An Interview with Lanes Exec. Director Yvonne Zinicola Part 2

photo by: Simon Brooks
Yvonne Zinicola ( Rt.) with Lanes President Joanne Piazzi and President- Elect Tony Toledo

Written by Carolyn Stearns
This is part two of two of my interview of Yvonne Zinicola our Lanes Exec. Director. Now more than a year into her position we look at where we have come from and where she sees Lanes going.
8. What gem have you found since you began with Lanes?

I know it sounds repetitive, but our members and our volunteers are the largest gems of LANES! The sheer dedication of our board members and our volunteers from bloggers to event volunteers to others, amazing! Our members are VERY supportive of each other and travel about visiting each other’s venues. It’s a wonderful network of people.

9. Anything coming up you want to share about?

The board will be revamping the Strategic Plan before June 2012 and by then we should start to see more of the plan’s implementation for which we have been building the foundation. Truly getting into promoting storytelling is what we want to benefit the whole storytelling community.

10. New York is the next host state, how is the planning going?

Planning for STF 2012 is still in the baby stages.

We have chosen the location and know that our Keynote speaker will be Kevin Cordi. It’s important first to go through the lessons learned of STF 2011 before charging off to planning STF 2012. We hope to take all the great aspects of STF 2011 and bring the along as well as improving upon other aspects and branching out a bit, too. We are currently receiving evaluations from STF2011 and will use that information to plan future conferences. New Yorkers make up the second largest contingency of LANES members. We have used the input from local NY tellers thus far in site selection and will look to them to for ongoing planning support.

11. What simple change could members do or make that would most improve or help Lanes?

To help themselves and LANES, members could take us with them. Wear your LANES pin! Members could request LANES brochures or flyers and use them to promote their work as well as LANES. If members took even 2 hours/month to do community outreach in this way – meeting with their local libraries, chambers of commerce, special groups, youth groups, etc. then we would really mobilize a mighty force to spread the word of storytelling and that will also benefit the storyteller. Also, LANES members should make full use of the LANES website, posting their photo, linking to their websites, etc. It will only make everyone’s network stronger.

12. What is Lanes strongest point?

We are welcoming of all storytellers and of all those who want to listen to stories. Our strongest point is our members and the network of professional development and caring.

13. What is Lanes weakest link? What can we do or is being done about it?

We can definitely do better at using technology as a point of entry into the oral art form of storytelling. So our website needs further development and we need more interface with other social media and networking to be able to reach many people in places where they get their information.

14. What are you thinking about that I didn’t ask?

The value of an organization of LANES is that it offers a support network that spans New England and New York and beyond. In essence a lot of storytellers are like entrepreneurs and so LANES offers a place for them to encourage each other and to develop their skills. In an art form such as storytelling, it is of great value to gather feedback from other professionals in your field and to have available to you the various resources for your development and support.

Tellerphone is the newest addition to the LANES family. call: 617-499-9662 Get your story out there!!! A new story every week!! One of LANES newest productions, you can be a part of “Teller phone.” Sponsor the Tellerphone or have someone sponsor on your behalf. It’s just a minimum of $10 to get your story out there. It’s a great way to promote your stories, LANES and your sponsor. You can let friends, co-workers, and your audiences know when they should listen in for you on Teller phone. Contact Joanne Piazzi to sign up for your week. joanne@lanes.org

From Carolyn – blogger for LanesCT:

I’d like to thank Yvonne for taking the time to answer my questions and help us all learn where a year has taken her in the journey to bring Lanes and storytelling out into the mainstream. Come back to this blog for further updates in the Lanes adventures and with Storytellers from the northeast and in particular our CT. friends. If you have a subject suggestion for the blog or someone to be interviewed please feel free to contact me. Carolyn Stearns Storyteller mothermoo2001@yahoo.com http://www.carolynstearnsstoryteller.com/

Originally Written for the LANES CT blog by Carolyn Stearns.