Cassie Benco is one of four Interns that Christine Carlton, Liz Locksley and Lindy Mitchell-Nilsson have been working with to re-imagine the Sydney International Storytelling Conference as a digital event in 2021.
The Storytelling Guild has been engaging students from the University of Technology Sydney through their Internship program.
Developing Stronger Presentation Skills
What is storytelling? I thought the answer to this was simple; reading or telling stories. Throughout my internship with the NSW Storytelling Guild I learn’t how complex and intricate the art of storytelling really is. It’s in no way simply reading fairytales, and although performances such as comedy or film could be considered storytelling in a sense, it is much more distinct as an art form in it’s own right.
Storytelling relies heavily on audience engagement, and a story may vary between performances depending on the energy of each particular crowd. This distinct facet of the art made it a challenge to translate the 2021 International Conference into a virtual space.
Performing a story to a screen is significantly different to performing in front of a live audience, and in a lot of ways it is much harder. By watching a large variety of recorded and live streamed stories from different storytellers, engaging in discussions about what defines storytelling, and by performing a live story ourselves over zoom, us interns were able to develop a strong sense of what storytelling really is, the people that enjoy it, and the importance of it as an art form.
Forming this strong understanding of, and connection to, storytelling was fundamental in helping us ideate what would make a virtual conference really special. Not only was this helpful in planning a proposal for a virtual conference, but I think it has also helped me develop stronger presentation skills.
Implementing Storytelling skills in a professional context will help to make presentations more engaging, and help to get my point across (whatever that may be) more effectively. It has definitely helped me build confidence when speaking in front of, even small, audiences. Ultimately, I have learn’t so much, and developed so many skills throughout my time with the Guild, from practical event management skills, particularly in the virtual space, to developing confidence and building presentation/performing skills.