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Storytellers of Canada - Conteurs du Canada is proud to present Building Storytelling Skills ONLINE workshop series   

This fall, we've recruited some of Canada's best workshop leaders to help you grow your storytelling skills. Each of the four workshops in this series will guide you through an important aspect of honing your storytelling, from research and development to delivery and audience engagement. Learn virtually with others from across the country! 

These workshops are a benefit of membership with Storytellers of Canada - Conteurs du Canada and open to SC-CC members only. Limit of 20 people, first-come-first-serve. Wait lists will be available.

Cost: pay-what-you-can, suggested $20.00.  If you want to join but can’t afford it right now, please contact us.

Registration for all four workshops is open now! Find the registration links on our website. 

You will need to log into your SC-CC online account to register. Contact us for assistance. 

These workshops will be in English only, but stay tuned for a French series coming up in 2023!

Ces ateliers seront offerts uniquement en anglais, mais une série en français est prévue pour le début de l'année 2023!

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About the Workshops

Finding the Pivotal Moment and the Perfect Starting Place with Susan Warner

Saturday October 1, 2022 |1:00 – 3:30 pm Eastern Time (find your time zone here)

Every good personal story needs a reason for it to be told, and that reason can be found in what Matthew Dicks describes in his book “Storyworthy” as the five second moment, that pivotal part of the story where something happens to significantly shift and/or expand the protagonist’s perspective on life. Once we have determined that moment in the story, we can then work backwards to create the perfect starting place.  

Is there a story you want to tell about your life that you just aren’t sure how to tell or why to tell it? Is it missing something but you aren’t sure what that something is? You are encouraged to bring these unpolished, unfinished ideas to this workshop and together, we can mine the story to find or strengthen these missing parts.   

Finding Your Family Story with Linda Yip

Saturday October 29, 2022 |1:00 – 3:30 pm Eastern Time (find your time zone here)

Every family has an amazing, incredible, unbelievable story that no one has ever told.

In this workshop you will learn genealogy-based storytelling, or the art of memoir. Genealogy is more than collecting dates, names, and places: it helps us unlock the untold stories of our past. As storytellers, we can help our own families see events through a new perspective: to affirm, heal and grow. Genealogy can uncover a powerful story of identity: who are you, where did you come from, and what happened?

In this workshop, you will learn about primary records and the hidden stories they hold, about family stories and their pitfalls, and how to put the two together to uncover your family’s amazing untold story.

Your Organic Tale: Audience Engagement with Kevin MacKenzie

Saturday November 5, 2022 | 1:00 – 3:30 pm Eastern Time (find your time zone here)

In this workshop, we will address skills, practices and attitudes which A. deepen and widen your story / performance preparation process and B. ground your telling of stories to live audiences.  

Tools offered are introspective, ethereal, often plain weird and they work.  The exercises are tailored to the seasoned teller, but will fit the novice tidily.  The fun is for everyone equally.

Topics addressed will include visualizing and imaging the story somatically; Physical preparedness, stretching, breathing and the relationship between physical effort and grounded-ness in learning stories and on stage; Making space for and learning to trust your instincts on stage; Improvisation - sitting with silence, comfort with wonder and being willing to invite play; Peer support. The “Who and Hows” of working stories with partners and audiences; Audience engagement -attitudes which help and ways be under pressure that enhance connection; The dynamic balance of story, audience, teller and environment

Choosing Strong Personal Stories with Sage Tyrtle

Saturday December 3, 2022 | 1:00 – 3:30 pm Eastern Time (find your time zone here)

You have compelling true stories to tell. But there are SO MANY! How do you choose the right ones? Is there some secret? And if there is, WHAT? Also, what separates an anecdote from a meaningful story? Why are some true stories sure-fire hits, and others duds? Here’s the answer: there are four major ingredients in every compelling, meaningful true story. In this workshop, I’ll walk you through not only the ingredients, but easy and fun ways to discover your own true stories that include all four. We’ll also go over common mistakes people make when finding and telling their own stories, we’ll work with generative prompts, and you’ll have the (optional) opportunity to share what you’ve learned and created with the rest of the participants. Join me for this warm and friendly storytelling workshop, and leave with at least one of your own stories you know will work on stage.

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About the Facilitators

Susan Warner has been a storyteller since being introduced to it in 1985 in Massachusetts. Also involved in acting and singing for many years. She joined up with the Mid Island StoryTellers (MIST) in Parksville, BC in 2018; and somehow ended up as President when we became a full fledged society in 2020. She is a frequent teller on our MIST stage and occasional teller at other venues on Vancouver Island. She is also the curator for MIST’s Slice of Life, Real People, Real Stories series. 

Linda Yip is an author, speaker, and storyteller who has been invited to speak at businesses, colleges, non-profits, and societies in Canada and the United States. She uses the power of story constantly, to communicate, to entertain, and to teach. She’s been featured on multiple occasions on CBC Radio, newspapers such as the Toronto Sun, Sing Tao Daily, and The Tyee, on television, and on live international social media events. She’s written and performed stories on stage. She is an entrepreneur with two businesses: THE ADMIN GAP®, working with entrepreneurs who need process solutions for out-of-control businesses, and as a professional genealogist specializing in both Western Canada and Chinese Canadian genealogy. Her personal library of electronic material exceeds 20,000 notes and 40,000 images. She is a member of the Ancestry Advisory Board of Genealogists and the Association of Professional Genealogists. Her blog, Past-Presence.com, has been read by over 200,000 people in 182 countries. She is the author of Getting Started in Chinese Genealogy: a family historian’s guide (even if you don’t speak or read Chinese).

Kevin MacKenzie is a dynamic, emotive speaker.  He has been sharing his passion for storytelling, listening, creativity, and movement for over 20 years.   Kevin has been invited to present  in Brazil, Cuba, England, Ecuador, Mexico and the United States in English and Spanish.  His method is simple: get people moving, laughing, playing and connecting.

Having grown up with undiagnosed ADHD, Kevin himself prefers active learning - simple, meaningful concepts, hands on exercises and self expression to a whole lot of yada yada yada.  So that is how he guides learners.  Kevin challenges participants to take risks and be real.  His ability to provide a safe environment for self expression comes from his two best teachers: his background in early childhood education, and his work with youth at risk youth.

 Kevin has served as the storyteller in residence for the Regina Public Library, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, the Regina Board of Education and the Ranch Ehrlo Society.  His DVD of original fingerplays and action rhymes garnered a place on the Canadian Children's Book Centre's "Our Choice" list.  He has performed on radio, television, at festivals, in daycares and prisons.

Sage Tyrtle is a professional storyteller who tells stories all over the world, most recently in India. Her stories have been featured on NPR and CBC radio and she is a multiple time Moth StorySLAM winner, one-time Moth GrandSLAM winner, who has also appeared on the PBS tv show Stories From The Stage. She teaches The Art of Storytelling in schools, to individuals, and in corporate settings. Sage Tyrtle was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Her work is available or upcoming in Apex, The Offing, and X-R-A-Y among others. She runs the Crow Collective Writing Workshops and an online writing group open to anybody.