You sound just like my wise and much loved Aunt.  I’ll point her in your direction:  sounds like you two would love each other.

And many thanks for lovely quote.  I’ll pass it’s richness on.

Lissa

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1. We drink lots of Mint Juleps on the porch and good stories go hand in hand with that (espescially once you\’ve had two Mint Juleps.)

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2. We\’ve always had to have something to fill the time between the tedious longhorn roundups .

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3. Our southern accents imbibe us to tell tragic, humorous and comedic stories.

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4. Texas women have to tell stories that are as large as the cowboy hats the men wear to do the Cotton-eyed Joe.

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5. Our stories anchor the lives of our children and their children to remember how special it is to be Southern, humorous and dramatic all at the same time.

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And finally, one of my favorite quotes from Eudora Welty, “The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.â??

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I think we tell good stories because we understand joy and sorrow and we like to share the experience with others of how we get to both.

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Thanks for the suggestions.  I agree that social media is doing what we as humans love to do — connect with other people and share our stories.  what’s so cool now is how we can now "meet" people from all over the world and share can’t wait to hear your Aunt Joey’s stories!

Lois

As for why this is, I’ve no idea.  Something in the water, maybe?  I’ll ask Aunt Joey.  I’m fairly sure she’ll answer with a story.

Another great book to reference is Made To Stick. 

 Relationship Marketing Coach Michael Katz of http://www.bluepenguindevelopment.com is another everyday genius at using many of the elements of story you mention, and there’s lots of free resources on his site/blog if anyone’s interested in exploring further.  His new book, It Sure Beats Working, is a good example of what you’re talking about.

Professionally (and personally), two other things really rang for me in this post:

As I attempt to enter the rapidly moving (aka white water) stream of social media (can you say intimidated), this helped me remember that essentially this is really all about connection and conversation.  We’ve been telling stories around campfires for millenia, learning from and leaning on each other for a long time:  the campfire’s virtual these days, but the connection can still be the same.

As a life coach, your comments were a little uncanny since they are equally true when it comes to helping people understand WHY the’re here in life – what their purpose is.  By taking a close look a the running story of their life, their life will tell them all they really need to know – provided the context and meaning being used to view it  allows them to hear the true tale.

Great post with lots of applications – right up my alley.

Thanks.  And I won’t forget to get back to you with word from Aunt Joey, if she doesn’t get back to you herself!

Annette’s new book, "Whoever Tells The Best Story Wins," recently came out and is a winner, as well.

Definitely worth checking out!

Tom

P.S. I just started reading "The Elements of Persuasion" and is it simply one of the best and most practical books on storytelling I’ve read.

So glad you got some ideas that you’ve been able to use right away.  So many people are so fed up with the goliathWebEx, that you have lots of opportunities to tell a David story.

If you’re one of those frustrated WebEx users, call Anthony. His company — though unknown right now, provides the same type of services — without the hassles and hard sells from telesales reps.

Lois

Anthony Russo
Great America Networks Conferencing
arusso@ganconference.com
http://www.ganconference.com
312-432-5377