My husband, Christopher, is a writer (The Juggling Writer), and he realizes that he may someday need to read or speak to audiences to help promote his writing. He was always incredibly shy, but has been finding ways to overcome that over the years. Not only does he try to strike up conversation with strangers more often (both to overcome shyness and because of his natural curiousity as a writer for how people interact), he went to Toastmasters meetings and learned how to give speeches and get past being nervous to speak in front of groups.
He’s also realized a great way to combine public speaking with his love of stories: the Moth. There are “MothUps,” meetings where storytellers come together and share real, personal stories in a set time limit, and using a theme for the night. Dallas now has a group, and they had their first MothUp February 26, 2010 using the theme “Love Hurts.” It was a fun success, and the storytellers seemed to have a blast, as well as the audience (it was held at a bar in Dallas — the patrons didn’t even know about it and seemed to get into the stories too).
Christopher was the second storyteller of the evening, and he did a great job although he was incredibly nervous. You can read about the evening on Christopher’s blog entry here, and check out the video of his story below.
I must say that I’m very proud of him for giving this a try and having fun with it. I look forward to hearing more of his stories — and best wishes to the Storyteller Ranch group!
Christopher Gronlund from Marcel Cairo on Vimeo.
Awww, thanks for the post!
Yes, while I’m very shy, I love challenging myself.
I had a blast last Friday. When I watch the video, you can’t see too much trembling; I look like I’m comfortable in front of the crowd.
And I AM comfortable in front of crowds…I just still get nervous 😉