On this week's episode of GRIT, host Sean talks with Cat Dean. Cat lives in Carrboro, NC. She is an improv artist, martial artist, storyteller and badass mother of two.

99-Second Story Slam

Beginners Bootcamp

EPISODE TIMELINE

2:30- Cat's 5-minute story

8:30-

  • Why Cat doesn't memorize
  • How this story changed

11- Beware of the bad guy/gal trap!

12- Making a movie in our minds with scenes/verb tense

13- Cat's 'first three sentences' rule

14- Do not assume we want to hear your story!

15- The danger of over animating and over emoting and why Cat loathes silly accents

16- Know your skill set- then leverage it!

17- People are what’s interesting!

18- The hardest part of crafting this story (nothing happens!) and why Cat had to create pictures more carefully

20- How Cat doesn't 'give anything away'

22- When it's over, end it - without the TED Talk (trust your audience can figure it out!)

23:30- Characterizing ('the kind of'...)

25- Don't ask us to juggle a bunch of facts

26- Why Cat likes mostly sense memories (and not just what happened)

27- Show > tell is usually more satisfying

29- YOU have MANY stories!

30- PRO TIP

30:45- Favorite tellers

  • Kory Thomas May
  • Richard Munchkin

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