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Workshop Descriptions

Attendees do not register for the workshops. We have a "first come" policy. If you wish to attend a particular workshop, be sure you are early for it to get a seat.

Click for the Conference Schedule

Jean Armstrong (Saturday, July 22 - Session E - 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm - Sterlings I )

Character Voices That Don’t Damage Yours!

Are your favorite character voices silencing you? Are you experiencing vocal blow out with certain stories? Learn strategies to reduce damaging vocal techniques while not sacrificing your artistic interpretation! This voice care workshop emphasizes troubleshooting for your character voices. The participants will explore vocal flexibility that preserves the storyteller’s voice in guided exercises led by voice therapist and storyteller, Jean Armstrong. Bring your vocally demanding stories and characters for coaching and small group work.

Laura J. Bobrow (Friday, July 21 - Session C - 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm - Heinz ) (Approved for Pennsylvania Act 48 credit hours)

The Uses of Poetry in Storytelling: Rhyme, Rhythm, and Resonance

Skalds, troubadours, jongleurs……in Medieval times stories were told 9in rhyme. The use of even snippets of poetry in your storytelling performances can set a tone, help make transitions, and thoroughly engage your audiences. Simple poetic devices guaranteed to jump-start your creative capacities will be presented. We will explore together poetic approaches to a single well-known story and discover in the process each participant’s inique poetic voice. This is sometimes hilarious, and always amazing!

Teresa B. Clark (Friday, July 21 - Session C - 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm - Sterlings I )

Story Weaving

Story Weaving- the intertwining of personal experiences, history, and folktale into a single tale. I am fascinated by the parallels of life. History, folktale, sacred text, personal experience all twist and weave around each other to create the tapestry we call life. Participants will identify parallel threads from these sources and weave them to form solid story work - tapestries in progress - developed from their explorations of the parallels of life.

Leeny Del Seamonds (Friday, July 21 - Session B - 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Sterlings III ) (Approved for Pennsylvania Act 48 credit hours)

Drama Time! Character Building through Theatre Games and Story Improv

Go beyond storytelling limits with improvisation, movement, and skill-building theatre games. This participatory workshop challenges anyone wishing to expand storytelling techniques and character development and/or help others do the same. The workshop begins with warm-up exercises and vocalizations, followed by improvisational skits and ensemble tales reinforcing performance skills and characterizations. Enhance delivery using gestures, facial expressions and body movements through a series of theatre/storytelling games including ‘Circle of Power,’ ‘Mirror Image,’ ‘Character Morph’ and ‘Machine.’

Nancy Donoval (Saturday, July 22 - Session D - 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Duquesne)

Beyond Picking Stories or Tellers: Artistic Vision for Events and Individuals

Whether you are an event organizer or a storyteller, establishing a distinct identity impacts whom you book, how you program or what you tell AND sharpens your marketing. Dig to the heart of why you tell, why your event exists, what your core stories have in common, and what your role is in the community. Built on Nancy’s work as a story coach, festival director and storyteller, this workshop provides examples, discussion, activities, controversy and treats!

Jackson Gillman (Friday, July 21 - Session A - 8:30 am - 10:00 am - Duquesne ) (Approved for Pennsylvania Act 48 credit hours)

Storyscaping

How clear are you yourself with your stories' physical setting? How well are you able to create an imaginary "stage set" and help your listeners visualize the landscape and action to support your story? Jackson offers concrete exercises to assist tellers in honing their imagery and using natural gesture to transfer their internal landscapes to the stage.

Meg Gilman (Friday, July 21 - Session A- 8:30 am - 10:00 am - Allegheny )

Plays Well With Others: Building Community from the Inside Out

Bridge the gap between personal and public! Through presentation, stories, dynamic exercises, and group discussion, we’ll work with personal experiences and beliefs to define our individual perceptions of and relationships to community. We’ll explore where we fit in community, uncover deeper understandings of our own motivations, agendas and barriers; and gain keys to unlock some of our secret doors (e.g., jealousy, ownership) to enter and access community more fully. Warning: contents may be hot!

Martha Hamilton & Mitch Weiss/ Beauty & the Beast Storytellers (Friday, July 21 - Session A - 8:30 am - 10:00 am - Sterlings I ) (Approved for Pennsylvania Act 48 credit hours)

Children Tell Stories: Words Take Wings

Award-winning authors and storytellers Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss will share their twenty-five years of experience teaching storytelling to K-12 students. The presentation will inspire novices to teach students tellers for the first time and give seasoned pros new ideas. Among the covered topics will be: teaching the youngest tellers; how to deal with reluctant tellers; and how to develop a coaching style that brings out the best in every child.

Pat Harris (Saturday, July 22 - Session D - 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Sterlings I ) (Approved for Pennsylvania Act 48 credit hours)

Storytelling with Young Children, Putting the Pieces Together

Storytelling with young children can make you feel like some pieces are missing. This fun hands-on workshop will bring all the pieces together. You’ll learn to use puppets, transitions, props and participation stories. We’ll blend tried and true techniques, age appropriate familiar stories and story songs with your imagination to strengthen your young children storytelling skills. You’ll be more confident storytelling with young children in large groups, small groups or with your own young child.

Jennifer Jacobson and members of the NSN Grants Committee (Friday, July 21 - Session B-Part 1- 10:30 am - 12:00 pm & C-Part 2 - 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm- Benedum )

Funding Your Visions: Grant Strategies for Storytellers

This intensive will lead participants through the process of writing a grant for project-specific funding: creating a statement of purpose, identifying goals, establishing a project timeline and drafting a budget. We will consider what grant makers look for, how to find mentors, how to research sources of funding, and how to leverage money to increase your support. Successful approaches to applying for NSN grants will be discussed, as well as appropriate strategies for applications to other kinds of grantors. Come ready to work on your next big idea – and leave with an outline for a grant proposal!

For more information about this workshop and how it will be presented click Grants Workshop.

Leanne Johnson (Saturday, July 22 - Session D - 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Heinz)

Story Play

Beat those late-afternoon-conference-information-overload blues with this light-hearted approach to improvisational storytelling. Participants will use humor, spontaneity, creativity, and seat-of-the-pants decision making to present small group vignettes of selected folk tales. This is your opportunity to experiment with improvisational storytelling in a no-fail, no-risk setting!

Chris King ( Friday, July 21 - Session A- 8:30 am - 10:00 am - Heinz )

How to Establish a Professional Presence on the Internet

Having a presence on the Internet is no longer a choice; it is now a necessity – if you want credibility, visibility, respect and business. In this lively session, you will learn the ins and outs of e-mail marketing, website development, and the creation of e-products. You will discover how to produce an e-newsletter that is welcomed and read, a website that successfully markets you and your products, and how to generate those products.

Joan Leotta (Friday, July 21 - Session B - 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Heinz)

Picture Perfect! Power of Story in Museums!

Storytelling in museums is the magic of making objects speak! Museum story artists dress history in a cloak of tales, reveal the heart of scientific discovery, and provide a verbal context and structure within which visitors to the museum can better absorb the “lessons” of the objects or historic house. The object of this workshop is to guide other tellers into the museum market, revealing its special quirks, to enable tellers everywhere to use the museum venue as one more place to turn on the switch of imagination through story performance. Joan Leotta, presenter , is a twenty-year museum performance specialist, member of the Museum Theatre Alliance, NSN, VASA, Voices in the Glen, and the North Carolina Storytelling Guild.

Doug Lipman (Friday, July 21 - Session B - 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Duquesne )

How to Create a Community of Your Supporters

You can think of those who hire you and listen to your storytelling as "customers." But in this workshop, you will learn to treat them as a potential community of mutual support, thereby opening the door to more satisfying, sustaining relationships. You will learn practical steps for creating a five-ring community by systematically deepening your relationships with your supporters—in ways that not only help them but also help you emotionally, artistically, and financially.

Lee-Ellen Marvin (Saturday, July 22 - Session D - 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Sterlings III )

Finding a Balance between your Art and the Daily Grind

This workshop will use the Biblical story of "Martha and Mary" and other stories from spiritual and folk traditions as a springboard for exploring the boundaries we encounter in our lives. Through storytelling, creative role play, and improvisation, you will explore the challenges that are presented by the different roles in your life -- especially between spiritual or artist yearnings and the demands of day-to-day life -- seeking personal images that offer insight, encouragement, and new ways of looking at stories from oral tradition.

Randel McGee (Saturday, July 22 - Session E - 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm - Sterlings III )

Chautauqua or Persona Telling: Adding “Character” to Your Storytelling Performance

In this showcase, participants will explore the reasons for assuming a historical figure or character for storytelling presentations. We will discuss the research and preparation for a historical character and how to approach presenting their stories in character. The participant will leave this workshop with ideas and directions on how to develop their own special character or how to portray a historical figure convincingly for storytelling performances.

Elisa Pearmain MA, LMHC. (Saturday, July 22 - Session D - 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Allegheny ) (Approved for Pennsylvania Act 48 credit hours)

Once Upon A Caring Classroom: Storytelling for Bullying Prevention

Folktales and biographical stories are excellent tools for building awareness of, and decreasing tolerance for bullying behaviors, in both students and teachers, and for empowering them to stop it. Stories highlighting many aspects of bullying, geared for K-8 audiences will be shared, as will creative follow-up exercises to personalize the learning, and move to action strategies. Small groups will work with stories and develop follow-up exercises appropriate for the populations they work with. Resources provided.

Patricia Hruby Powell (Friday, July 21 - Session B - 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Traders) (Approved for Pennsylvania Act 48 credit hours)

Storyboard Your Story: Map It, Draw It, Learn It

Yikes! You can’t learn yet another story? All circuits filled? Maybe you’re a visual learner. Storyboard your stories. Trouble composing new stories? Map a new story. Learn your thumbnail pictures. Use them in publicity material or a backdrop for your performance. Invent new uses. You don’t have to be able to draw. You make your own rules, icons, meanings, and layout. Bring a new story, seed of a story, or a story can be supplied.

Gail Rosen (Friday, July 21 - Session A - 8:30 am - 10:00 am - Sterlings III )

My Folk and Folk Tales: Interweaving Traditional and Personal Stories

Find personal meaning in traditional stories and make personal stories universal. Acquire skills to guide others in finding individual wisdom in "wisdom tales." When we hear stories from generations ago and cultures strange to us, and recognize our own experience, we affirm belonging to the human community. How can we hold that knowledge in two ways, knowing there are common experiences of the human journey, and each person's unique experience deserves honor and respect?

Lynn Ruehlmann (Saturday, July 22 - Session E - 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm - Heinz)

Spark Up Your Story

Add instant excitement to your storytelling! Participants in this workshop observe and participate in exercises that provide simple ways to experiment with new voices and body movement to enrich the characters in their stories. Participants leave the workshop feeling they have succeeded in trying something new. They also take away tools and a story they can continue to use after returning home.

Shelby Smith & Jaye R. McLaughlin (Friday, July 21 - Session C - 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm - Allegheny )

Museums Utilizing Storytelling in Education (MUSE): A Collaborative Community Project

The sky’s the limit! Connect your community through one big partnership using storytelling. The innovative MUSE project served 10 schools, the library and five museums, while helping students and docents write and tell Texas history stories. Financed by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and community in-kind donations, MUSE provided far-reaching benefits for all involved. Leave energized with groundbreaking ideas on how to replicate all or parts of this program in your area.

Debra Olson Tolar (Friday, July 21 - Session C - 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm - Duquesne )

Polish Your Performance: Public Speaking Skills for Storytellers

You love to tell stories, but when more than a few people are listening, you worry your voice won’t carry or your knees will knock. You’re fine telling a story, but if asked to say a few words as yourself, you’re at a loss. Transitions make you crazy? Cursed by saying “um”? Leave this workshop armed with techniques from the world of public speaking to help you tame these and other common performance complaints.

Donna Washington (Friday, July 21 - Session B - 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Allegheny) (Repeated Saturday, July 22 - Session E 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm) (Approved for Pennsylvania Act 48 credit hours)

Storytelling: The Bridge Between Storytelling and Literacy: Advocating in Schools

What exactly is the 30 million word gap and why should storytellers care? How do you convince a school system that is wrapped up in tests that the storytelling is one of the best tools in their arsenal to raise those test scores? Why should every school system in the country have storytelling as a major part of their curriculum? This workshop answers all of those questions and more.

Dan Yashinsky (Friday, July 21 - Session C - 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm - Sterlings III )

The Red Thread of the Story

A journey to the secret heart of the storyteller's art, this session explores the nature of narrative suspense. Working with stories from their repertoires and works-in-progress, participants will trace the inner life - the "red thread" - of their story. What makes a listener want to know what happens next? What are the "Scheherazade" moments of a story? This is not about performance technique or stage-craft, but about deepening the teller's knowledge of their tale.

Come to Pittsburgh, July 20 - 23 and experience Community!