Misako, Paul and Julie, Witty Storytellers at Virginia Story Swap

In the room 4 huge screens, 2 for the room's storytellers, 2 for those telling from Washington State, Oregon, England, Germany, Uzbekistan, New Zealand; and audience listening even from Nigeria and Mauritius Islands! It worked! We did it! 

Toastmasters creativity, Paul White idea : we did parallel, him and me, each a path dedicated to Storytelling, each leading at this festival on 2nd December. His path Visionary Communication, my path Leadership Development, all projects leading slowly toward this.

Misako is our star storyteller from the last Inter-online-clubs contest already.

She tells her story standing up, from Washington State about her childhood story in Japan.

Paul spoke from the ground, he is a Master storyteller,

 he did the most of Story Swap preparation and realisation

even if many of us collaborated to make it happen.

Julie, from London telling Eyes and bones, I organised two club meetings online to prepare this event from "online point of view" and offered the Zoom.

Next time a swap we will offer longer time for storytellers

 Inviting less then 15 but also storytellers from other online clubs.

I introduced all the other online storytellers but I jumped in here because the storyteller before me lost her connection. She come in toward the end and could tell her part. 

I was told that my story got huge laughter, twice. Alas, as the mic to the room was closed, I did not hear it and you do not hear it either in this video. Plus, I did not wait for the laughter to go down and they did not hear the words I told just after "the cap" and "my stupid leg" phrases. 

This is a story, not a comedy routine! In standup comedy I have to go direct near the punch line to make laugh almost from the get go. I did add a lot more because of that all around my cataract eyes and their consequences to my life, one phrase at a time. Trying out, what worked what less. And leaving out almost all the sad parts. So I could say a lot more, but the real art is taking out all that is not important. 

Does blue on blue works for you? For me, it brings out more my face and arms and hands. And yes, my white hair. Yes, alas it is enough for one to point out "blue on blue does not work" to begin, almost, to doubt it myself. 

Criticism on this one? Perhaps my voice is too high? Could I modulate it if I bought a good quality Mic towards more bas? I tried, to speak more from my stomach, for another pitch, but failed, and at 83 I decided to devote my time to learn other things. 

We had a huge success with mixing on-site storytellers and online storytellers at the same event. We will continue to meet and explore best way to tell globally stories.