Humor Me

I think back to the movie “Mary Poppins” where Julie Andrews sang a song with the line “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down”.  In a speech or a story let your humor be the ’spoonful of sugar’.
Let’s suppose that your story carries a message – one that you think is important for [...]

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You Had To Be There

Have you ever listened to someone tell a story and wondered ‘What was that about?’ Why are they telling this story? What exactly was the point? Others around you are left with the polite smiles that say ‘I don’t get it’. We wonder if perhaps we missed something.
Usually this polite smile reaction means that something [...]

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Tie up loose ends

She was telling her story breathlessly:
“I was driving to work and this little white dog ran across the street. I swerved to avoid it and I drove into a big tree. The car wasn’t badly damaged but a tow truck came and I had to make a police report and go to the insurance people. [...]

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Personally, I like to laugh

When I choose a program to watch on TV I have certain expectations. If I select a documentary I expect information, if I choose a drama I expect suspense and if I choose a sitcom I’m hoping to be entertained and to laugh.
Often, though, the documentary will include stories. If the information is about drought [...]

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First Impressions

When I go out I take time to put on make up and fix my hair. Now I’m getting too old to be vain, so why do I bother? I bother because I like to make a good first impression. Who knows who I might meet today? Whoever it is I don’t want them thinking [...]

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A Villain You Love to Hate

I was going to title this “Have a really good villain” but you don’t want a good villain, you want a bad one. A very bad one. There is no point in having a villain that is not very nice – he/she/it has to be bad.
A villain is any person or thing that stands in [...]

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Where to start an anecdote

You start it at the beginning. Okay, where is the beginning.
The beginning is close to the start of the action. So let’s quickly de-construct a simple anecdote.
My grandson was asked by an elderly relative to programme a ring tone into her cell phone. For a joke he programmed in Tarzan’s jungle call. She tested the [...]

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