Hello,

There has been a significant pause in updates on The Story, mainly because Oct/Nov is when lots of crunchy stuff like booking venues, talking to tech support and finalising speakers gets done. So apologies for the radio silence. We’re now booked up for speakers, so I can announce the last few who will be gracing the Conway Hall stage.

But first, a reminder that £5 from every ticket sold for The Story will be donated to The Ministry of Stories, a fantastic project in Hoxton based on Dave Eggers’ 826 foundation. The MoS launched last week in Hoxton, and has been getting fantastic publicity all over the media, including MoS Ambassador Nick Hornby on Radio 4 and a visit to No 10! As we’re a conference all about storytelling, MoS is clearly something we love and want to support as much as we can, and we’re hoping some of the ministers will be able to come along on the day and talk about the work they’re doing with young budding storytellers. So buy a ticket now!

On with the speakers:

Mark Stevenson is a comedian, author and futurologist who has spent the last year or so researching and writing his new book An Optimist’s Tour of The Future. The book is based on his belief that there are always two ways to tell stories about the future – a pessimistic one, which is often the easiest to find, and an optimistic one. He’ll be talking about his astonishing experiences, from underwater government meetings in The Maldives to doing stand-up comedy about Neuro-Anatomy at Harvard. I’m *really* looking forward to hearing him talk at The Story.

Adam Curtis is a documentary film maker who has created some of the most original and challenging documentaries of the last few decades. His films dig deep into the stories and propaganda of the twentieth century, weaving complex interconnections between the ideas, people and culture that have defined our times, and preserved the power of our elites. His ongoing blog for BBC uses the BBC archive to pick apart the back stories to contemporary events, from Mad Med era Madison Avenue to the No 10 ‘Nudge’ unit. There is no-one else right now who is more lucid, challenging and engaging on the subjects of media, propaganda, power and storytelling, so we’re really pleased to have Adam signed up.

Margaret Robertson is the development director for Hide & Seek, and will be this year’s MC for The Story. After Russell Davies’ brilliant hosting last year, I knew it would be tough act to follow, but Margaret is one of the most intelligent, witty and brilliant people I know. What she doesn’t know about storytelling or gaming isn’t worth knowing. In fact, she should probably be speaking, but I’ve asked her instead to be the seemless glue holding the whole event together. No pressure, then Margaret.

So that’s pretty much it! There’s a chance there might be a late special guest, but I think the day is looking amazing as it is. If you’ve got a ticket – thanks! and I look forward to seeing you there. If you haven’t, or if you know someone who hasn’t, please buy one now!

Another Monday, another three speakers to announce, all of whom are awesome. If you haven’t bought your ticket already, you better get one quick…

First up is Karl James, who has worked as a performer and director for many years, most recently working with Tim Crouch on his ground-breaking plays My Arm, An Oak Tree and The Author. Alongside this, he runs The Dialogue Project, using conversation to explore people’s life stories. Some of these conversations have been used as an installation at the Latitude Festival, creating intimate wormholes from the noise and bustle of a festival into someone else’s innermost thoughts. Karl’s work is story-telling at its rawest – honest, open conversations that are beautiful, tragic, shocking and inspiring.

Paula LeDieu is the Director of Digital at the BFI, and has a long history dealing with archives and digital culture. During her time at the BBC she launched the Creative Archive project, before leaving to join the iCommons project set up by Larry Lessig. Outside of this work, she has create the Bus Tops Project with Alfie Dennen, one of the national Cultural Olympiad commissions, which will transfer the tops of bus shelters into messages boards for stories, thoughts and shout-outs. At The Story, I’m asking Paula to delve into the BFI’s archive and pull out the films that, for her, symbolise why archives are so important to our culture.

Graham Linehan really needs no introduction. As the creator of IT Crowd, and co-creator with Arthur Matthews of Father Ted and Big Train, Graham is responsible for some of the most successful comedy TV of the last 20 years. He also has over 65,000 people following him on Twitter, where his links to spotify playlists, political outrage and comedy videos give a great insight into what lies behind his work. I’m looking forward to hearing from an absolute master about where the raw material for great sitcoms come from, and how the web is changing the way he writes comedy.

So – that’s it for next week. Not many speakers to go now, and its a cracking line-up already. Don’t forget to get your ticket now!

Our Early Bird Tickets went one sale last Monday, and all 100 sold out in less than two hours! So *huge* thanks to everyone who has bought a tickets so far. For those of you who haven’t, the next batch of tickets go on sale here on Monday, 20th September at noon GMT. After they go, that’s it, so make sure you get yours quick! To whet your appettite, here’s three more speakers who will be at The Story next February:

Mary Hamilton is a journalist, gamer, coder and all round do-er of things that are interesting and story related. She’s turned a festival into a newspaper, made a tiny newspaper for a fictional town, and blogs about lots of interesting things to do with stories, data, and making stuff at Metamedia. But better than all that, she runs a regular Zombie LARP!. Who couldn’t resist that? I’m fascinated with all kinds of real-time, live story-telling, so hearing stories about a LARP was just too good an opportunity to pass up. And its about ZOMBIES!!!

Tim Kring needs no introduction. The creator of the (eight times!) Emmy-nominated Heroes, he is one of the most successful writers and show-runners in Hollywood. In summer 2010, he created Conspiracy For Good, an ARG that involved players in a fictional battle against corporate greed that resulted in real world outcomes, including building a number of school libraries in rural villages in Africa. Tim has the unique experience of storytelling at the largest scale possible in Hollywood, and also at the cutting edge of new developments in participatory narrative. At The Story, he’ll talk about what it feels like to write a runaway global hit, how to engage with huge fan communities online, and how to take this attention and turn it into something that really makes a difference.

Lucy Kimbell is an artist and interaction designer whose work deals with how we evaluate, measure and communicate value in everyday life. Using language and techniques adopted from management theory and psychology, her wry and witty works make us think about what we mean by value, and whether our obsession with data can ever capture the slippery emotions and events of our lives. In 2002 she sent questionnaires to seventy people asking ‘What Am I Worth?’, recording the results in her book Audit. As an early pioneer (and critic) of personal informatics, Lucy will be talking about what it feels like to measure your life, and what it tells you about the people around you.

So – excited yet? Don’t forget to get your ticket Monday!

Tickets for the first tranche of tickets for The Story 2011 go on sale here at noon on Monday 13th Sept (tomorrow!) so we’d better mention a few speakers to whet your appetite. I’ve been asking a wide range of people, including many personal heroes, so hopefully they’ll all say yes, and we’ll have as stunning a line-up as last year. Here’s the first three to get you going:

Cornelia Parker is one of the UK’s leading sculptors, working with familiar objects that she transforms through spectacular processes. Her past work has included silver tableware flattened by a steam-roller, a garden shed and all its contents exploded by the British Army, and thousands of coins crushed by a train and suspended in the shape of two human figures. More recently, her work has explored the way that famous people’s lives transform the objects around them, making new works from fragments of Sigmund Freud’s couch, or the marginalia of the Bronte Sister’s journals. Through all her work, she opens up seemingly mundane objects to show the multitude of potential stories they contain. Nominated for the Turner Prize in 1997, Cornelia’s work has a narrative thread and coherence that makes each work relate to each other, creating an ongoing exploration of life, objects, and the stories that happen between them.

Phil Gyford is one of the most interesting builders and makers on the web. As well as being a gun-for-hire, bringing his elegant and simple design skills to projects for everyone from mySociety to Jamie Oliver, he somehow finds the time to run a number of epic personal projects that change the way people think about the web. Recently he has reimagined how The Guardian could appear online, but at The Story he will talk about Pepys’ Diary, an astonishing undertaking that started at the beginning of 2003, and will eventually publish every single entry in Samuel Pepys 17th century diary as a blog. Started as a simple attempt to get around to reading the diaries, Pepys Diary has become the most comprehensive annotated resource on Samuel Pepys on the web, with thousands of annotations, an Encyclopedia explaining the people and places mentioned in the diaries, and more recently, a Twitter feed. At The Story, Phil will talk through what he’s learned about life in 17th Century, creating collaborative history, and how a long-dead civil servant ended up being a social media hit.

Martin Parr needs no introduction. Probably the UK’s most famous photographer, his seemingly artless snapshots of everyday life illustrate the details and gestures that make up global culture, whilst simultaneously making them seem uncanny and alien. In glaring, garish colour, his photos of british food, bored couples, Japanese commuters or tourists at famous landmarks are, to use his own phrase, “like a soap opera waiting for the right cast to fall into place”. As well as his photography, he is a notorious collector of everything from Photobooks to Saddam Hussein watches, collecting ephemera with the same compulsion and comprehensiveness as his own images. In October 2010, Martin curated the Brighton Photo Biennale, presenting a range of new artists from around the world that bring his own narrative compulsion to their photography.

So, that’s the first three speakers for you. Hope you like them. More to follow soon…

The Story, Conway Hall, Feb 19th 2010. Photo by Meg Pickard

Hello again. Its been a while, but The Story is back again in 2011!

It’ll all be happening at The Conway Hall again, on Friday, February 18th, 2011. Tickets will go on sale on Eventbrite on Monday, 13th September at noon GMT. There will be 100 Early Bird tickets at £35, and then 320 Later Bird tickets at £40.

Sorry its more expensive this year – this is partly to make sure we cover all costs, but also for one awesome reason. The Ministry of Stories is a fantastic project that is just starting out in East London, running literacy and story-telling workshops in East London. Its inspired by David Eggers’ 826 project, which I’ve visited in San Francisco, and is phenomenal. So every ticket price includes a £5 donation to The Ministry of Stories, which will help a new generation of storytellers find their voice.

More details of speakers coming soon. Looking forward to seeing you all in Feb!

Well, that was a lot of fun.

The Story happened at Conway Hall last Friday, and 400 or so people turned up on a clear, bright (and fortunately not rainy) day to hear an eclectic range of speakers tell stories, or talk about storytelling.

Russell Davies was a most genial host, getting the audience warmed up and even supplying them with chocolate after the lunch break. The speakers were magnificent, provoking emotions from laughter to apprehension, shock and awe. The Newspaper Club and Alex Parrott helped create a fantastic Newspaper for the day, and Live Union made sure the whole thing ran without a hitch (and recorded audio of all the speakers that I will put up here as soon as I can track down a minidisc player). And last but not least, I had a small but perfect bunch of helpers on the day – Rebecca Denton, Sarah Pridham, Holly Locke, Gemma Brady and Richard Ayers – who made sure everyone and thing was where they should be.

As I said at the very end of the day, The Story was a very selfish event, organised because I wanted to go to an event like this, and there didn’t seem to be anything like it already. In reading some of the responses from attendees, its been really enlightening, and useful, to find out what people thought of the day.

It seems the format was a surprise for some who expected a more traditional conference, and didn’t expect to get a mixture of people talking about their practise and others just telling stories. I’m pleased it was a surprise – I wanted a day that would inspire you and remind you of the visceral emotions that good storytelling can create in you. Hopefully, through reflecting on these emotions and thinking about how the speakers create them in their stories, it would inform our own practises, whatever platform, format or context we tell stories in. I believe passionately that its how we make people feel that defines our success, and yet we don’t seem to talk about this as much as we do about the technicalities,  business models and rote descriptions of the way we do things.

There have been some great blog posts by some of the attendees – Charles from Mudlark, James Bridle, Susi O’Neill, Adam Gee, Jane Young, Rebecca Denton, Vicky Matthews, Jez Paxman, Meg Pickard and Suw Charman. Suw also filmed Sydney Padua’s talk and put it up on her site, as well as a video of Neil Gaiman reading the story that Cory Doctorow told on the day.

Thanks to everyone who has written up their thoughts – they’re all really insightful and useful, and they’ll make The Story 2011 an even better event (yes, I am going to do it again, but I won’t start thinking about it until autumn). If you’ve written up your day, or posted photographs, please do let me know by leaving a note in the comments here. I’ve recorded the talks, so will put them up here as soon as I can, and will also put up the medium format pictures when they’re back from the lab.

Finally – thank you to everyone who turned up. Its a pretty nerve-wracking thing to decide to organise an event like this, especially if you’ve got a day job and a (very understanding) family as well. It was all worth it to hear the response from everyone there, whether it was laughter and applause at the event, tweets through the day, or cogitative reflections in the days afterwards. You’ve made it all worthwhile, and a heck of a lot of fun. Thanks!

[UPDATE: more blog reports from DigitLondon; James Hogwood; Matt Jukes; Mun Keat Looi; Gill Wildman. Thanks everyone!]

It’s only a few days now till The Story, and its all getting very exciting. I’ve spent most of the last few days working with the Newspaper Club team and the brilliant designer Alex Parrott on The Story newspaper. It’s looking absolutely gorgeous – Alex is a genius designer, and I highly recommend him. He’s taken the idea of ‘embellishments’ in the definition of the word ‘storytelling’ as an inspiration, and has come up with a design that is clean, yet illustrative. Here’s the logotype he’s created to give you an idea:

And here’s Alex’s notes on his design:

Right then – a few people have asked about missing tickets, lunch plans, etc, so here’s a quick FAQ if you’re coming to The Story next week. Please add any other questions in the comments and I’ll get back to you asap

How do I get to Conway Hall?
The Conway Hall is at 25, Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL. The nearest tube is Holborn, and there is information about bus routes on the Conway Hall’s website.

Is the venue accessible?
There is a street level entrance to Conway Hall on Red Lion Square. The main hall is at the same level, and there is a disabled toilet available. The balcony seating area is not accessible, but we’ll make sure there’s room for everyone with access needs in the main hall. There is also an induction loop in the hall for those with hearing impairments.

What are the best places for tea/coffee/lunch?
We’ll be providing tea and coffee at the breaks in the lobby of the Conway Hall. We won’t be providing lunch, but there are loads of lovely sandwich shops and cafes on Theobalds Rd and Lambs Conduit Way, which are a few steps from The Conway Hall. There’s also a lovely cafe in Red Lion Square itself, and plenty of room to sit and eat in the Square gardens.

I booked a ticket but haven’t got my ticket yet!
Eventbrite should have emailed you a PDF of the ticket as soon as your payment went through. If Paypal still has an old email address for you then it could have been sent there instead. If you still can’t find it, email me with the booking name or email address used and I’ll resend the ticket. We’ll have printed lists of all the bookings on the day, so if you can’t find it at all, just turn up with proof of your identity (this will need to be the name you’ve booked the ticket under) and that’ll be fine.

I bought a ticket but something has come up and I can’t now come
Ach – that’s a pity. The best thing to do would be to leave a comment on this post offering your ticket to someone else – I know a few people have transferred tickets already, and that’s fine – just let me know you won’t be there, and the name of the person who will be coming in your place

Someone booked my ticket for me, and their name is on the ticket
Don’t worry – either email with the name of the person who booked the ticket and the name you want to change, or just turn up on the day with their ticket and explain it to us on the door. We’ll cross people off by the name we have, so as long as only one person claims each ticket, its fine with us.

Fancy a pint afterwards?
You betcha. I think I’ll need it. The event finishes at 4.30, and its a Friday, so I make that beer o’clock. I haven’t booked anywhere to drink afterwards, but The Square Pig on the opposite corner of Red Lion Square looks big enough to hold a fair few people, so I’d recommend we try and convene there. If I get time, I might try to reserve their basement, but if not, we’ll all spill out onto the street.

I can’t make it – are you recording the talks?
Yes – I’m taking an audio feed out from the sound desk, so will try and release the talks as podcasts as soon as I can after the event. It might take me a while, though, so don’t hold your breath…

Right – I think that’s most of the things people have asked me. I’m getting unbelievably excited, mainly because I went to the venue with the tech team on Tuesday, and there’s something magical about standing in an empty hall, imagining how its going to be when its full of people. And then there’s the Newspaper, which is looking fantastic….

See you next Friday!

Hi all,

The Story will kick off next Friday at 10am, with a packed house – there’s only 3 tickets left, and I expect them to go by next Friday. Here’s the running order for the day. Russell Davies will be hosting, so I expect him to keep everyone to time so we can all go for a cheeky friday night pint at the end.

09.30 Doors Open
10.00 Cory Doctorow
10.20 Aleks Krotoski
10.40 Jon Spooner
11.00 Tim Etchells
11.20 Coffee
11.40 Sydney Padua
12.00 Tony White
12.10 Annette Mees & Tassos Stevens
12.30 Lunch
13.30 Kevin Slavin
13.50 Alexis Kennedy & Paul Arendt
14.10 Tim Wright
14.30 Kat Akingbade
14.50 Coffee
15.10 Livity
15.30 Stuart Nolan
15.50 David Hepworth
16.20 Thanks and goodbye

Its only a few weeks till The Story on Feb 19th, so its time to give you more details and the final speaker list. If you haven’t got your ticket yet, get one now, as there’s only a few left!

First of all, a note about timings. The full speaker running order will be announced on the day, but the event itself will run from 10am till 4.30pm. So you get to have a lie-in (if you live in London) and can get away for an cheeky drink in the evening. Somehow, in between those time, we’ll fit in all our brilliant speakers, with time for coffee and lunch. I’ll make sure the speakers are running to time, so don’t be late! And here’s the last two to add to the list:

Stuart Nolan has been a professional performer, on and off, since the age of 18, and after 15 years being distracted by proper work, first as a cell biologist and then by digital media, he took the opportunity afforded by a NESTA Fellowship to focus on the design and performance of mystery. Since 2002 he has been running Designing Mystery workshops with performers, technologists, writers, media producers, and artists. He has also researched how teenagers respond to the mysterious and the magical in new technologies. He’s promising to going to talk about choice, risk, and reward by performing an effect that uses those themes. (possibly followed by a second effect if there is time). Believe me, you do *not* want to miss this…

Tony White is the author of many novels, including Foxy-T described by Toby Litt as ‘one of the best London novels you’ll ever get to read’. I agree, go read it – its fantastic. Tony was writer in residence at the Science Museum, London, and published a special free edition of his short fiction Albertopolis Disparu. He has published numerous works of fiction in collaboration with visual artists, edited and co-edited short story collections including Croatian Nights (Serpent’s Tail, 2005), and founded the samizdat imprint Piece of Paper Press in 1994. In 2009 Tony was Leverhulme Trust writer in residence at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. Three new short stories from Tony White are available in EPUB format supported by the Leverhulme Trust for free download here.

Finally, I’m very pleased to announce that Russell Davies – the post-digital guru behind the Interesting event that inspired The Story, and co-founder of  Really Interesting Group – has agreed to host the event. I needed someone to be a genial host to glue the event together, and Russell was the first person that came to mind. It also means I can forget about that bit and focus on making sure that people, technology, newspapers and tea-urns are all in the right place at the right time.

So – just over two weeks to go then. Hotels are booked. Newspaper content is coming in think and fast. Tickets are nearly sold out. I’ve spoken to nearly all the speakers and been blown away by what they’re planning to do. This looks like it might just work after all…