time that covered a wide range of story details.

        When they were done the story triggering began. I was the first teller in the story triggering performance with my tale of the Angel of the Battlefield. At story triggering after each teller comments are made from the audience on what thoughts, memories or companion stories are evoked with the telling of the story. Being a Civil War story this  brought out many different view points and memories. 3 more tellers and sharing sessions followed mine. Then it was over, all to quick the air was still and the only stories left were those that kept me company in my mind on the ride home from the 30 th Connecticut Storytelling Festival.