
"The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public." George Jessel
Many storytellers also present workshops at conferences and schools around the country. While our presentations are interactive, there are times when we must and should take the opportunity to use available technology; it may further define our message and make the information easier for your audience to digest.
The next time you want to add a bit of techno-magic to your tales here are some sites I researched to help put some pizazz into your presentation. When you are ready to present, remember, it's EASY!
Eye contact
Attitude
Smile
You are the expert!
How to Present with PowerPoint http://tinyurl.com/yz26m6l
Choosing Colors for Your Presentation Slides http://tinyurl.com/yey58tz
Choose the Right Colors in PowerPoint http://tinyurl.com/yhx87bw
What Are The Best Fonts for Making PowerPoint Presentation
The article is also accompanied by an excellent video presentation. http://tinyurl.com/6ymrck
Relaxation Information - Included is an audio guide you through some relaxation exercises. http://tinyurl.com/y9d2qbe
Just as there are many ways to give presentations, there are different styles of storytelling. Here are a few sites on combining the power of Oral Tradition with the digital era.
Center for Digital Storytelling
This California arts organization assists “young people and adults in using the tools of digital media to craft, record, and share the stories of individuals and communities, in ways that improve all our lives.” http://www.storycenter.org/
Do History
From Harvard University, a virtual how to on piecing together fragments of the past using primary resources; step-by-step guidelines are also provided.
http://dohistory.org/home.html
DigiTales
Information and resources, everything you need to help students craft a digital story. http://www.digitales.us/
Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling
Examples, tools, evaluations and more.
http://tinyurl.com/4oaytc
History Matters
Designed for high school and college teachers, and students it serves as a gateway to web resources offering materials, first-person primary documents, and guides to analyzing historical evidence. An extra bonus is a host of resources to assist you in completing your own oral history project. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/online.html. For the main site go to: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
In The First Person
Over 2,500 collections of oral history from around the world: personal narratives, letters, diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, and oral histories; a goldmine of information.
http://www.inthefirstperson.com/firp/index.aspx
Lesson Plans for Digital Storytelling
A step by step guide, rubrics and additional resources.
http://tinyurl.com/3rv6uf
Oral History Resources
My personal collection of websites gathered over the years.
http://www.storybug.net/links/oralhistory.html
Oral Tradition Journal
A fabulous resource you will return to again and again. The Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri has generously placed twenty-two years of their journal online. The site contains nearly 500 articles and 10,000 pages with the contents downloadable as pdf files. The site is also searchable by keyword or author name.
http://journal.oraltradition.org
Tech Head Stories
A plethora of digital storytelling websites highlighting corporate storytelling, personal, educational and historic journals, along with tools to teach you how to “digital storytell.” There is also a good collection of traditional story resources as well. http://tech-head.com/dstory.htm
Using Technology to Tell Stories
Create your own digital storytelling project. The site includes a step by step guide, examples of digital storytelling, rubrics assessment, lesson plans and additional web links. In no time at all you will be saying, “It’s a wrap!”
http://tinyurl.com/2wvw5l
If you wish to use any of the above sites from my newsletter with their accompanying synopses, please contact me for permission at storybug@aol.com.
Cartoon courtesy of http://blog.falcon-software.com/page/2/




