Of Microphones, Storytelling, and Lasting Memories
What is it about a microphone?
The simple sound-projecting device has the ability to turn the most articulate adult into an um....um...um...machine. This converter of sound waves can also have the opposite effect. It can transform a wallflower into an incessant chatterbox.
I've seen the scenario played out a thousand times.
I remember a church service when a person stepped up to the microphone to share an answer to prayer about getting a new job that provided adequately for the needs of his family.
The man looked out at the congregation, gripped the microphone, and the details of his entire employment history were unleashed on the unsuspecting crowd.
He began with the first job he had delivering papers in the freezing snow of a small country town in the Midwest, followed by how much his sister got paid when she babysat their five brothers and sisters under the age of eight, to what was wrong with the younger generation in America today, to finally sharing two sentences about how God answered his prayer.
It's as if the finger was removed from the hole in the dam. The cap was lifted off the shaken bottle of Coca-Cola. The tongue was unglued from the roof of a mouth.
You get the idea.
Church congregants are not the only trespassers.
I have seen the microphone hijacked at school functions, not-for-profit fundraisers, business lunches, and yes, cancer events.
In the last scenario, the cancer survivor steps up to the microphone and begins with every detail of their diagnosis day and ends with the final drop of medication from the chemo bag, as the audience glances furtively for the exit sign.
Just as a microphone is needed for a voice to be heard in a crowded room, so are storytelling techniques needed in order for a story to be remembered. I love to help people accomplish that task.
In my writing workshop for those touched by cancer --Reclaim Your Scattered Story -- I tell participants:
Go Small for a BIGGEST Impact.
In one of my classes, I asked the participants to tell me a story of one the losses they had experienced with cancer.
An elderly gentlemen wrote, “One of the most difficult losses I experienced with cancer was getting vertigo as one of the side effects. I have always loved doing yard work, but I could no longer manage some of the tasks. The day my wife had to carry the ladder from the garage and prop it up against the tree to trim the branches, was the day I hated cancer.”
In those three sentences, I had a picture of his love for his wife, the roles in their marriage, and a significant loss from the disease that effected his daily life.
It was much more powerful than saying “Cancer was hard on our marriage.” Or “Some of the side effects from cancer were difficult.”
Or sharing a rambling, twenty-minute monologue.
An audience wants significant details that leave them with images in their minds, images that stir emotion. The elderly gentleman gave me a powerful image: his wife carrying a ladder while he stood watching.
Helpless.
I have found this writing and speaking technique to be true:
Detailed Images + Emotion = A Lasting Memory.
A lasting memory is like an effective story from a microphone, a sound that pleasantly lingers in a listener's mind.
Registration is now open for Reclaim Your Scattered Story: a 6-week Online Writing Workshop for Those Touched by Cancer. The class is filling up and will close when it reaches capacity. You can learn other writing techniques for inspiring others with your story.
Update: 8 spots left!
In addition to six weeks of writing prompts and lessons, the workshop will include weekly Facebook Live Videos with me and a private Facebook Group where participants can share what they have written.
Find out more information and register here: https://lynnehartke.com/workshop-reclaim-your-scattered-story/
The next time you step up to a microphone, you will know what to say.
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ABOUT LYNNE HARTKEI share stories of courage, beauty, and belonging--belonging to family, to community, and to a loving God. I am author of Under a Desert Sky: Redefining Hope, Beauty, and Faith in the Hardest Places.I teach an online writing workshop: Reclaim Your Scattered Story: A 6-week Online Writing Workshop for Those Touched by Cancer. Each month, I also teach in-person at Ironwood Cancer and Research Center in Chandler, AZ and at Cancer Support Community Arizona in Phoenix. If cancer has touched your life, check out a free printable: Dear Friend Who Was Diagnosed with Cancer, and a tutorial on creating courage flowers, with a download of courage paper.