Podcasting is the future of storytelling…
Very few storytellers make it easy for potential clients to listen to their material online. Many storytellers choose to hide the treasure of their professional work behind a wall of profit and self-interest. Unluckily for them profit and self-interest can be better served by bringing down the wall. How do you expect potential clients to be sold on your ability as a storyteller if they have never heard you tell a story? How many potential presenters or school administrators are not hiring storytellers just because they had one bad experience and need more evidence to overcome their prejudice? How do you expect people to buy your online CD’s without being able to test the waters?
As a movement we are offering what the world wants to hear. Currently America is filled with cynical, disconnected and apathetic people who are dying for authentic relationships. What is good storytelling? – authentic, real and emotional. We as storytellers can do a better job of making our material available to the average American audience. We could do a better job of selling the value of our movement to the average American and we can do a better job of helping Americans to find themselves. In a culture that is filled with pop icons. We have authentic storytellers with ability and quality that matches any of the Hollywood studio.
Every storyteller in the country could have a list of audio files of their stories available for easy download. A list of files is called an rss feed; if all the files are audio or video they are called a podcast. You might be asking what is a podcast? Podcasting is a way to receive audio files over the Internet via what is called an RSS feed. Many content providers offer podcast feeds at no cost. These feeds deliver audio broadcasts to your desktop. You can listen to these files on your computer or load them on your MP3 player and take them with you. The term podcast, like broadcast, can refer either to the series content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. We live in an on demand society where people want what they want when they want it – NOW, not at the next storytelling festival, conference or workshop. You have a responsibility to the storytelling movement to record as much of your material as possible and to make that material available to as wide an audience as possible.
If you are a presenter or an organizer of storytelling events – after the show is over hand your storyteller an audio CD of their performance to take home. They have a personal computer that they can use to copy that disk and sell at their next venue or just trade with other tellers. You can use your website or a blog to drive listeners to your very own storytelling extravaganza. All you need is a list of recorded stories (your storytelling CD’s or performance tapes) and an rss feed. Both Switchpod and Lypsen hosting sites include an rss feed as a part of their service. You could be podcasting for $5 a month in about five minutes if you have about twenty minutes of material already recorded. (Don’t forget to ask the artists – always ask.)
If I have you’re interested in creating a complex podcasting project signup for my free e-course – Podcasting and New Media for Artist or Arts Centered Organization’s media at… http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/podcast
Eric James Wolf is known around the world to children as Brother Wolf. He is the host if the “Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf” podcast, a hour long show recorded in a conference call environment once a week. He also writes weekly in a blog (The Dyslexic Storyteller). All of this can be viewed at http://www.ericwolf.org
Tags: Podcast Revolution
Artistic Marketing, Brother Wolf, Creating Success, Extra Articles, Professional Development, Storytelling Digital | Brother Wolf | 
November 20, 2008 1:41 am
