This edition of the Storytellers Channel’s newsletter reports on The Virginia Storytelling Alliance’s Annual Storytelling Gathering, March 9 in Richmond, VA
The March edition of Stories Matter! Showcase concludes this coming Friday March 22nd.
If you’re in Richmond we hope you’ll join us.
Remember: You Matter. Your Stories Matter. Tell Them Well!
Gayle Turner
The Storytellers Channel

The Virginia Storytelling Alliance Annual Storytelling Gathering
“Going Higher, Digging Deeper”
Saturday March 9, 2019 9:00 am–Late
Church of the Holy Comforter, 4819 Monument Avenue, Richmond

The 2019 VASA Annual Storytelling Gathering focused on the role of coaching and feedback in the development of strong storytelling. Ruth Walkup (pictured to the right) and Jennifer Einolf (pictured below) led the morning workshop concentrating on the relationship between the storyteller and the coach.
The foremost quality of this relationship is trust. Ruth and Jennifer stressed the importance of the responsibility of the storyteller to outline the boundaries for the coach’s input before the session. The clearer the storyteller and the coach are about their roles and responsibilities upfront the greater the chances the session will be mutually beneficial.

I say mutually beneficial because as a coach myself I know I learn something or am reminded of something about our craft every time I work with other storytellers.Jennifer and Ruth modeled a couple of FeedForward styles for the attendees. When you run into Jennifer or Ruth you can ask them the significance of FeedForward.
Let me share one of the styles.
The coach limits their response to commenting on:
1. What they liked about the story.
2. What they would have liked to have heard more about.
3. Areas where they were confused.
Ruth Walkup – RuthWalkup@gmail.com ———– Jennifer Einolf – Jennifer@BoldWhisper.com
After lunch the attendees broke out into small groups and practiced telling, giving and getting FeedForward input from their fellow tellers.
Personally, their input significantly impacted a story I’m currently performing.
Those members who attended this year’s Gathering had a great time. For those of our members who missed it, we missed you.
If you’re not a member of The Virginia Storytelling Alliance I encourage you to check it out.
Either way, we hope to see you all in March 2020 as VASA celebrates its 20th Anniversary serving Virginia’s storytelling community.
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Tales of Deadly Matrimony
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Edgar Allan Poe
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Let Us Entertain You
Friday nights in March at 7:00 pm Storytellers Channel presents stories honed in our Stories Matter! Workshop.
Steven Saltzberg, Lelia Pendleton, and I, Gayle Turner, share stories that matter to us.
And we hope after you hear them; they’ll matter to you, as well.
More importantly, we hope they’ll inspire you when you leave the showcase to share stories that matter to you with those who matter to you.
This Friday, March 22, Lindafaye Newton will return as a guest teller.
Click for Tickets
We know you’ll have a good time, because everyone who has every come to one of our storytelling events has said they had a great time!
Join us and bring a friend.
PS. This Friday we will be video recording the performances. They will appear on StorytellersChannel.com/Storytellers next month. But don’t let that dissuade you from hearing them in person this Friday.
I Want to Hear from You
Drop me a line at gayle@storytellerschannel.com and let me know what storytelling topics you’d like me to explore.
Til next time,
Gayle Turner
Executive Producer.