Tell Your Own Story!5 Ways to Strengthen your Writing and Speaking Voice

Genevieve A. Howard@HowGen

What you’ll do today

• Learn 3 important qualities of your personal story

• Start finding your story

• Tell your story!

• Learn 5 ways to practice using your voice

3 important qualities

• Memorable

• Meaningful

• Moving

Memorable:Trust your experience

One of my key clients commented to me that ‘I wasn’t confident enough.’ …He encouraged me to bring up my ideas during meetings, not after. This advice came at the right moment, and I soon found my voice. As long as you are constructive, your opinion can hold sway.

– Minerva Tantoco

Image courtesy of TechCrunch

You can recover from being stupid, but you can’t recover from being a liar. –Safra Catz

Image courtesy of Oracle

Meaningful: Be truthful

Moving: Tell your story as a way to connect

How to find your story

• Through discovery in personal writing.

5 questions to find your personal story

• What’s memorable, meaningful and moving about your story?

• You’ll need paper and pen.

• Be specific!

• The goal is self-awareness. You can do no wrong!

• You’ll have 5 minutes.

• What have you overcome?

• What is something you succeeded at that made you what you

are today?

• What do you really love to do? Why?

• What do you believe in? Why?

• If money were no object, how would you spend your time?

Bring it into focus

• Pick one aspect from your writing and add detail.

1 to 2 minutes: • Your unique experience or quality• Why and how you have it• How you use it now or what you will do in the future

• You’ll have 3 minutes work on this.

• Be ready to tell your story to a partner.

Tell your story!

• Find a partner.

• Swap personal stories with each other!

Best way to strengthen your voice?

Use it!

5 ways to practice

Lead a group

• Join an organization that matches your gifts.

• Lead the group.

• Tell people why you care about the group.

Join a speaking, leadership or writing group

• Toastmasters International

• Service and chamber

• Writers clubs

Look for active groups.

Participant in a writing event

National Novel Writing Month

• November: 50,000

Camps (flexible word count)

• April

• July

You will learn to write quickly!

Find a partner or mentor

• Find another person with the same goals who will keep you accountable!

• Ask friends you already know

• Ask people at work

• Set up a regular meeting for check-in

Commit to yourself!

• If you committed—right now—to strengthening your voice and telling your story, what would that look like?

• Write down what you will do this week.

In conclusion

• Make it memorable, meaningful and moving.

•Keep exploring! Your story is always being written. It’s up to you to find it, know it and tell it!

• Lead, join, participate, find, commit!

And remember…

Image courtesy of Catherine and Sarah Satrun, http://sketchyduo.squarespace.com

Thank you!

Genevieve A. Howard@HowGen