193. Leon Conrad and Emily Edgeley Fireside chat on Storytelling

Emily Edgeley is a Public Speaking Coach for the Technology industry. Since 2017 she’s run over 250 Group Coaching sessions, coached more than 200 people privately and formally supported first-time and experienced speakers at 16 Conferences, covering 1000+ people across the globe. She helps people in Tech learn how to speak with clarity, impact and confidence – to boost their influence, brand & career.

Leon Conrad is a Story Structure Consultant, Storyteller, Writer, Poet, and Tutor based in London UK. He is author of “Story and Structure: A complete guide” (shortlisted for The People’s Book Prize, and winner of a Firebird Award), History Riddles, “Odyssey: Dynamic Learning Journey” (with David Pinto) and “Aesop the Storyteller.”

Fireside chat on Storytelling

Ideas discussed in this fireside chat on storytelling:

* The most unusual thoughts, ideas to make someone’s story succeed

* What is the preparation a speaker needs before a great story appears in her talk

* How to craft an effective story for a business or tech talk

Note from Leon: The two storytellers I talk about between 12’50” and 17’20” are not the same person – the first was an Egyptian storyteller from an Islamic tradition of the Arabian Nights; the second is a Jewish storyteller (Drut’syla Shonaleigh Cumbers) who is based in the UK. What they both share (and this is what I was responding to in terms of Emily’s question around 15’50”) is a connection to a living tradition of oral storytelling – the two storytellers come from very different cultural backgrounds, but they both share a rare quality of being part of unique oral storytelling traditions that are extremely rare to find these days.

Related: Crafting Extraordinary Stories From Ordinary Life

Leon’s favorite quotation

“Story shapes the story spinner. Story shapes the story spinner’s story,