The Power of Storytelling Conference and Festival took place over the weekend in Romania where it saw storytellers in a multitude of fields such as art, media and business come together and share their experiences on the importance of powerful storytelling.
The theme of this year’s conference was described as ‘closer’ – The creators behind The Power of Storytelling believe “Most of the stories we see and hear today are stories of chaos and fear, of unwanted change. Stories shouldn’t build fences or push people away. Good stories should bridge the divide, they bring us closer and they create a shared sense of the world.”
Radio is one of the most natural and intimate mediums of storytelling which allows us to bring people closer. The importance of good, powerful storytelling is needed and as storytellers and content creators, we need to be involved.
Sarah Stillman, writer at The New Yorker, spoke at this year’s Power of Storytelling conference and on giving her two cents, shared what she thinks needs to be considered when covering stories. Sarah expresses the importance of looking on the fringes of stories; in using your ‘radical curiosity’, it may result in finding additional leads. ‘Get granular and have a protagonist’ – highlight a main character that your audience can relate to and root for. She says another key is to tune into minute day-to-day moments that will resonate with the listener such as the daily commute to work or bringing your child to school.
Radio allows us to bring stories and voices to the forefront and give them what, Alex Blumberg, radio journalist at This American Life, calls a 'driveway moment' - that experience when a story is so good, it makes the audience pause what they're doing and listen right to the end.