Workshops

(Structuring the Personal, Family or Ancestral Narrative)
An active, thoughtful and fun workshop on tips and techniques for structuring, detailing and bringing to life the stories out of your own life, those of your family and those of your ancestors! If you think that you have NO stories of your own to tell, you’ll be surprised. If you’ve been wanting to figure out the best way to tell that intriguing family tale, this is your chance to figure out how to get a handle on it. (Presented at the International Storytelling Center in 2014, the Houston Storytelling Festival and the University of Nebraska.)

A workshop developed for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab engineers and educators. Delving into the seemingly smallest aspect of the story that in fact impacts every aspect of a finished tale. A very participatory and yet, contemplative workshop involving individual and group work. (Presented at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA)

We all have a gold mine of stories from our own lives and the lives of our families. Those favorite family anecdotes, old family photos, vague memories of mysterious ancestors, or yellowed letters from the attic are true gems.  Come and enjoy this fun activity of preserving your family memories through stories. (Presented for Lyrics and Lore, a workshop for songwriters at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort, co-sponsored by the International Storytelling Center.)

There’s just something about a story or song that brings things into focus a whole lot sharper than any stack of statistics. - Jerome Wheeler, Songwriter/Character/Community Activist.

Based on her workshops for NASA Astrobiologists and her stories “Pipeline Blues”, “Three Soldiers: Three Stories” and “The Disability Dance”, Beth presents activities illustrating her 8 guiding principals and 12 essential questions for transforming a pendantic book report into a dynamic, vivid, intriguing, entertaining story to inspire positive change. Practical, hands-on, always fun. (Presented at the National Storytelling Conference and the National Storytelling Network’s Kansas City Kick- off Event 2015)

By delving into the classic crossroads that inevitably appear to every mythological and folktale character throughout time, this storytelling performance and interactive workshop will explore the good choices, poor choices and seemingly only choices each person makes in life, how to live with the ramifications of those choices and how to keep moving forward. (Created for and presented at the 2015 Annual Conference of Organizations and Agencies Serving Troubled Youth)

Who determines our future? Who defines our past? Who directs our life journey? Through a series of folktales and true stories interlaced with a sequence of thought provoking exercises, storyteller Beth Horner and workshop participants will explore ways to reassess our past, re-envision our future and therefore, re-direct our life's journey. (Created for and presented at the 2015 Annual Conference of Organizations and Agencies Serving Troubled Youth)

“Beth, if you can make sewage entertaining, we think that you can make lunar rocks fascinating!” - Kay Tobola, Johnson Space Center

Based on writing her stories The Pipeline Blues: One City’s Environmental Triumph, Three American Soldiers: Three American Stories, What’s in a Name, and The Silver Spurs as well as on her work with the NASA/Johnson Space Center’s StoryMining project. Beth takes participants step by step through taking a moment in history or an actual event and making it into a story that fascinates listeners! From small moment to character to overarching story structure – how to transform dry facts and dates into a captivating story that makes listeners feel as if they were there. A participatory workshop. (Presented at the Utah Storytelling Conference, the Golden Apple Foundation in Chicago, the Brevard, NC Storytelling Festival, The National Storytelling Conference and other venues.)

All life is collaboration! What makes some groups hum and others barely able to tolerate each other at the end of a project? Beth describes different types of collaboration and then takes participants step-by-step through the vast and sometimes challenging artistic and business elements required for a successful collaborative venture -- melding philosophies, repertoires, skills, resources, communication styles and even personalities. Participants play the game “Pleasures & Pitfalls: The Collaboration Game” and go through a series of participatory exercises to develop specific collaborative models. Practical, participatory, great fun! For anyone who works with another person or group of people on any collaborative venture! (Presented at the 2015 National Storytelling Conference, the Northlands Storytelling Network Conference, and the Florida Storytelling Camp where Board Member Sherry Norfolk called it “The Miracle Workshop”)

A workshop exploring techniques for approaching, learning and telling a story. Participants bring a specific story to work on. (Beth also has stories available to work with if a participant doesn’t have a specific story in mind.) Beth begins with a series of exercises on analyzing one’s story for telling and then takes participants through activities on different approaches to actually learning, telling and presenting their story - getting it from page to brain to mouth to listener! Included activities focus on character and structure analysis, voice inflection, focus, gesture, body movement, introductions, etc. A participatory, active, unique, fun approach to the subject of Story Presentation! For beginning and experiences storytellers!
(Presented at the Hoosier Storytelling Festival, the Fox Valley Storytelling Festival and other venues.)

Beth’s goal is to create images vivid enough to leave her listeners feeling as if they themselves have experienced the single political action that changed a community, living in a time and place where baths were taken at the pump behind the barn, flinging a romance novel into a river out of sheer exasperation, or searching for words to express the moment to moment struggle of a mother living without a daughter killed while fighting in Iraq. Beth demonstrates her work and then takes participants through her process of moving from initial spark to completed story. Includes activities on image, character, voice, structure and getting inside the mind of one’s listener/reader. (Created for and presented to the Off Campus Writers’ Workshop, Chicago.)

What’s more exciting than landing on the moon: the story of what we happened to all the moon rocks brought back to earth! Knowledge capture, story crafting, vodcast design: go step-by-step through project envisioning, interviewing and filming Apollo scientists, and techniques employed to create quick-moving vodcasts of the “old guys” stories for young NASA engineers and policy makers not there in 1969. In longer workshop format, participants then create model projects bridging organizations’ generations with story. Requires projection screen and equipment. (Presented at the National Storytelling Conference)

Beth briefly addresses that old foe music anxiety and explores ways in which music can strengthen story structure and the storytelling process. She then takes participants step-by-step through the process of transforming a story into a song. For musicians AND non-musicians, new AND experienced storytellers, and all lovers of fun! Beware: Kazoos are involved! (Presented at the Winter Tales Storytelling Festival in Oklahoma City, the National Storytelling Conference, the Northlands Storytelling Network Conference and other venues)

An active, thoughtful and fun workshop on tips and techniques for transforming that old family tale, object, letter or portrait into a story for telling. If you think that you have NO stories from your family to tell, you’ll be surprised. If you’ve been wanting to figure out the best way to structure, detail and tell that intriguing family story, this is your chance to get a handle on it. And remember, family includes not only blood relatives, but your community as well. (Presented at the Ocala Storytelling Festival, Timpanogos Storytelling Festival and other venues)

Storytelling to teens and young adults is vital. It is also an extremely rewarding and joyful challenge. Beth discusses tips and techniques for selecting and telling stories to Middle School, Junior High and High School aged students. She covers types of stories that work well, suggested storytelling styles, a model for the flow of the program. (Presented at the National Storytelling Conference, the By Word of Mouth Conference and the 2017 Texas Library Association Conference.)

Mothers, fathers, teachers, preachers, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers...if you work with children and recognize the great story producing potential they have, this is the workshop for you. In this hands-on workshop, Beth takes participants through specific methods and techniques to use in teaching school-aged children to create and write stories, poems and songs. Bring your own imaginations! (Presented for the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, the South Dakota Storytelling Festival & other venues.)

An Emcee can make or break a program ... No Pressure Though!
 An Emcee often wears many hats as well -- introduction writer, stage manager, sound engineer, clock watcher, pitch person, instant community builder, energy gatherer, lighting technician, cheerleader, venue coordinator, dog catcher -- and must do so with grace & charm!
An experienced emcee, Beth presents an in-depth, hands-on practical workshop. Beth takes participants through specific exercises on structuring a concert, writing introductions, developing an MC game plan and dodging curve balls -- from the solid basic ingredients for keeping things running smoothly and trouble-shooting problems that arise to spicing things up with a little fun. Includes practical emcee experience. For new & experienced emcees and for storytellers developing solo programs. (Presented for the Illinois Storytelling, Inc. organization and other venues, written into an article for the NSN Storytelling Magazine)