Worldwide Story Work:
A global conversation on organizational story

Like to participate in a global conversation on organizational story?

The organizational storytelling community in Washington DC, known as the Golden Fleece group, has been meeting in person once a month since mid 2001, as well as organizing annual story symposia with the Smithsonian Associates, which attracts people from around the world. Now the Golden Fleece group itself is going global. Here’s how.

When the leadership group of the community met in September 2006, one of the outcomes was a spin-off: a group of people from around the world expressed their wish participate in a global conversation on organizational story in a virtual collaborative space.

This collaborative space is where the community of practice of those working with story wherever they are located can come together and share, converse, argue, have fun as we, together, explore the use of story in our work. As of early December 2007, it had around 40 members from all around the world. The discussions are deep. The teleconferences meaningful. The photos are fun. The videos are useful.

If you’d like to find and join this collaboration space, here’s what to do:

1. Go to http://www.ning.com
2. Find the Search box and search for Worldwide Story Work
   Worldwide Story Work should be the first choice in the left column of the responses to the search 
3. Click on this choice and follow the instructions for Signing Up.
4. Make sure to complete your Profile.
5. Once you have written up your profile and submitted it, you will get an email from the Administrator indicating that you are in.
6. In your profile, be sure to include any experience or background or information about your interest in organizational story, e.g. that you are a member of Goldenfleece, or how you are interested in using storytelling in your organization.

What is waiting for you in the collaborative space

• Once in this space, you can join or create a Forum, post pictures, videos, and songs. In Forums, you will be able to upload files as well as add your comments.
• At present, there are three Forums: Events of Interest, Negative Space, and Welcome Everyone. You can also join or create a Group. At present, there is one Group called Ethical Storytelling. And you can create your own blog space.
• Once a month, there is a teleconference set for the second Wednesday of the month. So far, we have had one such conversation. It was recorded and is available for listening from the profile page of Madelyn Blair.

 The next teleconference

The next teleconference is set for December 12 at 3 PM EST. Details are posted in the Forum, under Events of Interest. Note: you have to scroll down to the bottom of the Events of Interest page to find the listing, with the call in number and code.

The December teleconference will be with Limor Shiponi of Israel who will talk on Creating Story Tools.

More information

 For more information, contact Madelyn Blair at pelerei@mac.com