6 Lessons From a Return to Live Storytelling
Plus: My new course on storytelling for leadership and connection at work; and a few words (six) from Stephen Colbert
Announcement! My new course, Return on Story - Harnessing the Power of Storytelling at Work, is now open for enrollment on the popular Maven platform. The four-session course starts in early September and readers of “Say Less” can get a 25% discount with the code: payless (see what I did there?).
“Right Now Is All There Is”: 6 Lessons From Live Storytelling
“Six Words Live” returned with a bang as a sold-out crowd packed Manny's in San Francisco this past Saturday. In the spirit of today’s culture of short, snackable insights, here are six reflections from my first live show since putting things on a pandemic pause.
1. Remember Your Professional Heart Space
Like many people whose work revolves around speaking in rooms full of people, a lot of my work (company retreats, professional workshops) never fully bounced back post-pandemic. I’ve spent much of the past year+ trying to understand how my storytelling work fits into this new world (aka: “where do *I* go from here?”). Producing a live show again made zero economic sense. And yet, the joy of curating the lineup, working with storytellers, and shaping a meaningful night? Absolutely priceless.
2. Location, Location … Intention
Most in the audience came because they love storytelling and/or trusted I’d create a night worth their Saturday. Others came because they trust Manny’s — a space intentionally built to bring community together for civic and creative engagement. When Manny’s Director of Programming, Stacy Horne, invited me to bring Six Words to the venue, it was the exact right door, opened at the exact right time.
3. Trust Yourself (Enough to Ask for Help)
A few weeks before the show, I woke up in a 3AM sweat: two performers had to cancel. Half a Xanax, four hours, and one strong coffee later, I got my brain working. I asked for help. I reached out. And by day’s end, I had two new storytellers — including Oakland’s newest Teen Poet Laureate, 15-year-old Cael Dueñas-Lara performing in the video below — who helped round out the show perfectly.
4. Trust Your Audience to Trust You
It had been seven years since I produced a storytelling event in the Bay Area. It seemed like half the people I still knew or had met since moving back here were away in mid-July. Would anyone show up? They did — 140 of them — and they stayed — fully present, fully engaged, and connecting with each other as much as with the stories.
5. Marketing is Just a Form of Evangelizing for Good Ideas
The full house didn’t come from a paid influencer post, boosted Facebook ad, or help of a PR professional. It came from this newsletter, personal outreach, running into friends on the street, and yes, one well-timed LinkedIn post. Now, um, please and thank you for sharing this “Say Less” post…
6. The Mix is the Message
The theme — Where Do We Go From Here? — was broad enough that it could have felt disjointed. It didn’t. It worked because of who was on stage: a mix of ages, backgrounds, and lived experiences, united by storytelling that was honest, personal, and full of heart. About halfway through the night, I took my first sip of red wine from a plastic cup, finally exhaled, and looked around. The room was spellbound. And it hit me: this is why I do this.
Parting Six: Stephen Colbert
Before Six-Word Memoirs became a well-known form of self-expression, it was a lot harder to track down “famous” contributors for my first book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure. So when Stephen Colbert shared his, I was over the moon.
A few years later, I spotted him at a Tony Awards after party. I nervously walked up to Colbert and introduced myself as the Six-Word Memoir guy. Without missing a beat, he remembered his six words and explained:
“My story was about coming up as a stand-up comic, bombing onstage, and walking off just as the next comic passed me and saying, ‘Well, I thought it was funny.’ ” The Late Show may be in its final months, but the world still has many words coming from the generous, hilarious Stephen Colbert.
Larry, I've loved the 6-word-memoir concept since I discovered you many years ago. I'm happy to see you here on Substack.
I set up an account many years ago on your website and posted some of my 6-word stories there., but your system didn't recognize my password, nor the new one I reset so I'm unable to access them anymore.
As I continue to work with folks who want to share their stories, your approach sparked an idea I use called one-memory-at-a-time. We all have loads of those, but people who aren't writers are stumped about how to access them. Once they learn how to turn on the tap, they can't stop those memories from flowing.
This: "And it hit me: this is why I do this." Proud of you, my friend. Keep trusting the why you do this compass heading. And keep doing it.