“The Power of the Story” with Dave Lieber

Once upon a time, in a kingdom called Ft. Worth, I learned the power of telling a good story by a prince named Dave Lieber. He was an energetic and engaging speaker, but most importantly he had a refreshing point to make: that perhaps if we focused our attention on the simple act of storytelling the story will be more likely to reach the public.
According to Lieber, we as journalists have “cluttered up the story with all our crap”. That from the beginning of mankind, the most effective and lasting stories are those told with a hero, a villain, and a beginning, middle and end.  He suggested that  “there is no such thing as a boring story, only a boring writer” and insists that this can be applied to any aspect of life, not merely writing. For example, you should tell the story of why we deserve a raise to your boss instead of listing off your great qualities and how productive you’ve been at work lately. The perfect story translates into any situation, language, or time period.  We should always try to find the hidden gem in every story, the part that will hook the reader and invite them to continue reading, eventually absorbing all of the important facts of the story that would have otherwise flown over their heads.
Lieber explained his “perfect model” of a story, advocated that we as journalists remain the watchdogs of our society, and generally won over the crowd with his charm and knowledge of his field. And so we SPJ Austin members left his workshop knowing so much more about the story then when we had entered and lived happily ever after. The end.

–Bridget Green