This cooperative project, featuring 10 podcasters, is now live on the No Extra Words podcast. Click on the logo below to check it out.
Thanks to all who participated in Tellabration 2016. Where will the meeting of storytelling and podcasting go from here? Keep listening.
Ten podcasts and counting are part of Tellabration ™ 2016 at the time of this writing, and there is room for your show. Record your story and send it to us today!
Some themes that are emerging will feel familiar to many podcasters:
If this is your story or if your story is something totally different, share it with us. But hurry…time is running out! Submissions need to be in tomorrow.
A Tellabration of Podcasts is still looking for podcast contributors. If you have sent your audio, thank you so much. If you have not, good news: we are accepting these through September 30 and have lots of space available.
To help get your creative juices flowing, I created this sample story to give you a sense of what we are looking for. I also have some answers to your questions:
Somehow, in podcasting, “storytelling” has come to mean a particular kind of heavily edited documentary style show a la NPR. If you have one of those, awesome. But there is more than one kind of storytelling. As the sample story is meant to demonstrate, there is room for us all under the heading of storytelling, and no matter the topic or style of your show I bet you are out there telling stories. So yes!
Four minutes is the average length of a story on No Extra Words. The limit comes from this being a No Extra Words production…short is what we do here! Keeping your story short makes room for the stories of others and helps us to create a collage of story. So yes, I’m pretty strict about it. That said, if you run to four minutes two seconds I’m probably not going to cut you. Just aim for four minutes.
Our deadline for podcasters to submit audio is September 30, which happens to be International Podcast Day, but the release of the put together Tellabration ™ Special is scheduled for November 19, which is the day of the international Tellabration ™ celebration. If you want to participate send audio by September 30 and expect a release of everyone’s stories in November.
Question: Can I just send you the promo to my show?
You can if your promo tells a story, but try to think beyond that. Of course a big goal of this is to promote your show, but promos tend to be big picture, talking about your whole show, whereas good stories live in the details. So focus on a particular piece, like how you got your name or met your co-host or the story of one special episode or guest. Don’t worry. You do a good job telling your story and people who are interested will find you.
Podcasters big and small are invited to share a story with us. This can be your origin story, a story about your niche, the story of an episode or interview or listener, or any story relevant to your show. You can be as creative as you’d like. Remember, the focus is on telling a good tale.
Record your audio in .mp3 format and send it to noextrawords@gmail.com. Four minutes or less, please! Be sure to include in your audio the name(s) of the storyteller(s) and the name of your show, and be sure to follow the following rules:
That’s it! As long as you follow the rules, the production style and content is totally up to you. You can be simple or elaborate, exaggerate or stick to history, whatever works for you and your show. The important thing is to tell a good story!
As many of these as possible will be used in the Podcaster’s Tellabration episode of the No Extra Words podcast, which is scheduled to be released on November 19, 2016. Audio may be used in other ways as part of Tellabration! ™ 2016.
Happy storytelling!
Tellabration ™, which goes back to 1988, is a worldwide festival of storytelling, bringing tellers together to share story, build community, and benefit the craft of storytelling. It is generally an in-person event, sometimes a formal performance and sometimes a casual evening of stories. The goal of this project is to bring Tellabration to the digital world where podcasts of all sizes and stripes are doing creative, innovative, and imaginative storytelling. Tellabration is traditionally opened with this Proclamation:
In the name of storytelling
Saturday, November 19th
Is hereby proclaimed to be
TELLABRATION!™
The Worldwide Event of Storytelling
At this very moment
Across six continents
In 40 states
And nine countries
From Sacramento to Savannah
Boise to Barcelona
West Virginia to West Indies
and across the globe at podcaststoryfest.wordpress.com
Over 300 audiences are gathered for
This spectacular storytelling event!
Without further delay,
In joy and anticipation…
Let the stories begin!
International Podcast Day is the day set aside not to promote your own podcast, but to promote the idea of podcasting. You are invited to celebrate by participating in a special podcast storytelling event. 
Storytelling isn’t new. The way we do it might be, but the art of sharing story hasn’t changed. Right now, podcasters all over the world are sharing stories. They are talking about the origins of business, about the phases of parenting, about what a health condition does and what bringing under control can do. They are sharing the stories of history and pop culture and true crime and the everyday. They are speaking with passion about how they found their passions. They are telling stories.
On November 19th, storytellers will gather all around the world for Tellabration, the international festival of storytelling. We invite podcasters to come together to tell their stories, and those who listen to find some new stories, too. Join us, won’t you? Your story needs to be told.
A Tellabration (tm) of Podcasts 
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