SLIS 600 Post #1 - BlogShare - HCPL Blog

 

As I begin my journey into storytelling, I thought that it would be appropriate to read more about what goes into effectively telling a story. This brings me to the blog that I wanted to share, which comes from the Harris County Public Library in Texas. There are plenty of posts on their blog about book recommendations and helpful tech advice, but the one that I wanted to focus on is titled, Storytelling tips from an expert: A Librarian. The post has a companion video that their youth services assistant manager Jennifer Bacall made. Both the post and the video give some good storytelling tips, which I encourage everyone to check out, but especially those of us who are unsure of the effectiveness of our own storytelling skills.

I am not going to list all of the tips, but I am going to respond to the ones that speak to me the most. The first tip was to “Know your audience,” and I feel like that must be difficult when you are recording for an audience that is not present. Comedians often talk about feeding off of the energy of an audience, knowing when they are killing it or bombing, and I imagine that telling a story is no different. When the audience is present, you know when they are responding with the appropriate emotions at the appropriate times. That is why the “Take time to prepare” tip is so relevant. It suggests that you practice on any audience that you can find so that you can figure out what works.

Beyond entertaining or sharing information, what I get about storytelling from the tips offered in this post is that storytelling is about making a connection with the audience. The post gives the tip to “Give eye contact” so that you can gauge the audience’s reaction, but eye contact does more than that. The accompanying video goes on to say that making eye contact makes the audience feel like you are telling the story to them. I think that this is backed up by a study by Jarick et al. (2016), which shows that making eye contact with someone engages their brain to pay attention. Additionally, I think that the tip to “Tell a story that is meaningful to you” can also increase your connection with the audience, because if you can convey that meaning to them, then you have given them an insight into yourself and possibly made the story meaningful for them.

Also, this week I read 7 fables that I found on a website called The Aesop for Children, presented by the Library of Congress. It included illustrations by Milo Winter, some of which were animated or made sounds. They were:

They were all a quick, fun read and I would definitely recommend that website. I would also recommend this animated video of The North Wind & the Sun that was produced by the National Film Board of Canada. I really like the art style, which looks like it was done with colored pencils.

Sources:

Aesop. (1919). The Aesop for children: With pictures by Milo Winter. Rand McNally & Co.

Bacall, J. [harriscountypl]. (2019, October 14). How to tell better stories: Tips from a professional storyteller, a librarian [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/WBRajXra_w0

Jarick, M., Laidlaw, K.E.W., Nasiopoulos, E., & Kingstone, A. (2016). Eye contact affects attention more than arousal as revealed by prospective time estimation. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 78, 1302–1307. https://doi-org.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/10.3758/s13414-016-1085-8

NFB. (2015, July 30). The North Wind and the Sun: A fable by Aesop [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51_FHblK4mc