Having been a preschool teacher and read countless stories to extraordinarily discerning children (read: easily distracted, when something seems boring), I’ve noticed that in telling the most successful and satisfying stories, there seem to be four basic components that a storyteller offers:

1. Who I am.
2. What I can do.
3. Who I think you are.
4. What I think we can do together.

Of course, getting 3 and 4 reasonably close to what “you” think is the biggest key to selling the story to you, and that takes some behind the scenes investigation. This is where keen observation and being a bit of a generalist certainly does come in handy!

Of course the storyteller can always start the story with 1 and 2, and make the rest of the story a collaborative effort, which can be pretty fun, if you’ve got some time and a few curious props…